Tell me about your fabulous HD-TVs

[dreamcastrocks]

I also have a Mits. DLP. I love the TV. However, like many others the factory bulb doesn't last as long as advertised. I spoke to a few TV techs I know and they confirmed what the "hired" Mits tech told me.

The Factor bulbs in those things go through hell before they even reach the TV. Then by the time those hit the floor etc. it impacts their life. I was told by multiple techs that the factory bulbs don't last long and that the replacements on average have been lasting just under double the life of the factory bulbs which is much closer to advertised bulb life.

I bought a free bulb replacement warranty that gives me 3 free bulbs. So to me DLP was more then worth it. By the time I am out of my free bulb replacement, the price of the bulbs will have come down. I also will probably be in the market for something new. IMO you cannot beat DLP in a price for performance comparison.

By the way what problems were you having with your DTV multi-switches? They had to come and replace mine and ever since then, I have been getting the dreaded pixelized picture drop out. Never happened on my old powered multi-switch. However, they installed a passive (non powered) multi-switch and ever since then I have been having the issue on occasion.

My Sony LCoS TV is just about to expire in its manufacturers warranty. I am making them replace the lamp in mine, just to be safe before it expires. I wasn't going to pay 25% of my TV's cost on a warranty that only provided one lamp replacement, and the extended warranty that you can get with Sony, while affordable, doesn't include lamp replacements.

They shipped it to me yesterday in fact. I just need to make the time to put it in.

 

[Covert Rain]

My Sony LCoS TV is just about to expire in its manufacturers warranty. I am making them replace the lamp in mine, just to be safe before it expires. I wasn't going to pay 25% of my TV's cost on a warranty that only provided one lamp replacement, and the extended warranty that you can get with Sony, while affordable, doesn't include lamp replacements.

They shipped it to me yesterday in fact. I just need to make the time to put it in.

Usually the extended warranty with the Manufacturer stinks. I looked into the Mits one it was the same type of deal. However, the one offered through the dealer was much much better. Can't complain about multiple bulb replacements. The cost of all of them alone more then makes up for the cost of the warranty.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Usually the extended warranty with the Manufacturer stinks. I looked into the Mits one it was the same type of deal. However, the one offered through the dealer was much much better. Can't complain about multiple bulb replacements. The cost of all of them alone more then makes up for the cost of the warranty.

I hear that. If it weren't for the amazing service that I received from Showcase, I would have never bought my TV from there, because of the warranty alone. It's all good, new bulb basically = new TV, so I'm happy with that. I'll need to take a break from my busy COD schedule to replace it.

 

[BigShtank]

Interesting stuff, I knew about the shelf life of the plasmas, but had not heard about DLP's having bulbs go out. Guess I'll keep my huge 55" mitsubishi rear projection HD TV from about 2000 or 2001. It's one of the ones that rolls on the floor and is huge. Picture is great and haven't had one problem with it. The first time I watched it, I was so disappointed because of the clarity, until I finally got the HD service and holy crap is HD awesome.

One question though, does anyones commercials in HD cut off at the bottom? I see some where the text is off screen. I don't think it's my TV because when the scores scroll accross the bottom on ESPN or NFL network, they are on screen and nothing is cut off. For some reason it's just the commercials and some HD channel commercials that place text at the very bottom get cut off too. Just curious if anyone has the same issue.

As for the post above about stages, I am already in Stage B. No football on SD.

 

[Duckjake]

Good post. With crop, stretch, pillar box, full, zoom, fill, etc... I have no idea how to correctly tune my HDTV.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Interesting stuff, I knew about the shelf life of the plasmas, but had not heard about DLP's having bulbs go out. Guess I'll keep my huge 55" mitsubishi rear projection HD TV from about 2000 or 2001. It's one of the ones that rolls on the floor and is huge. Picture is great and haven't had one problem with it. The first time I watched it, I was so disappointed because of the clarity, until I finally got the HD service and holy crap is HD awesome.

One question though, does anyones commercials in HD cut off at the bottom? I see some where the text is off screen. I don't think it's my TV because when the scores scroll accross the bottom on ESPN or NFL network, they are on screen and nothing is cut off. For some reason it's just the commercials and some HD channel commercials that place text at the very bottom get cut off too. Just curious if anyone has the same issue.

As for the post above about stages, I am already in Stage B. No football on SD.

Its the networks trying to stretch the image to fit your TV. Commercials don't do that, so sometimes they get cut off, depending on the commercial.

