New to shopping for TV's, should I go for 1080p or not?

jrlouie

I'm just trying to decide if I should spend the extra cash for a 1080p TV or not. I've been looking a little, and I think I'm looking for a TV in the 50 inch area. Maybe 56 inch. 46 inch isn't ruled out, but looks a tad small.
From what I've looked at so far, I like the JVC's and Sony's. I actually like the design of the JVC better, but I've heard the Sony SXRD technology is better. At any rate, the Sony is more expensive. And for both, the 1080p is obviously more than the 720p. I don't think I could afford a plasma, and whether or not it actually happens, the "fading" controversy bothers me.
I'm not too much into TV (i.e. - broadcasts, although my girlfriend has it on all the time), but I like to watch a movie here and there, and music is my passion.
I'm not one to buy TV's often, so I'll probably keep this one for years.
I currently have a DVDP with component only out (no DVI or HDMI), but I could get a new DVDP if needed I suppose. Per my signature, theater processing is via my 990. I'll be moving shortly into a place that will have Charter Cable, and if needed probably I can try to get Charter HD service.
The 1080p sets will be pushing the top of my budget.
What do you guys think?

sickicw

if you don't plan on upgrading again for a while, i would wait unit the end of the summer and pickup a sony sxrd with 1080p hdmi inputs. If you cant afford the sony, then look at another brand with 1080p inputs.

dorokusai

A 13" B&W portable would be my suggestion.

Fireman32

i have the Mitsu 62" DLP and i think it is the best picture by far. It cost me 2500 when i bought it last year and if you want smaller picture you can get it for less. I've seen the 50" for 1900 and its a great picture and i looked at every tv there was before i bought mine. Good luck with your purchase

PolkThug

If the new HD-DVD's have 1080p, then you will want a display that can show 1080p natively.

HBombToo

PolkThug wrote:

If the new HD-DVD's have 1080p, then you will want a display that can show 1080p natively.

Hey Toby how have you been? Have you seen the new Westinghouse sets for yourself yet? I'm curious if you think the 37 or 40 inchers have the right stuff? The whole accept 1080P and down convert it is driving me ****!

HBomb

Toxis

1. neither the JVC nor Sony will accept a true 1080p signal even though the tv's resolution is 1080p.
2. HD DVD will be 1080i or 720p for the first year or so, then they'll release the 1080p models.
3. I wouldn't take a JVC product if it was given to me. They've had more problems with them than any other tv I've ever sold. If you buy the JVC, I'll put money on it says the bulb dies in under 6 months (more like 4). So plan on buying a new bulb in under a year (aka buy a warranty that covers them).
4. I'd personally wait a few more months til the new models start rolling. Then the 1080p sets will start accepting the signal. The only tv I'd buy right now technology wise (fixed pixel that is) is the SXRD. At my store, we have Sony, JVC, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, HP, LG, Samsung and a few off brand units so I'm versed in a lot of models on the market right now. SXRD is the only way I'd go if I couldn't go CRT (analog is king!).

sickicw

dont forget blu-ray is released next month with 1080p outputs. Most tv makers will have at least one model that will input 1080p.

jrlouie

Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated. This is one aspect that just hasn't previously got me interested, so I don't know much. I know the basics I guess. Sounds like the market is in a significant turning point right now. I mean, the electronics market is always changing, so I'm one to believe just buy it, because no matter what something better will always come out.
But, it seems the current changes underway may be significant enough to wait just a little. Maybe a couple of months.
So if I buy now, the 1080p sets don't accept the 1080p signal, but I've heard the pixel-to-pixel match for 1080i on the 1080p set would be good. So I guess only if I got HD TV signals, would that be a benefit. Additionally, my current DVDP will only do 720p, so unless I upgrade when the 1080p DVDP's come out, the 1080p TV's don't really help much.
I guess the idea is, get the new 1080p set when it comes out, and later upgrade to a 1080p DVDP.
I'm just wondering though, if the new 1080P sets will be out of my price range and I'd have to wait too long anyway for the price to come down, for the given size I want.
I mean realistically, how long would I have to wait for a TV that accepts a 1080P signal to be within my budget?

Toxis

what's your budget? I can't answer that without knowing where you want to be.

jrlouie

Sorry, I thought I had that in my original post. Oops.

I'd say......$2,000 -> $3000.

I might be able to talk myself into going as high as $3500 if there was a significant reason.

