Need some opinions for a TV.

[Yamaheart]

Now, I am in a market for a new TV. I was looking at the Sharp 65" LCD TV LC-65E77UM. Also, I have been reading so much about member's experiences on Plasma, and Plasma has the best picture quality compare to LCD. Now does the best picture quality only for MOVIES or everything else? The purposes of the new TV I am going to get are for Movies (70%), using as a computer monitor (20%), and games (10%). I heard about burn-in in Plasma, but when or how exactly does that happens? Does it happens when you watch a movie or something and pause it and let it sit for 3 hours? If I can do all I want on a Plasma with out burn-in, I'll get it. LCD sounds like a multipurposes monitor to me. Thanks.

 

[FirstReflection]

You are not alone in your concerns

The best way that I can put it is that, IMO, the underlying technology doesn't really matter. There are some LCDs that are better than certain plasmas. And there are some plasmas that are better than certain LCDs. To me, it really all boils down to specific models. It is also a matter of certain strengths and weaknesses and matching those attributes to your specific viewing conditions. For example, if your room is well-lit or bright, I would suggest avoiding any display that has a glossy and/or reflective screen. It doesn't matter if it is LCD or plasma. There are some LCDs that have very glossy screens and there are some plasmas that have very glossy screens. Bottom line is that a glossy screen in a well-lit room equals a distracting and unsatisfactory viewing experience to my eyes.

Now, it so happens that the Pioneer Elite, Signature Elite and Pioneer KRP Monitor Kuro plasmas are basically the best in every way. They have unequaled black level performance. They have superb color accuracy. They have a very effective anti-reflective screen surface. They have excellent video processing. etc, etc. In every facet, the Pioneer Kuro displays are top notch, so if you simply want the best - regardless of the viewing conditions - track down a KRP Monitor, Signature Elite Monitor or Elite HDTV from Pioneer.

Panasonic's plasmas come very close to Pioneer Kuro performance. But they do not look as good in a well-lit or bright room. That is because the black levels on the Panasonic plasmas wash out a bit - black looks more grey. The Panasonic plasmas also have an anti-reflective screen surface, but it is not quite as good as the Pioneer version. Other than that, they are extremely similar.

So the top two brands happen to be plasma. But that does not extend to mean that ALL plasmas are better than ALL LCDs. At the moment, if you want the absolute best, get one of the remaining Pioneer Kuro. If you are ok with a very close second and your room is dim or dark, then a Panasonic plasma is the next best choice.

With either the Pioneer Kuro or the Panasonic plasma, burn-in simply is not an issue. Many people are still worried about burn-in - it was a big scare several years back and LCD manfacturers did a good job in "spreading the word" as a means to drive people towards LCD displays instead. But with the Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas, burn-in just doesn't happen except in extreme cases. It's basically the same as an old CRT. Both plasma and CRT use phosphors to create the light that you see. Strictly speaking, any phosphor-based display CAN burn-in if it is abused. But just like your old CRT, it takes something extreme - like leaving a bright white dot on the screen for 48 hours in a row. And even then, the Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas can often eliminate the burn-in using a special DVD that shows a sequence of solid colors or just using the "wipe" screen found in the menu. Bottom line - if you get a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma, do not worry about burn-in

If your room is well-lit or bright and you cannot afford one of the 60" Pioneer Kuro plasmas, I would recommend the Sony W5100 LCD. Sony uses a very effective matte screen surface that is excellent in a bright room and their 65" W5100 model is reasonably priced for such a large LCD screen size.

To sum up:

- Get a Pioneer 60" PRO-151FD, PRO-141FD or KRP-600M if you can afford one.

- if your room is dim or dark, the next best choice is a Panasonic plasma. The 65" TC-P65V10 offers more user controls and a 96 Hz mode for 1080p/24 content, but if you need a lower price, the TC-P65S1 gives up the 96Hz mode and the extra user controls, but a professional ISF calibration can make it look just as accurate as the V10

- if your room is well-lit or bright and you cannot afford one of the Pioneer Kuro plasmas, I recommend the Sony W5100 for its excellent matte screen surface and generally very good picture quality and reasonable price given the size.

