Ah! This is specifically for HDDVD and BluRay when using a "High Definition DVD" player that has analog outs for Dolby Digital HD and DTS HD and your receiver cannot handle/decode Dolby Digital HD or DTS HD.

Dolby Digital HD and DTS HD contain higher quality sound then Dolby Digital or DTS. If your receiver doesn't support either format but it supports 7.1 analog input then you'd be better off hooking up your player to the receiver via analog inputs to take advantage of the higher quality sound. I am unsure if anything other than HDMI can support the added bandwidth of DDHD or DTSHD digitally.

But its not a matter of your receiver supporting just HDMI, it would also need to support DDHD and DTSHD. My receiver supports HDMI, but it doesn't support DDHD or DTSHD, so to take advantage of the higher quality sound, I'd also need to use the analog inputs.

For DVD, ATSC, Cable, and Satellite which currently only support Dolby Digital 5.1, digital outputs are still fine.

If you're capable of it, staying all digital is still technically better, but in this case you want to take advantage of the higher quality audio on the disc without having to buy a new receiver that can support it all digitally.

 

broad generalization? let me narrow it down... most RPTV sux compared to plasma.
if RPTVs are so much better than any flat panel why is it so much cheaper?

don't tell me flat panels are overpriced and manufacturing costs are higher cause they are not. you get what you paid for. technology that goes in to flat panels are far more advanced than RPTV.

i admit that new HD RPTV are far superior to old RPTV interms of picture quality and viewing angles...but that's only saying that HDTV is better than analog SDTV.

do you own sony RPTV? you seem biased. thru out the thread you emphasize on RPTV a lot. i guess i am too since i only own flat panels and i don't own RPTV.

 

I say broad generalization because you have a few different technologies in RPTV that are all different, DLP, LCD, LCoS and its variants.

Flat panel TVs are great when you need flat (to hang on a wall etc). You're paying more not necessarily because its better but because it costs more money to produce a flat panel product. Manufacturing costs are in fact higher on flat panels. A RPTV is mostly empty space with little tiny chips and something to magnify the light (in very very simple terms). Then there's also the "fad". Flat panels are in demand. When people think of buying a new TV, flat panels are popular. In some cases, its driven the prices of LCD and Plasma down, but there's still a premium attached to them. Its like saying the S2000 is not as good as a more expensive car (lets say the 350Z convertible) because it costs less. Is it absolutely true that you get what you pay for?

In my opinion, and its only my opinion, a good RPTV will give you just as good PQ than Plasma if not better in some cases. I don't doubt that a more expensive plasma would look better than a consumer grade RPTV, but compared to the Sony Qualia 006, the Qualia is going to be better. The Qualia is a $13k TV. Its not cheap, not even compared to Plasma. I'm not talking about the $1000 Hitachi RPTV that Poindexter was looking at, I'm talking if you take comparable prices you'd get a better bang for your buck with a RPTV.

And maybe I am biased. You can say that I am cuz I own a Sony SXRD 60" RPTV (KDS-R60XBR1), but I wasn't biased when I bought it, I just did a lot of research and came to my own conclusion. I do however own flat panel LCDs, none of them are dedicated TVs, but I own a Dell 2405 24" LCD, and I have some other computer monitors which are flat panel LCDs. They look nice, but I think the SXRD looks better in terms of giving a more movie like picture, dpi, motion -- especially for sports or playing video games, more realistic/accurate color reproduction (although this is after tuning the RPTV, I've never really toyed with the settings on my LCDs) ... It all comes down to whats important to you. You may prefer Plasma because it has better color reproduction, its flat, etc etc ... I dunno

I just took issue with your comment that PQ on all RPTVs suck I'd argue there are expensive RPTVs out there to match the expensive Plasmas. Here's a review of the Qualia 006 ($13K SXRD 70" RPTV): http://ultimateavmag.com/rearprojectiontvs/705sony/

 

Still no suggestions on a quality HD LCD/plasma within my price range?

 

I suggested two already? Didn't you see them? The first was from Costco with the Sharp Aquos 720p 37" HDTV. $1800 with a $300 instant rebate. The second was the Westinghouse 1080p 37" HDTV Monitor. ~$1500 from BestBuy.

Scroll up some and you'll see my suggestions. Hope they help!

 

i've heard good things about the Qualia 006 but i'm still not sold on RPTVs.

however, if i were to spend that much on a sony, i'd take out additional loan and purchase a front projector sony Qualia 004 SXRD.

probably better than Runco projectors.

 

Yep, I really blew by those suggestions... I seem to remember clicking on the TigerDirect link you posted for Sammy and wondering "what the...?" I couldn't find the Aquos on Costco's site, but the 37" Westinghouse looks like a good deal (on sale at the moment for $1,350, but I don't know how long that sale will last). I'll have to check it out in person when I have some free time. I love the fact that it's 1080p rather than 720p. I hear I should budget about $200-$250 for the wall mount? What a ripoff!

I'm wondering what kind of deals might be had as Christmas season nears... are the deals bigger just before or just after Christmas?

 

I have read some quite favorable reviews for the Westinghouse. Two major complaints surfaced... one is the remote being too slow, ocassionally requiring multiple button presses, and too sparse. Not a biggie, but something to note.

The second (and more troubling) was PQ on SD channels. A few user reviews commented on really poor quality, but they did not say who was doing the upsampling (the TV or the converter box). The more A/V gung ho types provided significantly more detailed reviews and mentioned less-than-stellar SD quality only on certain ocassions. At other times, they felt SQ quality was just as good as CRT. Obviously, I lean more towards the opinion of the gurus, but it's something to be aware of.

If anyone has found online coupons for Best Buy, please send them my way

 

I'm happy with my decision for the Samsung LNS-3251D. There is a next model up, 3296, but the only difference is a better contrast ratio. I was able to get a great deal on it, in the end with a 4-yr warranty it cost me about $1500. (I think that was your price range).

 

The 3251 is a 32" LCD, a bit smaller than I would like (I want SD programming to be roughly the same size on screen as my current 32" CRT). Samsung makes some of the highest quality LCD panels (currently using a 19" model with my computer), so you definitely can't go wrong with PQ on those.

Which brings me to another question... should I purchase the extended warranty? With most purchases I would say no, but most of the comments I've seen online have said the extra warranty is a huge plus on this type of item.