PCmag.com review of the Tivo Series 3 - Thanks Carmine

Great coverage of the Apple announcement from Engadget - Thanks IJm

 

On today's show we talk about the recent announcements made by Apple Computer and Amazon.com. We also do our Costco Roundup. We take a look at the TVs available in the warehouse.

 

Both Apple and Amazon announced  that you can now buy movies online. Amazon lets you rent if you prefer. We take a look at the offerings and give you our take on teh quality and eas of use.

 

Apple announced new iPods as well and they gave us a sneak peak at a poduct code name iTV. Tune into the podcast for details.

 

 

Last year we did a Costco roundup that was received well by you. We have had a few requests for another one this year. So by popular demand here is the Costco roundup part deux. This year there were way more TVs to chose from. We spent so much time in the TV section people started asking us questions about what we were doing. The approach we took was to look at the TVs as is. No modifications to the settings. We wanted to look at the TVs as you would. The nice thing about this (and probably most) Costcos was that all the TVs had the same HD feed going into them so we were able to do an Apples to Apples comparison. We'll list the TVs and prices by TV type; Plasma, LCD, and RP. They will be listed in the order we saw them in the store. We'll save our conclusions and recommendations for the end.

Just a note, Costco sells some TVs online only. Those TVs were not part of this roundup.

Plasma:

• Toshiba 50" 50HP16 - 720p, ATSC & NTSC tuner, dual HDMI $2499.99
• Maxent 50" MX5020HPM - 720p, no tuner, dual HDMI, $1999.99
• Vizio 42" P42HDTV10A - 1024X768 (720p), ATSC & NTSC, HDMI, $1299.97
• Panasonic 42" TH42PX6U - 1024X768 (720p), ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, $1899.99
• Philips 50" 50PF9431D/37, 720p, ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, $2299.99
• Philips 42" 42PF9431D/37, 720p, ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, $1499.99
• Panasonic 50" TH-50PX6U, 720, ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, $2699.99

LCD:

• Toshiba 32" 32HLV16 - 720p, ATSC & NTSC, HDMI, Slot Loading DVD player, $1299.99
• Visio 32" L32HDTV10A, 720p, ATSC & NTSC, HDMI, $699.99
• Visio 37" L37HDTV10A, 720p, ATSC & NTSC, HDMI, $999.99
• SONY 40" Bravia KDL40S2010, 720p, ATSC & NTSC, HDMI, $1999.99
• Philips 37"  37PF9431D/37, 720p,  ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, $1399.99
  
• Sharp 37" AQUOS LC40C37U, 720p, ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, $1499.99
• Sharp 32" AQUOS LC40C32U, 720, ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, $1199.99
  

Rear Projection (all come with a matching stand):

• SONY 50" RP LCD KDF-50X30, 720p, ATSC & NTSC, HDMI, $1799.99
• Toshiba 62" RP DLP 62HM116, 1080p, ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, $2799.99
• Mitsubishi 62" RP LCD WD-62530, 720p, Digital Cable Ready, dual HDMI, $1999.99
• SONY 60" RP LCD KDF-E60A20, 720p, ATSC, NTSC, & Cable Card Slot, $2299.79
• JVC 56" RP LCoS HD-ILA HD56GC87 , ATSC & NTSC, dual HDMI, 1899.99
• JVC 55" RP LCoS HD-ILA HD56GF456, ATSC & NTSC,  HDMI, 1799.99
• Panasonic 52" RP LCD PT52LCX16B, $1699.99
• Akai 50" RP DLP PT50DL14, 720p, Cable Card, HDMI, $1399.97

First, when viewing these TVs it was hard to get a good look because there was no room view from a normal distance. So you'll want to look at these TVs someplace else and then just buy from Costco. The screen door affect was very apparent on almost all these TVs. Compression artifacts that would not be visible at a normal distance were right in your face. To be honest with you we don't know why anyone would go into a Costco and be blown away by the picture. The good news is that once you get it home and off the default setting you'll be happily surprised. Now on to the results.

Best Plasma - The Panasonic TH-50PX6U. It simply looked the best and for $2699.99 its a great deal. You may be able to find it cheaper online but you'll have to pay for shipping. Also you can't beat the Costco return policy should something happen to the TV.

Runner up Plasma - The Vizio P42HDTV10A. Looked pretty good and you can't beat the price $1300! A great entry plasma that won't break the bank.

Notes - Stay away from the Maxent. It looked very bad. Skin tones looked like cartoons.

Best LCD - Sharp AQUOS 32" LCD. Great looking picture at a great price!

Runner up LCD - Vizio 32" LCD. Picture was decent. Had a green tint problem that would need to be calibrated out but at $699.99 it gets you into the flat panel game at a very reasonable price.

Best Rear Projection - JVC 56" HD-ILA. One of the better pictures in the whole store! In fact, it was our overall winner for both picture quality and price!

Runner Up Rear Projection - Akai 50" DLP - Can't beat the price of $1399.97.

Notes - almost all of these rear projection TVs have been discontinued by their manufacturers. That's not bad, its just that they are older models. Also all the RPTVs come with a matching stand. That's a savings of at least $200!

No matter which one of these you take home with you make sure you change the picture setting from the default to anything else! Better yet buy a calibration DVD for about $30 and get the most out of these inexpensive HDTVs.