[sworthy]

Well, not for me actually, it�s for my dad. They just moved into a new place and has decided a few things:

1 Plasma, 50 or 60 inches

1 lcd tv, 27 inches or so

Also, he wants to have a souped up digital audio solution, has anyone tried Roku? Any other suggestions?
Price isn�t the biggest deal in the world (lucky him, too bad I don�t live at home anymore), but he wants the best bang for the buck.
Orginial suggestions made to him were Merantz for the plasmas, and that 60� doesn�t offer much more than 50� because they're the same resolution� is that right?
I figured I�d ask the tech people here as they would know more about this stuff than most others.

Design away!

[Link]

We could really use starman right now

Things to keep in mind: food chain typically goes:

Front projection > DLP/rear projection > plasma

plasmas do look cooler

[Macfreak7]

b&o's new beolab 5, for speakers seems rather cool. and i've heard that they sound fantastic too.

[Eriamjh]

Nothing less than a true HD projector should be in your dream.

Of course, that is only if you have a dedicated room the size of a garage for it. If you have to "share" a living room with your home theater, then you can't go too big on screen size.

[starman]

Plasmas suck. You wanna drop all that money and never be able to get it fixed? Go right ahead.

Go front projection.

As for audio, well, you could get the nice-but-could-be-better $400 Pioneer, or the kick-ass Denon 5802 (like I have). Speakers? Definitive Tech.

NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER buy Bose.

Mike

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally posted by starman:
...NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER buy Bose.

Mike

why? ...if you dont mind me asking.

[starman]

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
why? ...if you dont mind me asking.

Because they're well knows as sh*t. "No highs, no lows, must be Bose" is the common phrase.

They're like the eMachines of speakers.

Mike

[acadian]

Mirage speakers

High end, small company, pricey, terrific sound. I own a pair of 10 year old 16"ers that blow away my neighbours b&o system.

[residentEvil]

i would highly suggest having a sound engineer check out the room. you can spend thousands on speakers and it will end up sounding like **** if you aren't carefull. placement, room fabrics, etc all play an important part in what you hear.

most reputable a/v places (read: not best buy) will have a sound engineer come out and go over your room. the store will then let you, after they recommend a set of equipment and speakers, let you try it all out, and i suggest you do so, in your enviroment, for a set amount of time. this gives you a chance to not only try what is recommended, but also gives you a chance to try something of your own choice. and remember, choose the equipment, and speakers obviously, that are pleasing to YOUR ear and produce what you want to hear...not what someone else thinks sounds good. everyone is different. you are the one going to be listening to it. but heed placements and criteria. you can then match that information up with several speaker manufacturers.

as for audio components, check into 'last year models' that meet your needs shortly after the big consumer electronic show. some of the time, you can get pretty damn good deals. while components for sound aren't changing as much as those for video, look for devices that allow for upgrades, be it via a cd firmware or via serial hookup (these things allow for new audio decoding features). most newer pre-amps and high end a/v receivers can now be upgraded by a firmware cd played in properly attached cd player. pretty cool.

and for video, i would suggest staying away from plasma and lcd and if you can, go projection. of course, taking your room into consideration, projection may not work for you. if not, then stick with Mitsubishi (they offer rear CRT, plasma and lcd). they seem to be leading the way with not only current standards, but are already making their sets future ready. by the end of '04 or early '05, all sets will be cablecard ready. if you are a cable customer, you will see these coming very soon to your market. basically, it removes that damn cable box (and problems with said boxes). very cool.

those are things i suggest to look into...your mileage may very.

* EDIT here/hear probably more.

[kikkoman]

There are plenty of people that would give you advice at http://www.avsforum.com

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally posted by kikkoman:
There are plenty of people that would give you advice at http://www.avsforum.com

indeed, i go there as well and it's a terrific source of information (Even if you just search past posts)

[His Dudeness]

Originally posted by starman:
Plasmas suck. You wanna drop all that money and never be able to get it fixed? Go right ahead.

Go front projection.

As for audio, well, you could get the nice-but-could-be-better $400 Pioneer, or the kick-ass Denon 5802 (like I have). Speakers? Definitive Tech.

NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER buy Bose.

Mike

Dammit Starman, you beat me to the punch. Two things: the BEST speakers for home theather that I've ever heard were Definitive Technology's BP-3000. I was in AWE. Now they are up to the BP-7000, which must truly sound God-like.

And secondly: never ever ever ever ever buy Bose. They are the single most over-rated and over-hyped product I've ever seen.

And as for tv's: I've read good things about Linn...

[dlefebvre]

Originally posted by Link:

Things to keep in mind: food chain typically goes:

Front projection > DLP/rear projection > plasma

plasmas do look cooler

You will get a much longer lifetime out of a DLP. Plasma screen still burn easily. We did tests at work on a high end Sony plasma screen. After displayind a color bar for an hour, we shuted down the TV. The color bar inprint was still visible after 2hours. Also, we had a complaint from one of our viewer (we are a broadcast facility). He watches one of our station a lot and after a few months, the identifing logo we put in the bottom right corner is burned on his plasma screen. So unless your watching only movies plasma is not a good alternative.

[dav]

definitive technology does make great home theater speakers, but for just audio, i'd look elsewhere.

[engaged]

Originally posted by His Dudeness:
And as for tv's: I've read good things about Linn...

Linn? I guess you must be talking about Loewe TV's - they are distributed by Linn in the UK, so maybe they are badged as Linn elsewhere.

Loewe TV's do indeed have a good reputation on most of the AV forums I frequent.

[Immortal K-Mart Employee]

Originally posted by Macfreak7:
b&o's new beolab 5, for speakers seems rather cool. and i've heard that they sound fantastic too.

