Replacing my 51" Hitachi

Hello, great forum here guys.. you are helping a lot of people.

My 51" rear projection Hitachi crapped out [way to early IMHO(8years??...brutal)]..

anyhoo..

Been lurking here for last 3-4 weeks as I try to come to a decision about what kind of a flat screen to buy.

I'm in Canada and prices here are insane however I'm willing to spend the xtra $$ to buy from a local dealer with a good warranty/return policy.

Here is how I will be watching as per your new members sticky:

1. We watch straight on between 8-9feet away and guest watch from approx 30-40deg angle approx 10-11feet away

2. Replacing 51" Hitachi behemoth with a burned up convergence board.

3. We watch T.V./Movies/Wii less Wii than movies/TV and less movies than TV. VOD HD/Blue-Ray for movies with HD TV service from Telus TV.

4. Will never use as a Monitor however movies may be streamed in the future...

5. Blu-Ray - Yes, HD service - Yes

6. Looking for best bang for $$ T.V. (hitachi was a $3800 purchase when the first plasmas in Canada were $29,999.00 in Eatons.)

I will never spend $$ on the latest and greatest technology after the $3500 T.V. tanked so early when I have a $500 1987 Tube still working just fine and the $29,000.00 Plasmas had a burn in problem... HAHA bigger sucka's than me...

7. It is a bright room in the day however we have dealt with the very reflective Hitachi and most of our watching is in evenings xcept on weekends for sports.

8. Budget.. def. best bang for buck... i could spent 700$.. or I could spend 1700$ or even $2700.. however I just want something that will give me a great picture by today's standards. The way I look at in now.. if I am comparing a 1000$ T.V. to a $2000 T.V. it had better be twice as good a T.V. in picture quality or future-proofing features, etc....

I would bet based on past experience that the 2000$ would never be 2x as valuable in any situation.. however that is why I'm looking here for help :).

9. Guests will watch from a 30-40 deg angle approx 10-11 ft away.

10. Daytime T.V. with Evenings for Movies


I should add that I am pretty sure that I have narrowed it down to:

Panasonic 720P "x" series (1366 x 768 Resolution) .. here are the differences that I can make out:

Costco TC-50PX14: $1299 CAD

2xHDMI inputs
1500:1 contrast ratio

Future Shop TC-50PX1: $1299 CAD

3xHDMI inputs
30000:1 contrast ratio

And if it's recommended that I upgrade to a 1080P (1920x1080 resolution) most likely the Panasonic "s" series (no difference between models as far as I can make out although I'm sure there are some..):

Costco TC-P50S14: $1699 CAD

Future Shop TC-P50S1: $1699 CAD

Wow I hope that wasn't tl;dr for most.. and if there are other brands type of T.V. that matches me better LCD/LED I am def. still open to suggestions :hithere:

Thx in advance.

p.s. Also not worried about saving money at Xmas time as both stores offer price protection.

At 8-9 feet for you and further for a guest and at an angle I would suggest the P54S1 as the best choice for you. Yes I think 1080p would be important for you at that size & viewing angle and I think you will be blown away compared to the 51" RPTV you have now. :D

How bright is the room during the daytime viewing? Can you use light blocking shades? I spent about $24.00 each for (real) wood blinds at Lowe's Home Improvement store for the 3 windows in my plasma room well before I got the plasma because direct sunlight on ANY display is going to hurt the PQ. I got them when I had my DLP in the room and still used them with the LCD before getting the plasma.

Hope this helps & welcome to the forum! :hithere:

Oh, no.. I was afraid someone would suggest bigger lol!!

54" with 1080.. hmm I honestly totally overlooked that. I figured 50" @ 720p would be perfect for that distance but now that I look at the chart.. ohhhh yeahhh 54" with 1080 is right on the money too..

AHHH here goes another week of comparisons hehe..

Yeah I could probably darken the room a lot with some good blinds in combination with my dark curtains and perhaps I could go with a "u" or a "c" series 54" and save a few $$ without the A.R. coating.

well thx for opening that door for me :yippee: time for more research.. i do enjoy this process actually lol.

errrrp..

ok well no "c" or "u" series available in 54"

only the "s" series.

