Yeah... I've been having the same thought about TOO BIG. All the rules of thumb suggest I could go either 62" or 72" from my viewing distance. However, I think this is based on how close you can be without seeing "screen door" effect etc. rather than what feels comfortable. My other concern about a HUGE TV is how it will dominate the room... not asthetically pleasing. So lately I've been looking at 50" and 56" and I'd like to find a TV with bottom mount speakers... i.e. a less bulky design.

I'm a big fan of Toshiba and love the picture of the HMX series... but those side mounted speakers add almost 10" of cabinet width.

I'm waiting for the Toshiba 1080p's MX195 series with bottom mounted speakers to see how they look. Unfortunately smallest size is 56" which will only be available as 56HM195 (no PC input). You need 62" in Canada for PC input.

Another set I'm, seriously considering is the Sony KDFE50A10. The picture is excellent and the cabinet is very trim in size. They have a unique bottom mount speaker design where they are tucked up at an angle under the screen. You need to see one to understand. I know DLP fans poo poo Sony's LCD... but go take a look at one... it's one of the best pictures out there right now. PC input included.

I agree with you on the Sony 50A10's footprint and PQ. However, it does not have PIP/POP, which is a feature my wife & I like as we often try to keep tabs on another program while watching one. Also, price wise it is not competitive with the $2399 Hitachi. You may want to take a look at it.

I picked up a 46HMX85 on Saturday and couldn't be happier, it was worth every single fricken penny. Ended up buying from Visions in Prince George, BC for $2707 including stand and taxes. Was very happy with the service Visions provided, the salesman was knowledgable and honest, and their price was fantastic. I had shopped around quite a bit and have to plug the guys at London Drugs as they were extremely helpful but just couldn't compete with the Visions price. Futureshop offered me a good price(which Visions beat by $150), but they're way too pushy with their stupid monster cables, and I was totally turned off by how they push these expensive accessories on you.

When I first set the TV up I did have some PQ issues but spent some time tweaking settings and I'm extremely pleased with how every type of signal looks.

For DVD's, I had to play with video settings on both the TV and DVD Player for quite a while before I got an optimal picture. I also tried both SVideo and Component cables and found that SVideo looks ok but is more grainy looking than Component and just doesn't seem to have the same level of detail Component has. Jawdropping gorgeous only starts to express how great the PQ is with Component cables, it looks absolutely stunning. Oh, and I bought a relatively cheap $35 component cable from walmart, a much better price than the $130 Monster ripoff cables. I can't imagine there's any difference in quality that justifies the extra hundred bucks, no matter what the folks at future shop say.

I will be getting ExpressVu HD in a week or two, but for now I just have regular cable TV with a crappy signal on most channels. The PQ is more than acceptable IMO. After everything I had heard about how crappy SD looks on these big TV's I'm actually surprised at how good it looks.

This is just a great TV, and turned out to be the Perfect TV for me. The only slight negative is the fan/color wheel (or whatever it is that makes the whirring sound) is a tad on the noisy side. While you're watching it's not noticeable but you can easily hear it when it's first turned on and it does stay on for quite a while after the TV is off. A non issue for me when balanced against how incredible this TV is otherwise, but it may bother some people.

So far for me this TV deserves an easy 10 out of 10 overall. And it's true what they say, the TV looks way bigger in your living room than in the store.:D

I'm very thankful for this forum and the people here, I may not have found this excellent TV otherwise. :D

I agree with you on the Sony 50A10's footprint and PQ. However, it does not have PIP/POP, which is a feature my wife & I like as we often try to keep tabs on another program while watching one. Also, price wise it is not competitive with the $2399 Hitachi. You may want to take a look at it.
Thanks... I'll take a peek at the Hitachi.

My Bell Expressvu HD PVR 9200 has PIP built in so lack of PIP is not an issue.

The PVR 9200 also has 2 tuners plus an OTA tuner. It can record from all three tuners at the same time. Up to 180 hrs SD or 25 hrs HD. Delivers 1080i output via HDMI or component. Plus lots of HD channels available.

