I've had a 46" Samsung DLP since I got into all of this in late 2004.... original bulb. Well, it's been shutting off here and there on it's own for the last couple of months and getting progressively worse. The "replace bulb" light comes on when this happens. This last week it's been staying off more than on and I've had it. I know bulbs aren't that expensive, but I hate to put ANY money into a TV that just isn't very impressive compared to the new models.
I've been liking the idea of going with a 55" for the last year or so. In my smallish room, it'll be like going to the drive in. I have a window directly behind my couch that I don't want to have to "black out", so an LCD (LED) without a high-gloss screen would do the trick. That left me primarily looking at Sony, Vizio and LG when I filtered to higher-ratings. The Vizios seem to have an outstanding picture, but some reliability issues. Sony didn't have the value of the other two.
I decided tonight (after maybe 40 hours of research over the last year at the expense of other tasks!) on an
LG Infinia 55LW5600 . I don't really care about the 3D, but at least it's a passive system with lightweight, polarized, non-seizure-inducing technology.
Beyond the 3D, it just has a great picture with local-dimming LEDs for nice blacks...something I never had on my DLP which bothered me.
I put the DLP on Freecycle this afternoon and it was gone in an hour.
Amazon has had VERY aggressive pricing on these models, and I was set to order it tonight (I got a Prime membership trial to get 2-day free shipping), when I saw an email that came in from Best Buy advertising all HD TVs on sale for two days. I had ignored BB previously because it's price was $600 higher than Amazon for this model!!! Anyway, Best Buy had it on sale for only $20 more than Amazon's price, but kickbacks from my BB Rewards membership will give me at least that much back in credits. So, tomorrow I'll put a new 55" LCD where that old DLP (The D stands for "Dim") has stood for the past 7 years.
It would have been a big step up if I went for a new technology TV of the same size, but who wants to get the same size when they can go bigger? Going with a 55" oughtta add awesomeness!
The only thing I regret is that if I had checked my email earlier today, I could have picked it up, and set it up where I put a 32" temp TV this afternoon... and watched the Pats beat the Jets on the big screen!
My next step will be to wall-mount this so I can lay a VP180 on the TV stand below it!
I'll post a photo soon, 'cuz I know many of you haven't seen a TV before!
