I have a projector and Axiom speakers for watching movies but prefer to NOT watch ordinary tv on it. So I have decided to buy myself a new 40"ish flat panel but I don't have a clue about which model. Given that my 106" screen looks flawless with HD-DVD's at 720P, I don't think I need or want 1080p in a flat panel. I have gotten, and hopefully given, good advice at this board in the past and hope someone can offer a suggestion or two as to which way to go. Since I am looking at a screen size many inches smaller than what is cutting edge, I don't think it matters whether I go LCD or Plasma.

Greg

Greg, consider the Samsung 40A550.

Greg, this is a good plasma that can be had for under $800.00, Panasonic TH-42PX80U

I'll 2nd the Panasonic recommendation. They have been highly rated for picture and reliability for several years. I have a 50" and a 42" Panny that I'm very happy with.

Surveys show that the only complaint people tend to have about their first flat panel TV is that they wish they had gotten a bigger screen.

I just wish they built larger lcd's.

I noticed that my 40" gives a 32" 4:3 picture, going by this I would say most people under estimate the size they have gotten used to at home on their CRT's and do not think about the loss of height when jumping to the wide screen displays. I figure I need a 50-52" to equal the height of the picture I have on my current 36" CRT and look simply to widen that display size to accept 16:9.

I'll check those models out this week.

As far as size, I don't want to regret a purchase but think a 42" would be big enough. My last tv was a 32" Toshiba purchased in about 1998. For 4:3 it was pretty nice but 1.85 movies were pushing it and 2.35 were not much fun to watch.

If I apply the pythagorean theorem to my old 32" tv I have a picture that is 19" high and 25" wide for 4:3. With a 37" flat panel in 16:9 ratio I would get an image that is a little over 18" in height but 32" wide. So my 16:9 viewing would be quite a bit bigger than what I saw on my 32" tv and 4:3 would be similarly sized to the 32". So if I go 42, that should be big enough?

I'll check them out tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Greg

BTW, based upon my research, I'll never be able to see an advantage with 1080P at this screen size. Does that sound right? My FPJ looks great at 720P and I just assume put the money into a small receiver for this tv.

You asked for a larger LCD and Sharp delivered

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Yep, I went 40 because it equalled my 32" exactly which meant I was able to simply expand the width and kept the height, it is a wonderful 16:9 picture.

I was able to notice a slight difference in PQ from 720P to 1080P for my 40" LCD, it wasn't a huge difference, things just looked that much crisper and tight. I was/am about 8-10' away. If you are closer than that you may find a bigger difference or not, just as we hear speakers differently we all see things a little different as well.

Hopefully by the time my 4:3 CRT dies, they'll have real 16:9 panels that have a native resolution of 1280x720 or 1920x1080, instead of 1366x768 or 1920x1200...