New RPTV question...

Grimster74

Well, here is my problem. Friday night the Pioneer TV died. It's still under the BB warrant plan but the repair shop can't send anyone to look at it until mid October. I've been looking to get a larger RPTV but I'm not real sure which is the best RPTV to get. My price range is $3500-$4000 and I would like to get a minimum of a 55" or larger. The new RP LCD's are not out of the question but I'm just not looking forward to having to buy a tv stand also. If someone convinces me the way to go is the RP LCD, then my price range is no nore than $5000. I've been trying to talk the better half into a projector but that is a no go. She doesn't like the idea of having to replace the bulb after a period of time for $500 or more. So with that being said, I really like the bang for a buck of RPTV's. The one RPTV that keeps catching my eye is the Mitsubishi WS-65815, 65" Diamond Series. Anyone had any experience with the Mitsubishi RPTV's. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PolkThug

Toxis has stared at the Mits lineup a lot, I'm sure he'll chime in.

I also recommend Hitachi S series and above.

billbillw

Grimster,
for that price, you should also look at DLP rear projection and LCoS (or SXRD as Sony calls it) rear projection technologies. There are pros and cons for all of the competing technologies. Far too much to go into here. Crutchfield Advisor has a pretty good article expaining the differences:
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-TWb8Yvidyw4/learningcenter/home/tv_bigscreen.html

This artcle is a year or so old, so some of the info may be a just a tad outdated, especially with LCoS since that has advance greatly in the last year. Another thing to consider is the manufacturers just released a bunch of new 1080p sets (versus previous 720p). You may find that you can get a great 720p set for about half of your price limit. The 1080p is a nice improvement in microdisplay technology, but it is BRAND NEW and will likely have some growing pains.

thehaens@cox.net

I have the Mits 65903, purchased in Dec of 2000 or 01', (forget which year), but either way, it still projects an outstanding HD picture to this day. I have been waiting for this thing to die, so I can get a projector but can't see replacing it just because of the upgrade bug. I have also owned the 40" tube and had it for 9 years, that thing wouldn't die either, and kick myself for selling it for 400.00 bucks a few years ago. All in all Mitsubishi has my vote for televisions.

You will be happy with the 65" you are looking at....

scott

jtgranby

:mad: My LCD RP panasonic lamp bulb just burnt out less than 4000 hrs. Cost $299 :mad: Panasonic CS waht a joke. They said since I bought the set from Sears they wouldn't honor there warranty. Long story they are sending a tech to check out the unit. My point LCD RP have lamp bulbs also.
JT

Toxis

PolkThug wrote:

Toxis has stared at the Mits lineup a lot, I'm sure he'll chime in.

Why yes I have and yes I will. :cool:

Personally, I wouldn't go with the new Diamond if it was $1000. The picture is not that great IMO and the harddrive is a joke. They dont' even come out of the box activated. So usually, you have to have someone come out to the house to activate it and that'll cost you a minimum of $200. Wait, I'll say that again. You have to have a tech come out which you need to pay for his time to come out and activate a feature/TV that you just paid well over $5000 for. Interesting... Now the newer mitsu dlp's will be a little nicer seeing they'll all be 1080p but I'm still not sold on 1080p. WHOOPTY DO! Nothing's even in 1080p and the human eye cannot detect the difference between 1080i and p. Don't buy into the hype. Now if it was me, I'd either go with the JVC DILA or the new Sony LCD. The new 55a20 is a pretty good looking tv but I think for my money, I'd still go with the JVC. No screen door effect what-so-ever and no potential for the rainbow effect.

But then again, I wouldn't even consider buying a new micro display because I'm not sold on the whole single bulb concept. 6000 hrs sure go fast seeing I've had a lot of customers have bulbs go out in 3-6 months. MONTHS! That's ok, I love my tube... :cool:

Grimster74

Hey Toxis, I've attached a link to the Mitsubishi I've been looking at. I don't see anything that says this tv has a hard drive. Does the picture quality go for this tv also. I will be stopping by my local Mitsubishi dealer today at lunch and looking at these tv's today. I'm just looking for a standard RPTV with a much larger screen then I already have. Here is a link.

http://mitsubishi-tv.com/televisions/details.asp?id=93

fireshoes

If that's the one you want, you should get it now. Model year changes have started and Mits isn't making Diamond series CRT's for the new year.

