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Sony HD TV

For the price, it works- but I am waiting for prices on 720p monitors to drop for HTPC use.
 
Since this is part of what I do for a living perhaps I can help. First, that’s not a bad TV at all, probably the best of the 4 X 3 sets. The question is; why go 4 X 3?

I don’t know what sources you have available as far as HD but I currently have 14 from Comcast (no flames please) and Comcast crushes any of the satellite companies out there for both picture quality (in Hi Def) and as far as content.

The 4 X 3 sets are about done and what is still available are becoming the low end of the food chain very fast. 2 years ago that set was available as an XBR with a much better picture, now all the XBR CRT 4 X 3 sets from Sony are gone with the exception of some 40” units still floating around. (Damn nice sets but huge and un-godly heavy)

Since you can fit a 30” wide screen that would be my choice. Hi Def is here to stay, it’s not a fad, picture wise it just plain rocks and more content is being added all the time. Also, I would only buy that set in the XBR series. Compare the XBR to the non XBR Sony units and the difference in picture is amazing. There is the added benefit of the two-year warrantee on the XBR as well.

Speaking of warranties, buy the five-year warrantee. Why? By the end of 2006 Sony won’t be producing any CRT sets anymore. As it is most of the time if I have a bad picture tube in a 2-year-old set it’s a nightmare. IF a tube is available it costs twice the price of the original purchase price of your TV. If not and your out of warrantee…well…sorry bout that. That’s not just Sony, it’s worse with other companies.
If you have the 5-year extended they are obligated to replace the set or at the very least give you the current value back in the form of a credit or refund. I only mention this because as the famous yellow bumper sticker says [Shit Happens]. So, CYA.

I might add that although I no longer work for Tweeter that is the only place I would purchase the set. Their customer service policies are insane in a good way. They just don’t want unhappy customers. They will price match with no argument, and more important if you do the 5-year warrantee from them you are way ahead of the game. CC holds their own warrantee contracts, thus if CC goes belly up your pooched. Tweeter works through a second part company that is very reputable, your warrantee is good anywhere in the world and if Tweeter goes belly up it’s not relevant. Just call the 800 number and get your set fixed, replaced or whatever. Add to that Tweeter has their own in home techs, they don’t sub out the actual repair if you live near one of their stores.

Sorry for all that info, but you were not real specific so I tossed the rest in for free. ;)
 
When is 45" LCD (NOT rear projection) price come down? I also like the 55" LCD announced in Japan by Philip LG on Oct 19. Wonder how long it would be from the annoucement date to the arrival date in US.
 
Happy Hopping said:
When is 45" LCD (NOT rear projection) price come down? I also like the 55" LCD announced in Japan by Philip LG on Oct 19. Wonder how long it would be from the annoucement date to the arrival date in US.
Click to expand...

There are some working 60” and up LCD screens out there for commercial application. Price wise? Well, it only takes a small mortgage to own one ;)

Can you imagine how many panels they have to “fab” get one working one? :D
 
Thank you very much for all the replies. There's been a slight turn of events though. At first, I saw the 34" widescreen Sony sitting next to the one I was going to buy. Hrm... $1500 bucks... <break out the measuring tape> Whoa... it will fit! My 'hole' that i'm putting it into is 41"w x 29"hx23.5"d. I quickly realized the thing weighed over 225+ lbs. Hrm... well, I'm gonna stick the thing in my niche and not move it again, so not too big of an issue, right?

So, I get up to the sales register, and what do I see? Ouuu... a 44" LCD Projection TV. Nah... no way that would fit. Hrm.. or will it? <breaks out the measuring tape> 39" wide! Whoa! 29.5" height. Hrm... I can wiggle it in there! So yeah. Went from $900 30" widescreen to $1500 34" widescreen to what is now sitting in my 4Runner...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ype=product&productCategoryId=cat03006&cmp=++

I know I should have done more research on it before purchasing. I spent about 30 minutes googling for reviews, but did not find a whole lot. So what do you guys think? Looking at the specs on the website, what are your opinions? I still have 30 days to return it, so I'm not locked into anything yet.

