at some point my 15 year old sony trinitron is going to have to go, have done some tv shopping over the past year but wanted to get some insight from the experts. last year i did buy a 50" sony xbr rear projection & was very happy with the picture quality, but it just dominated that end of the room (16 x 25 - room is set up with equipment & tv on one of 16 foot walls) & those ugly dumbo ear speakers so i sent it back. (actually to save me a delivery fee dealer agreed to pick it up when my new speakers arrived, they were back ordered for 3 months so i had a free tv for 3 months.) my eyes want a 60" plasma to put on the wall - i like the aesthetics & this would allow use of the top of current entertainment center for components which i could use, but my wallet likes rear projection. viewing position is about 14 feet from front of screen. if i purchase a plasma will likely get that mount that extends out approx. 2 feet when needed. due to where my front speakers sound best at most i might be able to get 1-2 feet closer to the tv. currently do not have cable but will probably resubsribe once i get a new tv. will eventually buy one of the high rez dvd formats as well. likely dvd player will be a cary DVD7 which will upscale to 1080p. other things to consider, i may eventually move from current home, so would like to get 1080p if possible, as a future living room might allow a closer viewing position, & as i only buy a tv once in a while, i would like to have it as future proof as possible.
if i go rear projection, i particularly like the look of the sony 60" KDS-60A2020, as it's all black, & the screen goes all but to the edge of the tv which i think looks better & am happy with price dealer has quoted me. however this is a step down from the XBR2 models, which i will not buy based on asthetics alone. from a video quality & video performance standpoint, am i giving anything up moving down from an XBR2 to the KDS series, & if so what? have also looked at samsung rear projection, cant recall model, again from a video quality & performance standpoint, is a samsung better or worse than the KDS? or are there other rear projection tv's i should also look at.
from a plasma standpoint, it appears that pioneer elite has the best video performance, reputation, etc. i love the picture of the 1080p 50" pioneer elite, which at least to me is the best picture i have seen but i'm not going to pay 8K for a 50" tv. from my seating position & from my research it appears that i could not tell the difference between a 1080p & 720p picture resolution. the 60" pioneer plasma is starting to drop in price, what are the video performance differences between pioneer & pioneer elite, & are they worth paying for?? no more than i watch tv & considering what i watch, i have very little concern about burn in or plasma life.
aesthetics aside, are there video performance issues between the sony kds series & a pioneer and or pioneer elite plasma that i should be aware of?? anything else i'm missing or should be considering?? thanks in advance for any assistance.
