My beautiful and prized widescreen 65inch Pioneer rear projection set has reached its end mwahhhhhhh

Its been many years since I have upgraded my main home cinema set, and I am not sure which too go for....since there are too many options.

I have been to numerous stores, but I don't know which of the following represent the best quality, as each have their own advantages. Primarily, I am looking for a 50inch screen, should have strong longevity with great picture quality at high resolution, and one which displays DVD (and Blueray/HD-DVD) format really well i.e. colours, black levels, Noise reduction etc...

If you had the ££££££ which TV format would you go for? and which do you think meets my hardcore demands??
LCD??
PLASMA??
DLP??
OTHER?? (no stand-alone projectors and screens)

Budget £2,000 - £4,500

save the money, go on a world trip instead

darn!! get a sony SXRD 1080P RP LCD!

My work takes me almost everywhere...all expenses paid
I've already travelled to numerous countries this year (Czech Republic, Italy, India, Holland, France, Algeria).

For xmas, I just wanna rest in front of my Large Screen TV "Homer Simpson" style...before my journey to Japan in Jan/Feb

Hi Sunny,

If it helps, I too am in the process of upgrading my Home Cinema system this xmas. My first stop was the av forums (http://www.avforums.com/forums/index.php) for suggestion and ideas.

After 2 months of researching, I descided to go for the Loewe Spheros R37 LCD tv (http://www.loewe-uk.com/). The best place to check out Loewe TVs is in Harrods. The official UK distributor Linn are based there.

Next is the DVD player; currently looking at the Arcam Diva-DV79.

About a year back, I saw a review on 37/ 42 inch LCD (not projection or rearl projection) TV with true 1920x1080 pixels. Looked good.
While investigating further, the same magazine compared differences bet LCD and Plasma technology, stating that LCD technology can not give same Black levels as Plasma. So, that put a stop on LCD flat pannel. Now, Sony has come up with 1920x1080 SXRD series, but they too have limited viewing angles.
Some 1920x1080 Plasma sets are available but the price is a little abve 4,500 UK pounds, although it's dropping. Another 6 months or so and 1020x1080 pixel Plasmas will be under 4,500 UK pounds.

I used to have a 32" Sharp CRT ... I opted for the plasma route and got myself a Panasonic 42" plasma. Side my side the plasma is as good as the CRT ... I think that Panasonic and Pioneer seem to be the best plasmas. I checked out various LCDs but I found that the picture quality was rather dull for my liking.

Good luck and make sure you let us all know what you went for!

Went to Home cinema forums, and they recommend the PIONEER PDP506XDE.

This morning I went to a demo room at Tottenham Court Road, and was really impressed with the Pioneer plasma set. The sales person even had a DVD of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, and the picture looked so real-like!

The only disadvantage was that one or two pixels was on the blink. The sales person told me that dead/stuck pixels are the downfall of plasma technology. However he also assured me that some set's tend to self mend the stuck pixels like the PIONEER PDP506X (sounds like a sales pitch to me). Over the LCD and DLP I preferred the demo and quality of the plasma, but am now really concerned over the pixel issue.

Any zulmies with plasma screens have experienced this problem? If so, was the repair cost really high??

Pixel lines lines cannot self mend, the x and y drive associated with that the dead pixel line have to be replaced! Labor is very high and the drive can cost from $600. and up depends on the size of the screen. To have an idea most sets may have 4 horizontal and 8 vertical drives!

One other thing that I liked about Pansonic was that the screens are really tough and they have the lowest rates of dead pixels and screen burn compared to others ... including pioneer.

If I am not wrong, same problem of dead pixel exists in LCD TV (not projection or rear projection) too.

i just got he samsung 32" lcd.. does me the job.. cost me £750 and is Hd compatible.. i dont believe that its worth forking sooo much out for a massive LCD when the price is gonna drop like mad...