I've been debating for a while now between getting Samsung or Sony for our HDTV. It will be a rear projection TV but I was wondering not so much about the exact TVs but if someone had to decide between Samsung or Sony for their TV and which way they went and why?

I've been debating for a while now between getting Samsung or Sony for our HDTV. It will be a rear projection TV but I was wondering not so much about the exact TVs but if someone had to decide between Samsung or Sony for their TV and which way they went and why?

It depends upon which models you are comparing, but I was debating this not too long ago, and I went with the Sony SXRD models because every review I could find praised them and said they are the best model of HDTV that aren't above 10,000 dollars. I have not been disappointed. When I'm watching non-HDTV it looks very good. When I'm watching HDTV it looks amazing. Likewise, when I'm playing HD games on the 360.

get a home cinema projector

Cost is a factor unfortunately so rear projection has to be the way.

Eaglesfan, the two that I'm looking appear to be a model less than what you ended up getting.

Cost is a factor unfortunately so rear projection has to be the way.

Eaglesfan, the two that I'm looking appear to be a model less than what you ended up getting.

I got the 60" Grand Wega SXRD. It was on sale for about 3600 dollars which was a great deal from the normal price of 4495. The 50" was on sale for about 2800 when I was looking. I think the normal price is 3495. I'm not sure about the other models of Sony or Samsung since I didn't do much research on them.

From what I can gather, the models are similar as far as matching up. The biggest differences are types of hookups. When I was in the storeroom I thought the Samsung had the much better picture but I hate to sell Sony short.

I have a 46" Sony RPTV that is about 2.5 years old. I've had no issues at all with it. Very happy with the purchase.

Cost is a factor unfortunately so rear projection has to be the way.

Eaglesfan, the two that I'm looking appear to be a model less than what you ended up getting.

I still think RPTV is the best way to go. I've had a Sony 57" for 3-4 years and I think it gives a great picture. A friend of mine has a Samsung and he is very pleased with his picture. I think you'll be happy either way you go, just give them both an in-store test (hopefully in a store that knows how to set up a TV), and see which one you like best.

Sony SXRD all the way. Go to a store and compare the pictures of both TV's.

Obviously make sure they have an HD signal running through both TV's.

I got the 60" Grand Wega SXRD. It was on sale for about 3600 dollars which was a great deal from the normal price of 4495. The 50" was on sale for about 2800 when I was looking. I think the normal price is 3495. I'm not sure about the other models of Sony or Samsung since I didn't do much research on them.
The 60" SXRD is on sale at Best Buy for $3,999.99, so you got a pretty good deal. :)

I got the 60" Grand Wega SXRD. It was on sale for about 3600 dollars which was a great deal from the normal price of 4495. The 50" was on sale for about 2800 when I was looking. I think the normal price is 3495. I'm not sure about the other models of Sony or Samsung since I didn't do much research on them.


1080p is the way to go too right?

SXRD is LCD right?

I think the samsung ones are DLP.

LCD better than DLP for tv and gaming

There's so much to consider and so many different things I've read that I can't even tell what the hell I want anymore. All I know is the budget and what space we have for it. Other than that, I've done so much reading, I'm starting to see capital letters in my sleep.

I can't imagine being old anymore. The technology and the speed of the world has to be so upsetting to old people.

SXRD is a new technology. It is not LCD. It stands for Silicon X-Tal Reflective Display. It is a Rear Projection TV and I don't understand all of the technical details, but I know in the store it had the best picture of any HDTV I've ever seen. I also know that it looks amazing at home too. I've had no problems with gaming and 1080p games look AMAZING on the TV.

What is the difference between the 720 an the 1080? There's 720p, 1080p, and 1080i. The 1080p is supposedly just for games/DVDs as nobody really broadcasts in them yet. (I think) If I get a 720p set will it not pick up channels that broadcast in 1080i?

SXRD is a new technology. It is not LCD. It stands for Silicon X-Tal Reflective Display. It is a Rear Projection TV and I don't understand all of the technical details, but I know in the store it had the best picture of any HDTV I've ever seen. I also know that it looks amazing at home too. I've had no problems with gaming and 1080p games look AMAZING on the TV.

I need to find an SXRD display in my area. I know that I've been very disappointed with the DLP, LCD, and Plasma displays, but I've heard many people talk about SXRD being so good. I'd love to be able to see that myself.

What is the difference between the 720 an the 1080? There's 720p, 1080p, and 1080i. The 1080p is supposedly just for games/DVDs as nobody really broadcasts in them yet. (I think) If I get a 720p set will it not pick up channels that broadcast in 1080i?

My understanding, and I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, is that 1080 has more "lines" drawn in each picture than a 720. This creates a sharper more clearly defined picture, however, most experts say this is only noticable with a 50" or bigger screen. I is interlaced lines which are supposed to be slightly better. P I believe stands for progressive scan. As you said, I don't believe any channels broadcast in full 1080p or 1080i yet. Someday, they will. The SXRD TV's do not do a true 1080i picture, but very few TV's on the market do. 1080p looks just fine for me which some 360 games demonstrate. I'm not sure about your last question.