Saw Sony 50A10 advertised yesterday at $2868 and $350 for the stand. I suspect you could negotiate an extra couple hundred discount on the TV and stand combo.

I purchased the 44HM85 last weekend but since I have the option of changing my mind and upgrading the tv, is the 52HM85 a good option? I guess I just don't like price though. I bought the 44" on sale last weekend at Best Buy for 1799 and the 52" is $1K more. I have a month to decide but I'm finding the 44" a bit too small for my room (we're about 13 feet back from the tv).

I have the 44" and I'm going to put it in another room and buy one of the newer 62MX195's. Personally, I'd ditch the 44 and get one of the new models like the 52HM85 and not because of the size difference. The 44" is a rebranded LG and it doesn't reproduce the colors very well during dark scences. I brought some DVD's to my local dealer and played them on the 52HM85 and I was impressed with the PQ, which is far superior to the 44". If you're having doubts now about the size then you're not happy.

Keep in mind that the 52" is only 3" wider than the 46" Toshiba model.

Well, I finally had my 62HMX85 delivered on Saturday (only 10 days later than originally scheduled!). I did a fast hookup that day to be able to watch the Toronto Montreal hockey game. I must say that right out of the box, hooked up to a 3100 EV receiver, I was pleasantly surprised on the pq quality. It really wasn't that bad. I too have been reading that standard channels look crappy, but IMO, they look fine! On Sunday I hooked up our new 6120 HD receiver, and wow, wow, wow! The HD channels were absolutely amazing. My husband and I were blown away. When we had the new receiver hooked up, we did some flips between HD and STD, and of course, we now see the difference, but STD is still "watchable". We sit approx 13 feet away from the tv so I think that helps with the STD channels.

All in all, we are extremely pleased with this tv!:p

Well, I picked up a Toshiba player and everything looks great. The picture is amazing.

Hey dks, since you seem to be the "rainbow effect" guy around here, did you notice it more often when you first got your 52HMX85 and then less often as you became more used to the tv? I am asking because I seem to notice the rainbow effect often while watching DVD's on my 46HMX85. I think maybe I am trying to look for them more than I am paying attention to a movie? In well lit scenes, they are unnoticable, but as you said, in dark scenes with lighter objects, they are noticable when you look back and forth along the screen. If you can tell me your experience with this, that would be great. Thanks.;)


Hi there. I was worried about this too when buying my DLPTV.

I've owned the 52HMX85 for almost 7 weeks now, and I've yet to see a single 'rainbow effect' nor have my wife any of our family/ friends. Unfortunately a very small percentage of people (about 2-3 percent) are able to see it and prob always will until they start making 3 chip DLPTV's (which would cost an insane amount of money to produce now for VERY small gain overall).

But if you can't see it in 20mins then you'll never see it (believe me I've tried and I just can't see it and I've watched alot of movies like Sin City to make sure I can't). Apparently the HD4 DLP's (ie: latest Toshiba and Samsungs) have a faster rotating color wheel that makes it almost impossible to see rainbows for the vast majority of people.

My advice? Do what I did and goto a store that has DLPTV's. Watch the screen for 20-30mins and see if you can notice it before buying one.

That being said if you can't see rainbows go DLP all the way, I love my TV (esp with DVDs and HDTV programs). Hope this helps, if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Kared

Thought you guys might be interested to know that Future Shop just permanently lowered their price for the 52HM85 to $2799(was $2999) and the 52HMX85 to $2999 (was $3200).

emichon, I was noticing that on the weekend. I have a month to decide if I want to keep the 44" so I'll just watch the price. As much as I'd love to have the bigger tv, I just can't justify spending that type of money which would be close to $4000.00. I already can't believe the price I spent on the 44" and that was a really good sale!!

Go ask them if you could get a deal on the 52 inch if you decide to trade in.

