I have worked on her for years and finally she said we should get a new TV. I've got a budget of approx $2000-$2500. I am looking at either the Samsung 56" 720p DLP or the Samsung 50" 1080i DLP.

I am currently running Knoppmyth R5B7 on an older 32" Sony SD tv with an Epia frontend and a backend with a PVR500 and a PVR150. I realize I'll need some new Myth box hardware. I'll get that outside of the 2-2.5k budget for the TV.

So, I need some help/advice.

-Is the 1080i worth it? I'll lose 6 inches, yet get the higher resolution. The cost is pretty close.

-If I get the 720p version, I've read of a few issues with the video on it. I want the best quality with the fewest setup nightmares.

-Currently I have the three sd tuners on plain coax cable. I will want to get HD content on this new gem of a TV, so I'm looking at an HD3000 or HD5000 with an antenae on the roof, right?

What things should I consider when shopping both for the TV and for the new mythbox hardware? Any tips? I'm thinking of building my own Dragon or something very similar since it "just works"!

Thanks! (Can you tell I'm excited to finally get a big tv!?)

I dont know about your question, but... your wife's letting you spend 2500 bucks on a tv set? Does she have a sister?

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ASUS A7N266 Micro-ATX Motherboard
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512K Kingston PC2100 Memory
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eVGA e-GeForce mx4000 (64 Ram with Tv/Out (Svideo))
Lite-on DVD cd-rw combo
120 GB Western Digital

I just picked up a 50" SXRD (closer to the $3000 price range) and hooked Myth up to it. I'm pretty happy with it.



Keep a close eye on the inputs and the input resolution on the new TV. Mine has a VGA input, but that'll only take up to 1280x1024...my TV is 1920x1080. The DVI -> HDMI route could be difficult to setup on the video card end, so I went with an Audio Authority 9A60 VGA -> component converter. So far, it looks pretty good.



I think so. I have good eyes and I sit 8 feet from my 50 inch. I can tell the difference between 720 and 1080. More channels are in 1080i, which is over double the resolution. I was originally looking at the Panasonic plasmas, which max out at 1366 x 768. I had a problem spending so much on a TV that couldn't display the full resolution of the majority of HD channels.

50 inches is still big. Remember, people have had 50 inch TVs for 10 years now, but the quality kinda sucks. To me, the current WOW factor is combining a big screen with high quality. I'd take the extra resolution over the 6 inches.

Don't rule out the JVC DILAs until you've seen them. Similar technology to the Sony SXRD with a price that is within your price range. They have 720 and 1080 models, but the 1080 models are very new and hard to find in a store. They are definitely ranked up there with the Samsung DLPs.



I can't comment on this.



I have an HD5000 that I just set up with QAM over cable. OTA HD is much easier to setup. If you don't mind climbing on your roof and mounting an antenna, you can't go wrong with that route.



Don't chince on the CPU or the memory. Start reading up on 1080i or 720p modelines and plot out how you are going to get the signal from your Myth to your TV. Don't assume you can just plug a monitor cable into the back of your TV and have everything work instantly at the resolution you want.

Also, if you plan on multiple tuner cards, buy a motherboard and case with enough expansion slots. Get a motherboard with sound, network, and firewire on board to keep all of your expansion slots open for tuner cards. My motherboard is full (only 3 PCI slots) with a PVR150, HD5000, and a firewire card. Good thing for me my sound card is external.



Good luck with it!!

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Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV

ed3120: Thanks for the thought out reply. I wish I could have seen this before going shopping yesterday. I figure when the SO wants to buy, I'd best jump on it before she changes her mind.

I ended up getting a Sony 55" Grand Wega. It was sitting next to the 56" Samsung I was considering and the difference was stunning. The Sony was brighter, truer and seemed to have better angles. I plan to pick up a svga to componant adapter that you mentioned and connect it that way.

My current backend is a Athlon XP 2500+ w/ 2gb Corsair XMS ram and 2TB of disk. Will this be enough horsepower on the CPU to handle an HD5000, PVR150 and a PVR500 with 3 front end systems all pulling video at the same time?

Or should I build a beefy frontend and set it up as a slave backend with the HD5000 tuner in it?

The 55 Wega is also a nice tv. Enjoy it!

I'm guessing the CPU and memory are probably enough to support all of that as a backend. An XP 2500+ is a little too slow as an HD frontend unless you are going to use XVMC. (headache) I think it'll make a great backend though.

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Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV

I recently bought a Sharp Aquos 32" LCD, it does 1366x768 natively (720p) and I'm still getting my mythbox to work well with it. As a frontend an Athlon 2800 is kinda weak and I'm having lots of odd playback issues..but only when it's displaying HDTV. If it's displaying SD it works just fine.

I was going to recommend going with an LCD since in my experience they look MUCH better than DLP but you pay through the nose for size.

If I were shopping now, I'd make sure that the TV was built with HTPC in mind. Preferably a VGA connector, with stated capabilities of 1920x1080, 1280x720, 1024x768, and 800x600. I'd probably take a laptop and VGA cable along.
I've been pulling my hair out for months with DVI on my 3-year-old SONY CRT RPTV, and can't reliably use anything over 960x540. I'm going to try Authority 9A60 VGA/Component converter next. Wish me luck....

Another thing that would be beneficial for HTPC would be an accessible overscan correction. I can pay someone to do an ISF calibration and correct my overscan for $400. Ouch. My CRT computer monitors all have little buttons on the front for centering and sizing the image. Why not the TV?
The overscan is't really a problem for watching TV, but it really sucks when you're using things like FireFox, and the titlebar is invisible because it's off-screen.

Well if you are feeling nuts you could send this command string to your Sony...
With Power Off...
Display
5
Vol +
Power

That will get you in the service menu and you can chang V size and H size. If you don't save the changes... power cycling the TV will correct SOME of the things you could have messed up.

Thanks for that! I know a guy who could probably bail me out if I screw it up, but of course, it'll cost me the $400 ISF calibration!
Maybe after my VGA/Component converter is working, and I'm at 1080i, I'll give it a try.

I was going to get the HP 58" 5880 1080P DLP but my wife said we needed a plasma because she needed the floor space for a couch.

Anyway, the HP can be had for under $3k from jr.com

Here's a review: http://www.ultimateavmag.com/rearprojectiontvs/106hp/

It's funny how the wives can always make a difficult technology decision based on furniture. It's just like when picking out a car. "I want the blue one."

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Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV

Any idea what to do in there? I couldn't even figure out how to navigate.

I haven't played with mine yet, but I've heard this is a good site to help you get started....

http://myweb.accessus.net/~090/sonyadj.html

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Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV