I did try and read through the thread. It was about 3 pages before anyone actually received one.
I'm looking for my sister. She currently has a 57" Sony CRT RPTV.
Sources: satellite (no HD), HD DVD and SD.
This television seems to be a good price but I don't know anything about RPTV anymore. I have front projection.
My questions are:
How does it look with standare satellite (Dish)?
She sits about 10-13' away - screen door?
What is bulb life and expense to replace?
Does it seem like this television is reliable?
What would be some alternate suggestions for televisions (any format) within $500 with comparable screen size?
Replies are appreciated because salesmen in the local stores are not any help at all.

I just went through the process of answering this very question -- my 55E2000 will be delivered on 4/14.

I did read the huge thread on the E2000's and came to the conclusion that this series is one of the very few available that doesn't seem to have many issues or complaints. The owners seem generally satisfied.

I'm paying $1499 +tax from a local store (Nebraska Furniture in Kansas City). I looked at a number of other equally big projection sets within $500, including Mitsubishi, Samsung, Toshiba, Panasonic and the newer Sony LCoS sets. They all get mixed reviews in this forum. The only thing I won't get with the E2000 is 1080p resolution. At a viewing distance of 11 ft I won't be able to tell anyway.

Can't comment yet on ownership experience, but based on my research and needs this set seemed like the best bang for the buck.

I have the 46E2000, purchased in January '07. I paid less than $1200 for it at BB. I really have no complaints about this set. PQ for HD is excellent via Dish Network. DVD playback via my Panasonic S52S upconverting player is excellent. As for SD PQ, I find that the E2000 does a superior job of processing an SD signal. That said, you have to realize that the quality of the SD signal will make a difference. There are some SD programs that are noticeably not as good at times, however they are still very watchable. My seating area ranges from 6' to 12' and I do not notice any SDE at all. The bulb for my set , purchased from SonyStyle, runs $195.00. I believe it's the same for the 55E2000.

My other Sony is the 42WE655 that I bought in early 2005. This set has not had any problems and outstanding PQ for both HD and SD.

I've been buying Sony televisions for the last 25 years and have yet to have one fail on me. IMO the E2000 series provides a lot of bang for the buck.

well there's several local stores that have the 55A2020 within 500 dollars of the 55E. I think the SXRD is the better set, especially with HD content. However, the E series offers fantastic bang for the buck IMO.

Having said that I'm leaning towards SXRD or Plasma. I'd recommend going SXRD as most of the issues appear to be resolved in the newer sets. If you're not in a hurry wait till June and see what sony says about the upcoming A3000s.

Appreciate the comments, this might well be the set that goes to my sister's.

I have an sxrd and love it. That being said the E-2000 series is, in my opinion, the best bang for the buck in an rptv right now. You mention that the set will be used a lot for SD content and this is one area where this model line really shines. It's not going to look as good as HD but it will look better for SD than anything else on the market. Many mfgs., especially Samsung, haven't put too much effort into the SD side of their sets' performance resulting in lots of video noise and/or macroblocking or smearing on SD signals. The E2000 sets do a very decent job with SD--the resolution and sharpness of the HD pic is obviously not there but the image is solid and stable with minimal video noise or digital artifacting.

I'll add my 2 cents. A good friend of mine recently purchased an E2000 and a week later I purchased the SXRD of similar size. I did some basic calibrations on his set like taking it out of torch mode and running thru DVD Essentials for proper color, brightness and black level for his DVD and hidef cable inputs. Ditto for my SXRD. I've literally fallen in love with my SXRD. I had read great things about the set before purchasing but I never imagined getting the performance of plasma (contrast ratio and black level) for significantly less money.

Anyway, I'm a bit of a sports nut and I only watch the important games on my set. The neighbors invited us over for the Final Four a few weeks ago and I was a bit hesitant about not getting to see my Buckeyes on the SXRD. The more I thought about it the more I thought it would be a great chance to internally justify the added cost of the SXRD over the E2000.

So how did it go? I have nothing but great things to say about the E2000. Both games looked VERY good on the E2000 and it would have taken a side by side comparison to tell the difference between the two technologies. In fact, I'd have a hard time steering a non videophile away from the E2000 towards the SXRD. I felt the picture on the E2000 was that good. Do I still love the SXRD? Absolutely!! No regrets at all. Still, the E2000 was a pleasure to watch. You won't regret it.

On to your questions. Screen door is not a factor at more than 4 to 6 feet. She'll never see it at 10 feet. Bulbs are rated at 2000 hours I think and are around $149 to replace (maybe it was $249, I can't remember). Is it reliable? I don't have any repair data to make an informed call on this. If you're worried about it just get the extended warranty. Alternatives to this set would be DLPs from Mits or Samsung.

As others in this thread have already stated the E2000 represents a strong value for the money.