Any reason NOT to buy a new TV/display right now?

I think as long as you have 1080p capabilities you should be set for many years.I don't think there is anything better planned for the near future.Anyway 1080p is pretty damn good.

There is no good reason not to buy a new tv/display. Buy what you can afford and don't worry about 1080p. If a set you like is only 768p then that will do just fine.
There is only one display on the market that stand behond al others and thats Pioneer Elite plasmas. They are the best hands down. If you can afford one, get one. They have a 50 inch 1080p set and it's incredible. Nothing right now touches it no no way not today not nowhere.

Dan

I can think of a couple reasons to hold out...

Flat panel televisions could drop another 40 to 60% within 6-12 months. Circuit City just announced a restructuring and closing down of some 72 "Source's By Circuit City" in Canada. Current margins and forecasts have caused them to restructure.

HDMI 1.3 is right around the corner and with it television's will be able to render 48 bits of color at 1080p resolution at a much higher hz rate. Resolution's of television's will be over 1080p by this time next year (scalers within the set's will upconvert).

Wallmart has plans to have a wide array of Flatpanel televisions offered from brand name company's. This will further push prices down in North America and create a pricing war untill the dust has settled. Some insiders feel a few both retailers and vendors will either shift their focus or entirely pull out of Flat panel. Pioneer has already been cited as one of the company's that can't compete.

While it is unlikely the general public cares about or wants to pursue a new format the ego's in Japan seem ready to battle it out and continue selling players as lost leaders. It is very likely general people will eventually own Blu Ray or HD DVD simply because it's as cheap as normal DVD. 1080p is something you might want to consider long and hard.

Nice info and explanation, Lush.

TV technology is moving amazingly fast. For reference, I bought a $3.5K 42" Samsung Plasma onsale for $2700 (open box, on sale, and extra 10% off). Thought I got a great deal. Now, 18 months later, it's a little outdated, and I couldn't sell it for half of the price I bought it.

But, what are you going to do. You can't sit on the sideline forever, so when you have some money and really want a tv (like millerman) do some research, read some reviews, and try to get the best TV you can afford for the best price you can find.

One thing seems like it will keep us grounded. . . source material. 1080i TVs seemed to be out for quite some time before there was much HDTV broadcasts available, and HD DVD/BRs were way behind.

Now, there are plenty of 1080p TVs, but not much material for that. I think the source lag will keep consumers for creating the demand for newer resolution TVs each and every year.

Smart money says just wait until January of 2008 before making a move. Lots of things will shake out by then including the introduction of new technologies, a clear direction in the HD format war, and continued drop in prices for what we think is the latest now (1080p etc.).

Of course, that money burning a hole in your pocket will probably be long ago spent on someting else...;)

I agree with the post above me. No matter when you look to buy a television you will always be asking this question. It never ends.

Granted I do think that finally computer technology has slowed. ie. computer last longer than what they did before.

Mike

cheddar wrote:

Well, what you really want is a level of synergy between standards, hardware, and software. That means -- standards --> 1080i/p and hdmi 1.3 -- hardware --> HDTVs, AVPs, HD players and gaming systems at the standard -- software --> broadcast, HD disks, and gaming media in the standard

All of this seems to be coming together at just the right time for the next Christmas retail season. I said January, 'cause that's when all the sales will be...:D

You're crazy if you don't think there will be new standards/technology by Christmas. You can create a "synergy" with items on the market already and 90% of the population wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that and what comes out 3 years from now. Drawing a line in the sand with what's available at Christmas isn't a bad idea, but that doesn't mean doing it now is a bad idea either.

Then waiting wouldn't be too hard for you. Good luck with whatever you decide on.

PhantomOG wrote:

You're crazy if you don't think there will be new standards/technology by Christmas. You can create a "synergy" with items on the market already and 90% of the population wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that and what comes out 3 years from now. Drawing a line in the sand with what's available at Christmas isn't a bad idea, but that doesn't mean doing it now is a bad idea either.

Actually, you're crazy if you think that there will be a higher defining broadcast standard than 1080i/p by Christmas. It took the US the better part of the 90s and then some to come up with a 720p 1080i broadcast standard and even that was a compromise. And we haven't even gone all digital yet.

There is a reason that 480p became the standard for dvds, the highest broadcast standard at that time was 480i. Since all digital equipment is basically progressive, interlaced will always be replaced by progressive players and displays at some point. Upconverting players did not become commonplace until the new hdtvs came out and they didn't come out until the new broadcast standard was released.

Talk all you want about proprietary formats with hdtvs reaching some great hd x/y pixel count and all the upconverting players that will be produced, but the reality is that from here on out 1080p sources will drive the market advances. That's what studios will be aiming to shoot content in. That's what electronics manufacturers will aim to optimize equipment for.

Everything else like lazer based displays, higher color depth, etc. will only be geared toward incremental advances on this standard just like 480p was for so long. So yeah, I stand by Christmas as an important synergistic leveling off for HD standards and by extension hardware and software as well. There will always be advances, but next Christmas will be a pretty big level to reach.

HDMI 1.3 is not a holy grail, it just gives you a nice minimum set of audio codecs to make AVPs for. True HD and DTS-MA being like DD and DTS are with DVDs today. Again, an important leveling off point and level to reach, and again only important if you take the need for synergy between the audio standard, hardware decoders, and software produced into account. I stand by HDMI 1.3 as an important level to reach that will have significantly less buyers remorse than if you missed out on the standard completely.

It's not reading tea leaves, only a realization that it's pretty much what happened with DVD. At this point, I don't see any compelling reason that market forces are much different with HD formats. Just a lot more pathways to HD content. But all that content has to be produced to some standard. And for the forseeable future, that's 1080p and True HD, DTS-MA as the defining synergistic quality format.

I would say wait at least 5-6 months. prices will go down on existing and the new crop wil be out. the ones out now you'll be able to buy on the net for 20-40% less. the SXRD is an awesome thought good work. its my FAV tv right now

You live once, buy on demand. If you see it/like it, do the homework on the purchase, then go for it. No need to sit on the fence all the time. Good purchase millerman, now enjoy that bad boy.