My tax return was huge this year, so in addition to paying off a lot of credit card debt, Erin and I bought the television we've had our eye on for quite a while: A 36" FD Trinitron Sony WEGA KV-36FV310.
Consumer Reports rated this as the best 36" television ever. Don't buy a plasma just because it's thin. Pick your TV based on the picture quality. Plasma screens have terrible contrast ratios and horrible burn in problems when playing video games. Rear projection TVs only look nice if you sit directly in front of the screen (if then). Nothing has been invented or perfected yet that can beat the ol' cathode ray tube, and nobody makes them better than Sony.
This is not an HDTV. If you need that, get the 510 instead of the 310. There are several reasons why I chose against it. I don't have HTDV DISH Network, nor am I interested in shelling out the cash for the new receiver I'd need. We love our awesome DishPVR receiver, and we'd have to give it up. Most shows aren't broadcast in HDTV anyway, and if the signal you're looking at isn't HDTV it will often look worse on an HDTV screen because all of the imperfections are made that much clearer to the eye.
I also decided against a widescreen television, because I spend most of my time playing video games, and most of them aren't widescreen. Another reason is that a 34" widescreen TV is only as tall as a 32" screen, so most of the time you're wasting all of that horizontal space.
This TV has "16:9 Enhanced Mode", which is just amazing. When you watch a letterboxed movie on a normal television, the TV is still drawing the black areas above and below the movie. But when this television detects a 16:9 signal, it vertically squashes the scanning range, utilizing all 480 lines for the movie itself, effectively increasing the resolution by 30%. It sounds like a gimmick, but the difference is very noticeable.
The main drawback is that this thing is heavy. I ordered it from Crutchfield, and in-home delivery was the only option available. The screen weighs 240 pounds (physics side note: Flat screens weigh more than curved screens because a flat surface must be thicker than a curved surface to withstand the same amount of air pressure outside the vacuum). Once you've got it set up, you want to leave it where it is until you just have to move it.
We're very happy with this TV. It cost $1200, but there really is no comparison in quality.
I don't care what you say about HD projection TVs, I love my Mitsubishi 46" Widescreen TV.
Posted by: Kid Ego | March 20, 2004 at 03:38 AM
Hey, man. Whatever helps you sleep at night. ;)
Posted by: SuperPope | March 20, 2004 at 11:26 AM
Dave, I haven't even seen your tv and I have to agree with Pat. His tv rocks the hizouse. No lie, it's that good.
Posted by: Momotaro | March 22, 2004 at 07:01 AM
That's great. Some projection TVs have a fairly wide viewing angle. If you spend enough money, you can get a good one. I merely explained why I made the choice I did. If I could make use of HDTV, I might have made a different choice.
Posted by: SuperPope | March 22, 2004 at 09:28 AM
Noone's criticizing your choice, dude. I was merely saying that I liked my proj.
Posted by: Kid Ego | March 23, 2004 at 11:09 PM
I did consider a projection TV, but for my little living room, 36" is enough. Erin has a tendency to get vertigo as it is...
Posted by: SuperPope | March 24, 2004 at 08:27 AM