Buying a Big Screen

[Blarg]

Just curious about people getting expensive t.v.'s/video set-ups one year and then upgrading the next. I just seems like an astounding amount of money to tear through. What do you do with the old sets, move them to another room? Or take a thousand dollar bath on them or whatever by selling them?

[Jesse Kidd]

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Just curious about people getting expensive t.v.'s/video set-ups one year and then upgrading the next. I just seems like an astounding amount of money to tear through. What do you do with the old sets, move them to another room? Or take a thousand dollar bath on them or whatever by selling them?

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In my case, I bought the 42" a year ago, with no extended warranty, for $2300. I sold the 42" when I bought the 55" for $1400, and the 55" TV would have been just over $2000 to purchase without the 5 year warranty. So I spent $600+ to upgrade my TV, and an additional $400 to get an extended warranty. If I hadn't been able to sell the old TV for such a good price (my friends all loved it and wanted it), I wouldn't have been able to justify the new model.

[astroglide]

sales tax is notable on multi-thousand dollar purchases

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I just got a 50" Sony 3LCD Rear-Projection TV but I haven't taken it out of the bo yet so I can't tell you if I like it or not.

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I've owned this TV (Sony KDF-E50A10) for a couple months now - it's good, not great. How much you're willing to spend is a big factor. I spent about $2400 on this TV (+5 year extended warranty) from some random online store in Brooklyn. It was basically between that and the 50" Panasonic plasma. There was no question when I did side-by-side comparisons in Sears that the plasma's picture blew the Sony's picture away. But, the plasma ran up around $3500, and I didn't want to spend that much. I haven't seen any Sony SXRD's in person, but they're supposed to be amazing (true 1920x1080 HD resolution, whereas the LCD is 1280x720 or something and the plasma is 1366x768? this is off the top of my head but the #s are somewhere around there) and only slightly more expensive than plasma.

AVSForum is a great resource. I did a lot of research there.

[B00T]

I picked up the 60" Sony LCD (not XRD) from Circuit City for $3050 (after tax) last week. These models are being discontinued because Sony is strictly pushing the $4500 XRD at the 60" size. I love the TV so far and I found it to be the best picture out of any LCD out there.

[fluxrad]

I'd be wary of plasma burn.

I recommend this Sony 50" LCD RP (edit: it's the same one shant mentions above). I've had the 42" version for a couple of months and love it. It does have a bit of a red push, but this is a minor annoyance that can be mitigated with a bit of image tweaking.

I'd go with either the Sony...or as I understand it Mitsubishi makes a good DLP unit. I'd head over to AVS Forum if you want to find the skinny on any unit in particular. I went there on the recommendation of some people here when I was shopping and am extremely glad I did.

Personally, I'm a fan of either DLP or LCD RP. Plasma just has too many downsides.

[diebitter]

don't even know if it's available in NA, but try and look at a 50" Sagem Axiom(sp?)

awesome picture and great price - I never thought I'd see a decent rear proj TV in a well lit room till I saw this.

[renodoc]

I think sony makes a 50 inch SXRD set. I would look into it.

I'm considering the Qualia 006, but its a crapload of cash. Also looking at the "Ruby" front projector.

Have a Sharp Aquos 45 in and like it.

[astroglide]

the sony sxrds don't accept 1080p on any of the inputs (same as most "1080p" sets)

[busguy]

If you are interested in the 50" Sony LCD rear projection . . .

Costco has the previous year's (2004/2005) version of the one recommended by shant and fluxrad above. I'm pretty sure I saw them at the Burnaby location for $2399 Cdn.

After reading this thread, I picked one up in July from Future Shop for $2200 and change and absolutely love the thing.

busguy