My current set just died (an Apex 43" I got after Black Friday for $300 three years ago) so the wife and I are shopping for something new. The living room is a big space (the 43" looked small in there) and I'd like to get something a little bigger this time.
Not looking to spend a lot ($1000 - 1500), and my viewing requirements are pretty straightforward: We do about 80% of our viewing from the HD-capable DVR we get with our Comcast digital cable service (a few HD channels but the vast majority of our stuff is SD, so the quality of SD PQ is pretty important to me) - the other 20% of our viewing comes from DVDs.
Tracked down this forum and hopped on a couple nights ago, did some reading, and figured my best bet was probably a CRT rear-projection set. Looked at some of the units in my price range, and decided a couple good choices were the Hitachi 51F59 (at Circuit City for $1234) or one of the 52" RCAs (D52W20, D52W23, or D52W59). So far, so good... headed to the stores thinking I'd pick a winner and be done with it.
Here's where I got tripped up. Circuit City had about a million plasmas, LCDs, and DLPs- the majority of which looked fricking awesome (although most of them were smaller than I'd want, and way more expensive)... but the two CRT RPs they had (the Hitachi and, strangely, the RCA D52W59... even though I didn't see it on their web site) were pretty much hidden in an aisle, and the pictures on them were far from awesome.
Questions:
1. I know looking at signals at Circuit City is not the way to judge TV quality, but I would like a reality check from the group that the CRT RPs really shouldn't be an order of magnitude worse than everything else out there. I told my wife the sets probably weren't configured right, and she just raised an eyebrow at me. I stood my ground... now I just want to make sure I was right.
2. Anyone compared the Hitachi and RCA units? I was thinking the Hitachi would be a better unit (since it was just released, is priced a little higher, and comes from a manufacturer with a better rep than RCA) but the RCA looked similar, and can be had cheaper ($894 at Wal-Mart or $949 w/free delivery and a DVD recorder at Best Buy... Circuit City wanted over $1100 and me to pay for delivery... bah.) Is the Hitachi worth the extra bucks?
3. Circuit City also had a sign (but no actual unit) for the 57" version of the Hitachi (57F59), again not on their web site, for $1499. For $260 more than the 51", this seemed like an attractive option. Anyone got this set? Is it basically the same thing as the 51F59, but bigger?
4. Extended warranties... I've never been an extended warranty guy, but perusing this site it seems like TVs aren't built like they used to be. I'm hoping a CRT RP will be less "fragile" than some of the newer stuff (and no bulbs to buy is nice), but can I expect this thing to break in a year or three? Also, if I just keep the manufacturer's warranty and something goes wrong in the first year... am I screwed? Will they send a tech out, or will I need to send the thing somewhere to get fixed?
5. Okay, last one... is Circuit City in general just a rip-off? They were pricing a lot higher on the RCA 52" than either Wal-Mart (for the exact same model) or Best Buy (for basically the same thing, D52W59 vs D52W23) - makes me nervous about buying either of the Hitachis there.
Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be. Any help would be appreciated - I'm hoping to pick something in the next day or two.
Thanks!
Not looking to spend a lot ($1000 - 1500), and my viewing requirements are pretty straightforward: We do about 80% of our viewing from the HD-capable DVR we get with our Comcast digital cable service (a few HD channels but the vast majority of our stuff is SD, so the quality of SD PQ is pretty important to me) - the other 20% of our viewing comes from DVDs.
Tracked down this forum and hopped on a couple nights ago, did some reading, and figured my best bet was probably a CRT rear-projection set. Looked at some of the units in my price range, and decided a couple good choices were the Hitachi 51F59 (at Circuit City for $1234) or one of the 52" RCAs (D52W20, D52W23, or D52W59). So far, so good... headed to the stores thinking I'd pick a winner and be done with it.
Here's where I got tripped up. Circuit City had about a million plasmas, LCDs, and DLPs- the majority of which looked fricking awesome (although most of them were smaller than I'd want, and way more expensive)... but the two CRT RPs they had (the Hitachi and, strangely, the RCA D52W59... even though I didn't see it on their web site) were pretty much hidden in an aisle, and the pictures on them were far from awesome.
Questions:
1. I know looking at signals at Circuit City is not the way to judge TV quality, but I would like a reality check from the group that the CRT RPs really shouldn't be an order of magnitude worse than everything else out there. I told my wife the sets probably weren't configured right, and she just raised an eyebrow at me. I stood my ground... now I just want to make sure I was right.
2. Anyone compared the Hitachi and RCA units? I was thinking the Hitachi would be a better unit (since it was just released, is priced a little higher, and comes from a manufacturer with a better rep than RCA) but the RCA looked similar, and can be had cheaper ($894 at Wal-Mart or $949 w/free delivery and a DVD recorder at Best Buy... Circuit City wanted over $1100 and me to pay for delivery... bah.) Is the Hitachi worth the extra bucks?
3. Circuit City also had a sign (but no actual unit) for the 57" version of the Hitachi (57F59), again not on their web site, for $1499. For $260 more than the 51", this seemed like an attractive option. Anyone got this set? Is it basically the same thing as the 51F59, but bigger?
4. Extended warranties... I've never been an extended warranty guy, but perusing this site it seems like TVs aren't built like they used to be. I'm hoping a CRT RP will be less "fragile" than some of the newer stuff (and no bulbs to buy is nice), but can I expect this thing to break in a year or three? Also, if I just keep the manufacturer's warranty and something goes wrong in the first year... am I screwed? Will they send a tech out, or will I need to send the thing somewhere to get fixed?
5. Okay, last one... is Circuit City in general just a rip-off? They were pricing a lot higher on the RCA 52" than either Wal-Mart (for the exact same model) or Best Buy (for basically the same thing, D52W59 vs D52W23) - makes me nervous about buying either of the Hitachis there.
Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be. Any help would be appreciated - I'm hoping to pick something in the next day or two.
Thanks!