B&O's just look cool. Just about any system sounds better then them though.

www.energy-speakers.com have wicked looking and sounding systems.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by sworthy:
Well, not for me actually, it�s for my dad. They just moved into a new place and has decided a few things...
Price isn�t the biggest deal in the world (lucky him, too bad I don�t live at home anymore), but he wants the best bang for the buck.

What I wanted to read in the initial posts:

"Father looking for additional son to adopt. Will shower said son in gifts. Applicants may write to [etc.]"

[His Dudeness]

Originally posted by dav:
definitive technology does make great home theater speakers, but for just audio, i'd look elsewhere.

For audio only, I'd look at some the top of the line Klipsch series or some Martin Logan's. I've got some Klipsch kg3.2 that are about 12 years old and will still surprise people. And those are the small ones. Martin Logan makes some of the best speakers I've heard for audio only systems.

[dav]

Originally posted by His Dudeness:
For audio only, I'd look at some the top of the line Klipsch series...

personal preference, but i prefer silk dome tweeters.

[Freeflyer]

You might like to look at outlaw audio, http://www.outlawaudio.com/home.html they're getting good results for the money.

Definitely browse the avscience forums, more info that you can shake a really big stick at.

Go with front projection if you can darken the room sufficiently. Much cheaper than plasma, and nothing beats the image size. As they use to have as the byline on avscience

"we measure our screens in feet, not inches"

J.

[olePigeon]

I think Kenwood makes great affordable/lowend equipment if you're on a tight budget.

While most people would shun you away from HTBs, I thought Kenwood's was excellent for being only $250.

[mitchell_pgh]

HD Plasma
G5 tower (for HD recording etc.)
nice stereo system...

Simple and clean...

[Shaddim]

Originally posted by sworthy:
Well, not for me actually, it�s for my dad. They just moved into a new place and has decided a few things:

1 Plasma, 50 or 60 inches

1 lcd tv, 27 inches or so

Also, he wants to have a souped up digital audio solution, has anyone tried Roku? Any other suggestions?
Price isn�t the biggest deal in the world (lucky him, too bad I don�t live at home anymore), but he wants the best bang for the buck.
Orginial suggestions made to him were Merantz for the plasmas, and that 60� doesn�t offer much more than 50� because they're the same resolution� is that right?
I figured I�d ask the tech people here as they would know more about this stuff than most others.

Design away!

Yuck, screw plasma.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/R...k=pihe&ref=hdh

No joke, it has the cleanest picture I've ever seen. Just beautiful.

[sworthy]

wow, haven't seen the progress until now...

Are plasmas really that bad? The spot only really works for a plasma though... hmm...

[starman]

Originally posted by sworthy:
wow, haven't seen the progress until now...

Are plasmas really that bad? The spot only really works for a plasma though... hmm...

Everyone's keen on plasma because they're cool and thin. Truth is, they burn out and you're screwed; especially if you use it like you do an average tube set. Then you're out $5k. Whoops!

Mike

[Link]

plasma TVs are spiffy, but they do only last 6 years as the gas leaks out. (I THINK)....

How would you like your $2.5-5k dissapearing in 6 years? Hrmm?

I like RP/DLP TVs but the next big screen we get will be a front projection setup. RP is awesome until you have to move it down a stairway or something and they're nowhere near as portable.

OTOH, you can stick a 200" tv in your trunk, and some screen stands have a mount on them for the projector. Spiffy. You don't necessarily have to hang them on the ceiling anymore but can just prop them up about a foot away from the screen

I hate those ceiling mounts... they're just so nerdy.

Oh yeah. One cool thing about projection TVs is if you have an annoying friend coming over all you have to do is put it into it's case and hide it in the closet. Talk about being a closet HD geek.

Oh yeah for starman's own pleasing.. my family's next TV setup will DEFINATELY be HD/surround sound.. Hopefully he'll give me some advice on that in the next year or two or whenever we decide to get the new stuff (we being my family )

[Socially Awkward Solo]

Originally posted by starman:
Everyone's keen on plasma because they're cool and thin. Truth is, they burn out and you're screwed; especially if you use it like you do an average tube set. Then you're out $5k. Whoops!

Mike

I heard that the newer ones last as long as Projection TV's or CRTs

[Shaddim]

Originally posted by sworthy:
wow, haven't seen the progress until now...

Are plasmas really that bad? The spot only really works for a plasma though... hmm...

There's MUCH better that can be had for less money. Check link I provided above.

[kikkoman]

Most manufacturers rate plasma panel life at 20,000+ hours. Unless the panel is defective the gas won't leak out. They are can burn in, so can CRTs but that hasn't stopped people from buying them. The last RPTV I bought actually had warnings in the owners manual about watching 16:9 material on the 4:3 screen. If you set the contrast appropriately it should be fine.

http://www.avsforumfaq.com/~plasma/

For front projection you need an environment where you can control the ambient light for the best picture quality. A room with no windows would be ideal. Lamps need to be replaced 2,000 to 3,000 hours at cost between $300 to $400. Projectors require a bit more setup time than other display technologies. You just can't set it down and plug it in. I ceiling mounted mine and it involved quite a bit of work. The hardest part was running the cables behind the existing walls and ceiling. I had to do some planning to make sure I installed the mount in the proper position relative to the screen.

Regarding rear projection LCD and DLP sets. I think this is a good compromise for a big screen TV without the bulk of a CRT and expense of a plasma. The main drawback with these set is the viewing angle. They use the same type of optics found in rear projection CRTs. If you move off center either horizontaly or verticaly the image tends to fade. If you have a wide viewing area it may not be ideal. Manufacturers tend to optimize the horizontal viewing angle but not the vertical viewing angle. Plasma and direct view CRT don't have this problem and front projectors may not depending on the type of screen material. The lamps need to replaced but I think they are cheaper than projectors and they last longer.