The more I read, the farther away I get...

Isn't your 36inch XBR a 1080i, and 720P Sony tube set. If you are only able to go up to at most a 42inch panel, why bother. The 36inch CRT set, has got to provide most of what you are looking for.

How old is your CRT tube set?.

Listen buddy, moving from 36" to 42" U'd be only deceiving yourself, U should go with 50" 1080P Plasma, because as U said U only buy a set every 10 years, so by the not very distant future blueray and HD DVD would be dirt cheap, and trust me you will want to buy one... Good luck anyways...

Considering that you say that you are not a movie buff,and that probably means that you are not much of a DVD viewer, and you are getting practically all your TV from Direct-TV, I would say that you should just wait at least a year or two. You are probably getting a good digital picture now being converted to your analog Sony Tube set. Let things evolve. You will not gain a whole lot by buying a small HD flat panel set now. Wait at least a year or two. There will be more HD programs then, and the Sets will have been improved, at a lower price level. Samsung just came out with a full 1080P LCD 40inch set, but it costs three grand. In a couple of years, that might be what you are looking for, and it should be available for a far lower price. If I were in your situation, I would stand pat, for now. Two years from now, the odds are far greater that you will be able to buy your first 10 year HD flat panel for a reasonable price. Good luck.

Think about it, seriously.

Check the 'viewing distances to resolution' comparisons. I was seriously on the verge of buying an HDTV, but guess what? My local cable company only has SIX HD cable channels! Direct TV? Maybe 20 HD channels? Shoot! Is that really worth it? Most of those channels don't even broadcast shows that I would normally watch anyway! When you look at how far away you should be for certain size TV's, and compare to what you have now (SD tv), it's not really that big of a deal! You get what? 'Widescreen' viewing instead of 4:3 SD TV? I sit an average of 10-12 feet away from the TV and whether you get a 1080p or 720p, anything beyond six feet or so away is pointless.

So mmorse, I feel your pain and I see your point completely. I try to get advice and feedback here too and came to the same conclusion as you. Unless you spend a bajillion dollars on an high-end home 'theatre' setup, you're wasting your money. Mainly because everything else is crap in comparison and you'll have nothing but trouble.

I am going to wait until there are more HD channels with content that I normally watch and the quality of HDTV's are more consistent. Right now, the industry can't seem to make up it's mind on plasma, lcd or rptv's anyways.

The best thing to do right now is wait for at least a couple years (if not more), or, if you're current tv takes a dump on ya. Just my thoughts on all this HDTV 'crap'.

I will get my HD 'fix' from playing my computer/xbox 360 games on my computer monitor for now until the HD TV hardware gets its act together.

Good luck mmorse.

If I break apart your post, I can honestly recommend that you should not upgrade. Going from a 36" to a 42" is not enough of a move, and at your distance, you would not be able to appreciate the increase in resolution. Add what you watch normally, and I would definitely wait.

What I will recommend is to see if you can change your sitting room's environment. Even after a few years, if you can't manage to fit at least a 50-55" TV, or move closer than 10', you may not need to upgrade your TV until your environment changes, or your TV breaks.

If furniture is the factor (don't know...speculating) that you can't fit a TV bigger than 42", then I would take the money you were going to use on a TV and invest in something that will allow for a wider TV. Or, of course, the cheaper option would be to move the couch closer.

my 2 cents.

Robert

moving the couch closer is the type of advice given by women... we're men damit! Need BIGGER TV.....

"Plus, I buy a TV on the average of once every 10-12 years"

I bet that range drops dramatically when you finally get a flat screen. It's amazing how new sets endure compared to old crt's. My first plasma (a few years ago) was shot in less than a year. "Reverse Burn-In" is what they called it, for lack of a better term. Luckliy, since it technically wasn't burn-in, Samsung gave me my money back (burn-in is not covered by warranty). So, I figured I'd save some $ and buy a DLP (Samsung, since they were nice enough before)... well, after 2 years, it "broke". A loud pop, then the color got screwy, and now there's no pic. A serviceman is coming to look at it today (I think it's the color wheel). So, maybe I'll be looking for something else... LCD, I figure. Depends on the cost, and whether I think it's worth fixing (haven't even replaced the bulb yet).
Who ever needed to buy 3 crt's in less than 5 years? If you don't think you need to replace your Sony, I'd say "don't".

I agree with you mmorse. I have up to $3,000 to spend on a tv, but I don't want to waste my money with something that I won't be thrilled with for at least a decade, which is how often I buy televisions. And I don't want to have to worry about and obsess over every new techological development to make sure my television is "keeping up." But I've come to the conclusion, after a lot of research, that the HDTV "phenomenon" is, at the moment, 90% hype, and once that hype dissipates you're left with ... a television. Whoopee. I'm gonig to wait until this techonology becomes normalized and I don't feel like I'm being sold a bill of goods.

What in the heck is "Reverse Burn-In"?

"Reverse Burn-In" was (or is) what Samsung called the issue my plasma had. When watching SD, I didn't notice anything wrong (vertical bars on the sides were black, I think). But, after a while (6+ months?) I noticed that when I switched to the few HD channels I had, the picture was better on the sides (where the SD bars were). It was determined that the bars had not burned-in, because that was the area where the picture was best. Instead, they said the rest of my display was wearing out. It was easiest to see when using it as a pc display, and with a fixed, bright background you could clearly see that the best part of the display was where the bars normally were.
Maybe there's another term for this now, but at the time Samsung said there was no way to repair it, and needed to be replaced.

Wow.. I mean WOW. I thought DLP's were immune to that. Since it's just a projection, would I assume that this means the actual screen wore out in the middle due to the lamp? Never heard of that one before. Does it still afflict all their newer RPTV's?

Robert

I could virtually have written the original post here. I'm in a similar situation where I only have room for a 42" set and I'm not looking to spend tons of money. The more I look the more confused I get. We probably have 20 HD channels on cable but would still be watching quite a bit of SD. We aren't heavy DVD users, though HD would certainly be nice for those we do watch. I too think I'll wait till things mature a bit more or I find such a good deal on a HDTV that I can't pass it up.

Valnar-
I was talking about my plasma (reverse burn-in). I replaced it with a DLP, which just broke a couple days ago (different thread).

They are, he said he had a Plasma. But My DLP is out for repair after 13 months of service. Wanna know how much the part costs? 1600 bucks. Samsung extended the warranty to cover it and I have purchased a 3 year extension but never again. No more DLP for me, Parts are far too expensive. these HD set manufacturers are pulling a scam on the consumers giving only 1 year warranties when one part costs nearly what the entire set does. The guys that came to come get it for repair said they had 5 other Sammys on the truck to take to the shop. Id guess thats half the day collecting defective Samsungs. I guess my next adventure will be LCD.

I guess I read too fast. me = stupid.

I recently stayed in a Hyatt that had a LG plasma. I was sold, I thought.

Found this forum and talked myself out of plasma (bright viewing room).

Almost haver talked myself out of LCD reading about "banding", "pixels," "buzzing,", etc.

Can anyone recommend the best value (pq vs. $) in a 50"+ LCD that does not have built in problems mentioned above?

Thanks in advance,

John

The Panna 77U plasma has an anti-glare screen that might work for you. Don't know about LCD.