my finished basement is almost done and i need help decieding if i should go with a 50 or a 56 sammy dlp. i will be sitting 10.5 feet away and will use the tv for dvd's, xbox and hi def programs. any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Tom, I was in the same boat. My current viewing distance is 8-9 feet. I brought a tape measure to the store, and measured out the distance. I went with the 50, 56 seemed too big. From 10.5 feet the 56 should be perfect. Plus the 56 has a "shelf" built into the top which could hold equipment or a cable box. 4x3 programs on my 50 measure out to about 41". Look for comments regarding the Samsung DLPs and the XBox. I think the XBox menus are in 480i and games in 720P. The Sammy does not have an input to handle both of these sources. I think people set up the XBox using the 480i/p input, then switch to the 720p input for gaming. I just got a PS2, no problems. As far as the picture goes I think it is great. Do a google search for "viewing distance calculator" which will give you a site with a viewing distance calculator. Although I thought the screen sizes were a bit big.
thanks eric. the reason why i was asking was because the internet calculators would say 61" which i thought would be too big. and the boys at tweeter were telling me 42". so i just wanted to get the point of view of someone who has the tv.
ive read about the xbox situation and it looks like samsung is addressing it as we speak. in march they are putting out an updated version of the 56" and all the inputs will be able to handle all of the video formats. and all the hlp's will do the same. here is the article on the hln 56
New Samsung HLN Model (Reported 2/3/04) Samsung is now saying that there will be a new version of HLN567W -- called HLN567W1. It will ship in March 2004. The main upgrades in this version will be 1) an upgraded PC board 2) all component connections will accept all video inputs 480i/p, 720p, 1080i 2) a new remote 3) a new OSD. It is not known if and when the other models may follow suit. See this Thread.