Best of luck!

 

[Yamaheart]

You are not alone in your concerns

The best way that I can put it is that, IMO, the underlying technology doesn't really matter. There are some LCDs that are better than certain plasmas. And there are some plasmas that are better than certain LCDs. To me, it really all boils down to specific models. It is also a matter of certain strengths and weaknesses and matching those attributes to your specific viewing conditions. For example, if your room is well-lit or bright, I would suggest avoiding any display that has a glossy and/or reflective screen. It doesn't matter if it is LCD or plasma. There are some LCDs that have very glossy screens and there are some plasmas that have very glossy screens. Bottom line is that a glossy screen in a well-lit room equals a distracting and unsatisfactory viewing experience to my eyes.

Now, it so happens that the Pioneer Elite, Signature Elite and Pioneer KRP Monitor Kuro plasmas are basically the best in every way. They have unequaled black level performance. They have superb color accuracy. They have a very effective anti-reflective screen surface. They have excellent video processing. etc, etc. In every facet, the Pioneer Kuro displays are top notch, so if you simply want the best - regardless of the viewing conditions - track down a KRP Monitor, Signature Elite Monitor or Elite HDTV from Pioneer.

Panasonic's plasmas come very close to Pioneer Kuro performance. But they do not look as good in a well-lit or bright room. That is because the black levels on the Panasonic plasmas wash out a bit - black looks more grey. The Panasonic plasmas also have an anti-reflective screen surface, but it is not quite as good as the Pioneer version. Other than that, they are extremely similar.

So the top two brands happen to be plasma. But that does not extend to mean that ALL plasmas are better than ALL LCDs. At the moment, if you want the absolute best, get one of the remaining Pioneer Kuro. If you are ok with a very close second and your room is dim or dark, then a Panasonic plasma is the next best choice.

With either the Pioneer Kuro or the Panasonic plasma, burn-in simply is not an issue. Many people are still worried about burn-in - it was a big scare several years back and LCD manfacturers did a good job in "spreading the word" as a means to drive people towards LCD displays instead. But with the Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas, burn-in just doesn't happen except in extreme cases. It's basically the same as an old CRT. Both plasma and CRT use phosphors to create the light that you see. Strictly speaking, any phosphor-based display CAN burn-in if it is abused. But just like your old CRT, it takes something extreme - like leaving a bright white dot on the screen for 48 hours in a row. And even then, the Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas can often eliminate the burn-in using a special DVD that shows a sequence of solid colors or just using the "wipe" screen found in the menu. Bottom line - if you get a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma, do not worry about burn-in

If your room is well-lit or bright and you cannot afford one of the 60" Pioneer Kuro plasmas, I would recommend the Sony W5100 LCD. Sony uses a very effective matte screen surface that is excellent in a bright room and their 65" W5100 model is reasonably priced for such a large LCD screen size.

To sum up:

- Get a Pioneer 60" PRO-151FD, PRO-141FD or KRP-600M if you can afford one.

- if your room is dim or dark, the next best choice is a Panasonic plasma. The 65" TC-P65V10 offers more user controls and a 96 Hz mode for 1080p/24 content, but if you need a lower price, the TC-P65S1 gives up the 96Hz mode and the extra user controls, but a professional ISF calibration can make it look just as accurate as the V10

- if your room is well-lit or bright and you cannot afford one of the Pioneer Kuro plasmas, I recommend the Sony W5100 for its excellent matte screen surface and generally very good picture quality and reasonable price given the size.

Best of luck!

Thank you so much for quick replied. So burn-in was my most concern. How about using Plasma to play games and as a computer monitor because i do watch movies online, not so much though

 

[FirstReflection]

I play DVDs and Blu-rays that I have ripped to hard drive from my computer on my Pioneer KRP-600M plasma monitor. I will also just use the KRP as a giant 60" computer screen from time to time

It is excellent. Using the HDMI input, I can get perfect pixel-for-pixel 1920 x 1080 resolution. As long as your computer can output using an HDMI or DVI connection at 1920 x 1080 resolution, you can get a perfect, crisp, extremely clear image on a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma.

