[DBC944]

44 views and no response! I'm either right on or so totally flawed in my thinking that nobody replied. Please any opinion would be appreciated.


I have targeted the 42HDX82 as my choice(as of today). Satellite is my only source. No DVD! HDTV is wanted(mid to late 2003). My viewing distance is 8 feet. At this distance I find the PQ unacceptable on larger RPTVs with my satellite signal, so size matters to me, inversely that is. When HDTV is the majority of programming I will definitely want a larger display.


I'm uncertain about the sets lack of native 720p and Firewire. Otherwise it looks like the set for me. Any opinions or advise is welcome. Any sets out there to meet my needs and having native 720p and/or Firewire?

 

[DBC944]

Any opinions?

 

[ClutchBrake]

I bought this TV at Best Buy for $1368 last week. http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...43HT20&o=m&a=0

I love it. The picture quality is wonderful and it has a ton of inputs (2 component).

The TiVo menus look very vibrant...

 

[mikek747]

Minor correction ClutchBrake. The TV yoiu bought at Best Buy is the 42H82. The Cinema Series 42HDX82 is not sold there. Good luck with your purchase, you made a great choice.


DBC944 in regards to your questions. The firewire input on the TV is probably not very important. The set does DVI\\HDCP which will be the input of choice in the future, specifically if you have an HD recording device, or probably HD-DVD when it becomes available down the road some day.


IMHO, the 42HDX82 has an absolutely stunning picture. I am getting one in the next few weeks. I agree that not being able to display native 720P is somewhat of an issue, but there are not many TV's out there, except for plasma and DLP and a select few others that can do it. Has alot to do with the gun sizes. I've heard it takes 9" guns to display 720P.


For your current situation I think you will be quite happy with the Toshiba. When you are ready to step up in a few years there will probably be more choices that will handle 720P.


Mike K.

 

[ClutchBrake]

Quote:

Originally posted by mikek747 Minor correction ClutchBrake. The TV yoiu bought at Best Buy is the 42H82. The Cinema Series 42HDX82 is not sold there. Good luck with your purchase, you made a great choice.

I bought a Sony 43HT20. I was just trying to convey that I didn't know anything about the Toshiba but I really like my Sony. Hope you still think I made a great choice!

 

[mikek747]

Sorry, I took your post to indicate that you had bought the 42HDX82. I am not familiar with the Sony. I am a big fan of the 42HDX82. I'm sure you and your Sony will be very happy together .


Mike K:

 

[Charm]

I had the 42hdx82 for 3 weeks and I loved the picture. But since I sit about 11 feet away from the screen I upgraded to 50hdx82 which is same as 42 inch but bigger. Again the picture quality is wonderful and it mates well with my denon dvd1600 player. You'll be happy with 42hdx82....take look at 50hdx82 and you might not think its too big at 8 feet away.

 

[DBC944]

ClutchBrake, I'm sure you are enjoying your new 43HT20. However I'm looking for a 16:9 set not a 4:3 like yours.


Mikek747, glad to hear someone else shares my enthusiasm for the 42HDX82. It would make a great transitional set until HDTV is more wide spread and less expensive. Then like most people I would like a larger display. I'm also considering waiting for a HD plasma at what is bound to be a much lower(affordable?) price next fall.


Charm, thanks for your input, great to hear you really like the HDX series. I have looked at the 50HDX82 but find the PQ unacceptable at the 8ft distance with the NTSC satellite signal. With DVD and especially HD it is great. I don't use DVD and HD is in my future.... but not soon.

 

[mikek747]

Charm, I appreciate the input on the 42HDX82. It validates my opinion. At CEDIA in November I spent most of my time working in the Toshiba booth. They had the 42HDX82 and the 50HDX82 side by side. I stepped off the viewing distance to the approximate 9ft that I have in my den, and felt that the 42" TV had a far superior picture. 50" was good, but looked a little soft at that distance. 42" was clean and tight with much clearer detail. Moved back to around 11 ft and the 50" looked much better than it had. At 11 ft I still thought the 42" was moderately better, but perhaps a bit small.


GBC944, in the 8 to 9 ft range I still like the 42". There is also a part of me that says bigger is better, but I really want to go for the best picture quality and think that the 42HDX82 is the way to go. It's still very subjective, however. As has been posted numerous times, go to a store, bring a tape measure and measure out your viewing difference. Look at them side by side and determine which has the best picture.


Despite the fact that many people want the biggest set you can cram in to your room, the main idea behind HD is picture quality. Get the TV that provides the best looking picture for the criteria you present.


Good luck, DBC944. Let me know what you choose.


Mike K.

 

[Charm]

well, the smaller set is gonna look better since the pixel is smaller....but if you watch hd or dvds then its not a problem. But with cable or satellite it can be a problem.

 

[mikek747]

Can you please clarify. Are you indicating the smaller screen size is better or worse on cable or satellite?


