I'm shopping for new TV right now. Budget is under 3k. I'm looking at these particular TVs Panasonic 42" Plasma HDTV (TH-42PX50U) $2500 Samsung 50" DLP Projection HDTV (HLR5067W) $2250 Sony 50" Rear Projection LCD HDTV (KDF50WE655) $2150 So pretty much, they are in similar price range. Difference is that Plasma TV will be slightly smaller and more expensive with better picture quality. Any TV expert wanna chime in??
y dont u go for a projector? much cheaper and easier to move... our living room tv is a projector... u are welcome to check it out
Go for the Saumsung 50. Thats what the wife and I are looking at. I would go with a DLP b/c it does not burn in. If it does die you can replace the tube. ~300 bones vs a Plasma burning in and being a big paper weight. DLP viewing angle is limited thou. I highly suggest checking out various shops and go to some custom home theater shops and fill your head with info. There will be various Inputs you will want on the TV etc for your surround sound etc. I could keep going but will stop there.... Goolge around for opinions and reviews.
Oh yes look at projectors. Probably get a screen and decent HDTV projector for your budget or you could fab up a screen. Lots of How To's online.
I've got a Pany plasma. We've been very happy with it. I looked at both the projector and DLP setup. At the time (2 years ago) the DLP's had a great picture, but they had some rainbow'ing effects and was a little funny to look at. Projectors are awesome as well, but getting them setup correctly was the big issue for us at the time. Now, this is just my opinion, but I don'think you can go wrong anyway of the 3 above. If you've got room, go for the DLP. If you don't have the room get the Projector or plasma. The plasma does suffer from burn-in, so if you play PS or Xbox, don't even bother with it. Which leads you to the projector setup. You're more than welcome to check out my setup as well, I live pretty close to Genya. If I could redo it right now, I'd go with a projector setup, though I'd have to do something with all this light from the windows.
I don't have much knowledge to offer on the subject, I can only offer my dream TV.... A 50' Sony plasma hung on a wall. Awesome picture and it doesn't take up your whole damn living room like projection tv's of any size do... Only problem is the 5-7000 dollar pricetag...
our screen is simply one plank of MDF from home depot ($20 or so)... paint the screen white 16:9, black border and ur done
Infocus SP4805 Projector - Costco under $1K. Cheap 4' x 8' gatorboard screen. 72" of goodness. That aside, I looked at DLP and Plasma and LCD. All have pros and cons, but of the 3, I liked LCD best. The prices of LCD are starting to come down. It all boils down to what you use it for. Check http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/
Another thing with DLP is that they are not a true black when it comes to color tones. So some of your movies may suffer, but then again depends how much into detail you are. Where a plasma's black is much deeper.
One thing to note, don't forget about your friends 'tax' and 'accessories'. You can easily spend a few hundred bucks on cabling alone, depending on what you have currently. ...add on another nice chunk of change for the new cable box (if applicable) if you don't have HD currently (not to mention the subscription fees) and you can break your budget fast with stuff you didn't think about.
i was in a similar dilemma of which to go with, then after much reading i decided i'm going with projector too.
I picked Samsung 50" DLP projection HDTV. yup~ I was in dilema between plasma and DLP, but i chose DLP for safety and easier to use (no worry about burning in). So, I paid $2419.18 delivered at Best Buy plus $200 Mail-In rebate. So at the end $2219.18 which i consider decent deal. Damn... living in Midtown sux.. gotta pay additional 2% more in sales tax. I drove up to Gwinnett BestBuy thinking i'll save $40 in tax...
Let me know how that TV works out. Be nice to here a review from someone besides just store employees or what I can find online. Enjoy the tv :wavey:
Hands down in terms of picture quality, the Plasma is > then DLP > LCD. There aren't any Plasma projectors either, only DLP and LCD. Also consider iDLA. It's better than DLP and LCD. Very soon all the prices for the above technogies will lessen as even newer and better technogies come out like OLED TVs. Google them. If you want definitive info, check out www.avsforum.com