 

[red desert]

Interesting stuff, I knew about the shelf life of the plasmas, but had not heard about DLP's having bulbs go out. Guess I'll keep my huge 55" mitsubishi rear projection HD TV from about 2000 or 2001. It's one of the ones that rolls on the floor and is huge. Picture is great and haven't had one problem with it. The first time I watched it, I was so disappointed because of the clarity, until I finally got the HD service and holy crap is HD awesome.

One question though, does anyones commercials in HD cut off at the bottom? I see some where the text is off screen. I don't think it's my TV because when the scores scroll accross the bottom on ESPN or NFL network, they are on screen and nothing is cut off. For some reason it's just the commercials and some HD channel commercials that place text at the very bottom get cut off too. Just curious if anyone has the same issue.

As for the post above about stages, I am already in Stage B. No football on SD.

As you know I have another thread going about purchasing a 60 or so inch plasma. Thing is, the set I am looking to replace is a 55 inch Mitsubishi HD1080 like yours. Are you saying that if I simply have Direct TV pipe in HD television my picture will improve substantially? Hmmm...

 

[dreamcastrocks]

As you know I have another thread going about purchasing a 60 or so inch plasma. Thing is, the set I am looking to replace is a 55 inch Mitsubishi HD1080 like yours. Are you saying that if I simply have Direct TV pipe in HD television my picture will improve substantially? Hmmm...

I don't know about improve. Depending on what you have now, you might get a lot more channels though.

 

[KloD]

Interesting stuff, I knew about the shelf life of the plasmas, but had not heard about DLP's having bulbs go out. Guess I'll keep my huge 55" mitsubishi rear projection HD TV from about 2000 or 2001. It's one of the ones that rolls on the floor and is huge. Picture is great and haven't had one problem with it. The first time I watched it, I was so disappointed because of the clarity, until I finally got the HD service and holy crap is HD awesome.

One question though, does anyones commercials in HD cut off at the bottom? I see some where the text is off screen. I don't think it's my TV because when the scores scroll accross the bottom on ESPN or NFL network, they are on screen and nothing is cut off. For some reason it's just the commercials and some HD channel commercials that place text at the very bottom get cut off too. Just curious if anyone has the same issue.

As for the post above about stages, I am already in Stage B. No football on SD.

The DLP's are rear projection, that means your bulb will go to. Obviously people's television watching habits will determine the months/years their bulb will last. The 6 I have at work get used for video conferencing daily, several hours a day. I wouldn't buy another based on my expirence with them, but I can see if someone watches a reasonable 10 hours a week of tv, their bulb could last a long time.

 

[ShuHanGuanYu]

Just ordered a Samsung PN58A550 58" Plasma, will be my first time stepping into HD. I was going to get the FPT5880 but then saw that this one was just released...

 

[BIGTONY]

Im not perfect But I started working at Bestbuy parttime I love it Im a CA.I have been there 4 months. I help all customers But I love being in Home theater. 1.Panasonic are the best 2.If you pick Panasonic You will save alot of money over pioneer,but I would recommend getting your tv calibrated,it will look as good or better then pioneer and save you alot of money.You can get it done for around 300 dollars.Bestbuy is going to being running a rollout and show people the difference between two tv one calibrated and one not.All I got say is if you spend 1500 + get the tv calibrated its well worth it ..Another people is get the rite box for your tv make sure you hook up to a hd box threw coxs or direct tv..also nite and day difference.So much clearer All Bestbuys have two tvs hooked up in their home theater dept.One hooked up to a hd box and one not.If any questions let me know ..also Samsuns also make awesome plasma tvs..

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Im not perfect But I started working at Bestbuy parttime I love it Im a CA.I have been there 4 months. I help all customers But I love being in Home theater. 1.Panasonic are the best 2.If you pick Panasonic You will save alot of money over pioneer,but I would recommend getting your tv calibrated,it will look as good or better then pioneer and save you alot of money.You can get it done for around 300 dollars.Bestbuy is going to being running a rollout and show people the difference between two tv one calibrated and one not.All I got say is if you spend 1500 + get the tv calibrated its well worth it ..Another people is get the rite box for your tv make sure you hook up to a hd box threw coxs or direct tv..also nite and day difference.So much clearer All Bestbuys have two tvs hooked up in their home theater dept.One hooked up to a hd box and one not.If any questions let me know ..also Samsuns also make awesome plasma tvs..