For videogame consoles (PS3, Xbox360, Wii), again, I don't really make a distinction based upon the display technology. The best display overall will look the best for videogames, just as it does for movies or TV. Videogames on a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma look superb.

In general, the Wii looks better on a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma than on any LCD that I have seen. Both the Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas have good-to-excellent video processing and plasma tends to appear a little bit "smoother" in general. So the lower resolution Wii output looks better overall on a good plasma.

If it means anything to you, IGN strongly recommends using a good plasma (they use Panasonic) for videogames and for Wii especially for exactly the reasons that I have given.

I will say this - I have yet to see a Sharp brand display that has good video processing. They look fine if you feed them the native resolution of the display so that they do not have to perform any video processing, but Sharp seems to really cheap out on the video processing side of things.

 

[Yamaheart]

I play DVDs and Blu-rays that I have ripped to hard drive from my computer on my Pioneer KRP-600M plasma monitor. I will also just use the KRP as a giant 60" computer screen from time to time

It is excellent. Using the HDMI input, I can get perfect pixel-for-pixel 1920 x 1080 resolution. As long as your computer can output using an HDMI or DVI connection at 1920 x 1080 resolution, you can get a perfect, crisp, extremely clear image on a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma.

For videogame consoles (PS3, Xbox360, Wii), again, I don't really make a distinction based upon the display technology. The best display overall will look the best for videogames, just as it does for movies or TV. Videogames on a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma look superb.

In general, the Wii looks better on a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma than on any LCD that I have seen. Both the Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas have good-to-excellent video processing and plasma tends to appear a little bit "smoother" in general. So the lower resolution Wii output looks better overall on a good plasma.

If it means anything to you, IGN strongly recommends using a good plasma (they use Panasonic) for videogames and for Wii especially for exactly the reasons that I have given.

I will say this - I have yet to see a Sharp brand display that has good video processing. They look fine if you feed them the native resolution of the display so that they do not have to perform any video processing, but Sharp seems to really cheap out on the video processing side of things.

As far as video process, I will pass the HDMI to my Yamaha RX-v3800 and then to the Display (either Pioneer, Panasonic or Sharp). Now would it matter if the Display is excellent or near good when the Yamaha RV-V3800 gonna do the upscaling? I currently have the Vizio 42" LCD TV. When we watched a video clip from a HD camcorder connect directly to the Vizio, the Picture Quality was not that good. But when pass it thru the Yamaha then to the Vizio, it was 10 times better. Now, would it be better if a get a good Plasma/LCD or not? Thanks.

 

[FirstReflection]

The video processing in your Yamaha RX-V3800 (made by ABT) is very good. I would have to see the results of a test pattern shoot-out, but the Pioneer Kuro processing is stellar. I would expect the RX-V3800's processing and the Pioneer Kuro processing to be about equal - one might have an advantage here or there with certain specific types of content, but it would likely go back and forth.

The ABT processing in your RX-V3800 is almost certainly better than the video processing found in the Panasonic plasmas. Your Yamaha is definitely better than the Sharp or the Vizio (or the Sony for that matter).

So, since you have a good video processor in the chain, your choice comes down to other attributes. The Sharp LCD is just plain not as good as any of the displays that I have recommended. In black levels, contrast, color rendition, screen surface - pretty much any metric - the Pioneer Kuro plasmas remain the absolute best, the Panasonic plasmas a small step behind and the Sony W5100 LCD becomes a better choice than the Panasonic plasma if your room is bright, IMO.

So I would suggest that you make your decision based upon the lighting in your room. Get a Pioneer PRO-151FD, PRO-141FD or KRP-600M if you can. Keep in mind that those are all 60" in size. The PRO-141FD and KRP-600M are also monitors only, which means that they are just a screen - they have no speakers, no table-top stand and no ATSC/NTSC tuners built-in. The PRO-151FD is a full HDTV (speakers, stand, tuners included), but it is also the most expensive of the three.

If your room is dim or dark and the Pioneers are a no-go, get a Panasonic plasma.

If your room is bright and the Pioneers are a no-go, get the Sony W5100 LCD.

