Comments on: Mailbag: Display Decisions

By: Chynnon

Chynnon — Sat, 26 May 2007 16:15:35 +0000

We have purchased a Visio and we are mounting it to the wall above the fireplace. My question is:
We want to remove the plastice silver speakers on the bottom so that only the black frame is exposed. We were told at Altex that there is no 5 pin cable in order to amp the speakers if we remove them and put them on top of our component cabinet. I see many photographs of televisions without the speakers and feel that there must be a way to accomplish this task. This has become a very sore subject in our household and a good solution may save me from divorce. Thanks for any help you can offer.

By: Ben Hobbs

Ben Hobbs — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 14:05:23 +0000

You guys don’t know how lucky you are, over here in Thailand they don’t have LCOS, SXRD or comparable Televisions, the only rear-projection units are Sony’s LCD’s, CRT and a couple of older DLP’s. Which are starngely enough all as expensive than comparable non-rear projection LCD TV’s.

By: B.Greenway

B.Greenway — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:00:47 +0000

Unfortunately the TH-65PHD8UK is 1366 x 768 and about $2000.00 dollars over his budget.

By: westcott

westcott — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 12:43:03 +0000

I agree with Bryan’s recommendations, to a point. Although rear projection has come a long way, I still have issues with off center viewing and the difference in video quality depending on where you sit or stand in the room or adjoining room like a kitchen or game room. If you are going to sit in one spot, this may not matter to you but if you like to entertain or share your HT with a living space, it might affect your decision.

I would lean toward a plasma (Panasonic TH-65PHD8UK Plasma Monitor) for this reason and since your budget seems to be able to accomodate it, it should give you the ten years of service without concern of burn in (the new gases used in plasmas do not suffer from long term burn in like the first models produced years back).

LCD’s have come a long way and are producing images that compete favorably with plasma but can suffer the same problems rear projection exhibit.

My next purchase may be SED, and by the time they come out, I may actually have something in my bank account to purchase one.

Good Luck and let us know what you decide!

By: B.Greenway

B.Greenway — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 03:38:03 +0000

Dave,

I feel pretty damn strongly about DLP, that’s what I own

Please don’t take my recommendations for Steven as a knock toward DLP in the slightest. I fully expect DLP to continue on its upward sales trend for at least several more years. After that, who knows? SED maybe, but that’s still a ways off.

I felt that Steven was looking for something slightly different (dare I say better) based on our emails, and what he was willing to spend. Pixel for pixel however DLP still offers a big bang for the buck, I look at D-ILA and SXRD technologies as icing on that already tempting cake.

Funny you should mention the LED (DLP’S) it now appears as if they might not be released quite as soon as some had first expected, so you haven’t missed out on anything but more waiting, on that front.

Much to the joy of several of my manufacturer reps that frequent the site, I have never been one to recommend that folks ‘wait’ on a particular technology, that is unless its literally right around the corner and or there’s just an overwhelming reason to do so.

Just like you said, no matter what it is you’re looking to purchase, inevitably there’s always something “better” on its way. Wait long enough and then you’ll get caught up in a mindset of ‘well if I wait just a little longer it will be cheaper’. Carry that on long enough and all you did was just wait….

Oh and congratulations on that 50” Samsung, I think you’ll be quite happy. And oddly enough again your comments couldn’t have been timelier.

Today I stopped by one of my distributors to pick up some TV mounts, I noticed they finally got in a HD-DVD player and were showing it on a Fujitsu plasma, sad thing is the 61” 1080p Samsung in the other corner, hooked up to a Escient/Sony DVD changer combo looked better!

I wanted to ask them “how on earth did you guys manage to screw up such an easy slam-dunk?” But instead I just paid for my mounts and went on about my business. I don’t know, the last time I checked Clint Eastwood’s face wasn’t green, the cabling must have been screwed up.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 02:05:05 +0000

How do you feel about DLP technology, B? I just ordered the new Samsung 50″ 1080p DLP. Mistake?

I realize the new DLP LED technology is coming out “really” soon–which would nearly eliminate the rainbow effect and I’d get the advantage of instant-on and wouldn’t ever have to worry about replacing the bulb–but, soon after that, it’ll be lasers…and then 4320p displays…and then holodecks. I imagine that soon after that, society will crumble. So I decided not to wait.