I need to find an SXRD display in my area. I know that I've been very disappointed with the DLP, LCD, and Plasma displays, but I've heard many people talk about SXRD being so good. I'd love to be able to see that myself.

Most Circuit City's have them on display.

I meant if I buy the 720p set (which I'm leaning toward right now) will it be obsolete in a year because stations only broadcast in 1080? I can't imagine that would be the case but wondered.

I seriously doubt it. I think most stations will only broadcast in 720 for the foreseeable future.

Eagles fan...I appreciate your help. If anyone else has anything, would love to hear it

I seriously doubt it. I think most stations will only broadcast in 720 for the foreseeable future.

I agree. I don't see many stations doing 1080p for a long while. If anything you may see Blu-Ray or HD-DVD supporting 1080p, while HDTV is in 720p, 1080i. AFAIK, the ONLY thing that does 1080p right now is Blu-Ray, but HD-DVD should have it soon (not sure why they didn't do it for the first gen). Though HD-DVD can take the 1080i and change it into a 1080p by kind of 'waiting' for the first interlace picture and displaying that in tandem with the second interlace picture (if that makes sense), though it isn't full 1080p.

I need to find an SXRD display in my area. I know that I've been very disappointed with the DLP, LCD, and Plasma displays, but I've heard many people talk about SXRD being so good. I'd love to be able to see that myself.

SXRD (or LCoS) is basically the same technology as DLP, only LCoS uses silicon chips instead of mirrors to reflect the image.

Personally I'm holding out for SED :D. Though I have a CRT HDTV that I like, so I'm not looking to change soon.

SED: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-conduction_electron-emitter_display

I would get a set that's capable of 1080i (hence the Sony) :) If I'm going to pay that much $$$$, you can bet that's a pre-req for me.

Most Circuit City's have them on display.

Anywhere else? I am still holding a grudge against them for the whole Divx fiasco and refuse to shop there. :)

I would get a set that's capable of 1080i (hence the Sony) :) If I'm going to pay that much $$$$, you can bet that's a pre-req for me.

Do you mean 1080p? Any HDTV can display in 1080i.

SXRD (or LCoS) is basically the same technology as DLP, only LCoS uses silicon chips instead of mirrors to reflect the image.

Personally I'm holding out for SED :D. Though I have a CRT HDTV that I like, so I'm not looking to change soon.

SED: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-conduction_electron-emitter_display

Does SXRD still have the rainbow issues? I get bigtime headaches from DLP TVs. In fact, last time I was in Best Buy to see a Blu-Ray demo, I turned my head and caught a full wall of DLP TVs. That was the fastest headache I think I've ever experienced.

I believe that that is one of the benefits for LCoD. Since they use silicon chips instead of mirrors, the "rainbow effect" ain't there. Though Samsung and NuVision are creating a new version of DLP to eliminate the "rainbow effect" (replacing the color wheel and single light source with an LED trio.

I've never seen any rainbow effect with the SXRD.

I've never seen any rainbow effect with the SXRD.

Did you see them with DLP?

Did you see them with DLP?

Yes, my friend had an old DLP set.

Do you mean 1080p? Any HDTV can display in 1080i.

Dammit! I had a long reply typed but the session timed out or someting. :mad:

Anyhow, this is untrue. Most sets due 720p, but in order to show a 1080i signal, a set like this has to convert the signal to 720p and the same goes for a TV that is 1080i and you're viewing a 720p station. Not too much of a difference to the human eye, but 1080i is better resolution and supposedly clearer. I would think an Xbox 360 would look a tad better on a 1080i set.

Edit: Technically you're right, it can display 1080i, but it has to convert the signal since it can't display 1920x1080.

Yes, my friend had an old DLP set.

Cool, that sounds promising. I'll see if I can find one to check out.

Thanks for the input guys. At this point I'm leaning toward Sony. If I find a great deal on the SXRD I'll go with it but most likely the model below it.

I'm not sure if my Xbox 360 is putting out 1080i, but that's what it says on th screen when I switch to my DTV input. My TV is about 5 years old, so I'm not sure if it's truly a 1080i signal. When I bought it (Mitsubishi HDTV-ready TV), it was pretty state-of-the-art. Now, it's pretty old. When I go into Best Buy and see the Sony they have set up, my picture looks washed out compared to that one.

We were looking at buying a new TV, and the 60" SXRD looks pretty good. Does it have the same problems as DLP with the replacement of the lamps?

720p vs 1080i. The biggest difference is the 1080i has more resolution, but 720p shows a smoother picture when there's a lot of movement on the screen. If you watch a lot of HD sports, then it's generally considered better to watch it on 720p. If the images are more stationary, then 1080i is better because of the increased resolution. You can google and find the wikipedia page and it goes into more detail. IMO, the difference between the two is pretty small from a practical standpoint.

edit: I'm pretty sure the XBOX 360 outputs 720p, although I haven't bought one yet.

edit2:

Here's the link to the 720p vs 1080i wikipedia article. Explains it better than I can...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p

edit: I'm pretty sure the XBOX 360 outputs 720p, although I haven't bought one yet.


