Looking to buy a 1080p TV & Blueray DVD Player
 

Im about to move in 3 weeks and I want to buy a 1080p TV and a blueray dvd player.


This are the 3 that i am debating. LCD VS Plasma


Sony Bravia XBR KDL-46XBR4 46" 1080p LCD HDTV
or
Pioneer KURO PDP-5010FD 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV
or
50" 1080p PRO-110FD ELITE#65533; KURO Flat Panel HDTV

Now with the blue ray player im not sure what to get. Im not a gamer so i dont care to much for the ps3. I dont mind getting 2 different dvd players 1 that plays Blue Ray discs and 1 that can upconvert all my normal dvds to 1080p. I need a region free upconvertor that has both pal/ntsc. If anyone know any good ones let me know

LCD will not screen burn like plasma, especially on video games. But plasma has better black levels than LCD. Take your pick.

Beyond that, look for middleman ratio filters, like 15:10 (3:2), 5:3 or 14:9. It crops and stretches fullscreen a tiny bit to fill widescreen. It's better than a set with only 4:3 and 16:9. Noise and color/IRE(black mode) filters are nice too.

Blu-Ray is a waste of money. The format has a good chance of failing. It's like a Laserdisc or any number of Sony-proprietary formats. Even HD-DVD may fail, being too much like Laserdisc in niche appeal. If you have the money, go for it, but I don't suggest it. You can put $500 in better devices. Solid-state, on-demand, PVR and HTPC setups are what lie in the future, not a puny steroid-growth version of a DVD.

This is only second hand, but I've heard that the PS3 has great up-converting for existing regular DVDs.

can you give more info on these. maybe even a good set up. Solid-state, on-demand, PVR and HTPC setups?????????

ya ive heard that the firmware upgrades are good so far witht he ps3 and the price seems good.

I own a 37" SHARP AQUOS LC37D62U LCD. I was a huge fan of plasma, and that was all I wanted until I did some research. I have no regrets about the Aquos purchase and would definitely buy one again as well as encourage others to look into it.

I have a Vizio. Great up and coming LSD and it has a great picture and great price. You can get a 32 inch at Costco for $599

does anyone here heed the various magazine or online reviews?

or do these people, by and large, get "sponsored" and hence give glowing tributes to stuff that are not quite top of the heap?

i ask because UK is about to undergo a transition to digital over the next few years and so i need to ditch my analog tv for a digital one.

and tvs are changing faster than a speeding bullet it seems like.
hard to keep track of

ergo a good "lab test" site would help me a lot

With magazines, it depends on who's writing it and which magazine. Many of them do poor research, and some do have too much overlap in advertising and editorial (meaning they can "be bought" by companies).

Online reviews are 75% crap. You have to already know a good deal about products to be able to get any real help from an online review. Many people just don't know how to use a device. Others are just oblivious or willing to make excuses for flaws. Some are shills. And then about 2-3 out of 10 is a decent review.

A number of so-called "independent" website are shills. They get paid to positively review products. This is very common in the web hosting business. Others are so bamboozled and overrun by dorks that they don't know a good products when they see one.

AVSForum.com has horrible DVD player/recorder information, but the TV information is about 50-50. So carefully read over the reviews and remember to be the king of skeptics when reading.

Pioneer Plasma TVs are truly amazing. They are by far, better then the rest (picture wise) that is. Price wise, they are pretty salty.

ya the price sucks lol but you can tell the difference. im 95% most likely going with the new

50" 1080p PRO-110FD ELITE#65533; KURO Flat Panel HDTV

ill be broke forever though.

so i got everything and am moving tomorrow. This is my set up

Electronics

Pioneer Elite PRO-110FD Kuro 50” 1080-P Plasma
VSX-94 TXH Top End Elite Receiver
Toshiba HD-XA2
PS3 - For The Blu-Ray
Cox Digital Cable HD DVR Box -HDMI Output
Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Need it for Region Free)
Mitsubishi HS-U448 VCR (Need for VHS Only OLD Releases)
Computer = P4 3.8GHZ, 4GB of Ram, Good Video Card W/hdmi Output, Audio 7.1
Panamax M5300-EX 11 Power Surge

Rocket Loudspeakers by Onix
RS450 Main Speakers (2)
RSC200 Center Speaker
RS250MkII Rear Surround Speakers (2)
Onix Reference 0.5 (2)
x-sub - When Back in Stock

Now i just need to get the DVD recorder that LS told me about by toshiba but i forgot what it was called and lost the link. so ls if you read this please give me the link again to the Toshiba recorder that you were going to get.

Toshiba XS-32/34/35 from wegotbetterdeals.com

Toshiba RD-XS35 or JVC DR-M100??? also the toshiba on the site has only 3 months warranty is that good enough? let me know. another question. what should my dvd recorder when i get one be connected too?? everything else will be connected to the receiver then only one connection to the TV through HDMI. let me know

Thanks

Items like that will either break right away (within 1-2 months), or they'll be fine for a number of years. Nothing to fear.

You're on your own with connections. I hate connecting crap. It takes some well-placed thought usually. Very often have to chain devices too.

I will just say this stay away from Magnovox. I bought 3 different players, and each one was junk. I finally bought a Sony, and it works perfectly. Just my opinion.