I pretty much wouldn't opt for the Sharp unless it's just insanely less expensive than any other option. Your good video processing in your Yamaha RX-V3800 will certainly help. But the Sharp LCD is outperformed in every other way as well.

Best of luck

 

[Yamaheart]

What I have in mind right now is either the Sharp Lc-65E77UM or the Panasonic 65V10 Plasma. The Pana costs $1000 more than the Sharp. Kuro is the king, but only at 60 Inch. I'm trying to go for the biggest Display right now, so 65 inch is the biggest I'll get. Never really like Sony and I never bought any from it beside headphones and batteries.

Another concern is like you were talking about is room's light condition. Now, how bright is too bright, and how dim/dark is dim/dark?

If u can help me out, I will take pictures of the room lay out and windows/door.

Thanks.

 

[jostenmeat]

Now does the best picture quality only for MOVIES or everything else? The purposes of the new TV I am going to get are for Movies (70%), using as a computer monitor (20%), and games (10%).

Everything. FWIW, I said this about 8 months ago:

"I have seen nothing more disgusting, visually, in AV, than an LCD playing back standard def. At least a plasma can made standard def look close to as good as overcompressed HD lite. SD on a LCD looks like barf. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible."

I will say this - I have yet to see a Sharp brand display that has good video processing. They look fine if you feed them the native resolution of the display so that they do not have to perform any video processing, but Sharp seems to really cheap out on the video processing side of things.

I agree 100%. I have rarely been more disappointed with a display than I have been with Sharp. I know of three households that have owned them (one of which got replaced because it died), and the other two are pretty large. Also, FWIW, you would be buying from a company that recently got nailed for price fixing their LCD displays:

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49357

What I have in mind right now is either the Sharp Lc-65E77UM or the Panasonic 65V10 Plasma. The Pana costs $1000 more than the Sharp. Kuro is the king, but only at 60 Inch. I'm trying to go for the biggest Display right now, so 65 inch is the biggest I'll get. Never really like Sony and I never bought any from it beside headphones and batteries.

Depending on the cost differential, and what is most important to you, some would say the best value would be getting the S1 and having it professionally calibrated. It will look superior to the V10 untouched by a pro. The main thing you lose with the s1 is that 3:2 pulldown is applied to film sources, and not so with the V10.

Now, if it's only going to be a couple hundred dollar difference, I definitely vote v10. However, in certain situations. . . my Panasonic employee friend was asking me for advice, and his pricing shows a $500 difference between the two for the desired size. I told him he would have cake and eat it by saving AND getting better PQ with S1 pro calibrated. However, TV is about +95% of his family's viewing. Just another option.

If you can afford the V10, then do it, sure. But don't let a pro calibration go by unconsidered. If you want to get somewhere in between the pro cal and basic consumer calibration, I recently attached a PDF for Seth=L with service menu offset suggestions/instructions. Any compromises may come with unit to unit variation, room to room variation, and that even that the default settings can vary between identical model displays. And of course, if you mess around, you can destroy the TV. But, $400 is $400. Or perhaps $300.

 

[FirstReflection]

"Dim" is when you have just enough light to read a book. "Dark" is when you do not have enough light to read a book. Anything more than "just enough" light to read a book is "well-lit". And "bright" is...well...bright bright enough that you would squint when you first walk into the room.

The Panasonic plasmas are not good for a "bright" room, IMO. You can watch them in a "well-lit" room, but the definitely do not look their best. In a dim or dark room, they look absolutely excellent.

Between the Panasonic plasma and the Sharp LCD, I would give the nod to the Panasonic plasma in everything but the "bright" room. The Sharp LCD's screen surface is about equally glossy to the Panasonic plasma, so you gain nothing there. In a dim or dark room, the black levels of the Panasonic are MUCH better. Only in a downright "bright" room would I recommend the Sharp over the Panasonic.

I totally agree with jostenmeat that you should also consider the Panasonic TC-P65S1. And use the savings to pay for a professional ISF calibration!