Grimster74

Then I should be able to get it for a pretty good price then.

SniperREX

I got the old model the 65813. The picture quality is just amazing. If you got a dark room and you sit in front of it, it's gonna blow away every other HDTV .

I love CRT .

Grimster74

Hey SniperREX, check out the link below and tell me how you thing it will work in this room.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=40818

polkatese

since we are talking about RPTV (instead of DLP, LCD, etc. ) I'll chime in. I did extensive comparisons when I got mine, Pioneer Elite 520HD, back in 2002 (yep, it's been that long, but I think RPTV technology hasn't move that far, other than connection options, HDMI and DVI) and I have to say that PE still the winning RPTV (in my finding). Black level is the best. Price is SUBSTANTIALLY less compared to what I got it for. At the minimum, it's worth an audition. (www.pioneerelectronics.com)

Have fun shopping!

Grimster74

Polkatese, I'd love to have an Elite but the only problem I see with purchasing one of those is I can't find anyone selling them anymore.

polkatese

I've seen some at Tweeter last month, it must be a close out sales, then. Sorry, you're right, pioneer website has no more of those.

SniperREX

Grimster74 wrote:

Hey SniperREX, check out the link below and tell me how you thing it will work in this room.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=40818

Wow you got a perfect media-room . I envy you .

Grimster74

Well, I just returned from the Big Screen Store, the Mitsubishi 65" Diamond is $3500. Seems kinda step to me especially with all the newer models coming out. Tweeter's said they couldn't get this TV no more due to the newer versions coming out. Is the $3500 price tag to step or does this seem about right.

bknauss

Just to add... the Sony A10 line looks better than the A20s. I would make sure, if you do look at them, that the store actually calibrated the thing. It looks pretty bad out of the box, but some tuning makes an amazing picture. I thought about getting a Samsung DLP, but I heard too many horror stories about audio/video syncing problems... and since I'm a pretty avid gamer, I wasn't going to be happy with a delay on the video.

Toxis wrote:

Why yes I have and yes I will. :cool:

Personally, I wouldn't go with the new Diamond if it was $1000. The picture is not that great IMO and the harddrive is a joke. They dont' even come out of the box activated. So usually, you have to have someone come out to the house to activate it and that'll cost you a minimum of $200. Wait, I'll say that again. You have to have a tech come out which you need to pay for his time to come out and activate a feature/TV that you just paid well over $5000 for. Interesting... Now the newer mitsu dlp's will be a little nicer seeing they'll all be 1080p but I'm still not sold on 1080p. WHOOPTY DO! Nothing's even in 1080p and the human eye cannot detect the difference between 1080i and p. Don't buy into the hype. Now if it was me, I'd either go with the JVC DILA or the new Sony LCD. The new 55a20 is a pretty good looking tv but I think for my money, I'd still go with the JVC. No screen door effect what-so-ever and no potential for the rainbow effect.

But then again, I wouldn't even consider buying a new micro display because I'm not sold on the whole single bulb concept. 6000 hrs sure go fast seeing I've had a lot of customers have bulbs go out in 3-6 months. MONTHS! That's ok, I love my tube... :cool:

PolkThug

Try to find a demo of one of these:
http://www.hitachi.us/tv/browse/projection/16-9digital/57S715.shtml

billbillw

Grimster74 wrote:

Well, I just returned from the Big Screen Store, the Mitsubishi 65" Diamond is $3500. Seems kinda step to me especially with all the newer models coming out. Tweeter's said they couldn't get this TV no more due to the newer versions coming out. Is the $3500 price tag to step or does this seem about right.

Vanns has it with free shipping for $2999 and they throw in a free Harmony. See if your local store will match this price.
http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/455999302


There are a lot of fans of this TV. It is one of the only ones with 9" CRTs. If ya got the space for it, its probably one of the best images available currently.

PolknPepsi

Locally the guy at the hifi shop I usually chat with showed me a new Sony 3LCD.
A 52" costs about $2800.00 dollars, he said something about it being better than the previous model. It also has easy access panel to replace the bulb inside.
All in all it is a nice looking tv and has a pretty good picture for a rear projection LCD. Maybe the wife and I will end up with one in the future, who knows. We have always had a CRT and it will be fun to have new technology and a huge screen.