Toxis

50" SXRD... if you live close to the KC metro, you can get it for at or just under $3k at Nebraska Furniture Mart.

sickicw

I think the new (summer) 1080p sets will cost about the same as the current ones. Some may even be cheaper. There is not a huge hardware change to add the hdmi ports and processing to an existing tv in order to get it to accept 1080p. Also, all tv companies will be trying to get this into all there 1080p models, so i expect some competition, which means lots of different price points.

unc2701

My only advice is to wait as long as possible. A few months can make a big difference here and when you're talking about $3k, you want to do it right. I had a first gen LCD projection TV that (thank god) got replaced under warranty with a 3rd gen one a year later. Same cost, 10 inches bigger, 150% better.

XJRGUY

I got my 50 inch Sony SXRD from Abe's of Maine.

$2400 and change plus $200 shipping to California.

Can't beat that price anywhere.

Toxis

no but you can beat the service and the fact you get no warranty from Sony. I've contacted Sony and they won't warranty it. Coming from retail, we run into that damn site all the time. Worthless whores. It's guys like that that kill electronics. Guess what, when stuff has to be sold with no margin, no one profits therefore no one wants to sell it therefore the companies can't afford to produce it... so on and so forth.

Look at Wal-Mart and Huffy bikes. Same story.

LessisNevermore

I chose the Mits WD 52628 (1080p) over the Sony. There was a $1000 price difference, but not a $1000 difference in PQ.

Honestly, the Sony looked a tad sharper, but the extra width from the non-removeable speakers, and the extra grand was the deal breaker for me. Colors were pretty much equal between the two.

The Mits will accept a 1080p input through the firewire ports, this came directly from a Mits company rep. The set does upconvert all inputs to 1080.


Worst case scenario for the new high res DVD players, is you set them to output to 1080i, then let the tv ramp it up to 1080p. After seeing what this set does with a 480p signal, I have no worries about how it will look with the new DVD players.

Whichever brand you go with, the 1080p sets all look pretty fandamntastic.

polkatese

LessisNevermore wrote:

The Mits will accept a 1080p input through the firewire ports, this came directly from a Mits company rep. The set does upconvert all inputs to 1080.

So, what is the (upcoming) or (planned) standard for 1080p connection, if there will ever be one? I thought HDMI v1.3 IS the one?

LessisNevermore

I imagine HDMI will be the standard, until someone introduces something else. Seems like companies are just throwing things out there until something sticks.....

Not sure why the firewire hasn't caught on, plenty of bandwidth etc., the cables are much cheaper too. ($100 for a HDMI cable? wtf?)

Toxis

The Mits guy was feeding you a line my man. It cannot receive a 1080p signal even via IEEE. The only ones out on the market currently are the HP and they look like **** so it doesn't matter.

As for the standard, it will be HDMI v1.3 (supposedly). Who knows what'll change over the next year or two but that's what they're preaching now. Firewire would be a far better way to go but without any copywrite protection, they will never use it. Plus, apple charges way to much to use it. HDMI, cheaper so why not?

Technically speaking, a color wheel cannot give you the amount of colors you can from a 3 chip unit. Pixel count is the same (obviously) but the colors will never be the same. Hook them both up direct with a clean HD feed and you'll see the difference. But like Less said, to some it's not $800-1000 better. To each their own.

sickicw

- yea i have heard that the HP 1080p does not look so good, but thats mainly because this is their first tv. Every company has to start somewhere. Also it does accept 1080p inputs, but is not a true 1080p display because it has 960x1080 native resolution with “wobbulation” (not true 1920x1080 as the sony sxrd).

- also any version of HDMI can carry 1080p at 60hz. It is up to the tv makers to add the hardware to take advantage of this. HMDI 1.3 only addes high def audio encoded signals. Also note that all versions of hdmi also can carry LPCM audio. Again it is up to the audio makers to take advantage of this.

jrlouie

Is there any legitimacy to things I’ve read that resolutions are so high these days (720p/1080p) that the human eye can’t really benefit from a 1080p signal on a 1080p set unless you’re sitting 4-5 feet from the TV? I guess their argument is just that you can’t even detect the difference unless you’re really close. Sounds kind of like a goofy claim, but what do I know.
Just curious.

unc2701

I can immediately tell HD from DVD... 720p vs 1080i is difficult on my 30", but fairly easy on my 50". I haven't had the chance to compare 720p vs 1080p which would be the proper comparison. 720p vs 1080i comes down to 1080i being sharper on static images and 720p being better on moving images.

Sami

I am getting delivery tomorrow on Samsung HL-R6168W that is a 1080p DLP. Went to Fry's to check it up before ordering online (came to $2540 shipped) and the PQ is incredible from Samsung's own feed. HD-DVD isn't going to look as good so we are at a point where the TV isn't the weakest link, it is the source. Well, of course blacks could be better but that's about my only complaint atm.