Mike

 

[mbaer]

I've had my 42HDX82 for about 7 weeks now and have been very happy with it. My DirecTV STB (Hughes E86) doesn't handle 720p (upconverts to 1080i) but I guess I haven't actually dealt with any 720p inputs. The few HD channels on DirecTV look great. The majority of the SD channels on DirecTV look pretty good - although you can tell they definitely crank up the compression too high on some channels.


I have a progressive scan DVD player, and those movies look great! Just curious, why no DVD player for you? I've also had some spotty success with OTA local broadcasts. When I can get a stable signal strength, that PQ is great as well.


My viewing distance is about 9-10 feet, and I think the 42" is the best size for that distance; especially if you main input is cable/satellite. Besides Plasma, the only other choice for a 16:9 42" that I found was the Hitachi. I just thought that the 42HDX82 looked better.


I also got the Avia Guide To Home Theater disk to tweak the settings and that helped some.


Good luck!

 

[DBC944]

I wish my crystal ball had a better 'picture'. It's hard to balance the importance of the 4:3 picture we have to watch now, most of the time, against the obvious beauty of HDTV on a larger(than 42") display.


The 42HDX82 seems the best today, but that is because 4:3 is still dominant.

 

[DBC944]

mbaer, I agree that DVD is awesome. I have been 'bitten' often by technology(Beta,SuperBeta, Laser Disk, etc.) I decided to use only satellite as a source. I don't have to go to the video store, check stock, return the DVD by a specific time etc.


Maybe I'm lazy, but HDDVD will obsolete today's hardware and so on. The convenience of satellite works for me.

 

[Gretsch]

Welcome to the world of technology.

For the most part, people upgrade too often. Luckily this allows the poor man, me, to buy excellent used equipment. (this procedure holds most truthful in the computer world) People are never happy with the amount of ram or speed of their processor.

I personally believe that the 42hdx82 is the best projection tv out there.

If it's a nice 42" today, are you going to be disappointed with it when the better one comes out in less than a year? If you buy that one, will you be surprised when the same thing happens again?


There is always going to be something bigger and better. Get what you will be happy with. Nothing else matters.

 

[DBC944]

Thanks metalaaron, I put a deposit down on a 42HDX82 today! I'm happy with this decision and fully realize that 'better' will always be just around the corner and at some point in time you have to make your most informed choice.


I'm also checking out a used HDTV receiver tomorrow. You must have read my mind.


Bill

 

[Man-Fai Wong]

Hi, all. I know this comes rather late, and would probably sound like crazy talk and heresy anyway, but...


Have you ever considered sticking w/ a new 4x3 set since you only watch satellite programming?? Toshiba makes nice 4x3 sets afterall that can still give you good HiDef PQ when you finally get a HiDef signal. I'd think nothing can beat a good, native 4x3 set for strictly 4x3 viewing, which is what you'll do for almost another year(!). If I were you, I'd at least give the Toshiba 50H72 a good look before taking the plunge, especially since you're looking at this as a transitional purchase.


FWIW, I was almost going to get the 50H72 myself, but unlike you, I do a lot of DVD viewing, so I'm now ready to go w/ a Panny 53wx42 to max out the DVD experience, which was the primary reason for a big, new TV right now instead of later.


Just my $.02.


Best regards,


_Man_

 

[fdefulvio]

The Toshiba's stretch mode is great! I just got a 50HDX80 and was a little concerned with watching standard TV on the wide screen, but the Toshiba does such a good job, I don't even notice that it's stretched. The majority of my analog cable channels are terrible, but the channels that have a good signal actually look pretty good. The colors are brilliant. I'm still waiting for Comcast to get more HDTV digital boxes.


I was originally looking at the 42" since my seating distance is only 9 feet away, but some of the really wide DVDs would leave you with such a small viewable picture that I went with the 50". Also, the 50HDX80 is less than 22" deep which is considerably smaller than any of the other manufacturers and looks great in my room.

 

[powaking]

I believe I got the best price on my Sony 43HT20 set. $0!. Wifey won it at work. How sweet is that. It replaced my Toshiba 36" SuperTube (which gave a pretty good picture) but nothing beats watching MLB or NFL in HiDef. Just can't wait for Comcast to offer InHD and any other HD channels to come.

 

[Cameron_Y]

I bought my 42hdx82 with some reservations because I read about CRT problems in some sets. I'm happy to say there have been no such issues in the 5 months of ownership (knock on wood). I have been very pleased with the picture quality and have been working to squeeze out as much of its capability short of getting it isf'ed (waiting for Michael TLV to swing my way). I sprung for a Bravo D1, which despite its issues, makes me never want to go back to plain old 480p. I also just stablized my OTA HD signal by mounting a roof antenna so the HD or quasi-HD content is growing.


The 720p issue is a headscratcher sometimes. ABC HD is usually a bit soft looking compared to CBS HD, I've always assumed because of the upconversion of 720 signals. However Monday Night Football in 720p looks just as sharp as CBS in 1080i. I haven't found the answer for this; my guess is it's a video vs. film issue. Either way, I don't think you need to be concerned about it.