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New member Username: RictusPost Number: 1 Registered: Mar-05 | Hi folks, I'm looking into buying a big TV. I mostly want to watch DVDs widescreen, and because of the way our living room is set up, we sit fairly far from the TV (about 11 feet), so I figure we want a pretty big screen. I actually *don't* care much about HD yet, because most of the stuff I watch (on DirecTV) isn't HD programming anyway (I don't care about sports, and I usually rent or buy DVDs for movies; on TV, I mostly watch things like reruns and cartoons that wouldn't be HD anyway). Plus, I can't live without my TiVo, and don't want to shell out the big bucks DirecTV is charging for their HD TiVo right now (in addition to the HD service). I'm currently looking at the Samsung DLPs, probably the 6163 or the 5674 (which it looks like I can get for about $2500 and $3000 online, respectively). Here are my questions: -- How will DVDs look on these big screens upsampled to HD resolution? Will they look good? Okay? Awful? -- I probably need to buy a new progressive-scan DVD player (I have an old Pioneer combi DVD/LD player which I don't think does progressive). Should I bother getting one that upsamples to HD resolution, with an HDMI output? Or should I just get an ordinary inexpensive progressive-scan player? Any model recommendations? -- Any thoughts on the 5674 vs. the 6163? I've read the horror stories about the 63 series--any reason to believe the 74 would be less likely to have problems? Is the difference between 56" and 61" even noticeable? (In fact, might I be happier with a smaller screen given that I'm mostly watching upsampled DVDs?) -- For those of you living in California, how do you make your big-screen DLP TV earthquake-secure? -- I would probably buy the TV from http://www.plasmahouse.com/ (recommended by a friend, and seems to have the lowest or near-lowest prices). Any experience with buying from this site? Am I likely to have more hassle going through an online site if I need my TV serviced during the initial warranty period than through a brick-and-mortar retailer like BB, CC, etc., or am I just going to be dealing with the manufacturer either way? (I know the extended warranties are handled by other companies.) The other TV I've been looking at is the Panasonic EDTV 42" plasma (TH42PWD7UY), which is cheap (around $1600 online) and seemed good enough for DVD viewing (since it's exactly DVD resolution anyway). But because of the long distance between our couch and the TV, I figured it would be better to go large. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks. nj |
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New member Username: RictusPost Number: 2 Registered: Mar-05 | Oops, one more question...I've noticed some posts referencing lag when playing video games (I have a PS2). Is this something that's guaranteed to happen all the time with every game, or is it just something that happens occasionally? |