Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

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even this is arguable. a lot of people say 720i is better than 1080p

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you mean 720p vs 1080i...

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yeah, I get those mixed up

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

less than 42 for hd content is pretty much a joke at 8-10 feet

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

i'm ULTRA pleased with my http://www.oppodigital.com/ dvd player. if you order direct from them (basically the same price as anywhere else - $200) you can get a dvi-hdmi cable. if you order from other shops it's only a dvi cable. it's discussed a ton on avsforum. people whine about macroblocking, but it's fantastic. ultra fast response time on menus, great feature set, amazing support from the manufacturer, etc.

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

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i'm ULTRA pleased with my http://www.oppodigital.com/ dvd player. if you order direct from them (basically the same price as anywhere else - $200) you can get a dvi-hdmi cable. if you order from other shops it's only a dvi cable. it's discussed a ton on avsforum. people whine about macroblocking, but it's fantastic. ultra fast response time on menus, great feature set, amazing support from the manufacturer, etc.

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Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into that one. I'm holding off for a little bit on a new DVD player because I want to get this first (not for the DVD player part of it).

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

i have a dlink media station i use for playing rhapsody music through my tv. it supports video playback and has component outputs, haven't really cared about the video aspects though. but i think it was cheap, something like $150? pretty cheesy ui. i really wanted another brand, a top 'media center' reviewed thing from pc magazine. user-moddable with an api, hd, etc. didn't support rhapsody though [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] this dvd one looks interesting, i'll check it out (for non-dvd reasons as well).

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

It seems to be the only thing on the market that will handle all types of HD files, which is what I primarily want it for. It'll do .ts mpeg-2, xvid, divx, wmv9 hd. There is a lot of HD media available via newsgroups, much in .ts form. This is what I want it for.
Photo/music capabilities will be a nice bonus.

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

http://www.rokulabs.com/products/photobridge/index.php

there's the one. look at their site compared to everything else. the user interface looks amazing, they have support forums where they are constantly posting/updating with beta software/etc. everything looks like a dream come true except no upnp/rhapsody yet as far as i can tell.

every media playing whatever thing always has a hack job ui, some signifigant and easily fixed drawbacks that never seem to come up in firmware releases, etc. these guys look like the real deal when it comes to quality.

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

I looked at that one. There was some limitation I found - I think it doesn't handle .ts well and/or you can't FF/REW them, only play/stop. Or something. But the upgrade-ability makes it worth considering.
There are multiple threads on both at avsforum.

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

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When people say standard definition stuff looks crappy, do they mean that it looks the same as on a regular TV and crappy in comparison to HD, or that it looks even worse on an HD TV than it does on a regular TV?

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It's the latter. If you're going to just watch standard broadcast signals, you will be better served by a decent CRT than a flat panel display. Spending 75% less is just a very nice icing on the cake.

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FWIW, I was at a friends house last night who just got the new Sony 42" grand WEGA. the standard def stuff looked much better than I have ever seen on a HDTV

Re: Want a new (HD)TV, Budget = $1,500-2,000
 

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Lastly, FWIW I got a Sony KDFE42A10 RPLCD a couple weeks ago. Brief review:
HD - No complaints. Looks fantastic.
SD - (DirecTV) some things look awful, like golf. But most programs range somewhere between decent and very good. I came from a 27" Wega non-hd crt which had a tremendous picture, so I had high standards. Black levels are not very good and shadow detail is weak, but I'm getting used to it.
DVD - I have a non-progressive, non-upconverting dvd player, so the tv is doing the upconverting/deinterlacing. 24 is really all I've watched so far. It doesn't look as good as HD stuff, but it looks far better than SD programming. In other words, it's very good. Would possibly be even better with a better DVD player. Black level issues are present but less noticeable than SD tv stuff.

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I'm now considering this model. How do you find the viewing angle?

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Viewing angle is great. I got the TV for $1800 from Sears, and I love it. Have used it for SD (decent), HDTV (antenna-based), Xbox, and DVD (progressive scan, no upconverting). It's really a great TV.

Rob