Sony 32 inch R.I.P

[Scrambled]

Well the day I have been waiting for has finally arrived, my trusty, dusty Sony 32 tv died last night. My wife is still in morning, but being the strong person that I am, I have decided to start looking for a replacement!

The TV will be mounted on the wall above the fireplace. The bottom of the TV will be 6 feet off of the floor (i know it is kinda high). The front of the couch is 16 feet from the mounting wall. The worst part is that this room has 9 floor to ceiling windows and 5 smaller windows up high.

Today I went to two different places, and they both told me I need LCD because of the windows. Is this true?

The TV that my wife liked was the Sony 52'' XBR LCD HDTV Bravia. Her only complaint was that she wanted something bigger.

What does everyone think about the Sony LCD TVs? This is probally my one shot at a tv, so I don,t want to screw it up.


Thanks for the suggestions


Steve

p.s. the Sony was 3270.00

 

[Digger]

Well the day I have been waiting for has finally arrived, my trusty, dusty Sony 32 tv died last night. My wife is still in morning, but being the strong person that I am, I have decided to start looking for a replacement!

The TV will be mounted on the wall above the fireplace. The bottom of the TV will be 6 feet off of the floor (i know it is kinda high). The front of the couch is 16 feet from the mounting wall. The worst part is that this room has 9 floor to ceiling windows and 5 smaller windows up high.

Today I went to two different places, and they both told me I need LCD because of the windows. Is this true?

The TV that my wife liked was the Sony 52'' XBR LCD HDTV Bravia. Her only complaint was that she wanted something bigger.

What does everyone think about the Sony LCD TVs? This is probally my one shot at a tv, so I don,t want to screw it up.


Thanks for the suggestions


Steve

p.s. the Sony was 3270.00

The salespeople were probably trying to tell you that LCD are less prone to glare. They probably dont know that they are just told to tell you buy an LCD if you have lots of windows.

 

[upstatemike]

I bought a 52 inch Sony XBR LCD after seeing one mounted high on the wall a a Best Buy. Every other set in the place (Plasma or LCD) reflected the bright ceiling lights in the screen, except for this model. The difference in the glare was dramatic and made the choice easy.

If you have a glare problem (and with that many windows you will) I would go to a Best Buy and do a similiar test. Most other stores display their sets in a dimmed area and you won't be able to get a true feel for difference from set to set.

*NOTE* I am not suggesting you buy a set from Best Buy... just go there to do the glare comparison test.

 

[Sacedog]

I took my SureFire flashlight along on my shopping trip, in order to test the glare in low light areas. My wife and I would take turns shining it from different angels on the screens, while the other looked. It was helpful, but the sales people thought we were nuts! I agree, the Sony XBR was the best.

 

[ginigma]

The TV that my wife liked was the Sony 52'' XBR LCD HDTV Bravia. Her only complaint was that she wanted something bigger.

She's a keeper!!!

Depending on where the windows are, you may get glare on the shiny screens. Don't know if any of the plasma's have matte screens.

 

[Timoh]

What about the fact that some folks say that anything bigger than 32" in LCD can't really do HD. The reason being that the LCD pixels can't switch fast enough on a HD highly moving image. Such as a race car going across the screen.

Just something I've heard and read in a few places, but don't know if that's to get you to buy plasma in the big sizes.

Tim

 

[upstatemike]

What about the fact that some folks say that anything bigger than 32" in LCD can't really do HD. The reason being that the LCD pixels can't switch fast enough on a HD highly moving image. Such as a race car going across the screen.

Just something I've heard and read in a few places, but don't know if that's to get you to buy plasma in the big sizes.

Tim

The 2 big weaknesses with LCD were slow pixel response and difficulty displaying true black. Both issues have been improved in recent models and are no longer significant. (Some plasma purists might still argue that the blacks are not deep enough).

Plasmas have the same issues as regular CRTs in that they are heavier and can experience screen "burn in" under some circumstances.

Phosphor is the mature legacy technology, LCD is the rapidly evolving current technology, and LED is the upcoming cutting edge technology (not yet available to consumers as far as I know).

 

[IVB]

plasmas don't have burn-in issues anymore.

You can get a 58" Panny 720p set for $2200 from visualapex.com, how can you say no to that! You'd have to sit closer than 9' away to see the difference between 720p and 1080p, so that's certainly a sweet spot.

 

[Steve]

plasmas don't have burn-in issues anymore.

With all due respect I think a more accurate statement is "a properly broken in and configured plasma don't have...". I guarantee you I can take a plasma and burn it in if I wanted to. It is true that the sets now do have burn in protection features, etc, but if they are not turned on and you leave static content, you will certainly get burn in. This is even more true on a brand new set. All that said, I have a 42" 720p Sammy plasma and love it.

 

[IVB]

ok drama queen, i can guarantee you that I can take an LCD and bash it in with a hammer, in which case it won't work either.

Yes, if leave any TV that is capable of torch-level brightness (ie, CRT or plasma), leave a static image on it, and walk away for 15 hours you're going to have an issue. But, on my 4yr old panny that has no burn-in protection, i've accidentally left it on overnight with an image. I just put on the (oy, forgetting the tuning DVD I got), with this screen-washing repeating screen for an hour, no permanent damage.

 

[SnyperBob]

I agree, you should do your own glare tests.

Plasma's are fun, but with tons of windows you'll be pissed that you can't see anything due to glare. LCD FTW!

 

[Chas821]

FWIW, plasmas generate their own brightness which will be better for an overly bright room but it's very true that the dang things are like a mirror in the right orientation. LCDs on the other hand have to depend on backlighting to see the image and in an overlly bright room will tend to look washed out without some room darkening. My advice - Buy it someplace where you can take it back if your room conditions prevent the enjoyment of HD goodness!

Chuck

 

[upstatemike]

LCD brightness is another area that should not be an issue with newer models. It is also easy to spot in side-by-side comparisons and is most often encountered in smaller screen sizes among seconf tier brands. Go to any Sams Club, Target, etc. where they have a lot of 32 inch sets next to each other and you will immediately see the Sharp, Samsung and Sony sets to be as bright as plasmas while the Magnavox, etc will look dull and washed out. Once again, this is best observed in a brightly lit store.

 

[Scrambled]

Well the wait is over! My wife finally got tired of me searching for the perfect TV for our family room.

She grabbed her copy of Consumer Reports, called a friend of her's who owns a retail electronics outlet, and in 15 minutes we had a 60 inch HD plasma. I think the model is 60Y3D.

So I will post a picture once it is installed.



Steve

 

[IVB]

schawing! Sweet!

Now you gotta see if the RS232 (control/service) port responds to commands, so you can automate it!