tube or projection

I am in the market for an HDTV and wanted to know if I should get a 34 inch
wide screen, 36 inch square screen, or a projection TV (which would be about
44 inches).

Also, which brand? For projection I was thinking Mitsubishi...that was
recommended by 2 salesmen at best buy. Someone told me I should go an
authorized Mitsu dealer instead of BB. Any thoughts?? Consumer reports
gave top ratings to a Toshiba model that is on clearance due to being
discontinued. I know Toshiba makes great TV's, too.

Thanks,

Eddie G

"Eddie G" mickeddie at comcast.net wrote in message
...
I am in the market for an HDTV and wanted to know if I should get a 34
inch
wide screen, 36 inch square screen, or a projection TV (which would be
about
44 inches).

Also, which brand? For projection I was thinking Mitsubishi...that was
recommended by 2 salesmen at best buy. Someone told me I should go an
authorized Mitsu dealer instead of BB. Any thoughts?? Consumer reports
gave top ratings to a Toshiba model that is on clearance due to being
discontinued. I know Toshiba makes great TV's, too.

Thanks,

Eddie G


You may want to base it on where it's going. For HD you could look for 1.5 x
size(diagonal) for the minimum viewing distance. for non HD material 2x is
considered normal distance.

So, for the 44" you should sit at least 7 feet away from the screen. for 2x
distance.

I personally use about 1.7 for my setup, 14ft distance for a 100" screen.

Beside the distances, the room overall should come into play. We switched
sets from a Hitachi 48" Rear Projections to the Dish Network 34" HDTV Tube
set (900.00 gets you a 34" HDTV widescreen set, HDTV receiver, professional
set up). Our room was well lit with constant sun and the projection screen
was to low on light level so we switched to the tube and the picture is
fabulous.
Think of the room and the lighting situation and then make your decision
"jb" wrote in message
.. .

"Eddie G" mickeddie at comcast.net wrote in message
...
I am in the market for an HDTV and wanted to know if I should get a 34
inch
wide screen, 36 inch square screen, or a projection TV (which would be
about
44 inches).

Also, which brand? For projection I was thinking Mitsubishi...that was
recommended by 2 salesmen at best buy. Someone told me I should go an
authorized Mitsu dealer instead of BB. Any thoughts?? Consumer reports
gave top ratings to a Toshiba model that is on clearance due to being
discontinued. I know Toshiba makes great TV's, too.

Thanks,

Eddie G


You may want to base it on where it's going. For HD you could look for 1.5
x
size(diagonal) for the minimum viewing distance. for non HD material 2x
is
considered normal distance.

So, for the 44" you should sit at least 7 feet away from the screen. for
2x
distance.

I personally use about 1.7 for my setup, 14ft distance for a 100" screen.

"eric" wrote in message
...
Beside the distances, the room overall should come into play. We
switched
sets from a Hitachi 48" Rear Projections to the Dish Network 34" HDTV Tube
set (900.00 gets you a 34" HDTV widescreen set, HDTV receiver,
professional
set up). Our room was well lit with constant sun and the projection
screen
was to low on light level so we switched to the tube and the picture is
fabulous.
Think of the room and the lighting situation and then make your decision

Also, which brand? For projection I was thinking Mitsubishi...that
was
recommended by 2 salesmen at best buy. Someone told me I should go an
authorized Mitsu dealer instead of BB. Any thoughts?? Consumer
reports
gave top ratings to a Toshiba model that is on clearance due to being
discontinued. I know Toshiba makes great TV's, too.

You may want to base it on where it's going. For HD you could look for
1.5
x size(diagonal) for the minimum viewing distance. for non HD material
2x
is considered normal distance.

So, for the 44" you should sit at least 7 feet away from the screen. for
2x distance.

I purchased a 55" AKAI (low end Samsung) PT5598HDIX at SAMs for $1290. It's
a two tuner HD ready.
Great picture. I have CATV on Ant A and ANT on Ant B. Local HD reception
is on Ant B
Drawbacks:
1) 3 month warranty instead of the 1 year with Samsung, Hitachi, MGA,
Toshiba
2) The audio out is Monitor only so I can't control the volume with the TV
remote, have to use my stereo remote.
3) It's BIG. Though the tubes being in front of the boards is good (no worry
about coolant leaks)
4) when using the PIP chup chdn while in ant mode it won't go above ch 69
even though PIP source Ant A has
CATV to ch 125
5) Drawback with all HD tv's I've seen: There are two audio outs; Dolby
digital which only works when a dolby digital signal is received (HD) and
audio out. When you switch to a HD channel you have to switch your receiver
to the optical (digital input) and when you go to a standard NTSC channel
the sound cuts out so you have to switch to analog input.