Oh... a nice little kicker.. Best Buy matched Circuit City's Free Xbox with purchase of Projection TV over $1500... so free xbox for me :)
 
Sorry for not updating in over a week, but I just bought a house and the moving process has been very tiresome. So we got the LCD Projection hooked up to the HD signal and put the TV up in our niche above the fireplace. Stood back... ouuuu.... pretty! So I walked back to our sofa in the family room, sat down, and looked up at the TV. WTF? Where did the beautiful picture go? I stood up... there it is. Sat down... dubya tee eff? Unless you are looking at this TV dead straight on, the quality is horendous. The picture becomes very dark and even blurry. I tried my best to adjust to it, but after trying to watch the Simpsons Sunday night, I had a headache. And not because the episode sucked. Also, when I had the xbox hooked in via HD pack, it had a very high pitched buzzing noise.

Game plan: Return TV, replace with one that doesn't suck at an angle, enjoy.

I load the TV up, leaving the xbox sitting on my shelf (hoping that I won't have to return it for whatever I exchange the POS tv for). I spend over an hour looking around at all the different TVs. And, I came to several conclusions.

1) We are sitting at least 20ft from the TV, so it needs to be a decent size
2) CRT TVs are HEAVY! (34" Sony - 200+lbs)
3) LCDs and DLPs suck at angles
4) Plamsas, pricey, good at angles, light weight, but not been around long enough to know the reliability.

So, I have a delima. CRT will be very heavy, and about 10" smaller than an LCD or Plasma. LCD and DLP... won't work cause I have to put the TV in a niche about 3ft above regular viewing area. Plasmas look very pretty, not heavy, and angles aren't an issue. I called up the wifey and after her looking at all the options for another hour, I got the go ahead to buy the plasma.... On one condition: I have to get the 4 year service plan which covers anything that may happen to the TV. It would suck to buy a $3000 TV and 3 years from now have it bork and no warrantee to help out.

They didn't have the TV in stock, so I'm waiting to pick it up 11/18, Thursday. It is a JVC 42" plasma. My friend has a Panasonic 42", and I actually like that one a little more. And, it is the same price. But, our TV niche keeps size contraints down to 41" wide. Most of the plasmas have the speakers on the sides which widen them to about 46-50".

I'll post an update on it when I pick it up and get everything set up. <crosses fingers> I really hope this turns out to be worth it.
 
cmosdos said:
Sorry for not updating in over a week, but I just bought a house and the moving process has been very tiresome. So we got the LCD Projection hooked up to the HD signal and put the TV up in our niche above the fireplace. Stood back... ouuuu.... pretty! So I walked back to our sofa in the family room, sat down, and looked up at the TV. WTF? Where did the beautiful picture go? I stood up... there it is. Sat down... dubya tee eff? Unless you are looking at this TV dead straight on, the quality is horendous. The picture becomes very dark and even blurry. I tried my best to adjust to it, but after trying to watch the Simpsons Sunday night, I had a headache. And not because the episode sucked. Also, when I had the xbox hooked in via HD pack, it had a very high pitched buzzing noise.

Game plan: Return TV, replace with one that doesn't suck at an angle, enjoy.

I load the TV up, leaving the xbox sitting on my shelf (hoping that I won't have to return it for whatever I exchange the POS tv for). I spend over an hour looking around at all the different TVs. And, I came to several conclusions.

1) We are sitting at least 20ft from the TV, so it needs to be a decent size
2) CRT TVs are HEAVY! (34" Sony - 200+lbs)
3) LCDs and DLPs suck at angles
4) Plamsas, pricey, good at angles, light weight, but not been around long enough to know the reliability.

