H2Xmark

I like my mitsubishi, but I hear the new DLP that Samsung has is nice[hlm437w] also I like the pioneer elite, the sd533hd5 is close to you price range, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the new stuff out there, it is a big time improvement over the stuff that is a few years old
Mark

Audiofn

DONT buy MONSTER CABLE!!!!! It is the bigest rip off going!!!! If you want good cables give me a call I will tell ya what to get. May be able to send it down to you but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not buy monster cable.

Jon

FWK

The Pioneer was the 643HD. The cabinet is diferrent and the leticular pitch in the screen is better on the elite. My friend who works for Pioneer made the comment that if the 2 televisions were in seperate rooms no one could tell the diferrence except for the cabinet.(Piano finish and Black ash) Also when purchasing any of these Projections T.V.s make sure you have them converged by a authorized sevice center. As every one I sell is out of convergence on delivery. Forrest

Clay Washington

I have the Mitsubishi 55819 as well as the Hughes HIRD-E86 Direct TV HDTV Package. I also have a Terk TV55 antenna to receive the local broadcast HDTV signals. I installed everything myself.

All I can say is WOW! This is the COMPLETE package. I get HDNet, HBO HD, and Showtime HD from the satellite and I receive 1 local station in HD (NBC). I have emailed the other 3 major stations (ABC, CBS, and FOX), and they all plan to the broadcasting this summer.

I also have a Harman Kardon receiver with 5.1 Dolby Digital, a progressive scan DVD, and an SVHS VCR. I think I'm good for a while!

Clay Washington

My favorite site for HDTV information is: HD Pictures

gdfatha

Clay-

I live in Florida and switched to cable (I regret) due to losing the DirecTV signal whenever we got a big cloud or heavy rain. I may switch back since every salesperson (TV) has told me to dump cable and go back to DirecTV, a lot of new things comming out from DirectV this summer.

Audiofn

Gdfatha: Make sure your signal strength is good and you will not have this problem. Even in the recent 24" in a day snow storm we had only one customer of mine complained of a drop and that was because so much snow built up on his roof the dish was actually party under the snow. Get a killer aim and you will be TOTALLY happy. Having the dish mounted SUPER SOLID is also key.

Jon

outlawinil

I have yet to wear out a Sony TV, it's like boats you always want bigger. Bought a 57 HD widescreen Sony in Jan 2002 and love it.

Clay Washington

gdfatha

I believe that Mitsubishi has the best HD picture. If I got to "do it all over again", I would still opt for an HD-Upgradable Mitsubishi and buy a separate HD receiver.

I have a first-generation HD receiver (Hughes E86). The second-generation HD receivers have the same "HD Decoder electronics" as the first-generation HD receivers, but the second-generation HD receivers have "Fire-Wire". "Fire Wire" will be required for the HD Recorders coming in the very near future.

Right now, there is very little being broadcasted in HDTV, so I decided to save some money and go with a first-generation HD receiver and an SVHS VCR.

Clay Washington

Here is a quick tutorial on HDTV.

Current non-HDTV Television sets have a 3x4 picture format and a resolution of 480i. HDTV Television sets have a 9x16 picture format and a resolution of 1080i.

Format - The 9x16 format is a wider screen than the 3x4 format and more closely matches the wide-screen picture that you see at the movie theater.

If you view a 9x16 movie on a 3x4 TV, you would either watch it in letterbox (blank spaces at the top and bottom) or cropped (the left and right areas of the picture are missing). When a movie is "edited for TV", it usually means that it has been cropped.

If you watch a 3x4 program on a 9x16 screen, you would either watch it in narrow (blank spaces on the left and right) or stretched (the picture is stretched to fill the screen). There are several variations of stretched. but the idea is to fill the screen with picture.

Resolution - There are several types of resolution. I will talk about 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i. The "number" refers to the lines of resolution that the TV displays and the letter (i or p) refers the way it is displayed.

Interlaced (i) means that only the odd numbered lines are displayed on the first scan of the screen and the even numbered line are displayed on the second scan. Progressive (p) means that all lines are displayed on a single scan of the screen.

All Television sets that use "Composite Video" inputs (yellow cable) and/or "S-Video inputs" are 480i. VHS VCR's, SVHS VCR's, and non-progressive scan DVD players are also 480i. Progressive scan DVD players are 480p and require "Component Video" inputs (Red, Green, Blue cables). In theory, 480p is twice as clear as 480i.

720p and 1080i are both considered HDTV. There is some debate about which is clearer, but they are both HDTV. In order for a Television set to be considered HD-Capable you should see the "logo" HD1080 on the front and "DTV Video inputs" on the back.