Another thing to consider on big-ticket items like this is sales tax. At 10.25% in Chicago, I’d rather buy on-line, even if it costs a bit more, than send $100 or more to those bastards in Springfield.
How do projectors fit into the lineup?
Projectors are nice. Enormous picture for a great price. I considered getting one but had to consider these points first:
-Do I have a dark enough room? You really need a dark room to watch this in. Not a great choice if it’s for casual viewing with people multi-tasking in the same room.
-Where am I going to put the projector? Sitting on a table in the middle of the room is pretty intrusive. Could I really mount it myself to the ceiling?
-How am I going to run the cables? If I mount it on the ceiling how do I get power to the thing much less run cables to a DVD player, cable box, or stereo.
-What am I going to project onto? I either have to mount a permanent screen on the wall or pull a retractable one down every time I want to watch.
So overall I’d say they’re nice if you have a dedicated dark room for just watching movies and can install everything properly. Not a good choice for the family room where junior is doing his homework and you want to catch the 6 o’clock news.
They are, but many A/V nerds still think plasma is the bestest ;).
I’m not a A/V nerd ( other sorts of nerd, yes, but not A/V ), but I do have Panasonic plasma set and so far I am pleased with it. I’m not really a fan of “brighter” under my typical viewing conditions - non-LED LCDs just don’t look as good to my eye, at least when they are both new. But ask me again in five years - I reserve the right to say it didn’t work out in the long run.
[quote=“Superhal, post:18, topic:517519”]
I did a little research on the subject (I didn’t check plasma vs lcd though,) and here’s what I found:
TV repair shops won’t fix LCD’s. You have to deal with the manufacturer.
/QUOTE]
I run a TV repair business (warranty depot for several major manufacturers) and over 50% of the repairs we do are to LCD TV sets. Many of them are fixed after warranty has expired.
I bought a 42" Panasonic Plasma more than a year ago and I love it. I suppose it helps that the living room shutters shut out any disruptive light.
I like my Phillips LCD.
As far as plama goes, I was walking by one in a store last month and I could feel the heat it was putting off as I walked by, from a couple feet away. I stopped and turned around just to see where the heat was coming from and it was the plasma TV.
Depending upon what size room you are putting it into the heat might be something to check into. Definitely check one out in person after it has been on for awhile.
We have a beautiful Mitsubishi 57" rear projection (WD-Y577). We got it for about the same cost (at the time, about two years ago) as a 42" LCD and a extraordinarily happy with the choice. We even had the 42" here for about a month (Sony) before making the exchange.
Blu-Ray, HD cable both look fantastic. Though the den has blackout curtains, unless it’s in the middle of the afternoon and the sun is coming right through the window they’re pretty unnecessary.
A factor in our decision was that we didn’t have any intention of mounting the television on a wall, so the super-slim nature of LCDs and Plasmas wasn’t all that enticing. Wall aside, it’s only about 14" deep, so it’s nothing like an older CRT box – it fits very close to the wall.
So if you have the room (not that that much is needed), don’t need to be super-cool (some people just need to have LCD or plasma?), take a look at your rear projection options. For similar prices you can get much more of a set.