So, I have a delima. CRT will be very heavy, and about 10" smaller than an LCD or Plasma. LCD and DLP... won't work cause I have to put the TV in a niche about 3ft above regular viewing area. Plasmas look very pretty, not heavy, and angles aren't an issue. I called up the wifey and after her looking at all the options for another hour, I got the go ahead to buy the plasma.... On one condition: I have to get the 4 year service plan which covers anything that may happen to the TV. It would suck to buy a $3000 TV and 3 years from now have it bork and no warrantee to help out.

They didn't have the TV in stock, so I'm waiting to pick it up 11/18, Thursday. It is a JVC 42" plasma. My friend has a Panasonic 42", and I actually like that one a little more. And, it is the same price. But, our TV niche keeps size contraints down to 41" wide. Most of the plasmas have the speakers on the sides which widen them to about 46-50".

I'll post an update on it when I pick it up and get everything set up. <crosses fingers> I really hope this turns out to be worth it.
Click to expand...

I tried to help you before, I’ll try again. Get the Panasonic, not the JVC. The Panasonic is a much better set.

Much better. Do not get an EDTV, only HDTV, it’s a long-term investment and it makes no sense to buy backwards technology.

Contrary to what everyone is probably telling you as a result of the totally wrong Wall Street Journal article, which they got taken to task for publishing, Plasma TV has twice the half life of a standard CRT.

If you’re still buying this thing from the place you seem to have purchased the other set, well, I’d suggest a store with a bit less of a reputation problem, but that’s just me.
 
BillR said:
I tried to help you before, I’ll try again. Get the Panasonic, not the JVC. The Panasonic is a much better set.

Much better. Do not get an EDTV, only HDTV, it’s a long-term investment and it makes no sense to buy backwards technology.

Contrary to what everyone is probably telling you as a result of the totally wrong Wall Street Journal article, which they got taken to task for publishing, Plasma TV has twice the half life of a standard CRT.

If you’re still buying this thing from the place you seem to have purchased the other set, well, I’d suggest a store with a bit less of a reputation problem, but that’s just me.
Click to expand...

The panasonic IS an EDTV. Unless you want to give me the extra $2000 to buy HD, then it is not an option. I started off looking around $500 bucks and have already spent $3000. The JVC has HDMI inputs for HD signals. It just takes the resolution and takes it down a notch for ED resolution. Truthfully, I can't hardly tell the difference in quality between HD and ED. In fact, I think some of the EDTVs look better than the HD's. I've also talked to several people who think the same thing.

I've searched for a very long time to find reviews on plasmas, but have not been very successfull for particular models.
 
Do not get an EDTV, only HDTV, it’s a long-term investment and it makes no sense to buy backwards technology
Click to expand...
I wouldn't exactly call a TV an investment. TVs are like cars. The moment you take it out of the store and start using it, the value starts dropping. 5 years from now any TV you own isn't going to be worth much. The way I see it, if you keep your TV over 5 years you're on bonus time. And yeah, my TV is a 7 years old, 27" Sharp, and is just biding it's time until I find the right widescreen TV that I can afford. I'm not saying after 5 years your TV just blows up or something, just that you shouldn't pay for a TV expecting to keep it longer than that.

I'm not sure how when you're sitting 20ft back from an EDTV you're going to see much difference in resolution over an HDTV, especially when the cost difference is about 75% more for HDTV. Yeah EDTV doesn't look as good when viewing an HDTV signal, (if you really look for it) but is it worth $2000 more? That's about how much more HDTV seems to cost for plasma TVs that I've seen. I can see a difference in picture resolution when they're side-by-side at the stores, but you're also usually standing less than 10ft away when you're looking at them in that instance. EDTV can play DVDs in 640p... do I really need more than that? I don't watch cable TV and am not interested in HDTV reception. I'd rather pocket that 2 grand, get an EDTV, and 5-6 years from now spend that 2 grand I saved on a new HDTV.

