HDTV Suggestions

[emelius]

was my understanding that the 580 no longer had the 1GB of internal storage, had inferior build quality & only really added some online capabilities that might be possible with 570 via firmware update...not to mention the 570 is cheaper & the 580 should be skipped altogether for the 780 if you want to skype etc....oh & I think there was an issue with NTFS support in the 570, but this is all from memory...I'll investigate when I get home...sorry for any confusion...

[n_maher]

The BDP-S580 is $110 from Amazon.

[emelius]

& the 570 was under $100 on Black Friday...refurbs are even less...

[n_maher]

& the 570 was under $100 on Black Friday...refurbs are even less...

But it's $290 now...

[Grahame]

The BDP-S580 is $110 from Amazon.

indeed

http://camelcamelcamel.com/Sony-BDP-S580-Blu-ray-Player-Black/product/B004K1EOCA

But it's $290 now...

It would appear so

http://camelcamelcamel.com/Sony-BDP-S570-Blu-ray-Disc-Player/product/B0036WS4D4

[emelius]

the S570 pops up on Slick Deals & elsewhere often...

keep in mind also that Costco & a few others sell the BDP-BX57 (same player) for ~$200...

[Aura]

Bump. Need some recommendations, I'm really not at all familiar with the current market.

- Budget: Definitely under $1,000, ideally closer to $750.

- Seating distance: Not exactly sure, probably 7-9 ft.

- Size/placement limitations: No real limits here. Whatever I get, I'll be buying furniture to support. I can potentially mount to a brick wall in my new place. I want to go for as high of a refresh rate and as large of a display as possible that can fit within the budget. I know some people can't detect 60 hz vs. 120 or 240, but I've detected it immediately in past comparisons and almost find 60 hz annoying on a larger display running horizontal action scenes.

- Uses and sources: Will be playing a lot of movies with a combination of 720p and 1080p file encoded with x264 Matroska. I had been planning on connecting an HTPC directly to the display, but once I read I think I'm going to try out Boxee or something very similar. Definitely going to grab an Apple TV for Netflix (can you stream Hulu on an Apple TV?) Lastly, hopefully going to get cable through ComCast before the end of July so will be using your basic HDMI input from my receiver. That's pretty much it. Nothing planned in the way of gaming. The most important part of the setup is ease of use with x264 movie files.

- Room lighting: Pretty well light on two sides of the room with a total of four windows. Glare is likely to be an issue, so I don't know that I can do Plasma although I would greatly prefer if I could based on value alone. How good is the anti-glare on current glossy Plasma displays? Otherwise, I'm going backlit LED and would need recommendations for that.

That's pretty much it, thanks for any help guys and gals.

[acidbasement]

We got the base model Panasonic plasma 60" last year, model TCP60ST50.

It should be within your budget (maybe not in Canada, but I think I've seen them well below $1000 in the USA). The picture quality is very good, and we're very happy with it. Glare is only an issue if the sun is shining directly on it.

Cons: no VGA input (have to convert VGA to HDMI externally), no 3D (have to go up a model for 3D), and cannot get bigger than 60" in the ST line.

If you're thinking of 3D, keep in mind that the more expensive Panasonic TVs that do 3D use active 3D technology, which means left and right-eye frames appear in sequence, one after the other, and you need proprietary Panasonic 3D glasses to synch with the TV and only allow the correct image to pass to its respective eye. The Panasonic 3D glasses are way more expensive than the polarized glasses used for passive 3D TVs. Not only that, if you decide a couple years later that you need another pair of 3D glasses, there is no guarantee that the glasses they're making that year will be backward-compatible with this year's TV. At least, that's how the sales guy spelled it out to us.

[Aura]

Thanks, you brought up a good reminder - I definitely will not be using 3D and won't show any preference for a display that is compatible with it.

Will check on that Panasonic though.

[The Monkey]

Ok, so it looks like I'm in the market for a new plasma (or LCD if they're good now).  This time I'm not fucking around.  I will settle for 55" but would prefer 60".  MANCAVE (but small Manhattan apartment style).  I can't break the bank and I'm not a videophile.  But I want something that doesn't suck.  I believe I currently have the Panny ST50, which is nice,but not as immersive as I had hoped.  What say you, wise ones.

[Voltron]

I still think plasma is more immersive.  Panny plasma is probably the way to go, and you can get one for less than $100K.  

[cetoole]

Panel all of your walls with plasma TVs.  Utterly immersive.

[Grahame]

152" 4K .....

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/11/this-panasonic-152-inch-4k-plasma-is-what-600000-dreams-are-made-of/

now from costco 

http://www.costco.co.uk/view/product/uk_catalog/cos_1,cos_1.1,cos_1.1.1/142976

... in the UK

 

(A 4K display, with my 4K^th post. How apt)

Edited December 3, 2012 by Grahame

[Dusty Chalk]

How far are you going to be away from the screen? This is required information, otherwise the only thing that you're going to be immersed in is pixels. Visible pixels. A 60" screen shouldn't be viewed closer than 6-8 feet, methinks. Look around online, there's lots of screen size calculators. I actually went smaller, because -- I don't know about you, but -- I hate seeing teh pixelses.

[The Monkey]

Fair point re the pixelses.  And budget is no more than 1500 and hopefully less.  Sticking with the old TV is not an option as that will belong to someone else.

[raffy]

How about a Panny 55GT50? They run around $1500 if I'm not mistaken.

[grawk]

my bent is to get the biggest acceptable tv for the price. But I'm not a videophile.

[The Monkey]

How about a Panny 55GT50? They run around $1500 if I'm not mistaken.

 

 

Yeah, I'm going to stick with Panny.  Just wondering if I should go 55 or 60.  Need to measure viewing distance.  then  disregard and get the 60" anyway.

[n_maher]

I can't believe how the prices have fallen on these things.  I'm seriously tempted to upgrade to a 50" GT50 ($1139 and Prime Eligible thru Amazon), put the old 42" 3-LCD in the kids play room (which has a 30") and move the 30 up to the bedroom and ditch the last of the tube TVs that are in the house.  Shit shit shit.  Maybe after Xmas.

 

Dinny, the 55" is under $1349 thru Amazon.  Goddamnit that's cheap.

[Voltron]

Need to measure viewing distance.  then  disregard and get the 60" anyway.

This!

Howzabout for Christmas instead of after Christmas Nate?!

Edited December 3, 2012 by Voltron

[The Monkey]

I can't believe how the prices have fallen on these things.  I'm seriously tempted to upgrade to a 50" GT50 ($1139 and Prime Eligible thru Amazon), put the old 42" 3-LCD in the kids play room (which has a 30") and move the 30 up to the bedroom and ditch the last of the tube TVs that are in the house.  Shit shit shit.  Maybe after Xmas.

 

Dinny, the 55" is under $1349 thru Amazon.  Goddamnit that's cheap.

 

 

But Nate what about 60"?!

[recstar24]

Weird - we are looking at upgrading to a new tv as well. We have the panny 50 g25 from a few years ago and love it. We want to put that upstairs and get a new one for downstairs. I completely lost track of the current panny line, is the st the top of the line non 3d and the gt the entry level 3d?

[recstar24]

Edit - just looked up gt50. Wow that isn't too far from what we paid for the g25 and the gt kicks its butt. Yay new tv!!!

[The Monkey]

I think it goes (top to bottom)

 

VT

GT

ST

 

But the ST is supposedly the best bang-for-the-buck. 

[swt61]

I think it goes (top to bottom)

How did Fitz get into this discussion?