Getting a new TV
New home means new TV. Actually we are getting either a free 30" Panasonic HDTV CRT or a 1000$ credit on any Panasonic television from our subdivision. So we are thinking which would be the best technology to get. Must be a Panasonic though.
Which has the clearest, sharpest and best picture? CRT, CRT Rear Projection, LCD rear projection, LCD or Plasma screen? With what I've seen so far, CRT rear projection provides the sharpest screen. Poor field of view, but definitely sharpest screen. LCD and Plasma are surprisingly grainy, except for the uber expensive ones.
So what is your experience and what would you recommend?
Which has the clearest, sharpest and best picture? CRT, CRT Rear Projection, LCD rear projection, LCD or Plasma screen? With what I've seen so far, CRT rear projection provides the sharpest screen. Poor field of view, but definitely sharpest screen. LCD and Plasma are surprisingly grainy, except for the uber expensive ones.
So what is your experience and what would you recommend?
Comments
Depends what you prefer and what your willing to trade off (price v's size, weight etc.)
Check here
Unless you want something to hang on your wall.
PT50DL54 50" for about $2300 before your discount.
I have sony 36" flat HDTV CRT. It is really nice. Then again, for what I paid I could have gotten a bigscreen HDTV. When you say that there is a poor field of view for the CRT, is that a typo? I see that problem with projection sets (big screen, I mean) but not with CRTs. One thing is that having 4:3 kind of drives me nuts.
The big screen TVs, 40+ inches, are all very expensive. The rear projection CRTs are affordable for us, but once we look into plasma, LCD or DLP televisions, we will have to fork over at least a grand on top of the $1k credit. On top of that, they aren't exactly sharp, though we haven't looked at DLPs a lot yet. Generally not worth it for us... but just getting a regular, albiet free, 30" tube doesn't seem all that great. Its weight per screen size is huge.
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/p...h50phd7uy.html
You can get them for about $4500 online.
They last 60,000 hours (which for me is like 60 years), have burn-in protection so you can play games, and cool plug in modules for different input types (DVI, component, etc).
If you want a really big screen, this is the way to go - the three main advantages are 1) it is flat 2) it is light weight and 3) it seems to absorb light from windows instead of reflect it.
- Plasma has a slightly better picture for less money
than LCD
- Plasma has a much better picture than rear projection,
with much less bulk.
- Front projection gives you lousy blacks unless you
can totally darken the room, otherwise this is the way
to go (I have front projection in my downstairs theater
room that has no windows, the plasma is for my bedroom)
- CRTs don't get this big (although the discontinued Sony
40" Wega CRT is still available online, and because it is
4x3 instead of widescreen, it is about the same size as
a 50" plasma when watching regular TV)
- CRTs are very heavy, and take up a lot of room (300 lbs
for the 40" wega)
- CRTs reflect light from windows during the day. If you go
to circuit city or something, the difference can be seen
when you look at the reflections of the store lights.
Originally posted by Scott
$4500 just to watch a bunch of dumb TeeVee shows and DVDs? What a waste. Just get a CRT TV and send the other $4000 to someone that can use it.
I have a CRT, but it uses up too much room. Remember that you pay for every square foot of your house or apartment. The space that the CRT currently occupies cost me $1200 to build, and I pay for heat and air-conditioning for that space.
Buying a Plasma TV works out to about the same cost as buying a large CRT when you take these things into account. A 40" CRT costs $2000. Plus, where you spend your money has an influence on the things that get made by manufacturers - do you want to encourage them to make flatscreens or continue to make CRTs?
And TeeVee shows are not as dumb if you get DirecTv with Tivo... Venture Brothers, Daria, Futurama, Nero Wolfe, the Daily Show, and Cowboy BeBop are my favorites.
they say with t.v.s that are susceptible to burn-in that all kinds of things can hurt it. like watching 4:3 with sidebars. so, with bars, they get a constant barrage of grey or non-barrage of black (absence of color). since the 4:3 midarea is still getting light, over long periods of time they say the middle would become noticeably lighter than the bar area. of course, this depends on how much 4:3 vs. full view you watch. and burn in isn't covered by any kind of warantee.
the image quality on it is amazing though. black is blacker than black. and hdtv is unbelievably amazing. some of the plasmas and lcds i looked at had some issues with hd. my toshiba is perfect quality even when u look really close. it also has a really wide view angle (well wide enough for my living room).
being a nyc apartment dweller, i'll almost certainly go with a thin one this time. the depth of the t.v. is something you might want to consider (mine is like 2.5-3ft deep); the real big ones can also get real big in depth. we made room for mine, but getting that space back would be nice.
