Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater What size TV should I buy ?

Hi John. I have a 57" and it seemed a bit big at first. (seated 8-10 feet away) until I got HD. The resolution makes a huge difference in how close the seating can be.

I now find 6-8 feet very fine veiwing.

John, just trust your lean. Go with 10' and the 50" SXRD.

You have to think about lighting issues as well. A place to watch casual tv (news and the like) under ambient lighting. A HT with the darkness necessary.

The SXRD looks good it the lighted room and lights out as well.

I imagine brightness (darkness) control will be the final nail in the coffin of my plans for HT in the loft. The area is open on two sides to big triangular windows so the whole house would have to be blacked out in order to get a dark viewing area...

... or maybe I could borrow from Get Smart and come up with a "cone of darkness" which could be lowered for movies

Yeah, but then you'd have to rearrange your speakers for changing room reflections. You can't win.

Hi John - looks like fun stuff. The planning is almost as much fun as the getting. Let me confuse things a bit for you.

I have a 42” Panasonic plasma in the great room above the fireplace. It is a Commercial model (no tuner or speakers) and the PQ is stunning. I also have a 50” Sony 50XBR800 LCD (currently in the 2nd bedroom and will shortly make it’s way to the basement theater room I am working on).

I got the Panny when we moved into the house in June, knowing I would be doing the basement. I was a died-in-the-wool Sony LCD guy. The LCD is very good, the Panny is excellent. Shortly after the basement settles, I will be replacing the 50” Sony with a 60” – 65” something. The seating distance “requires” a bigger TV

Anyhow, I have narrowed my choices down to the Sony SXRD or a Panny plasma (they just announced a new 58” size). The local Circuit City has the 50” SXRD and a 50” Panny plasma sitting sort of side by side (how nice of them) and it’s easy to compare. The net here is that they both throw off excellent PQ and I could live with either. I give the edge for PQ, color pop and, most assuredly, blacks & details to the Panny.

Having said all of that, let me suggest that you look at the Commercial Panny. The current 50” model is TH-50PHD8UK. A couple of sources (price, trustworthiness and excellent customer service) are Newegg and VisualApex. Price would be just under $3000 (a bit less expensive than the SXRD). The next model (in 1080P) should be out in April/May from Panny and will likely be a bit less expensive based on the MSRP numbers I’ve seen.

The Panny that Circuit City (and other B&Ms) have is the same as the Commercial, so you can seee the PQ (and maybe compare to the SXRD). The Consumer version comes with speakers, a tuner and a higher price tag.

I hope the info is helpful.

Thanks all !!

The SXRD 60 just dropped $1000 in Canada so it might be a possibility. Sure is nice. Will also look at that commercial Panasonic if I can find it up here.

Randy, I will measure out 51x120" on the wall today but it's gonna be a tight fit under the angled ceiling

John,

Go look at the consumer Panny in a local B&M. The only differences between the commerercial and consumer is that the consumer version has a tuner and speakers. The glass/PQ is the same.

Ray,
actually there are a few minor differences between the consumer and commercial Pannys. I've got a TH-50PHD8UK coming to me very shortly, so I've gotten to wade through the AVS forums *shudder* to do some research. The glass is the same, but I've heard, not confirmed (so take it with a grain of salt) that the video processing hardware is beefier for the commercial. I do know that the commercial has much more "tweakability" in the picture (color, hue, etc.) than the consumer. The commercial also has somewhat more limited connection options, in so far as it comes with a VGA, component, S-video and composite inputs on removeable "blades" you insert in the bottom of the monitor. There are HDMI and DVI blades you can buy seperately and insert, as well as a bunch of other input types (RGB, wireless, SDI, twisted pair)

Hi Ash. You are absolutely correct.

They are configured to sell to different marlets based on their end use. The point I was trying to make (somewhat akwardly) is that stripping most everything else aside, the PQ betwen the commercial and consumer models is pretty near identical. I illustrated that because it would be pretty uncommon to find the commercial version in a B&M, so looking at the consumer model provides a pretty good alternative.

BTW, you are going to LOVE the 50 when it shows up. I'm happy to see you were able to find one - they are pretty scarce (that whole supply/demand thing). I REALLY can't wait to see the new 58". Post your impressions of the 50 when you get it.