I've read many a post about people's big ass TV's with some envy. Some of you guys have a pretty insane HT setup. (You know who you are!) My wife and I do enjoy our TV watching and now our Wii sports but had been pretty happy with my aging but still fully functioning Toshiba 42" rear projection that I had since then end of '04.
But since we got the Wii and play some stuff split screen I have commented about wanting a bigger set. We went to Costco on the weekend to look at a chair they have and we left with a big ass TV. (Isn't that always the way it is?) We didn't plan on it but when we started looking in the TV aisles we were kind of taken by one in particular. Being a somewhat impulse buy, the price point was a major consideration. The size was as well. It had to be appreciably bigger than a 42". We had previously ruled out LCD's and plasmas because we have a big niche that is about 24" deep so paying the premium for one of those would be wasted. when it would just be set in a deep niche anyway. We had been thinking of a 55".
We wound up buying a
Mistubishi Diamond 62" LCD rear projection. It came with a very nice Mitsubishi stand that we cannot use. (It made the whole package too tall for the niche. We had to improvise/"McGyver" a 15" stand.) The price was a major clincher for us: $1500 for the whole deal, plus tax of course. There is not much to compete with that price unless you want a 42" Vizio plasma which we don't. It's bigger than we had thought about but for the money, it was a no-brainer. We thought "why pay more for the 50" Sony LCD rear projection?". There was a Toshiba 62" DLP rear projection 1080p TV on special for $2000 after a $200 coupon. It was too tall, $400 more, and the picture wasn't that good anyway. There was a 56" JVD HD-ILA for about the same price but it was aesthetically bad looking and JVC had a terrible reputation with those HD-ILA chipsets burning out early. The Costco TV guy used to work at Best(Worst) Buy and said that they got one of those returned per week.
:
I do have some questions and wanted your opinions:
- I know it's a LCD projection and with LCOS, SXRD, D-ILA, and DLP, did we shoot ourselves in the foot? I don't think we did, especially for the price. I don't have a problem with LCD projection. The thing I had heard about that was it was a little dim but ours seems very bright.
- It's not a 1080p set but from my research it seems that 1080p is more of a marketing thing and that there is very little difference. There is an illusion created that 1080p is superior to 1080i when in reality, it's more or less the same thing. Thoughts?
- The 62" is bigger than we had been considering but again, the price was just too good and the selection in the 55" range was not good. (They only had a 56" JVC HD-ILA that I and many people don't trust.) We sit about 10 feet back and so far, it seems okay. Further back would be ideal but until we move into a bigger house 10 or 11 feet is it. We would like to be able to use this TV in a bigger house someday. What are your opinions on viewing distance and a 62" TV?
- I'm currently running with component video but it has one HDMI input. Is it worth the price of the HDMI cable?
- I think I have a buyer for my 42" Toshiba. What's a fair price to sell it? It's in perfect condition. There were a few on eBay from $400 to $800.
We were planning on using it and see how we like it and seeing if Costco gets anything good in the 55" range. I would like to keep the Mistu just to avoid trucking it back and if we go smaller later on it might be rough to go to a smaller TV.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble. Your opinions are appreciated.