Originally posted by thuh Freak
i looked up my t.v. and confirmed that it is susceptible.
So from this, I would assume that you have a conventional CRT-based display (either a front-view/tube or a rear projection)?
they say with t.v.s that are susceptible to burn-in that all kinds of things can hurt it. like watching 4:3 with sidebars. so, with bars, they get a constant barrage of grey or non-barrage of black (absence of color). since the 4:3 midarea is still getting light, over long periods of time they say the middle would become noticeably lighter than the bar area. of course, this depends on how much 4:3 vs. full view you watch. and burn in isn't covered by any kind of warantee.
Most burn-in is preventable without taking any special measures. For one, use AVIA or Digital Video Essentials to "calibrate" the set and turn down brightness and contrast to more sane levels. The factory defaults are perfect to wear out your brand new set in short order (remember, brightness sells on the showroom floor).
I suspect if you had taken care and done these quick adjustments, your Halo playing wouldn't have affected your set as quickly.
Originally posted by BRussell
I don't have any TV advice (I'm with Scott on the cost of TVs), but I'm curious about your subdivision paying for it. What's up with that?
It - free Panasonic CT-30WX54 television or $1k credit towards other Panasonic TV, and free 2 months of Time Warner digital cable and cable modem service - was an incentive for buying a new house in my subdivision. The subdivision was able to make a deal with Panasonic (or its distributor NAM Electronics) and Time Warner to sponsor the deal.
We actually had no idea of it when we signed the earnest money contract. Pleasant surprise. So, we were thinking of taking the $1k credit, spending 3 or 4 hundred dollars and having a big screen TV in the house. This is compared to my 10 year old Sony 27", so it's nice upgrade, and all-in-all, not a bad deal. We certainly will not be spending $3k or $4 on it, maybe $1k at most. Not sure yet. Maybe taking the free CRT and putting it on ebay is the right thing to do.
The big ticket item this month will be a soft water filter and purifier for the whole house. It's just too bad the subdivision didn't have $1k discounts for that. We just wish we have $3k or $4k to throw around these days. My aging 500 MHz iBook with 256 MB RAM is desperate for retirement... but it will have to do for at least another year.
Originally posted by mikef
So from this, I would assume that you have a conventional CRT-based display (either a front-view/tube or a rear projection)?
Yeah Freak, I am very interested in what sort of TV you got that has burn-in. DLP and LCD are supposed to have burn-in.
[edit: sigh, that is "aren't supposed"]
Originally posted by THT
Yeah Freak, I am very interested in what sort of TV you got that has burn-in. DLP and LCD are supposed to have burn-in.
Actually DLP does not burn in because it is basically reflected images coming off of micro-mirrors. LCDs are supposed to be impervious as well. Plasmas have gases that generate a lot of heat and thus are dangerous for reasons that sadly I cannot explain with any persuasiveness.
Originally posted by hmurchison
Actually DLP does not burn in because it is basically reflected images coming off of micro-mirrors. LCDs are supposed to be impervious as well. Plasmas have gases that generate a lot of heat and thus are dangerous for reasons that sadly I cannot explain with any persuasiveness.
Plasmas used to have burn-in problems, but they solved that by moving the image around so slowly that you can't see it. They are often used as product display billboards, which shows you how successful they have been in eliminating burn-in.
In order to burn in anything made recently, I think that you have to watch a heck of a lot of TV and games - or maybe frequently fall asleep with the image on.
Originally posted by e1618978
Plasmas used to have burn-in problems, but they solved that by moving the image around so slowly that you can't see it. They are often used as product display billboards, which shows you how successful they have been in eliminating burn-in.
Plasmas still have burn-in issues... they're better than they've ever been but they are still the most susceptible to burn-in compared to the other technologies.
Originally posted by mikef
Plasmas still have burn-in issues... they're better than they've ever been but they are still the most susceptible to burn-in compared to the other technologies.
Have you seen any recently made Plasma display have burn in? Panasonic is on their 7th generation of screens, and they only "fixed" the burn in problem recently. Maybe you are thinking of either earlier tvs or budget versions?
I am very interested because I plan to buy one and use it for games.