When I first started looking at the DLPs I could not see the rainbows and wondered what people were talking about. However once I discovered how to see them, now I see them all of the time. I had the HD2+ chip Toshiba version for 3 days in my home and REALLY saw the rainbows on that model, but since I went with the HD4 chip 2005 model the rainbow effect is not as bad. I rarely see them, and it is only when watching a very dark scene with something white or bright in the foreground on a dark background. IE: If you are watching white letters scrolling up the screen on a black background you will see the rainbow if you shift your eyes (without blinking) back and forth from left to right - right to left on the screen. It's like a blur of color as your eyes sweep the screen. Sometimes when blinking I will see a fragment of colors as well, but it is not bad. I just love my TV and wouldn't trade it for anything.

When I first started looking at the DLPs I could not see the rainbows and wondered what people were talking about. However once I discovered how to see them, now I see them all of the time. I had the HD2+ chip Toshiba version for 3 days in my home and REALLY saw the rainbows on that model, but since I went with the HD4 chip 2005 model the rainbow effect is not as bad. I rarely see them, and it is only when watching a very dark scene with something white or bright in the foreground on a dark background. IE: If you are watching white letters scrolling up the screen on a black background you will see the rainbow if you shift your eyes (without blinking) back and forth from left to right - right to left on the screen. It's like a blur of color as your eyes sweep the screen. Sometimes when blinking I will see a fragment of colors as well, but it is not bad. I just love my TV and wouldn't trade it for anything.
Ummm... if you don't see rainbows now, do not try what's described above.
Once you can see rainbows, you will always see them.

We picked up our 52HMX85 on friday at Visions Vancouver at not a bad price
2,765.00 with a free pioneer dvd player DV285S the dvd player went in the kids room, since we had the samsung HD850 which is alright but not the best HMDI
But as DKS said once you know how to spot the rainbows you can see them
Also out of a six family household I am the only one who sees these rainbows
I should say we happy happy with this DLP

Heres a gay question why do some men see Rainbows and some dont :D

Thanks DTI

We picked up our 52HMX85 on friday at Visions Vancouver at not a bad price
2,765.00 with a free pioneer dvd player DV285S 299.00 for the stand the dvd player went in the kids room, since we had the samsung HD850 which is alright but not the best HD HMDI
But as DKS said once you know how to spot the rainbows you can see them
Also out of a six family household I am the only one who sees these rainbows
I should say we are happy happy with this DLP

Heres a gay question why do some men see Rainbows and some dont :D

Thanks DTI

Hi there. I was worried about this too when buying my DLPTV.

I've owned the 52HMX85 for almost 7 weeks now, and I've yet to see a single 'rainbow effect' nor have my wife any of our family/ friends.
Kared


Diddo, non issue for me.

I asked Toshiba customer support about the difference between the 52HM85 and the 52HMX85. Here is their reply:

"Thank you for taking a moment to contact Toshiba customer support with your
inquiry.

The two models are the same, the only difference is cosmetic such as the
colour, black vs. silver. Also the cinema series (X) has an extra HDMI input
and the remote has some extra buttons."

I see that the local Compusmart has the 52HMX85 in stock. Cool.

We picked up our 52HMX85 on friday at Visions Vancouver at not a bad price
2,765.00 with a free pioneer dvd player DV285S 299.00 for the stand the dvd player went in the kids room, since we had the samsung HD850 which is alright but not the best HD HMDI
But as DKS said once you know how to spot the rainbows you can see them
Also out of a six family household I am the only one who sees these rainbows
I should say we are happy happy with this DLP

Heres a gay question why do some men see Rainbows and some dont :D

Thanks DTI

I don't mind seeing rainbows. Rainbows are happy things!! Why, nobody would ever be against rainbows would they? I only see them on my TV when I'm looking for them. They are no there all of the time. I don't watch much dark and dingy stuff, so that could also be a reason I don't see them often.

Gay men love rainbows because gay men are always happy. True or false? They've been known to bake cakes made out of rainbows and smiles. :p The truth is that rainbows are used in the gay community as a symbol of diversity. We are all different, just like the different colors of the rainbow.

Rainbow Trivia:
I remember going outside as a young kid with a pair of rubber boots directly after a rain storm. A rainbow filled the sky, and I was eating hot chocolate chip cookies that my mom just baked. It was a happy time.

LOL dks:D I was just kidding around with the gay part.

But I was curious why some people see them & some dont