So, I just bought a new TV. When I went out last week to purchase a new TV, my choices were: Plasma, LCD, or Projection.
All 3 of them had pros and cons. Unfortuantely, the plasma was out due to the fact that my TV room is surrounded on 3 sides by 12 foot, floor to ceiling windows with no sort of curtain or shade. Thankfully, the roof has awnings that create nice shade, and I'm tucked away under a canopy of 80ft trees that enclose my home. All that helps with the sunlight to a certian degree. Plasma has a glass sheild that reflects way too much light, rendering it unviewable during certian parts of the daytime (morning and late afternoon).
LCD was my next choice, but the price jump for the size I was wanting was waaay too big. I also do not have a wall to mount it on in my living room, which would be ideal for an LCD.
Projection was my last choice, but during my 3 days of TV shopping (3 ENTIRE days, 5-6 hours each), a strange thing occured. I would walk into a store and see, perhaps 20-30ish TVs all at once. I would always walk straight towards the one that caught my eye from the front of the store. I was more than a little surprised that the exact same set caught my eye 3 stores in a row, and it was a projection set (the last one my list). After doing some reserach and pouring over the unique challanges my viewing room presented, I went ahead and got a 56" Samsung Projection. The cons to this come down to bulb replacement once every 3-4 years at 150-200$ a pop.
Now we have the issue that all television stations looks like shit. Sure the HD channels look fantastic (beyond fantastic actually). We bought an HDMI DVD player to upgrade our existing DVD's picture, but regular old televeion looks like complete ass. I have Comcast as a provider, and they are looking to have 400 more HD channels by the end of 2007, and another 400 by mid-summer of 2008. Of course, they count every single stream, so PPV and such are in the tally. I want to watch the Sci-Fi Channel and not have it look like shit. I want to watch Cartoon network or Comedy Central and see more than blurry pixels. This upgrade really is bittersweat. I hope Comcast moves things along, and also includes HD upgrades to their existing cable channels instead of just movie channels. Thankfully, there are HD versions of Fox, ABC, NBS, CBS, ect.
Another intersting thing is that certian DVDs are enhanced for a widescreen view. This means there are no bars at all. The movie fills the entire screen and looks like an orgasam feels. It's strange, because these movies are so hit and miss. None of the Star Wars films are enhanced, but the Akira DVD I bought 5 years ago is? I just don't get it. I am not replacing my DVD collection for the HD conversion. If I really want to, I'll just DL them. If these studios really think I'm going to buy Star Wars again in today's day and age, they got another thing coming. I must've bought that fucking movie 10 times in various incarnations throughout the years (not to mention the theater viewings). I'm done rebuying.
Anyway, the TV is better than I ever could've hoped for. I almost got the 61", but that would've been too big for my space. 56" was a perfect choice, although the 50 we were looking at would've been fine as well (don't tell my wife I said that!). It has a USB port, 3 HDMI inputs, PC input, and a bunch of other shit. I really love the menu system. It feels very much like a computer with nice, full color icons. A user can also access the advanced settings, which many sets can only be done with a special device. I was able to go to AVS forums and find a thread on my set, where someone had calibrated the set for optimal viewing with a calibrator and posted his exact settings for me to copy. So far, so good!
Oh well. Overall I am definately happier.
