Jim Skamarakas

We currently have a going on 10 years Mitsubishi 50” rear projection. It looks as great now as the day we got it. Original boards, bulbs, even the remote. Which is a pretty rare feat given rear projection let alone one going this long. I was very surprised when I went on-line to look at selling it used to get a newer set how much problems people reported with these things over the years.

So off to the store we went to look at TV’s. Since I am not the first person anyone wants to bring with them to ask “Hey how does this look?”, I dragged my wife and kids along to get their opinions. Since we use the TV as our living room boob toob and primary entertainment piece, it gets a lot of use.

• Nickelodeon, Nick GUTS, Cartoon Network, SciFi, Discovery, Comedy Central
• The kids watch a few of those also
• Food Network, We, Bravo, FX, Style, TLC, Home & Garden Channel, Discovery Health
• TNT is on Christmas Eve for 24 hours of A Christmas Story
• The Dance channel when no one else is home, then the home theatre gets to bring out its subwoofer for a workout
• We do not watch sports. In fact, the Super Bowl is only on when it interrupts the commercials and half-time Simpsons show
• We have a 3 disc Karaoke player, but are selling it on Craig’s list
• We have an XBox, but it is on Craigs List
• We watch DVD’s on a plain old DVD player
• Movies over cable. I looked into DirectTV again and staying with COMCAST. COMCAST lowered my bill by almost $50, added premium channels, HD and changed out the living room Digital DVR to a HD DVR. So that alone lets me have an ROI on a new set in 100 to 200 months depending on how much it costs. (Hey whatever it takes to justify getting it)

Anyway – long story short – Anna likes the Plasma over the LCD overall. When picking out the pictures, she went for the LCD, and the clerk told her she is picking out the brighter picture. But every time she looked at an LCD next to or over or under a Plasma on the same show or image, she said the colors were better on the Plasma.

Models – we whittled it down to the 50” Pioneer Plasma for $3499 on sale for $2499, or step up to the 60” Pioneer with 1080p for $6499.99 Can anyone recommend a better way to go or within that price range or quality level a better route to take?

Extras –

1. Delivery – okay I can see paying $80 for this, but do you really have to keep the unit standing upright? And should you keep the shipping cartoon in the garage forever just in case?
2. Home theatre install $200 – Um, I can plug in cables, this seemed like an odd service
3. HDMI cables – so apparently cables got an upgrade, and I need to use these for $100 a set?
4. My Yamaha AV Natural Sound Receiver is 4+ years old, but has HDMI and a huge bank of components in and out – is there any reason to upgrade to newer components?
5. Samsung upconvert DVD player - $100, or spend $200 on a newer DVD player and get $100 off – do you really need a newer DVD player with native HD out of the box or a BlueRay player?
6. Power Center - $200 – I just had to stand there and shrug when the sales rep tried to explain that a Plasma system needed power filtering on all of its components and that a power strip or a UPS or anything from APC just isn’t what is needed
7. TV wall mounting $300 and the wall mount itself from $250 to $750 – With the rear projection it is on its own wheeled cabinet, we have spent almost a decade looking at 50” of TV 18” off the floor. I see Plasma TV’s on tables. Is there any reason not to get a stand? Do they tip over that easy? If the kids tip over a 50” or 60” Plasma TV, the work child insurance pays $15,000 – that seems enough for a simple funeral in the above plasma TV box which I saved, and go buy a replacement. But if I am missing anything here, please let me know, like they could easily run past it and survive. Because then I lose the TV and could go to jail, because the work legal plan isn’t going to get me Johnny Cochran
8. ABCDEFG, spend more money and get to P – the 60” units all seem to have 1080p, and the 50” and below get 720p or 1080i or 867-5309. Is it a just shut up and pay the man kind of thing to get 1080p?
9. Maintenance plan – I bought one of these with the rear projector and never used it. Are they a must on large plasma TV’s?
10. Kid who wants to date my oldest daughter who won 2^nd in the local beauty pageant – do I really need him to come in and for $100 hold up a light meter and tell me where the TV will look best?

I have a 50” TV – she is my baby. On the last move, her and my chair where the first things unpacked, I down, and had my wife take a picture for the fun of it. At the time it was $2400. I have no problem getting something that will last for many years, be of very low or no maintenance, and just work all the time for what we do – which is not watch sports 24×7 in a smoke filled bar room.

As you can see, I jest a lot of these items, and can imagine for someone making a plunge like this, it is a huge investment. Of course, I am a father of three and married, so the concept of spending $500 or more on anything kills me. But I am still only 29, so I know it is not old age.

Any suggestions or specific opinions, are greatly appreciated.

And if you want to buy that great 50”, diamond screen, iris, HD capable if you add the board if it is still even available black cabinet rear projection 50” Mitsubishi, it is on Craig’s list for $400 obo, you must pick it up. Today. If I buy this new TV now before the old one sells, then the price might go down a bit quicker because I can’t fit it in the bathroom or kitchen.

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