 

[Yamaheart]

Thanks Jostenmeat and FirstRefection:

Wow, now I have another contender, the S1, V10 and Sharp E77. What Jost was saying is if I get the Pana S1 pro-calibrated, then the S1 is gonna look just like the v10 untouched. Meaning is if I get the V10 Pro-calibrated, then V10 gonna look way better then the S1 calibrated, Am I right so far? Talking about the room's light condition. I have a double french door leads out to the patio, and the window by the kitchen. I only watch movies in the dark, meaning all lights will be turn off, all curtains shut and no noise. Unless someone decides to go out and look for something and turn the lights on. Other than that, I will have friends over and we have Karaoke Night. In this case, I will have couple lights on, but really dim as I have dimmer on these lights. I have some pictures taking from every angle to kinda show you the light conditions in my room. Honestly, I would not read a book or anything when no lights turn on and all the curtains are shut. Thanks...

 

[Yamaheart]

the last 2 pictures

 

[FirstReflection]

With your lighting and the way you watch movies, there is zero question: go with the Panasonic plasma!

Between the S1 and the V10, the only real question is whether you want the 96 Hz mode so that you can watch Blu-rays at 1080p/24 with no judder. If you want that, go with the V10. With a professional ISF calibration, the S1 and V10 look almost identical in every other way.

 

[Yamaheart]

Super Thanks to FristReflection and Jostenmeat.


Ill be looking for a great deal on the V10. Thank you...

 

[FirstReflection]

You're most welcome Happy to help and you're going to be thrilled with the picture quality of your Panasonic plasma!

Just for clarity, the V10 is quite accurate right out of the box. And if you put it in the "custom" picture mode, it has lots of controls so that you, as a user, can calibrate the V10 quite well. It also has the THX picture mode. The THX mode is a little misunderstood. Basically, THX pre-calibrates the display for an absolutely pitch black room. THX cannot know what the lighting in your room will be like, so they go with the only constant - which is no light at all! As such, the THX picture mode usually looks too dim for most rooms because most rooms are not totally pitch black

The S1 model, on the other hand, is not so accurate straight out of the box. Its shade of green is not really where it should be and its color temperature and greyscale are not quite right. The S1 lacks the controls necessary for the user to correct these issues on his or her own - so that is where the V10 is better if you are handling everything by yourself.

But a professional ISF calibrator can do a lot more than the user controls allow. By the end of a full ISF calibration, the S1 and V10 end up looking almost identical. So that is where the S1 model can be a very high value because it costs a lot less to begin with and then the cost of a professional ISF calibration is the same with either model.

The 96 Hz mode on the V10 cannot be mimicked by the S1 though, so that is a unique feature to the V10. I personally prefer to watch movies without judder if possible, so I really like the 96 Hz mode. But judder isn't the end of the world If someone's budget is really limited, it's hard to compete with the lower price of the S1 model - even after the cost of an ISF calibration is included.

Anyways, the V10 is top notch. There is basically nothing to complain about with the V10 plasma. Only the way its blacks look grey and the image washes out in a bright room. But with some decent light control, it's second only to the Pioneer Elite Kuro plasmas.

If you are looking for a good price on the TC-P65V10, consider buying from a good online retailer. Although, to be honest, right now I'm not seeing any trusted online retailers that are selling the TC-P65V10 for much less than $4000. So it's pretty equal pricing out there on this model at the moment.

Good luck in your purchase!

 

[Yamaheart]

You're most welcome Happy to help and you're going to be thrilled with the picture quality of your Panasonic plasma!

Just for clarity, the V10 is quite accurate right out of the box. And if you put it in the "custom" picture mode, it has lots of controls so that you, as a user, can calibrate the V10 quite well. It also has the THX picture mode. The THX mode is a little misunderstood. Basically, THX pre-calibrates the display for an absolutely pitch black room. THX cannot know what the lighting in your room will be like, so they go with the only constant - which is no light at all! As such, the THX picture mode usually looks too dim for most rooms because most rooms are not totally pitch black

The S1 model, on the other hand, is not so accurate straight out of the box. Its shade of green is not really where it should be and its color temperature and greyscale are not quite right. The S1 lacks the controls necessary for the user to correct these issues on his or her own - so that is where the V10 is better if you are handling everything by yourself.