I'm with you on this one cmosdos. HDTV isn't worth the premium you currently are required to pay.
 
cmosdos said:
The panasonic IS an EDTV. Unless you want to give me the extra $2000 to buy HD, then it is not an option. I started off looking around $500 bucks and have already spent $3000. The JVC has HDMI inputs for HD signals. It just takes the resolution and takes it down a notch for ED resolution. Truthfully, I can't hardly tell the difference in quality between HD and ED. In fact, I think some of the EDTVs look better than the HD's. I've also talked to several people who think the same thing.

I've searched for a very long time to find reviews on plasmas, but have not been very successfull for particular models.
Click to expand...

As you noticed a good EDTV can look better then a bad HDTV. To get that “better look” they use a more expensive scaling processor, and a better panel. Number one in the Plasma business is Pioneer, number two is a fight between Panasonic and Sony at the moment. Panasonic is winning big time due to their more aggressive pricing.

As with a lot of things reviews don’t mean much. No matter what someone buys they will usually defend that purchase to the death, so opinion doesn’t mean much either.

If you shop around you will not see many stores that carry Zenith because of all the problems you described, but it didn’t get bad reviews. Not many stores carry the JVC line of Plasma either. Despite the lack of bad reviewage the JVC sets do have some issues, the return rate is way too high.

What I see on a day-to-day basis is what helps me in my decision-making and I don’t see Panasonic, Sony and Pioneer on the service list, or the return list very often. When you go to actually look at those sets the picture is as a rule obviously better as well. The other nice thing about the companies I mentioned is their service policies, they do stand out when it comes to customer service, even Sony in this case.

If you can get a Panasonic for close to the price of a JVC I think long term you will be much happier. My opinion is based on over 35 years in this business and seeing what works and what doesn’t as well as knowing what to sell to avoid pissed off customers.

It’s a strange thing how some companies build total junk in one area and then turn around and practically own another end of the market place. Panasonic decided to “own” a piece of the plasma market and after a few bad starts they now are one of the best sets out there.

Either way, enjoy your toys cause he who dies with the most wins ;)
 
I do agree with you that Pioneer and Panasonic are the top two plasma TV producers. And, if I could have found a panasonic plasma that fit 41" width, I would have gone for it, regarless of price. Unfortunately, even the 37" Panasonic is 42" wide. I can't mount the TV on the wall... cause there's a huge hole there. I could fill that hole in... but in the long run it would decrease the value of the house (that I just bought last week) and it wouldn't be as structurally sound. And, due to the structural area around my niche, I cannot widden the hole.

Now, I spent a long time researching a way to mount the panasonic in the TV niche. And, I came up with a few ways that have a decent chance of working. But, even the smallest chance of it not holding up to the wall was too great. It also didn't help that the wall mounts for plasma's are outrageous in price.

So, in the long run, it was a big trade off. With the JVC, I knew it would fit, and I won't be giving my wife a heart attack. I possibly lost some of the quality from the panasonic, but I gained security in knowing its not going to be laying on the marble surrounding my fireplace when I come home from work.

As far as the quality between the two... I have a 4 year service plan on the tv. So, manufacturing quality and customer service was not as big an issue. As Astral Abyss stated, TVs now a days will not last 20+ years like they used to. I have at least 4 years where if something goes wrong, its taken care of (parts and labor in house). After the 4 years, I can actually extend the warrantee year by year if I choose. So really, I came down to just picture quality and size.

I stuck the JVC right next to the Panasonic, and watched the HD signal for a good 45 minutes. First I set both to standard settings. Then, I tweaked both of them a little. Standard settings on the Panasonic did look better IMO. But, after some tweaking, there was very little difference in the two. The only thing that could stand out (and this wasn't extremely obvious) was that the Panasonic had a slightly darker black, and slightly brighter white. I think this might be because the Panasonic has a 4000:1 ratio and the JVC has a 3000:1 ratio. I'm positive on the JVC, but I'm not on the Panasonic. Pretty sure though. It could also be some more settings/adjustments that would have helped the JVC. As far as inputs go, they both have the same.

