Like I need another place to spend money, new TV thoughts?

[stanger89]

Last thing I need to do is find another thing to spend money on, but masochist I am , here I am looking at TVs again.

For my theater, well there's no problem there, Front Projection all the way, 1080p for sure, and I'm well read up on current state of FP tech. What I'm curious about is my secondary display.

Currently it's an old RCA 36" HD ready CRT. The only reason I'm even considering replacing it is 1) it's 4:3, and 2) it only accepts 480p on it's component inputs (I need to do the transcoder dance to feed it 1080i or 720p on it's VGA input). And even if I do that, it crops the sides off... So from time to time I look at what's out there to replace it. I want the same height, that means 45" diagonal, which when I actually look, appears to mean 47" LCD or 50" plasma (can't really see myself going with a 40 or 42").

Here's the problem, I've already established it's a secondary display so I'm not big on spending lots of money on it. At the same time, I don't like buying "cheap" stuff, it always comes back to bite me when I do something like that.

So where am I at? Really can't see anything but a Kuro, PDP-5080 being an option. Sure I could get a 5070 for a lot less, but I've had my RCA for 5 years easy, so I'd rather spend a bit more now and not regret it in 5 years (like I do to a degree now with my RCA).

Anyway, Kuro's are very nice, not too expensive either, but not cheap. So here's hoping the community has some sense to dispense

[Fluffdaddy]

If you want the best the Kuro is the best. I also have the old RCA 36" HD ready CRT and did the "transcoder dance" 3 years ago. I'm now Living with an 65" RP CRT r as my main TV till nice 65" flat panel drops to $3K

Now if you want the best of the best
Pioneer Elite PRO-150FD 60"
http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/reviews/..._plasma_tv.php

[stanger89]

See that's the thing, I don't want "the best". For that I've got a 720p InFocus IN76 shooting through a Panamorph anamorphic lens onto a 110" wide SMX acoustically transparent screen in my HT. (I'm still "shopping" for a 1080p upgrade to my IN76).

But I am tired of my RCA's limitations, I guess that's the best explanation. I don't want something smaller, don't really want to pay for something bigger.

Re "the best". There's absolutely no way I'm buying an Elite, I'm not paying 2-3x the price just for some cosmetic/useability enhancements. All I need is a couple HD inputs and I'm set.

As far as Kuro vs other, basically they don't seem like that much more. But I know there's lots of "deal hunters" here, so I was kind of curious what's hot on the "value" flat panel area this year.