Toxis

I must not have been paying much attention earlier because I thought you were looking at the Diamond DLP sets. The CRT is the last of it's kind... a high end/quality CRT big screen. I don't care if that thing is $8000, buy it! 9" CRT's... MMMMMM!! It will decimate all other tv's, PERIOD! I'd spend $3500 on it in a heartbeat (pending I had a room for it).

BTW, I'm in absolute love with your room! That's almost exactly how I want mine to be. Question is, why do you not use the 3910 for 2ch as well? What makes the 2900 superior???

thehaens@cox.net

Grimster74 wrote:

Well, I just returned from the Big Screen Store, the Mitsubishi 65" Diamond is $3500. Seems kinda step to me especially with all the newer models coming out. Tweeter's said they couldn't get this TV no more due to the newer versions coming out. Is the $3500 price tag to step or does this seem about right.

Sounds good to me. I bought mine about 5 years ago and paid about 5500 for it. Granted the HD technology was just heating up at that time. But all in all I feel it was a steal, as it has lasted without a problem for this long. Can't say the same for the Mitsubishi/Hughes DirecTV Sat Tuner I bought for 800.00, it kept on getting hot, and I replaced it 4 times in 2 years. That was the only time I ever got "value" out of an ext. warranty.
scott

bknauss

PolknPepsi wrote:

Locally the guy at the hifi shop I usually chat with showed me a new Sony 3LCD.
A 52" costs about $2800.00 dollars, he said something about it being better than the previous model. It also has easy access panel to replace the bulb inside.
All in all it is a nice looking tv and has a pretty good picture for a rear projection LCD. Maybe the wife and I will end up with one in the future, who knows. We have always had a CRT and it will be fun to have new technology and a huge screen.

From what I've heard from the TV experts out there, the 55" (the Sony A20 line) is just a repackaging of last year's model (and thus, not really looking better in any way other than the casing). The 3LCD thing is just marketing hype... LCD RPTVs have always used 3 LCDs, but they wanted a snazzy term to compete with TI using DLP.

Toxis

yes, the new A20 is basically the same animal as the WF655. The only thing I know different is there's no memory card reader. Whoopty do.

SniperREX

Grimster74 wrote:

Well, I just returned from the Big Screen Store, the Mitsubishi 65" Diamond is $3500. Seems kinda step to me especially with all the newer models coming out. Tweeter's said they couldn't get this TV no more due to the newer versions coming out. Is the $3500 price tag to step or does this seem about right.

$3500 is an ok price for the 65815.

I paid $3000 for the 65813 during last superbowl promotion sale at Home Theater Store. The 65815 was $4000.

Grimster74

This Vanns company seems like a pretty reputable(sp) company. I'm going to look into it a little more. I just hate ordering from companys like this online because you never know what your going to get (remanufactured, etc.) If everything checks out okay I will be ordering it from the some time next month.

Grimster74

Hey, does anyone know how hard it is to seperate the 65" Mitsubishi. All Vanns does is drop the tv off at your front door, inside for an additional $200. Need to put the tv in the basement but it has to come apart to do so. I know that the 65" is designed for this exact reason but just not sure how hard it is to get apart.

billbillw

Check for the owner's manual online. It should have the separation proceedure. I know the Toshibas are not too difficult to separate.

bknauss

I would check onecall.com before any purchases. They search through all authorized retailers to find the lowest price and will match it. Some pretty amazing prices on Sony TVs can be had there (its a hit or miss if they offer the lowest price thing on other TVs)

Toxis

wow, $200 to bring it in the door? That's rediculous!!! Granted I'm not local to you but my place only charges $40 for delivery and that includes going up 2 stories if needed. Yes, even taking apart a tv and reassembling it. What's sad is people here still get pissed because it's not free. "Oh, I'm sorry, allow me to spend our money on gas, manpower and time to delivery your TV because you don't want to be responsible if it's dropped. Heaven forbid you pay for a service."

Grimster74

Well, after I downloaded the manual for the tv, it really doesn't seem that complicated to take apart. I will be ordering from Vann's next month.