nacho

Hi All,

I've been trying to decide which 50" rear projection HDTV to buy for the past two weeks. This forum, as well as several others have been pretty helpful, but I still have some reservations as to which on to pick. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and have been to more TV shops than I care to count: Anderson TV, World of Sound, Circuit City (2!), Good Guys (2!), Access To Music, etc. So far, I've yet been able to find a store that has either of these TV's plugged into an HD stream...they always either have some lame demo DVD playing or regular cable so I really can't say that been that awed with the pictures.

So far, I was more impressed by the picture on the Panasonic, but judging by the inputs that these stores have plugged into the TV's, it's really hard to gauge the difference, especially when I haven’t been able to see the two TV’s in the same store! I just can’t understand how these stores expect you to buy something _when you can’t see it perform_

I would appreciate any feed back from this board that anyone stuck with the same dilemma (past or present) could provide!!!

Thanks in advance.

-Kevin

Anyway, here is my list of issues with each:

Sony KF-50XBR800:
Pros:
1: Supposedly incredible picture, although I’ve only ever seen boring demo DVD’s playing on one
2: Slick looks, small form factor, Sony reputation.
3: Good viewing angles.
4: Impressive 1366 x 768 resolution

Cons:
1: The price. Come on, it’s a rear projection LCD and it’s priced almost at the same level of some DLP HDTV’s.
2: No VGA input. I’m in the planning process of building a HTPC, and the thought of having to fiddle with input and overscan settings on the PC don’t sound like fun.
3: Memory Stick™ memory card reader is Sony specific.
4: Strong red push??? Every floor model I’ve seen on so far looked way out of whack color-wise, but that could be because the store monkeys just wheel them out and plug them in.
5: Can’t handle a 480p resolution input natively (supposedly)

Panasonic PT-50LC13

Pros:
1: Also supposedly has a really good picture (though I’ve never witnessed this)
2: Price!!! I can get this TV online for <$2500 delivered. (even Circuit City’s online store is advertising them for $2899 if you add the item to the shopping cart, sale?)
3: Two VGA inputs, one in front, one in back
4: Non-proprietary memory card readers
5: Can handle all 480p/720p/1080i inputs

Cons:
1: No one can tell me if I can do side by side display (4:3) of a Video input AND a RGB input at the same time (ie. PC display next to some cable station).
2: One year old model. I don’t know what Panasonic has in line to replace this model, but I’m sure it’s going to pack more features than this one. Anybody know the timeframe for the next generation TV?
3: Slightly lower resolution than the Sony @1280 x 720

57U

Of course not, everything is displayed at 768P, the native resolution of the TV.

You've got the DLP "accepting" all the formats. The Sony does the same.

I can tell which way you're leaning, just don't get your facts wrong when doing your comparison table...

__________________
57U - Toronto, Rogers Cable, SA8300HD, 500GB HDD & Hitachi 61UWX10B HDTV, Yamaha RX-V1 A/V Receiver, Martin Logan Speakers. Photos --> 57U's HT

SA8300HD, 250GB HDD & KDL40W3000 (Upstairs)

Please don't PM me with questions that can (and should) be asked in the forum, thanks. Personal Question? Fire away.