Cailbration is needed. The Avia or DVE discs do a good job if you don't want to spend the $300 or so on the calibration. I have them both, including the DVE HD disc. I just replaced my lamp two days ago, so I need to rerun them.

 

[Duckjake]

Cailbration is needed. The Avia or DVE discs do a good job if you don't want to spend the $300 or so on the calibration. I have them both, including the DVE HD disc. I just replaced my lamp two days ago, so I need to rerun them.

Where do you get the discs? And who do you call to do the calibration if you want to spend the money?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Where do you get the discs? And who do you call to do the calibration if you want to spend the money?

Online. Google Avia or DVE to get them. Most retailers sell them.

If you want a professional, most TV repair shops will do it.

 

[Duckjake]

Online. Google Avia or DVE to get them. Most retailers sell them.

If you want a professional, most TV repair shops will do it.

Are there any TV repair shops still in business? Most of the ones around here shut down and went into the installation business, putting in wall mounts and wiring home theater systems etc.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Are there any TV repair shops still in business? Most of the ones around here shut down and went into the installation business, putting in wall mounts and wiring home theater systems etc.

When you look for one, make sure they are an ISF calibrator.

 

[Duckjake]

When you look for one, make sure they are an ISF calibrator.

.

 

[BigShtank]

As you know I have another thread going about purchasing a 60 or so inch plasma. Thing is, the set I am looking to replace is a 55 inch Mitsubishi HD1080 like yours. Are you saying that if I simply have Direct TV pipe in HD television my picture will improve substantially? Hmmm...

It might, I was on Dish and used an off air antenna from radio shack that I bought for $30. It worked just fine. I switched to DirecTV because they were lower priced for what I wanted. The HD I get from directv works very well. I can't compare it to a plasma in store because I can't view it side by side, unfortunately none of the electronic stores will let me take several home to test on good will. Just poor customer service on their part if you ask me.

I will say this, my TV is sharp enough for me not to drop almost $2000 on a plasma or LCD. Do yourself a favor and test the DirecTV reception anyways, you should be watching national geographic and discovery in HD, you don't know what you're missing.

 

[ShuHanGuanYu]

Got the Samsung PN58A550 set up today. I'm lovin' it big time...finally get to enjoy blu-ray. Unfortunately my new Cox HD box seems to be screwing up royally. Half the channels are black-screens, and the others are freezing every five minutes for a few seconds. Odd.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Got the Samsung PN58A550 set up today. I'm lovin' it big time...finally get to enjoy blu-ray. Unfortunately my new Cox HD box seems to be screwing up royally. Half the channels are black-screens, and the others are freezing every five minutes for a few seconds. Odd.

Bad box.

 

[BigShtank]

Got the Samsung PN58A550 set up today. I'm lovin' it big time...finally get to enjoy blu-ray. Unfortunately my new Cox HD box seems to be screwing up royally. Half the channels are black-screens, and the others are freezing every five minutes for a few seconds. Odd.

That's your first problem right there. My mother has Cox and has all sorts of issues with it all the time. Granted, she doesn't have the HD, just the digital. Their high speed internet is fabulous, but I can't stand their cable.

 

[ShuHanGuanYu]

That's your first problem right there. My mother has Cox and has all sorts of issues with it all the time. Granted, she doesn't have the HD, just the digital. Their high speed internet is fabulous, but I can't stand their cable.

Yeah, I've heard a lot of that now after researching box troubles. Good thing is, the first guy they sent out was awesome. I left him a detailed note (I couldn't be there) saying what the problem was and that basically I already tried everything he is going to try. He switched out the box right away without checking anything else, and it's been working perfectly since. This is the only problem I've ever had with Cox, and I'd say I'm very happy the HD service now that it's fixed. Maybe I just got lucky, but 2 extra days without HD wasn't too bad...

 

[Mrh182]

This is the TV I just bought at Bestbuy on Thursday...

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Its a 42inch 1080P LCD... I spent about 3 hours doing calibration's on it yesterday and it looks amazing now with my HD-DVDs

Only problem now is I have to get a new HD-DVD player that does 1080P instead of 1080i as well as a new receiver for the same reason

 

[BIGTONY]

Is the one that goes over your entire tv Its like a screen and then its hooked up to a laptop and then the laptop does the rest..its really cool..Tvs look awesome when its calibrated rite..

 

[Mulli]

Hi Def nature shows are so cool! This week I learned what a "mudskipper" is. And last week, I watched a show about lions that eat refugees.

Awesome.