Another thing to consider is that when you get home with the TV... you will not have anything sitting beside it to compare to. So as long as the picture quality is good and there is not a HUGE difference... I don't think it will be a disapointment. At least, that's what I'm thinking. By no means am I an expert on this stuff. Just simply a man who's done an ass load of research and been burned a couple times to not make the same mistake twice.
 
cmosdos said:
I do agree with you that Pioneer and Panasonic are the top two plasma TV producers. And, if I could have found a panasonic plasma that fit 41" width, I would have gone for it, regarless of price. Unfortunately, even the 37" Panasonic is 42" wide. I can't mount the TV on the wall... cause there's a huge hole there. I could fill that hole in... but in the long run it would decrease the value of the house (that I just bought last week) and it wouldn't be as structurally sound. And, due to the structural area around my niche, I cannot widden the hole.

Now, I spent a long time researching a way to mount the panasonic in the TV niche. And, I came up with a few ways that have a decent chance of working. But, even the smallest chance of it not holding up to the wall was too great. It also didn't help that the wall mounts for plasma's are outrageous in price.

So, in the long run, it was a big trade off. With the JVC, I knew it would fit, and I won't be giving my wife a heart attack. I possibly lost some of the quality from the panasonic, but I gained security in knowing its not going to be laying on the marble surrounding my fireplace when I come home from work.

As far as the quality between the two... I have a 4 year service plan on the tv. So, manufacturing quality and customer service was not as big an issue. As Astral Abyss stated, TVs now a days will not last 20+ years like they used to. I have at least 4 years where if something goes wrong, its taken care of (parts and labor in house). After the 4 years, I can actually extend the warrantee year by year if I choose. So really, I came down to just picture quality and size.

I stuck the JVC right next to the Panasonic, and watched the HD signal for a good 45 minutes. First I set both to standard settings. Then, I tweaked both of them a little. Standard settings on the Panasonic did look better IMO. But, after some tweaking, there was very little difference in the two. The only thing that could stand out (and this wasn't extremely obvious) was that the Panasonic had a slightly darker black, and slightly brighter white. I think this might be because the Panasonic has a 4000:1 ratio and the JVC has a 3000:1 ratio. I'm positive on the JVC, but I'm not on the Panasonic. Pretty sure though. It could also be some more settings/adjustments that would have helped the JVC. As far as inputs go, they both have the same.

Another thing to consider is that when you get home with the TV... you will not have anything sitting beside it to compare to. So as long as the picture quality is good and there is not a HUGE difference... I don't think it will be a disapointment. At least, that's what I'm thinking. By no means am I an expert on this stuff. Just simply a man who's done an ass load of research and been burned a couple times to not make the same mistake twice.
Click to expand...

I was remiss in not mentioning the “Spousal Approval Factor”, we all have to deal with that part of life ;)

What you noticed as different between the two sets is about right; it’s a slight difference. What I keep finding is people who treat TV as more of a casual entertainment item sometimes find themselves suddenly becoming very critical of DVD quality and HDTV quality once they actually own one and have it in their home. Sort of like buying a computer that suddenly isn’t quite fast enough for the things you never thought you might use it for.

HDTV is pretty cool stuff and grabs your attention pretty fast. My big concern is always that a new HDTV owner doesn’t get home and about 6 months later find themselves saying, “Gee, I wish I would have gotten the other one”

The JVC is “Steps” above the Zenith in quality and seems to fill your needs.

Again, enjoy :D
 
Astral Abyss said:
I wouldn't exactly call a TV an investment. TVs are like cars. The moment you take it out of the store and start using it, the value starts dropping. 5 years from now any TV you own isn't going to be worth much. The way I see it, if you keep your TV over 5 years you're on bonus time. And yeah, my TV is a 7 years old, 27" Sharp, and is just biding it's time until I find the right widescreen TV that I can afford. I'm not saying after 5 years your TV just blows up or something, just that you shouldn't pay for a TV expecting to keep it longer than that.