TCP54S1:
Future Shop - $2199

vs.

TCP50X1:
Future Shop - $1299

*sigh* off to the store to compare I suppose... hard to justify almost doubling the price but I will have a look.. not sure I'll get the 54" and the 50" side by side however so it may be difficult to compare properly.

If you want to future proof the purchase for years the 1080p is the better choice IMO. But if you go with a smaller screen size than you should get for the distance then the lower 720p resolution would not likely be noticed if you get the P50X1.

What also comes with the 1080p S series and higher (not the U or C series) is that you get the new NeoPDP panels that are 30% brighter or about 30% less power at the same brightness as the non NeoPDP panels. You also get better black levels as well and 1080p of moving resolution so if you see any blurring with fast motion it would be in the source material and not due to the panel. My prior year model 50pz80U only has 900 lines of moving resolution and is still fine but the better blacks the NeoPDP has will easily be noticeable in a dimly lit room. So there is more to it than just resolution differences by getting a 1080p S series model.

Hope this helps!

In the USA at Newegg you can get the P54S1 for only $1290.99:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889187128&nm_mc=OTC-RSS

Too bad you cannot find an online place in Canada that sells it cheaper, or come across the border to buy it.

I have noticed the price difference between the US and Canadian prices. It's incredible.

I am 15 Mins from Border and would purchase in US. if warranty and duties were not too much a hassle.

Anyone have any experience purchasing a Panasonic Plasma in USA and importing into Canada?

$1290.90 US is $1390 CAD ...

bestbuy.ca sell P54S1 $2499.99

...am I missing something here? Bend over Canada...

$1290.90 US is $1390 CAD ...

bestbuy.ca sell P54S1 $2499.99

...am I missing something here? Bend over Canada...

Well consider yourself lucky that you don't live in Great Britain as they tax you yearly for the privilege of watching TV, and it ain't cheap...

Well consider yourself lucky that you don't live in Great Britain as they tax you yearly for the privilege of watching TV, and it ain't cheap...

HA!... the way we get taxed here I'm sure we're not too far off... not to mention all our local stations are begging the Canadian Gov. for BAIL OUT MONEY.

Sounds like a great way to incorporate a T.V. tax..

"We saved T.V. beloved Canadians!! however there is a cost. We have no choice but to Tax all subscribers to Cable/Network/Sat. T.V. to offset the cost of saving our beloved Canadian Stations that you never watch due to the lack of good American programming that is available on U.S. channels in Canada..."


Burrrrp. Different topic but an important one to Canadians I believe.

Well consider yourself lucky that you don't live in Great Britain as they tax you yearly for the privilege of watching TV, and it ain't cheap...

£142.50/year for a color Tv license. I give about that to PBS mainly to carry british media.

But regardless it sounds like a trip to the states, and overnight in a hotel, and a plasma are in order.

$1290.90 US is $1390 CAD ...

bestbuy.ca sell P54S1 $2499.99

...am I missing something here? Bend over Canada...

I imagine it is the high import duties the stores up there pay as part of the reason for this. IMO, these are part of the cost for Universal Health Care among other things that you have. That is part of the reason I oppose it in the USA, but that is another topic.

Bottom line is you Canadians are taxed up the wazzoo from everything I read so this is just part of that unfortunately. If you can get it in the USA for half the money and get a reliable brand like Panasonic for half the money you save more even without the warranty as the likelihood of spending the money again on a 2nd one in the USA if the first one totally breaks down on that second one from the USA would still put you at about even with buying ONE in Canada just for the 1 year warranty. ;)

Maybe the price difference is based on market volume?

I can't believe it would be duties if T.V.s are made in Mexico but I'm not an expert on NAFTA so I could be wrong.

Anyway yeah i will be making a trip to WA to take a look at some in-store pricing.

Maybe I spend the extra $$ on in-store warranty and pay cash. Have a problem, drive it back to the store..

I can't justify paying same $$ for a 50" 720p P50X1 than a 54" 1080p P54S1

Unless I'm told that I will have to pay huge duties to cross the border.. But I'm looking into that next.

And yeah 2 x TV's no warranty for the price of 1xTV with warranty seems like a better deal to me...