I decided to try another trip to a higher end TV store to look at a couple of models, the Samsung 5689S LED based DLP and the Panasonic and Pioneer plasma TV’s.  I’m interested in the LED based DLP’s since they get rid of the spinning color wheel and the arc lamp in traditional DLP’s.  Supposedly the LED’s will last for the life of the set whereas the arc lamp lasts for about 2 years before needing to be replaced at a cost of up to $350.  When I walk into the store I am immediately accosted by a sales guy who looks vaguely familiar….

I can’t place the guy, but I know I’ve seen him before.  Anyway, I put that aside and ask about the Samsung TV.  He shows me the 56″ Samsung but says if I want a rear projection TV I should look at the Sony 55A2020 LCOS model.  Is the sales guy just trying to get me to look at what he wants to sell? or is he actually trying to help me out?  Anyway, I take a quick look at the Sony and was not immediately impressed.  This may be partially my bias against Sony.  For some reason I always have this feeling with Sony that I’m paying more for the name than for the actual product.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve bought Sony products in the past.  I have a 14 year old carousel CD player of theirs that has performed quite well that I bought from this same store.  I decided to file the model number away and I’ll do some research on it later.

But anyway, the sales guy and I talk a bit about the TV’s and something keeps tickling the back of my mind on this guy.  He has an unusual name, Elmo.  That triggers another memory and I figure it out.  This is the same sales guy who sold me my Mitsubishi 55859 over 6 years ago.  What a small town/world.  I ask him if he used to work at another store…and he says yes, so I say, you sold me my TV and of course he immediately remembers….rrrriiiggghhht.  Anyway, like a good salesman, he plays along.  Can’t blame him for that.  Pretty weird none the less.

So, I ask about Plasma TV’s.  These are really farther down on my list since there are issues with burn-in, heat and power usage and I know I can get more screen for my buck with rear projection.  But I like the fact that plasma’s usually have really good black levels which provides for great picture quality and there will be no geometry issues, so I wanted to check them out.  We go and look at the Pioneer 720p model.  Very nice picture even with SD material, but the price is crazy, nearly $3000 for a 50″ 720p model.  You can get a 50″ 1080p model from Panasonic for less than that and a 56″ DLP for nearly half that price.  Of course Elmo says he has this TV in his house and it’s the best.  Mkay….he’s obviously had years to perfect his sales approach.  I like the TV, but can’t stomach the price, but it gets me interested in plasma as an option.

I left the store with more options that I went in with…not what I intended.  So now my list of TV’s to consider includes the following:

Mitsubishi 57833 – 57″ DLP based RPTV
Samsung HLT-5689S – 56″ LED based DLP
Sony 55A2020 – 55″ LCOS based RPTV
Panasonic 50PZ700U – 50″ 1080p plasma
Panasonic 50PX75U – 50″ 720p plasma
Pioneer 5080HD – 50″ 720p plasma

This is going to be harder than I thought.