I'm not sure how when you're sitting 20ft back from an EDTV you're going to see much difference in resolution over an HDTV, especially when the cost difference is about 75% more for HDTV. Yeah EDTV doesn't look as good when viewing an HDTV signal, (if you really look for it) but is it worth $2000 more? That's about how much more HDTV seems to cost for plasma TVs that I've seen. I can see a difference in picture resolution when they're side-by-side at the stores, but you're also usually standing less than 10ft away when you're looking at them in that instance. EDTV can play DVDs in 640p... do I really need more than that? I don't watch cable TV and am not interested in HDTV reception. I'd rather pocket that 2 grand, get an EDTV, and 5-6 years from now spend that 2 grand I saved on a new HDTV.

I'm with you on this one cmosdos. HDTV isn't worth the premium you currently are required to pay.
Click to expand...

There is a cold hard truth here; no one has ever been charged a “premium” for a High Def TV, that’s a fact.

Way back in the 1980s there were many TV sets available for $6000 and higher, and they sold very well. Almost every major manufacture had these TVs and they were the “high end” of the market place. Plasma hit the market and a 42” set was about 20K and they too sold, not in huge quantity but the did sell. They (plasma sets) were just plain TV’s back then, just flat and “cool” and by in large the pictured sucked.

As time went on all those “high end” sets were the first to be switched over to High Def sets, but at no increase in price. As is true with all products in the market place the technology filtered down to lower price sets over time. Plasma has taken the biggest drop in price because of the increase in production has lowered the costs.

Now we have HD TV available at under $1000. Are they as good as the $5000 TV’s? No, but we will always have that spread in price due to quality issues. Same with cars etc.

Some of the new technology is much longer lasting they it used to be. Notably is Plasma that will in all probability last twice as long as a conventional CRT. Light engine TV requires light bulb replacement every so often, but the basic set will last a long time. When I used the word investment I meant that in a lot of cases where people are paying more for better sets they can in many cases expect to keep them longer, thus one should take into the equation looking at a “better quality set”.
 
When I used the word investment I meant that in a lot of cases where people are paying more for better sets they can in many cases expect to keep them longer, thus one should take into the equation looking at a “better quality set”.
Click to expand...
I see your point.

I would be more inclinded to buy myself an HDTV plasma if the price difference wasn't so high. I think in this case the arguement for longer lasting is offset by the large price difference. What I mean is, if your $2500 plasma lasts an average 6 years, and your $4500 plasma lasts 10 years, you really got about the same value for your money.
 
Arg.... I just spent 15 minutes typing out a reply and it 404'd when submiting the reply. Damn dial up... (can't use the high speed lines at work). </rant>

I picked up the TV last night... and it is beautiful. I don't want to give first impressions yet because I've only had a few hours with it. I do have a couple questions though.

1) What's that DVD to adjust and calaborate the picture quality, etc.? I'm hoping to rent it.
2) Anybody know where I can get a pioneer HD box that works with time warner. The Scientifica Atlantic they gave me is not very good and i'm starting to see the quality issues others have discussed about this box.
 
cmosdos said:
Arg.... I just spent 15 minutes typing out a reply and it 404'd when submiting the reply. Damn dial up... (can't use the high speed lines at work). </rant>

I picked up the TV last night... and it is beautiful. I don't want to give first impressions yet because I've only had a few hours with it. I do have a couple questions though.

1) What's that DVD to adjust and calaborate the picture quality, etc.? I'm hoping to rent it.
2) Anybody know where I can get a pioneer HD box that works with time warner. The Scientifica Atlantic they gave me is not very good and i'm starting to see the quality issues others have discussed about this box.
Click to expand...

Try "Video Essentials" is probably the one your looking for.

Time warner is worse then Comcast if that's possible. They should have the Pioneer box at thier office, although you might have to argue and fight to get one. There are two Pioneer boxes as well, you have to specify the 'DVI" box, as well as buy your own cable.

If your JVC has an HDMI input you can get a DVI to HDMI cable from CC, they work great.

Luck on the box and DVD.

Actually for 20 bucks I'd buy the DVD just for touch up now and then ;)
 
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