Results of my Survey of HDTVs, Part 1

So, I spent almost the entire weekend shopping for HDTVs this weekend. Not the thing one normally does during a great depression. Still, I trust the results of this survey will be of interest to you. As you know from my last blog, I wrote up a list of 5 contenders to the title. I saw them all this weekend. What were the findings?

1. Pioneer Elite Kuro is over-rated. I watched the better part of an entire John Mayer concert on this HDTV at the Sherman Oaks Best Buy. The concert was presented on Blu-Ray. The device was connected by HDMI. This is the best you can hope for in terms of picture. The picture was great. Was it utterly supreme? I seriously doubt it. This unit was also squared up with many LCDs & Plasmas from other vendors in another portion of the store. It did not fare particularly well against its competitors. Based on this show-case, I would not have purchased the Kuro Pro.

2. Mitsubishi’s LaserVue stinks. It looks like shit. This unit is all-hype. It has all the makings of a complete market failure. I saw this HDTV in two locations: Ken Crane’s big screen TVs in Encino and also Living Spaces in Van Nuys/Panorama City. To say the performance was underwhelming would be a massive understatement. The image was dim. The colors were blown out and extreme over-saturated. There was a massive screen-door effect evident on the unit at Ken Crane’s. Ken Crane’s used the Pirates of the Caribbean 1 (on Blu-Ray) to showcase this HDTV. The device was connected by HDMI. This is the best you can hope for in terms of picture. LaserVue did not perform well at all. It does not outperform the classic DLPs in any way shape or form. Mitsubishi’s own WD-73736 and WD-73835 are so much better in terms of image quality it is almost disgusting. I cannot imagine any rational actor laying down $7,000 for such an HDTV.

3. The LG 60PG60 is nice, but it did not seem to outperform many of the contenders around it. It looked as good as the Kuro… which is good, but again, there were better looking choices around it. If I had a complaint regarding this unit, it is only that the image brightness of this unit is not particularly good. Even after some fiddling, the image on this screen seemed darker than others. The salesman claimed that he always seemed to detect a mild Cheese-Cloth Effect on the LGs. I am not sure what that means. I will post up if I ever discover what a Cheese-Cloth effect is.

4. The Mitsubishi WD-73835 was a bit of a mixed bag. It looked sensational at Ken Crane’s where they had a Blu-Ray demo running on it. It looked pretty good, but not sensational, at Best Buy where it was displaying a composite signal that was split among many HDTVs. The smaller WD-65835 was showing X-Men III on Blu-Ray, and it looked fantastic. The main problem for the WD-73835 is the less expensive WD-73736… More on this later.

So the major story is that surprise contenders surfaced this weekend.

1. Panasonic Viera TH-65PZ850U: Don’t ask me why this unit is currently under the radar, but it certainly won’t remain there for long. This 65 inch plasma can be had for less than $5000 online, and I believe it out-performs the Pioneer Elite Kuro. It isn’t just larger. It is better. The 58 inch PZ850U was in close proximity to the Kuro, and it won the matchup head-to-head. I believe it looks better. This shocking little unit features a 480Hz refresher rate, meaning the screen is refreshed 20x per movie frame. It does not perform a 3:2 pulldown. The result is pretty dang sharp image at all times. It has a 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. It is 3d ready. It accepts a standard Cat-6 Ethernet cable, and can be used to display large RSS feeds of news and other info if you like. Panasonic is promising 100,000 hours or 30 years of life for these units. My experience with Panasonic indicates that their products basically last forever. I had a Microwave from these guys that went 20 years before I finally gave it away, still working.

2. Mitsubishi WD-73736 DLP. Don’t ask me why Mitsubishi has deprecated this unit. Seeing it next to the Diamond Scan 835 and the pitiful LaserVue, I would say WD-73736 is Mitsubishi’s finest product. I was originally targeting this unit, but friends convinced me to look at the 835 series because “it is 3d ready.” I have never been a fan of 3d. I just saw Bolt in 3d with a couple of my Cousin’s kids. The 3d experience is not much to shout about. Still, I can see why it would be a cool thing to do at home, but is it worth the price? Is it worth a small declination in quality? Based on my eyes, WD-73736 beats WD-73835 in terms of image quality. Do I pay slightly more and accept slightly less to obtain 3d? This is dubious indeed. The price of the WD-73736 is lower than $2,500 at most online stores. You can have two of these HDTVs for the price of one Panasonic.

3. Samsung PN63A760. I was aware of this unit before going to the field, but it was not on my list due to a series of moderate to poor reviews. Chief among these was the one posted on CNET.com. I am beginning to doubt that the critics know what they are talking about. The PN63A750 is a marvelous HDTV. Perhaps not as good as Panasonic, but marvelous anyhow. Perhaps not as accurate as Kuro, but marvelous anyhow. It is 2 inches smaller than Panasonic, and $300-$400 cheaper at most locations. It is 3 inches larger than Kuro, and about $500 cheaper.

4. Samsung LN52A860. While I am not in the market for anything smaller than 60 inch, and generally don’t go for LCD, this proved to be an seductive little unit. At Best Buy, the HD-DVD of King Kong (2005) was shown on this unit. The main fight between King Kong & the twin T-Rexes realy showed off what this little puppy can do. There was no sign of motion blur. In 120Hz mode, the fast-action scenes were utterly smooth. This HDTV is also razor thin. If you are into the interior-decorator fashion design bullshit, this is the unit for you.
So there you have it, the initial results of my survey. I have not purchased yet, so the final verdict is not in. Right now it is looking like a two horse race between Mitsubishi WD-73736 and the Panasonic TH-65PZ850U. This is a very asymmetrical battle. There are big size, price, & weight differences here. WD-73736 is a victory for conservatism. Panasonic TH-65PZ850U is a victory for radicalism. I have to decide what I want to do. Do I keep doing what I am doing now {which is working very well} or do I get radical and try something completely different {just for the fun of it}?

Much will depend upon financing. I can buy either on a credit card. I do not want to go this route. As you well know, Credit Cards constitute expensive loans. Mitsubishi offers interest free financing, but it is not easy to qualify for this credit given the present turmoil in the banking sector. I am unaware of any special finance available for Panasonic HDTVs. I will let you know if there is any such thing.