My guess is that the TV can faithfully reproduce close to the 2 million of
the 3 million that HD allows. Focus is not as good as the LCD projection or
Light processing TV's (990K pixals) but the resolvable pixal size is
smaller.

Do you know a 34" widescreen is very small compared to a 36" square TV
because the way the screen size is measured diagonally? They probably
give you the same width on the outside. But the widescreen probably
only give you half the screen area compare to the square TV when you
watch SD programmings. It seems odd to me that you mentioned two TVs
with such big size difference in the same sentence.

Depending on the size you choose, any tube bigger than 36" is too
heavy. It hurts your back if you need to move it. It may fall down
during an earthquake and crush some kids. The thickness of the tube
TV is an important consideration if you don't have a big room. Some
of the rear projection TV in the 40+" size can be around one foot in
thickness. It is amazing how much space you save in your room with a
thin TV.

If you plan to go HD, of course buy widescreen. A widescreen
maximizes the HD viewing, and give decent 4x3 viewing. On the
contrary, a square TV minimizes the HD experience and at the same time
exaggerates the interior SD. You want the picture to be big when the
picture is in high resolution, you don't really want to blow up a low
resolution picture real big to see all the flaws of NTSC. Remember
the quality of the picture is more important than the size of the
picture. You are supposed to highlight the good and hide the bad, not
the reverse. The only advantage of square TV is that you may get a
better deal because it is the opposite trend.

For projection TV, you need to compare the technology behind the
screen. CRT based, LCD based and DLP, front or rear projection, each
has its pros and cons. Screen burn-in is also an important
consideration when you choose the technology. CRT based projection is
prone to burn-in, but LCD projection is prone to dead pixels over
time, DLP projection has rainbow problem or broken color wheel problem
for the low end, but the 3 chips DLP can be very expensive. If you
have a lot of money to spend a highend 3 chips DLP projection TV is
the best TV you can buy IMHO. You need to really sit down to see what
you like better.

When comparing brands, you need to see how well the TV show HD
pictures. Also you need to see how well it plays regular NTSC
broadcast and DVD source too. An HD-ready TV with a good line doubler
will give very nice pictures for low definition source. How many
inputs at the back of the TV is also important to some people.

Good luck in choosing.

"Eddie G" mickeddie at comcast.net wrote in message ...
I am in the market for an HDTV and wanted to know if I should get a 34 inch
wide screen, 36 inch square screen, or a projection TV (which would be about
44 inches).

Also, which brand? For projection I was thinking Mitsubishi...that was
recommended by 2 salesmen at best buy. Someone told me I should go an
authorized Mitsu dealer instead of BB. Any thoughts?? Consumer reports
gave top ratings to a Toshiba model that is on clearance due to being
discontinued. I know Toshiba makes great TV's, too.

Thanks,

Eddie G

(Caloonese) wrote in message . com...
Do you know a 34" widescreen is very small compared to a 36" square TV
because the way the screen size is measured diagonally? They probably
give you the same width on the outside. But the widescreen probably
only give you half the screen area compare to the square TV when you
watch SD programmings. It seems odd to me that you mentioned two TVs
with such big size difference in the same sentence.

I know...I also read that a 36 inch displaying in 16:9 gives you 33"
on the screen, so square box is definitly out.

If you plan to go HD, of course buy widescreen. A widescreen
maximizes the HD viewing, and give decent 4x3 viewing. On the
contrary, a square TV minimizes the HD experience and at the same time
exaggerates the interior SD. You want the picture to be big when the
picture is in high resolution, you don't really want to blow up a low
resolution picture real big to see all the flaws of NTSC. Remember
the quality of the picture is more important than the size of the
picture. You are supposed to highlight the good and hide the bad, not
the reverse. The only advantage of square TV is that you may get a
better deal because it is the opposite trend.

For projection TV, you need to compare the technology behind the
screen. CRT based, LCD based and DLP, front or rear projection, each
has its pros and cons. Screen burn-in is also an important
consideration when you choose the technology. CRT based projection is
prone to burn-in, but LCD projection is prone to dead pixels over
time, DLP projection has rainbow problem or broken color wheel problem
for the low end, but the 3 chips DLP can be very expensive. If you
have a lot of money to spend a highend 3 chips DLP projection TV is
the best TV you can buy IMHO. You need to really sit down to see what
you like better.