I think the 360 options are to output in either 480p, 720p, or 1080i depending on your monitor/TV. The PS3, if it ever comes out, is supposed to be able to output in 1080p which along with HD DVD players is probably the only reason you would want to pay extra for the 1080p screens at this point.

As far as 1080i vs. 720p ... when I was looking at 50-60" sets, I looked long and hard at the two formats and I really didn't see much discernable difference. Either one looked good to me. More important to me was how the sets converted the signals (e.g. a 1080i set displayed a 720p signal) as some brands just didn't seem to look as good. Of course, this is almost impossible to determine in a store like best buy since most of the time they're showing DVD loops and can't readily switch between a 720p signal and a 1080i signal.

When I go into Best Buy and see the Sony they have set up, my picture looks washed out compared to that one.

Remember that hardly ANYONE has the same picture as the floor models. That's because Best Buy (and the rest) have bright lighting trained on the TVs that you won't normally find at people's homes. The settings on those babies are optimized for the showroom and would look horrid at home, where you don't necessarily have the lighting required to make it look that good.

My understanding, and I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, is that 1080 has more "lines" drawn in each picture than a 720. This creates a sharper more clearly defined picture, however, most experts say this is only noticable with a 50" or bigger screen. I is interlaced lines which are supposed to be slightly better. P I believe stands for progressive scan. As you said, I don't believe any channels broadcast in full 1080p or 1080i yet. Someday, they will. The SXRD TV's do not do a true 1080i picture, but very few TV's on the market do. 1080p looks just fine for me which some 360 games demonstrate. I'm not sure about your last question.

Nobody brodacasts in 1080p. Lots of channels broadcast in 1080i. Because broadcasters have invested a lot of money in 720p or 1080i equipment, it is unlikely that anyone will broadcast 1080p that has been recorded in 1080p.

As for 1080i having more lines in each picture, that is a matter of debate. i stands for interlaced, which means that a "picture" to me would be either the 540 odd lines or 540 even lines, which are shown on the screen at the same time, but were recorded at different times. One frame of interlaced video is really two different time delayed pictures mixed together elecronically.

Moriarty has it right in that how each set does the conversions is the key. My Samsung DLP looks like crap when non 720p stuff is shown (although I think interlaced stuff converted to progressive always looks like crap). The 480i material (i.e. most broadcast material) really looks terrible. I someone recommends an HD set in which the non-HD material looks good, that is the set to buy.

I think the 360 options are to output in either 480p, 720p, or 1080i depending on your monitor/TV. The PS3, if it ever comes out, is supposed to be able to output in 1080p which along with HD DVD players is probably the only reason you would want to pay extra for the 1080p screens at this point.



Yep, I didn't word that very well. I meant I thought the output was native 720p. The 360 does have a scaler to output a scaled image to whatever you need.

I someone recommends an HD set in which the non-HD material looks good, that is the set to buy.

Well, quite frankly, the best set to buy for non-HD material is the traditional CRT (which I have, btw). The CRT has probably the best overall picture for HD and non-HD content, the only problem is that its quite heavy, and you can't get it that big.

I'm holding out hope for the SED, which supposedly will display the picture similarly to a CRT, but sort of like a CRT for each pixel, allowing it to be as thin as some of the TVs out now.

I'm not sure if my Xbox 360 is putting out 1080i, but that's what it says on th screen when I switch to my DTV input. My TV is about 5 years old, so I'm not sure if it's truly a 1080i signal. When I bought it (Mitsubishi HDTV-ready TV), it was pretty state-of-the-art. Now, it's pretty old. When I go into Best Buy and see the Sony they have set up, my picture looks washed out compared to that one.

We were looking at buying a new TV, and the 60" SXRD looks pretty good. Does it have the same problems as DLP with the replacement of the lamps?

Lamp life is supposed to last a few years on the SXRD (I have to look at the manual but I think it was 6-8 thousand hours of usage.) I opened up the compartment to peek at it, and it looks easy enough to do, but I took an extended service plan anyway.

Nobody brodacasts in 1080p. Lots of channels broadcast in 1080i. Because broadcasters have invested a lot of money in 720p or 1080i equipment, it is unlikely that anyone will broadcast 1080p that has been recorded in 1080p.

As for 1080i having more lines in each picture, that is a matter of debate. i stands for interlaced, which means that a "picture" to me would be either the 540 odd lines or 540 even lines, which are shown on the screen at the same time, but were recorded at different times. One frame of interlaced video is really two different time delayed pictures mixed together elecronically.

Moriarty has it right in that how each set does the conversions is the key. My Samsung DLP looks like crap when non 720p stuff is shown (although I think interlaced stuff converted to progressive always looks like crap). The 480i material (i.e. most broadcast material) really looks terrible. I someone recommends an HD set in which the non-HD material looks good, that is the set to buy.


The technology in the SXRD TV's are supposed to make non HD stuff look good, and I think it does.

Just wanted to say thanks guys as I did make the purchase today getting the cords from the site that was recommended. Appreciate it.