55" +/- Suggestions??  

i just got the toshiba 50H81. awesome. luv it. cost me about $2500 inc tax & delivery

My short list for large screen display is:

Front Projectors:

1) Panasonic AE100 LCD projector for $1450.00 USD or ($2700.00 CAD)

RP HDTV's

1) Pioneer SD533HD $4999.00 CAD
2) Sony KP51HW40 or KP57HW40 $3399.00 CAD and $4399.00 CAD

All very good. Sony and Pioneer look very good with interlaced sources too, with Pioneer having the edge. AE100 is not a TV, but for the money, its supposedly an amazing item. 40 to 200" screen! Need good line doubler for interlaced, ntsc cable, vhs etc.

I'd agree with cpc, only add to the list a Mitsubishi WS-55819. (USD 3-3.5k)
And if you are getting tv and Directv, you might consider making your dss reciever a HDtv one, or consider Mits's line on integrated 55's(WS-55869)

Kevin

If your budget is $3K, I'd recommend Tosh 57HX81 (you can haggle for ~2700ish incl tax/warranty from retail store). Do remember for widescreen, a progrssive scan DVD Player is highly recommended (Pana RP56, Philips Q50).

You can also consider Sony 57HW40 (go for pricematch from Sears refer HTspot forum) or Pioneer 53" mentioned above.

As far as Mits is concerned, if you are watching significant NTSC, then you will have to buy iscan pro ext line doubler since Mits line doubler is very poor and this will balloon your expense to 3.5Kish.

Cheers,
Kishore

Mits guarantees upgradability. Your standard rule of thumb on viewing is 3x screen size so 55" is about as big as you should go. By the way, the model # on the integrated is WS55859- go to a showroom and view it next to the WS55819- same tv just one has hdtv tuner the other is "ready"

Kevin

I have the Toshiba 50HX81 and a Toshiba 3200(?) Progressive Scan DVD player. I just added Dish network with HD setup, and it is absolutely incredible. THe HD picture quality is the best I've ever seen. The progressive scan DVD does make a difference - movies just look better. The only downside is the Tosh TV only has 2 sets of component inputs. If I wanted to add a ReplayTV to that set, I'd have to use S-video or composite hookups. I don't want to mess with a switch of any kind. If you shop for the Tosh widescreen, make sure you try to get the HX series, not just the H series. The HX is the higher quality model with some improved components in the guns, glare screen , etc. It looks wonderful.

Lowspark,

By NTSC I mean regular TV channels thru cable/satelite. The Mits line doubler is not as good as one in Tosh or Sony. They are amazing HD performers though. If you are buying a HD STB then you can watch TV thru STB for regular cable/dish.

One problem is most of widescreen TVs are back ordered, so do check on availability before you place an order.

I have heard good reviews of kellum.

Email me at kskishore@yahoo.com for more info.

Cheers,
Kishore
P.S.-I just moved here 3 months ago :)

Check out the size formula here:

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.c...alculator.html

I have a 53" RPTV and I am probably going to stick with it. We still have to set it up in our new house.

I just received my Mitsubishi WS-65909 on Thursday and I'm very impressed with it. I also upgraded from a 32" Toshiba and was a little overwhelmed by the size of the TV (my room is 22 X 16). The TV along with the component cabinet takes up about 7' of wall space and stands 62 " tall.

Now 3 days later I'm quite happy that I bought the 65"... It is absolutely stunning to turn out all the lights and watch a movie in Progressive scan filling up the wall in front of you.

The built in tuner in the Mitsubishi not only saves the space of an external decoder it also provides something called HAVi and NetCommand. HAVi uses firewire to connect all your components and NetCommand uses IR blasters to control your components.

I use the NetCommand (none of my other components have firewire) so when I change inputs on my TV (there are 12, I'm using 8) the blaster automatically changes my components to the proper input output for the device selected. It also transmits the IR signal to the component through the TV. Needless to say my wife loves it.

Back to the size... TV's look much smaller than they actually are in the store and the 55" (my friend has one) dwarfs compared to the 65"...

Be sure to subtract about 2 feet from your room size for the actual location of the TV screen. My main seating position is 14' from the screen and alternate position is 9'. Both seating positions seem very acceptable to me.

I used to agree with this statement. I have a 55857 (platinum plus) and pratically never used the Mits line doubler because of the picture quality. However, I had my TV calibrated by a Mits. expert and now the picture quality of a decent s-video signal (like regular Directv HBO) is outstanding. The HDTV and progressive picture quality was always top notch (even better after calibration).

Jay

i have a mits 55819 the pic is great .I let my dtc100 do the line doubling and it does a better job than the tv. If you like to tweak your pic www.the***************.com has all the tricks for mits tv's.once they're calibrated properly the pic is right up there with the pioneers.You want to let the tv breakin for awhile before tweaking.I am gonna have it calibrated in june. enjoy Dan

It is worth the calibration by an expert.. Check out the spot forum for basic calibrations and if you are a natural tweaker then you can dig deeper :)

You can contact either Larry Proud or Steve Martin for a full-blown (ISF) Calibrations (you can find their contact info in ISF thread in 'spot'.)

Well worth the $700ish (max) you will spend- you will get a much better TV than you originally had.

Cheers,
Kishore

Buy a 4:3 HDTV ready T.V. I just bought a 61" 4:3 Sony KP61HS20 and love it. HDTV programming is a joke. For the next 5-7 years we will all be watching more 4:3 programming then 16:9. The Sony does the anamorphic squeeze for DVD's and HDTV programming. My 16:9 picture for DVD's or HDTV is the same size as the Sony 57HW40 widescreen. I have the best of both worlds. A 61" 4:3 T.V. for 85% of the programming I watch, and a 57HW40 widescreen T.V. for DVD's and for HDTV programming if and when there is any worthwhile programming to watch. I don't have any burn-in problems and can always watch any programming in the proper and original aspect ratio.

I find it funny when someone suggests a 16:9 over a 4:3 display because 16:9 is better. In a sense it's telling that person to watch 75-80 of programming in either a funky stretch mode or risk burning your guns.

I believe Sony has a 43, 53 and 61" 4:3 T.V.'s that all do the anamorphic squeeze. You need this in your 4:3 T.V.

Good luck.

If the dtc-100 is line-doubling better than the TV, then the TV's line doubler is pretty bad. I have a year-old pioneer 53" (non-elite) widescreen HD-rptv and the internal processing does a much better job than the 540p put out by my ps hd105 (proscan version of dtc-100).