Deciding whether to go w/ Plasma or LCD?

[cujo8]

Well apparently what the salesperson told me about using the 5.1 outputs of my Sony BDP-S2000ES to get the other audio formats that this player supports was incorrect. When I asked Sony about this, they said the the other sound formats are 7.1 formats, so obviously I won't be able to get them through the 5.1 outputs. I am going to switch my audio hookup to go through my audioquest Optilink-3 toslink cable and move my 6 interconnects back to my Rotel-1060 DVD/DVD-A player, so I can enjoy my DVD-A collection again.

[rlpiii]

Originally Posted by cujo8

Thanks for your replies. After more research I've decided to go with plasma and I've also decided that the Pioneer plasmas are the way to go, but I know have to decide which Pioneer 50" plasma is right for me. Some of the questions I'm struggling with is whether I should go with the Elite line or there non-Elite version and whether the 720p will be good enough instead of the 1080p version.

One dealer told me that I really won't be able to tell the difference between the 720p and 1080p HDTV's from 10 feet away, but he did suggest I go with the Elite series. He also said I'd be happier with the Elite 720p set over the 1080p non-Elite HDTV. I worried I might regret not purchasing the 1080p later. Anyone care to comment on what this salesperson told me and whether the Elite versions are worth the extra scratch? Thanks.

I think your dealer was trying to dump his old stock. I can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on 50" screens that are 10 feet away - as most people on this forum probably can. With that comment, I probably would have asked for another sales guy or gone somewhere else to buy. If you plan on keeping your new tv for more than a year or two, it would be prudent to invest in the most current technology so you will not be that much further behind in the future.

[cujo8]

Quote
Originally posted by rlpiii:
"I think your dealer was trying to dump his old stock. I can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on 50" screens that are 10 feet away - as most people on this forum probably can. With that comment, I probably would have asked for another sales guy or gone somewhere else to buy. If you plan on keeping your new tv for more than a year or two, it would be prudent to invest in the most current technology so you will not be that much further behind in the future."

I did go somewhere else to buy my Pioneer 50" 1080p plasma (PRO-110FD) last Saturday, because I thought pretty much as you did rlpiii.

[Ron]

Originally Posted by cujo8

Well on Saturday I picked up a Pioneer Elite 50" 1080p plasma HDTV (PRO-110FD) and a Sony BDP-S2000ES Blu-ray player. I got a couple of Tributaries Series 7 HDMI cables to hook up the Blu-ray and my Direct TV DVR to the Pioneer HDTV. Since my B&K Ref 50 preamp does not support HDMI or some of the new sound formats that the Sony Blu-ray player provides, I hooked up the Blu-ray sound to my pre-amp using the six analog outputs instead of the digital outputs. I was told by the sales person that I would be able to enjoy these new sound formats by hooking it up in this fashion, since the Sony player will decode them and send them on to my pre-amp. Besides the fact that it takes 6-interconnects to hook-up the sound in this way, does this affect the sound quality in a negative way? On my old DVD player I was using an AQ Optilink-3 toslink cable and I was quite happy with that set up.
I'm still getting use to this new setup, but I am truely loving the awsome picture from the Pioneer Elite 1080p plasma.

You hooked up the Blu Ray properly with the 6 cables. When I get my Blu Ray player I will be doing the same hook-up to my processor.

[cujo8]

I did hook up the Blu-ray player properly using the six analog preouts from the Blu-ray player to the 5.1 analog inputs of my B&K Ref-50 preamp. Hooking the player up like this utilizes the players D/A converter instead of the Pre-amp A/D processor.