But a professional ISF calibrator can do a lot more than the user controls allow. By the end of a full ISF calibration, the S1 and V10 end up looking almost identical. So that is where the S1 model can be a very high value because it costs a lot less to begin with and then the cost of a professional ISF calibration is the same with either model.

The 96 Hz mode on the V10 cannot be mimicked by the S1 though, so that is a unique feature to the V10. I personally prefer to watch movies without judder if possible, so I really like the 96 Hz mode. But judder isn't the end of the world If someone's budget is really limited, it's hard to compete with the lower price of the S1 model - even after the cost of an ISF calibration is included.

Anyways, the V10 is top notch. There is basically nothing to complain about with the V10 plasma. Only the way its blacks look grey and the image washes out in a bright room. But with some decent light control, it's second only to the Pioneer Elite Kuro plasmas.

If you are looking for a good price on the TC-P65V10, consider buying from a good online retailer. Although, to be honest, right now I'm not seeing any trusted online retailers that are selling the TC-P65V10 for much less than $4000. So it's pretty equal pricing out there on this model at the moment.

Good luck in your purchase!

I'll be waiting til Thanksgiving, if not Christmas. My budget is only $3000, so wait is a must for me.. Thanks once again..

 

[jostenmeat]

Yamaheart, a Panny plasma will look gorgeous in there.

The 65" will be a 240% increase in display size from the 42".

http://tvcalculator.com/index.html?1f7d9ed8970358737084bacee45b4451

I admit I am a full blown projector fanboi now, and I personally would aim for that. All you need is a screen to drop over the 42" Vizio.

The Panasonic 4000U is selling 2k retail, for instance. I am not sure how detectable the black bars will be with that unit, but then you can have a cool widescreen, since the unit features 6 memory presets for all kinds of aspect ratios. It even detects automatically.

It would undoubtedly require a bit of rearranging. But, see, first of all it seems that you sit quite far away, and I don't even think you can fully resolve 1080p with a 65", since that requires a closer than 8 ft distance to be able to do so, and that's assuming 20/20 to begin with.

Also, I suspect that your speakers could be further spread out for greater angle, assuming you sit against the back wall.

I don't doubt that the 65" solution is best for you for multiple reasons, but I just throw that out there, just in case, before you drop the coin.

Now, say we talk about a 100" . . .
http://tvcalculator.com/index.html?4ff6680a7642350d50d2854dcfa58b90

 

[Yamaheart]

Yamaheart, a Panny plasma will look gorgeous in there.

The 65" will be a 240% increase in display size from the 42".

http://tvcalculator.com/index.html?1f7d9ed8970358737084bacee45b4451

I admit I am a full blown projector fanboi now, and I personally would aim for that. All you need is a screen to drop over the 42" Vizio.

The Panasonic 4000U is selling 2k retail, for instance. I am not sure how detectable the black bars will be with that unit, but then you can have a cool widescreen, since the unit features 6 memory presets for all kinds of aspect ratios. It even detects automatically.

It would undoubtedly require a bit of rearranging. But, see, first of all it seems that you sit quite far away, and I don't even think you can fully resolve 1080p with a 65", since that requires a closer than 8 ft distance to be able to do so, and that's assuming 20/20 to begin with.

Also, I suspect that your speakers could be further spread out for greater angle, assuming you sit against the back wall.

I don't doubt that the 65" solution is best for you for multiple reasons, but I just throw that out there, just in case, before you drop the coin.

Now, say we talk about a 100" . . .
http://tvcalculator.com/index.html?4ff6680a7642350d50d2854dcfa58b90

DAMN YOU Jostenmeat....

Now you got me into this PJ. To be honest, I had thought about it. But bigger does not always better. The Pana plasma is gonna be use as a multipurpose tasking but mainly for Movies. With this plasma, the sitting position is 7-10 feet away. Now with the PJ, it has to be almost pitch black to be able to use it. My receiver only has 1 HDMI out and I hate to switch back and forth with the Vizio. As soon as I get the Pana Plasma, the Vizio is going to the master bed. If you can convince me that by getting a PJ is gonna do for me. Tell me about the PROS and CONS. How differ is the Pana AE4000U VS AE3000U. As for the price, the 3000 seems to cost more than the 4000. You were saying about 100". how about 120" or bigger? Would either the AE3000 or the AE4000 fulfill my need?

