[Phronetix]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

Uh-oh. I was afraid you were going to say that. Soundaround is a den of thieves as far as I'm concerned...I hate going in there and avoid the store whenever possible.

***long quote trimmed by mod JD***

Hmmm, I never felt that there. I certainly got that "I'm on commission sales" predatory gaze, but sales tactics never work on me because I know more about product than the sales staff by the time I shop.

However, at that price point the 42 inch panasonic PZ80 is the best plasma one can buy. It was my second choice.

Happy buying. Sounds like you have a great deal waiting anyway. Please don't tell me that you like the hyper-realistic 120hz sampling. Then, we're cool. LOL.

[Phronetix]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

Uh-oh. I was afraid you were going to say that. Soundaround is a den of thieves as far as I'm concerned...I hate going in there and avoid the store whenever possible.

***long quote trimmed by mod JD***

Hmmm, I never felt that there. I certainly got that "I'm on commission sales" predatory gaze, but sales tactics never work on me because I know more about product than the sales staff by the time I shop.

However, at that price point the 42 inch panasonic PZ80 is the best plasma one can buy. It was my second choice.

Happy buying. Sounds like you have a great deal waiting anyway. Please don't tell me that you like the hyper-realistic 120hz sampling. Then, we're cool. LOL.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by EscapePod

Best Buy (in the U.S.) has one of several Pioneer Plasmas on sale this week. Maybe not available in Canada?

Correct. BestBuy.ca doesn't have a single listing for Pioneer TV sets - strangely enough though, Pioneer Canada lists Best Buy as a dealer. Ultimately it doesn't matter though, the Pioneer sets are just too expensive for a secondary TV that might only get used twice a week.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by ptyork

It may be that your existing run is long enough to reach the TV once re-routed. If not, though, definitely consider running some fresh quad-shield RG6 from the main cable box rather than simply coupling on to the existing one. This can introduce interference due to lack of shielding at the junction and signal loss just due to the coupling. Shouldn't be all that hard to do since you can do any required "pulling" using the existing run.

Great point - thanks. I'm pretty sure what the electrician will do is yank the cable from the mounting down below and run it to the TV directly, but I'll make sure he doesn't split it off.

[timmy]

I don't know your budget, but since you were actually talking about a "digital wall", why not go for one of these

Microsoft Puts Surface-like Features into Touchwall

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Phronetix

Happy buying. Sounds like you have a great deal waiting anyway. Please don't tell me that you like the hyper-realistic 120hz sampling. Then, we're cool. LOL.

I actually haven't seen live demos of the 120hz stuff, so I can't say for sure.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by timmy

I don't know your budget, but since you were actually talking about a "digital wall", why not go for one of these...

Haha...I wish!

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Phronetix

However, at that price point the 42 inch panasonic PZ80 is the best plasma one can buy. It was my second choice.

I'll look into that one the the price on the 50" is within my comfort zone, and the 42" is below it. But why can't I find any reviews of that TV online? Sheesh - it's like no one owns one.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Gordo

I always wondered about the heat from a fire causing problems with the TV. One web site I found mentioned that if the temperature above the mantel gets above 90F you can have problems. Might want to consider test this before proceeding.

An interesting point that I hadn't considered. Thankfully we use the fireplace maybe twice a year, so I don't imagine this will a problem. I might do a test though to check what the temperature is when I turn it on though...

[Jason Dunn]

Ok, so I went to Soundsaround and looked at the Pioneer plasma TVs...and wow, they ARE nice. The Panasonic plasma TVs are also very nice as well. It looks like in my $2K-and-under budget I can either get a 720p Pioneer or a 1080p Panasonic. I'm leaning toward the Panasonic because I'm going to be running Windows Media Center on it and displaying photos, so the 1920 x 1200 resolution will make for some might nice looking pictures.

Still pondering which TV to get...

[OzBert]

Jason,

Are you sure it is such a good idea, from an ergonomic point of view, to have to look upwards all the time when watching TV?

.CHeers from Switzerland
OzBert