Looking To Buy Wide Screen TV

Tekunda, It's ok.... we'll talk anywhere :)

Maybe he subscribed to cable and looking for a better picture? :^)

There is a good sony available(model number slips my mind), it retails for around 12k and will smoke every Rear projection out there, it is 65" is completely ready for HDTV(including the 'tuner', which is like $499, up here any how), and has the best finish I have ever seen on those card board cabinets they use on rear projection. The pioneer is the runner up, by a long shot, but the sony is much better, I don't like the high gloss cabinets on the pioneer but it is all personal preference. I personally use a front projector(Sharp Vision XV-s55U, shot onto a 100" 4:3 ration fixed frame screen) and love it, when I need a new one, I will get another front projector, it takes up NO floor space and has a very good picture(about the same as the pioneer elite rear projections, but not as good as the high end sony), one of my good friends has the Sony and neither of us can decide which we like better, yes he has a better picture, but I have more flexibility and a larger picture. There are great deals to be had on both rear and front projection set up's here, the best advice I can give is by it used! for some reason Home Theatre stuff takes a huge drop in value quickly, way more then stereo stuff. I have under 2k into my 1000" screen and a manufacturer waranty(dealer demo unit, projector is $8600 new and the screen is another $899-which I had to buy new) and my friend bought his 12k sony rear projection here for 4.5k from a dealer(again a dealer demo, with the waranty of a new product). Mine is close to a year old and I have had NO problems at all, his is about 4 months old(well when they became ours, plus the store use too) with NO problems, buy from a dealer and get deal of the century!

Tim

I would love to use front projection and get rid of the "box" all together.

However, front projection viewing needs to be in total darkness to achieve best results. Impossible in my home due to huge skylights.

The DLP Sharp that I viewed for 20 minutes or so was perhaps the best big image I've seen. The unit was model XV-Z9000u (HDTV Compatible). Even at an enlargement of ( what appeared ) 10 feet across, the picture was near perfect and very film like.

The only other issue is the bulb. The factory quotes 2000 hours of life, but the salesman who is a long time personal friend, says that is overly optimistic.

At a replacement cost of $300.00 per bulb and considering the viewing habits of my family, this amounts to another $500.00 per year. It might make sense to buy a decent 27" for general viewing and reserve the big projector for special times. Savings would make a high quality 27" free in about a year.

Still I agree with Tireguy, it would be nice, unless you face the obstacles I have.

By the way, I did a search at Sony.com for the 62" rear projection unit. I could only find model KDP-65XBR2 at (MSRP) of $6499.99. Either the price was dropped, or there is a more expensive model that is not featured on the home site.

I'll find out the number and post it tomorrow(my friend is old and has kids so he goes to bed early). Your right albert I forgot about the skylights, I even knew about them from a previous thread.

Well I live in a cave so lighting isn't an issue, though the ladies don't like it much-go figure. I have yet to replace the bulb, I've had it for about a year and it was used when I got it, I priced a bulb and it was $264 which I still thought was too high! I watch about 3-4 movies a week, never kept track of hours though, I am expecting it to go in the spring time. The zoom is nice, my projector allows from 40"-500", but you can play with it and make it really small or HUGE. I love toys!
Tim