 

[jostenmeat]

Yes, you will only use it when it's dark, most likely. Also, your floor will probably be somewhat reflective, but a rug could help that out. Compromises? For sure.

IF you did get a PJ, I absolutely demand that you just fire the pic up first, to be absolutely sure of desired immersion. I went giganormous.

120" and beyond is no problem.

If you want to supersize and can have the height of the projector be relatively close to head level (say on the back wall for instance, 2-3 ft above heads maybe) you can go with the screen I have, the Dalite High Power. It typically will do a real world doubling of your brightness. What's nice about the screen as a manual is that it is pretty much the stiffest material around, and waving has so far been completely imperceptible to any guest who has come over, but I can notice it on very specific large scale pans in very specific movies. I'd say I'd notice waving for a total of 5 seconds, once for every 5 movies. Just a guess. Again, no one else, even when directly asked, has ever noticed it. And I've had several friends who have watched at least 20 movies at my place. It's +1.5yo, and the situation remains the same. It will also reject off-axis ambient light better than anything else. If you forgo having two displays there, you can even do two screens, perhaps a fixed screen + the pulldown for differing desired properties. (Like the thread author has in this pic.)

Otherwise, as most anyone else will tell you, you will want a tab tensioned screen if you do have a smaller "daytime" display. BMX would advise keeping your eyes peeled on ebay and what not, and probably look for a little over 1k, but if you're extremely lucky like he was, maybe $800. The Dalite manual at 120" is probably only $300.

Disregarding the screen for now, a new 50" S1 plasma + new Pana PJ is still less than the 65" V10. If you do use a PJ mount, add $150-200, $50 for very long HDMI cable. Now the price is probably about $100 more than the V10. Oh yeah, just add a switcher for HDMI, the Monoprice is less than $30 I think.

However, 7-10 ft is a good amount of variation, and if it really is just 7 feet most of the time, for instance, I'd honestly just get the V10.

Almost forgot, the 4000U is better, and for less money. Introduced at $1k less than its predecessor. This almost seems to be commonplace now, as that is what happened with last year's Epsons (new ones are going to be here sometime this month).

I have a JVC, and it is the most beautiful pic I have ever seen. With the Dalite, it looks like the universe's largest plasma. It is NOT as good as a good plasma, when it comes down to it, but it sure looks it and then some when I have the immersion. The LCD types will probably be better in your situation for more ambient lighting, since they are brighter. One can possibly suffer dust blobs eventually since they're not typically sealed, whereas it's sealed with LCOS. Make sure to stay with inorganic LCD panels, and not organic. DLP is even brighter most likely, no dust blubs, possibly have RBE depending on the person, but most importantly they are typically much more limited in placement flexibility. DLP is sharpest with the most defined pixel structure.

I just mentioned the 4000, because again, already, the value envelope is pushed for only 2k as new.

 

[Yamaheart]

So the question is, does the AE4000u Picture Quality is as good as the Pana Plasma? What Screen is best at 120"? Manual or Electric Screen? At what price?

 

[jostenmeat]

So the question is, does the AE4000u Picture Quality is as good as the Pana Plasma?

Scientifically, no. However, throw the pic up, and you won't go back. After all, some people say it's not an HT unless it has a PJ.

What Screen is best at 120"?

The best value for fixed frame only is Carada. Screens can be VERY expensive. The best screen, depending who you ask, especially at AH, could be an acoustically transparent screen.

Manual or Electric Screen? At what price?

Doesn't matter between manual or electric; has zero bearing on longevity. If pulldown, and not the HP, then you want tab tensioned, but that is money. You'll probably spend only half that with a fixed frame.


edit: However, consider the rising costs of bulb replacements with great usage. That alone could make the extra cost of a tab tensioned + plasma worth it in the end. Total cost, I'm guessing a little south of $5,000 all said and done with the tab tensioned and 50" 1080p. Of course if you use the HP, you can subtract over $1000 from that figure.