Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater TV for my Axioms

Hey chess;

I agree with you in the fact that most of the time most people wont keep it on the same pattern. And I thought that was the case. Only last week I walked into a store caught a glimps of the war on this kinda low end JVC plasma ($6300 cdn). When it went into commercial I saw a ever so faint black outline of what looks like the CNN logo in the corner. I looked over my shoulder as the owner was shaking his head saying "I wished I wasnt watching the war on this set ... for the last 3-4 weeks. I never changed the channel and left it there day in and day out from 8am to 10pm" He said the set wasnt a new one but he never had that problem before.

I was also out this weekend Audio browsing ... can't wait for the new monitors PMC TB2 to show up next week ... As I was looking at TV set (since the last time about 2 months ago) I was able to find a nice comparison between a Sony GW2 50" LCD rear projection set, a 40" Sims DLP rear projection set, Samsing 50" DLP rear projection. Panasonic 36" HDTV sets, Toshiba RPTV 60", Pany 42" DUY Plasma. Too bad there was no rear projector in the same store to compare. The best picture & color was between the plasma and the HDTV tube set. Next was Sony GW2 LCD rear projection. Next was the Toshiba RPTV. Samsung DLP 50" and the Sims DLP rear projection came in the last. I do not know if anyone in the store tweaked out any of the sets. I was kind off dissappointed with the DLP rear projection. I have read that the contrast ratio was supposedly excellent but I found the sets lacking in brightness.

Certainly specific tv/monitor daily usage has a huge effect on how images may burn in, but for most folks, it is rare that you never change a channel. It is equally rare that you let your kids (or perhaps even yourself) play an xbox game for tens of hours without ever turning off the set or doing at least one different thing with the tv between gaming breaks.

As with any expensive electronic component (lets say more than $300 just to toss out a number), the home owner should know how to properly care for their unit to give it the best longevity possible. If for some odd reason a home owner required to watch CNN each day for tens of hours, and only CNN, then i would say they are the odd few that should look into the serious issue of burn in before they commit to a certain technology for their home projector. You see these changes in monitor types in newer airports across the country.
I really don't think that a standard use of a plasma tv will burn in an image with watching CNN for ten hours straight. Perhaps a couple weeks of 24 hours a day will produce some results, but again, if plasma tv were really easy to burn an image after a mere couple of hours use, no one would buy them and you would have heard alot more about plasma tvs being returned by now.

Chess:

I think this was a one off bad low end model. I am still tosing around the idea between the plasma and projector since both are small format and would suit my lifestyle. I think that JVC was not that good quality. On the other end of the spectrum I have been to shops where they have had there Pany DUY model for the last ... close to 2 years with it on everyday and it looks still fantastic short of a slight dimming and I checked with the guy and said they turned it off only at night and it has been running flawlessly for almost 2 years. When it comes to plasmas the Panny, Pioneers and NEC are outstanding.

In reply to:

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My basement presently measures about 15 x 16 with an alcove and a drop ceiling at 7 feet with my couch at 8 feet from the tv.
Not exactly ideal for an overhead projector.
Cost is also usually a concern. A smaller, quality RPTV can be bought for under 2k.

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chess,

I do not quite see one aspect of your basement that is unsuitable for having the front projection enjoyment. Many of the current HT projectors can throw >100"-diagonal image from less than 11'-12' distance. Also, you actually gain 2'-3' of room depth if you do not place a big-screen RPTV.

As for prices, you can get some excellent HT projectors (both LCD and DLP models) for under $2000, including the Sanyo Z1, Pana L300u, Sharp Z90, InFocus X1 and Sony HS10 (the latter would be a bit over $2K). I have see all of them in action, and they all will throw a quite stunning image.

Sushi, perhaps i should also mention, i have no where to put the image screen.
My 50" rptv pretty much fills all the room i have right now. The drop ceiling is JUST at the limit of the image below (just above the vp150).
Why buy a front projector to make a 50" image?
And i would still have a problem placing the projector anywhere. Take a look at my basement from the rear again and try to figure out how i could ever integrate a projector into that space.
basement now with rptv, cannot see coffee table in front of couch

view from couch to front panorama, note old config before rptv and that distance to tv is ONLY 8 feet

I have no room on top of our seating area (overhead piping runs down the room splitting the drop ceiling in two). I have no room on the floor (coffee table in front of couch and add in large dog).

Maybe i will take some more quick shots of the basement room if you need to see what i mean.

Do you have digital cable Chess?

I see... You can still have a pulldown screen just in front of the RPTV (or an on-wall screen in place of RPTV!), but since you can't sit further back, I agree that there is a limited value for a larger image (most people want to watch at the distance of 1.3x screen width or more). Can't you ceiling-mount a projector somehow? -- just hypothetically...