need advice on an HDTV to go with new S3

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Thirded. The HL-S6187W is the set I used for the S3 Review - if you look in the photo thread all of the HD screen photos are of that set.

 

You also might look at the new Westinghouse LCDs. They're very cheap displays (no speakers or tuners), that for the most part look and work great. I've purchased a number of them now, and there's nothing like a 1080p display hooked up to a PC browsing around in Google earth. They make a 42 and a 47, for 1800 or 2500. As everyone else said, lots of info on avsforum.com. My current list that I'm looking at includes:

Pioneer PRO1130HD
Sony KDL-46XBR2
Westinghouse LVM-47w1

From a crapload of money to half a crapload, basically.

jason

 

Sony SXRD. Wow!

I have last year's 60" model and this years' is even better.

 

New, soon to be released SXRD if you have the room for it, XBR2/3 if you want to go flat-panel wallhugger.

Be very careful of DLP--some, like myself are susceptible to rainbows. My folks bought a 50" top of the line Toshiba DLP about 18 months ago and even with a 4x color wheel I can see rainbows like crazy when my eyes move from side of the screen to the other. Thankfully they relegated the DLP to the upstairs and purchased a SXRD about 6 months ago. Unbelievable picture...

 

Thanks. I just spit my drink all over the keyboard.

 

I've been spending an inordinate amount of time over at the AVS Forum deciding on this very question.

First, you must decide on LCD or Plasma. Here is a brief summary of the pros and cons of each:

1) Plasmas display blacks slightly better than LCDs, but LCDs have made incredible progress in recent years and they're quite close now.
2) Colors and vibrancy are nearly equal.
3) Plasmas perform better in dimly lit rooms, LCDs in bright rooms. Again, the difference is subtle and related to black levels (see comment #1).
4) LCDs have a slightly slower refresh rate, which can lead to motion blurring. Fast motion content like sports can become blurry when figures are moving quickly.
5) Plasmas generally handle lower quality content like typical SD (480i resolution) content better than LCDs. Some people claim that LCDs tend to pixellate or block with poorer, higher compressed content, which is the majority of television content available.
6) Newer LCDs like the Westinghouse mentioned above and Sony's XBR 2's & 3's make better computer monitors because they handle computer resolutions pixel for pixel instead of duplicating nearby pixels like many LCD models did before this year.
7) 1080p or true high definition is really only available in LCDs. There is one plasma with 1080p, the Pioneer Elite FHD1, considered by some to be the best picture flat panel available.
8) Plasmas can experience picture burn-in if a picture is left paused for more than a couple of hours, or if all you watch is ESPN and the sports ticker is the only thing on your screen all day, every day. Again, burn-in really isn't a problem with newer models.
9) 1080p is essentially useless on a 42" television. You'd have to sit 4-6 feet away from your TV to notice the difference between 1080p and 1080i or 720p. We're talking optics here, not some subjective opinion. If you're going to go 1080p, go for a 50" television at least, larger is where you'll really see a higher resolution TV shine.

Among LCDs, the best models, in terms of picture quality are the Sony XBR 2 and 3 and less expensive but with the same great resolution but perhaps not as great of a picture is the Westinghouse.

Among plasmas, Pioneer and Panasonic rule. Panasonics have the best black levels of almost any flat panel TV on the market but some consider Pioneers have slightly better (punchier) colors.

After two months and reading dozens of 70+ page forum threads on AVS Forum, and more than three visits to my local Audio/Video store, I've decided on the Pioneer Pro-940HD 42". Using the same plasma screen but with fewer bells and whistles, and less adjustability, is the non-Elite model Pioneer PDP-4270HD. Both sets can handle 1080p but they down-res it to 1080i.

Money is no object - go for the 1080p Pioneer Elite FHD1 coming in at a cool $8000.

Plasma is better than LCD at the moment for most television viewing but LCD is catching up fast and will soon surpass plasma. Television content isn't in 1080p and likely won't be for 5+ years until bandwith grows by leaps and bounds. The only 1080p content is from computer monitors and Blue-Ray and HD-DVDs.

Since I don't use my TV for computer stuff, I don't care about 1080p. I wanted a television that could still handle old standard definition television gracefully, where LCDs still stumble with a bit.

 

And of course, SED will blow both plasma and LCD out of the water... but it's got a few more years until it'll be available for common people like us.

 

I've had my 40" Sony Bravia XBR1 since April, and it is amazing. While I got a good deal from BBY (believe it or not), I would probably pay full price for it if I had to to get it.

PQ is great - its stylish, good sound, etc. Not sure how the non-XBR Sony's are (not as good, I hear) - and don't know what the XBR2/3s will be like - but if they're as good as mine, you can't go wrong.

 

I would be careful with the Westinghouse monitors. I was looking at them, but supposedly they are running the illumination at 200% of the OEM spec, which can't be good for life.

I don't recommend DLP, either, but that's only because I've known two people personally that have had their bulb die in less than 2 years, and that part is $500+, depending on manufacturer.

Whatever you do, I would strongly recommend choosing from amongst the selection at Costco. Their return policy is extremely liberal, almost to the point of equalling an extended warranty. You can get a nice 42" plasma for $1500 and up.

 

Count me as another vote for thes Samsugn XX87w HDTVs. I just got one over the summer and it's AMAZING. We went for the 56" (5687w) version.

 

I've got the 5688w (main difference is mine has QAM tuner/Cablecard slot built in. Oh, and the front bezel is black instead of silver. ) I'll agree, it looks *really* good. I am apparently susceptible to RBE (rainbow effect), but the 87/88 line seems to have minimized it quite a bit. My neighbor apparently has an older projection set across the street...I can see rainbows through their window just walking up my driveway, but the Samsung takes a bit of effort to see.

From what I understand, though, the Samsungs are very good displays after calibration. Even before that, though, they aren't bad at all.