I still need to pick up a HD-DVD player from Fry's but last weekend they were out, all sold immediately.

sickicw

jrlouie wrote:

Is there any legitimacy to things I’ve read that resolutions are so high these days (720p/1080p) that the human eye can’t really benefit from a 1080p signal on a 1080p set unless you’re sitting 4-5 feet from the TV? I guess their argument is just that you can’t even detect the difference unless you’re really close. Sounds kind of like a goofy claim, but what do I know.
Just curious.

Yes, it is a goofy claim. Most people will be able to see a difference on around a 30 inch tv or larger. It doesnt matter how far from the tv you set. If you can see a small background image with 1080i, then that same image is visible and much more clear with 1080p.

Goto apple.com and check out there hd 1080p movie trailers in quicktime if you dont believe me (might need a larger monitor though to view it).

pearsall001

For what it's worth I would stay away from Mitsubishi DLP. My friend just bought a 62" from Tweeter. In roughly 2 months he noticed a dark dot about the size of a 1/2 dollar on the screen. He thought it was a smudge from one of the kids. No such luck it was on the inside. He called Mitsubishi for warranty repair. The service tech told him it was a dust ball that gets past the filter. It said it is an on going problem with all Mitsh DLP's. He couldn't believe it, so he calls Mitsh back & they confirm what the tech said. It's a problem they know about but keep selling the DLP's. He went back to Tweeter & they told him to pick out another tv. Tweeter has exchanged other Mitch DLP's for the same problem. Personally I would only buy a SONY. They are still King of the hill when it comes to tv technology. All others are still playing catch up. IMO

Toxis

Sami wrote:

Went to Fry's to check it up before ordering online

So you're one of those guys... I hate this kind of person when they come in my store. No respect for local dealers. If you were gonna buy online, you should've just took his recommendation and bought it. Don't waste salespeople's time.

Sami

Toxis wrote:

So you're one of those guys... I hate this kind of person when they come in my store. No respect for local dealers. If you were gonna buy online, you should've just took his recommendation and bought it. Don't waste salespeople's time.

I didn't waste anyones time, I looked up the TV which was setup very nicely and left. Nobody even came to ask if I needed any help. Had the price been close, even before taxes and delivery, I would have bought it there but they wanted $3999 + sales tax, delivery not included.

As it is, I do support Fry's more than I should. I buy a lot of computer parts from them, I bought my LSi's from them (for heavily discounted price though), and I just bought that Toshiba HD player from them yesterday. I do spend thousands of dollars there every year so don't come preaching to me about not supporting my local dealer(s). I buy from them even if the prices are slightly more, just in this case the price was a lot more, over $1500.

XJRGUY

Toxis wrote:

So you're one of those guys... I hate this kind of person when they come in my store. No respect for local dealers. If you were gonna buy online, you should've just took his recommendation and bought it. Don't waste salespeople's time.

Toxis,

He's an informed consumer. You can't prevent a person from going to another store and "shopping" around before they order a product.

It happens everyday from cars to gasoline to televisions to EVERYTHING.

You really seem to have a bug up your **** about people who don't buy from brick and mortar.

If someone wants to save a buck or two by bypassing the local merchant, so what? I work my **** off everyday and saving $1000 on the price of a television set is MAJOR BEAUCOUP bucks.

Can you honestly say in your lifetime you have never done this with ANY product?

If the brick and mortar shops can't keep up with the current state of retail and prices offered online, they either change their business model or go out of business.

The company I work for has successfully done that, and in turn has found more success by altering its business model then losing customers to other online distributors.

XJRGUY

Toxis

ok, so when none of them can make enough profit thanks to having to drop their pants to compete with warehouses (not a full shop), they close shop. So then when your only option is to buy online or go to BB/CC, that's going to be a sad day for A/V business. "No I promise, it looks better." Yeah, I'm going to take some guys advice who doesn't know me or give a damn about what I buy just as long as I buy something. A real shop has overhead where internet dealers have to have a warehouse and maybe a few lackies to do the loading/unloading. It's hard to compete with online dealers. Plus, a ton of them are not authorized dealers so should we compete with these white van dealers? No thanks.

vandool

hey Jrlouie. From the research I have come across you won't be able to see a significant differnces between (if any)1080i or 1080p, for a matter of fact most people won't see a difference between 720p/1080i. IMO it's all a marketing ploy. This marketing ploy usually starts from manufatures like Sony and the likes and feed this to brick and mortar store employees.

Go into a store and take a look for yourself. And if a picture looks GREAT to you, then that's the TV for you. Regardless of brand, purchasing an extended warranty on any TV purchase that's $1500-2000 or more is a smart idea, unless you have the money to replace it.

DLP/LCoS/PLASMA/LCD or anything else they ALL have +/-'s.

Good luck with your purchase!!!