New TV for my Dad

The 2007 Mitsubishis model 732 and 831 are the class of all right now. Stay away from the sony sxrd technology. Do a search on green blob and youll see why.

How about a DLP?

The 42A10 has been replaced by the 42E2000, virtually the same set but with 2 HDMI inputs and no cablecard or QAM tuner. DLP sets have no "screen door effect" but do have dithery pictures and the Samsungs do a horrible job with anything less than a perfect source--lots of video noise in dark areas of the screen.

the 1080p DLP is the best large screen picture quality of any type of tv right now. The mitsubishi 732 and the 831 are the best of all TVs . Dont know how it could be much better then the picture they provide.

The Samsung HL-S4266 is a nice 42" DLP in your price range. Samsung also makes a 46" model (HL-S4676S) with a slim profile but it costs a few hundred dollars more.

No. your thinking of Sony.

I vote for the 42A10.

This is the display I recommended to a friend and felt safe recommending it.

The problem with DLPs is that there is always a risk that the viewer will see rainbow effect. As someone who sees rainbows, it sucks.

Yes. Samsung is the DLP I would absolutely recommend, as long as you like DLP technology and do not see rainbows. I've had mine for >3 years, without a single problem.

The rainbow problem from the last gens isn't present in the current gen. The Samsung HL-S4676S is a fantastic set.

Take a look at the Sony KDF-42/46 E2000 sets at any of your local B&M stores. CC, HHGREGG and Best Buy are all pretty much on the same page in price where I live. You may have trouble finding the A10 models unless they are the displays which I would not buy.

My neighbor has the Sony 42A10 and he likes it a lot...I think for your Dad's price range this would be the best buy.

After installing a KDFE42A10 for a customer a little while back, I would not recommend this set. You mentioned that most of your programming is SD, for some reason, this set doesn't handle SD too well. However, I wouldn't really recommend the Samsung HLS4266W either, its SD handling isn't that impressive. The HLS4676S might be a set to consider if you can fit it in your budget. I would avoid Toshiba DLPs if you can, they have been plagued with problems.

Sounds like he is using one of the "zoom" modes on the tv. It is normal. I don't have a Samsung, so can't say much more than whenever I use zoom, the picture is how you describe it....can't see the upper scores or tickers. Check the manual, there should be an explanation of all 5 of the picture screen size modes.

If he's watching SD material he must be watching it in a stretched mode that makes a standard 4:3 image fill the widescreen. He needs to find the mode where it displays the image exactly how it is coming in. This should put up black bars on the side of non widescreen shows.

For whoever said that the current gen does not display rainbows, this is completely false. I just spent months researching and deciding what TV to get. I was set on a 1080p Samsung set until I brought Sin City into the store to test it out. I saw rainbows in characters hair anytime they moved back and forth, it was very distracting. That being said my girlfriends family got the 46" Samsung Slim DLP last weekend and they love it. If you can tolerate the rainbows and DLPs dont give you eye strain they're great sets.

....or his satellite/cable box is set to output everything at 720 or 1080 and the display thinks its HD and uses "full" mode.

I don't know, I've got a HL-S4266WX/XAA and i can't say i've ever once noticed this "rainbow effect", whether the source is sd or hd. I'm pretty anal also about my PQ, but perhaps just not as much as most.

Most people don't see the rainbow effect, at least during normal viewing. But some do, and it can be distracting enough that they may be better off not buying a DLP set.