Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Now I need video!

The trouble with your question is the "within the next year" qualifier. I am buying on a budget today; a year from now the whole market will be different.

My own research has led me to the InFocus X1, as well, for purchase today. There is a lot to be said for the wait-and-see case right now, because prices are still dropping across the board and the Intel LCoS announcement is going to put downward price pressure on the whole marketplace a year from now.

My own rationalization for the X1 front projector is that it is an entry-level expenditure ($1,000) that still won't be wasted, because I can also use it for its other purpose, which is as a data projector. We have one at our office.

I've been watching the TV market myself I've noticed the dramatic price drops in plasma sets, which is good, but if you look, they're still significantly higher than any other technology, because all the other technologies have been dropping in price as well!

I guess it's a good thing for us consumers, but TV's, or A/V in general seems to be rapidly becoming just like the computer industry. Yeah, you can "wait and see", but will the price drops and technology advances ever end? When is the right time? Prices continue to drop, and newer, better technologies continue to be released.

Perhaps you should do what I do when buying a computer. Buy the best you can afford right now, and immediately stop looking/reading about them. If you do, you'll just wish you'd waited that little bit longer. There's always going to be something better, something cheaper.

(Yes, I'm fully aware that this post completely contradicts my previous post suggesting to wait and see.)

In reply to:

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When I walked into Best Buy and saw the new projection tv's I had to rethink my choices. I ended up backing off from a purchase until I could spend a month or so in research.

Then a friend bought the mitz 55 inch widescreen, the very one I was looking into. Now I could see it in a home, not a dark store. I was amazed. Not only that, but he had his TV in this little room where he sits about four feet away and the resolution was still amazing with regular TV. DVD pro scan was even better.

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I can't agree with this advice..my brother in law has a RPTV and it looks awful. Part of it is his room layout and where he ended up putting it, but it sounds like the same model as yours and it's not that great unless it's you're in the sweet spot...just like at the store. I won't even get into lower quality models.

It's an option, but I would agree you'd be just as well or better with an inexpensive projector.

Just my two cents..and as with most things in life..everyones mileage may vary.

-Nick

As you can see from all the replies, there are a million options out there. I bought a Toshiba 50" widescreen rear projection (50H82 Theaterwide HD) about a year ago from Best Buy. (priced matched $1800. and a free DVD player) RPTV has definately come along way. I don't have a very bright room with full curtains over my windows, so this may play a big part in, but I have no complaints with this TV. I am still amazed at the picture, especially HD and DVDs. Approx. same size room and seating position as you. I believe the 50" is a 51" in this years model. All the ratings I read on it when I bought placed it in the top couple RPTVs at that time. Honostly, if I were in the market in the same price range, I would look at this TV again.

Like Spiff said, the wait and see game could last forever. There is ALWAYS something bigger and better coming.

Thanks everyone for all the advice so far. I realized that I forgot to specify some important information. The $2000 budget is an arbitrary figure, and is in U.S. dollars. I really don't feel comfortable shelling out more than that at this time, as I have an education to pay off.

The main purpose of the new video display is mostly for movies. My roommate is the couch potato who likes to watch television (at very unreasonable levels of 50 dB or even less!). I have fallen head over heels for DVD movies, so I'd really like a huge widescreen image to really get into the flick. Screw the roommate.

I just returned from Best Buy (again), so I'll give a brief summary of my thoughts at this point. Plasma--too expensive, and not as good picture as other technologies currently available. LCD--better than plasma, but still too expensive. DLP--best imaging I've seen. Very sharp and sets are lightweight, but a little steep still. I do believe the Samsungs mentioned above use DLP technology. I simply can't justify to myself spending three grand on a television. Perhaps five or ten years from now, but not at this juncture. CRT--the widescreen sets just seem to be too small, not to mention the heft and lack of selection.

This brings me to the RPTVs. Most of what I've seen is incredibly enormous (I still need to have room for my speakers somewhere!) has poor picture quality, or both. I sort of liked the 46" Toshiba model and the 46" Sony, but they each have their drawbacks as well.

I think I owe it to myself to look into front projectors. My big hesitancy with the projectors is that I'm afraid if the image is too big, I'll be craning my neck and turning my head all over the place while trying to watch a movie. I will consider all suggestions as open-mindedly and objectively as possible, but it all really comes down to the amount of bang I can get for the buck.

Thanks for your help, and if you have any more ideas, please keep 'em coming! This stuff is addictive!

Here is a link to a good deal on the X1:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A0146241&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=5188&page=external

For only $900, you get almost HD quality and you can make the screen as big as you want.

Here is a link to an X1 in action from someone in another forum:

http://www.mike-lee.org/hometheater/hometheaterpagemain.htm

Might I suggest that if and when you decide to buy a TV...
wether it be a RPTV, big CRT, lcd plasma etc. to save a part of your budget to get it calibrated by an ISF tech
it will help get the most out of your purchase calibrations can go up to in price to about maybe $4-500 but IMO worth it

huh!
i just posted a thread at AVS about the differences between the two and i was heartily reccomended to look into plasmas over RPTs. Then again i did post it in a plasma thread This was about a week ago so i am fairly new to the area myself and obviously i the responses i got were biased.

Yeah, I'm not knocking anyone (we all have our favorites), but at AVS you'll typically find extreme fans of whichever technology depending on the forum you're in. That's just human nature, and again I'm not criticizing as we can all be that way. Just something to remember.

On the plasma front I had a friend by the Panasonic commercial grade 42inch plasma that's quite popular. It's not HD, but EDTV grade and it was a beautiful picture. And he hadn't calibrated anything.

However, I only saw a movie and a couple of games on it so it's hard to fully evaluate.

As I mentioned and others have, you might be surprised what you could do price wise with a projector. On the other hand you might be disappointed. I haven't seen the X1 to be able to comment on it.

Best of luck!

-Nick