I would be looking at rear projection CRT as that is in my budget.

So now I ask, which manufacturer makes the best rear projection CRT
HDTV? Also, which models are recommended? I've found that just
because the sony KV34HS510 got great reviews, a different model is not
as good as, say, a toshiba.

Thanks!!

Eddie G

(Caloonese) wrote in message . com...
Do you know a 34" widescreen is very small compared to a 36" square TV
because the way the screen size is measured diagonally? They probably
give you the same width on the outside. But the widescreen probably
only give you half the screen area compare to the square TV when you
watch SD programmings. It seems odd to me that you mentioned two TVs
with such big size difference in the same sentence.

I know...I also read that a 36 inch displaying in 16:9 gives you 33"
on the screen, so square box is definitly out.

If you plan to go HD, of course buy widescreen. A widescreen
maximizes the HD viewing, and give decent 4x3 viewing. On the
contrary, a square TV minimizes the HD experience and at the same time
exaggerates the interior SD. You want the picture to be big when the
picture is in high resolution, you don't really want to blow up a low
resolution picture real big to see all the flaws of NTSC. Remember
the quality of the picture is more important than the size of the
picture. You are supposed to highlight the good and hide the bad, not
the reverse. The only advantage of square TV is that you may get a
better deal because it is the opposite trend.

For projection TV, you need to compare the technology behind the
screen. CRT based, LCD based and DLP, front or rear projection, each
has its pros and cons. Screen burn-in is also an important
consideration when you choose the technology. CRT based projection is
prone to burn-in, but LCD projection is prone to dead pixels over
time, DLP projection has rainbow problem or broken color wheel problem
for the low end, but the 3 chips DLP can be very expensive. If you
have a lot of money to spend a highend 3 chips DLP projection TV is
the best TV you can buy IMHO. You need to really sit down to see what
you like better.

I would be looking at rear projection CRT as that is in my budget.

So now I ask, which manufacturer makes the best rear projection CRT
HDTV? Also, which models are recommended? I've found that just
because the sony KV34HS510 got great reviews, a different sony model
is not as good as, say, a toshiba.

Thanks!!

Eddie G

The answer is Hitachi. I did a lot of research before buying my Hitachi
RPTV and the conclusion was that Hitachi is pretty much the best. They
developed their own technology and it's mature, and it's even used by other
manufacturers. When I bought my set I went to a smaller local business to
make the purchase because of after sales service. When I went into their
showroom I discovered that they only carried two brands of RPTV's, Hitachi
and Sony. The salesman told me that they carry those models because of
their quality and little or no after sales service is required which is good
for their bottom line. Sounded good to me. I've had the set for a year now
and have no complaints.

JK

"Eddie G" wrote in message
om...
(Caloonese) wrote in message
. com...
Do you know a 34" widescreen is very small compared to a 36" square TV
because the way the screen size is measured diagonally? They probably
give you the same width on the outside. But the widescreen probably
only give you half the screen area compare to the square TV when you
watch SD programmings. It seems odd to me that you mentioned two TVs
with such big size difference in the same sentence.

I know...I also read that a 36 inch displaying in 16:9 gives you 33"
on the screen, so square box is definitly out.

If you plan to go HD, of course buy widescreen. A widescreen
maximizes the HD viewing, and give decent 4x3 viewing. On the
contrary, a square TV minimizes the HD experience and at the same time
exaggerates the interior SD. You want the picture to be big when the
picture is in high resolution, you don't really want to blow up a low
resolution picture real big to see all the flaws of NTSC. Remember
the quality of the picture is more important than the size of the
picture. You are supposed to highlight the good and hide the bad, not
the reverse. The only advantage of square TV is that you may get a
better deal because it is the opposite trend.

For projection TV, you need to compare the technology behind the
screen. CRT based, LCD based and DLP, front or rear projection, each
has its pros and cons. Screen burn-in is also an important
consideration when you choose the technology. CRT based projection is
prone to burn-in, but LCD projection is prone to dead pixels over
time, DLP projection has rainbow problem or broken color wheel problem
for the low end, but the 3 chips DLP can be very expensive. If you
have a lot of money to spend a highend 3 chips DLP projection TV is
the best TV you can buy IMHO. You need to really sit down to see what
you like better.

I would be looking at rear projection CRT as that is in my budget.

So now I ask, which manufacturer makes the best rear projection CRT
HDTV? Also, which models are recommended? I've found that just
because the sony KV34HS510 got great reviews, a different sony model
is not as good as, say, a toshiba.

Thanks!!

Eddie G