I'm almost embarrassed to say that I've never sold or installed a large (in this case 32") LCD display. Lots of plasmas and small (20" and below) LCD displays, but nothing larger.

I have a customer that wants me to install a 32" LCD in his bedroom. That is as big as the cabinet will tolerate, so plasma is out. And they want to avoid the weight of a large direct view 34" widescreen CRT.

I am currently considering the following brands of wide screen LCDs: Toshiba, Samsung & Panasonic. The Toshiba looks to have the best pic quality (800:1 CR, etc..) and input capabilities, but I also would like discrete power; aspect ratio capability and input selection as I want to incorporate an MX-700 with the system and automate the control of everything (like system power, activity selection, etc...).

Does anyone have any experience with any of these LCD displays? Or recommend another brand to consider (like Sharp for example). Can anyone confirm that the Toshiba or Cinema models have discrete power, input selection and aspect ratio control, like their RPTVs. Any comments about pic quality, or reliability issues?

Thanks in advance for chiming in.

John

Crazy
I have installed 2-45" 2-26" 1-37" and 10 or so 15" All Sharpvision. I love them. They have a great picture, lightweight and great teck support. Call me if you want to discuss versitility. 630.736.9654

Someone can correct me if I have it wrong, but doesn't Sharp make the panels for the other guys? We sell the Sharps, and they're great... only complaint is that the codes change from model to model, and discretes are hit or miss...

WE sell Sony, Sharp, and, Samsung LCD Televisions. We sell at least 10 sharp Televisions per week! We sell from a 13" to 45". These sets are awesome. The G series is a great bargain at its price point. The GD has the ATSC tuner and cable card for mounting on a wall without having to use a cable box (Unless you are installing in a TWC area). Remember this is Sharp's 21st year building a LCD Display. They have pioneered the industry of LCD Technology, IMO. Just a little example, we have sold over 50k in Sharp over the last months or so. The people at Sharp are unbelievable to work for. I just got a new rep, and i can't say enough nice things about him.

Mike

I have 3 sharp LCDs in MY house (26x2, 32) all the 6U model with speakers on the bottom. I only sell Sharp LCDs.

I took a remote to Best Buy with the discrete power codes - to try on their Toshiba LCD panels on display. The 26" model DID respond to discrete power on AND off. Yay!!! They did not have a 32" on display, so I could not try that. The smaller Toshiba LCD (a 20" I think) did not respond to the discret power commands. I would hope that the 26" and bigger will respond to discrete power commands.

I would not be surprised if Sharp does make the glass for Toshiba. The specs are identical (CR, nits, brightness, etc..) and the picture quality looks identical at Best Buy. I'm pretty sure that Samsung and Panny make their own glass. But I could be wrong. The specs are different and the CR is definetly not as good as the Sharp or Toshiba panels.

What makes me nervous of the Sharps is the discrete control. From what I've read, they are not consistent from model to model (6 series to 4 series and from model year to model year). So I'm leaning towards the Toshibas. Reliability is also a big factor. It sounds like the Sharps are fairly reliable from the few who have posetd here in this thread. Any one else care to throw their $.02 in the ring?

Ditto. I Love 'em.

I received a new 32" Toshiba LCD and I am setting this unit up for a few days in my showroom before I take it out to the customer's home and install it. Nothing but good things to say so far about this TV. Great pic - both with Hi Def and DVD. I haven't tried the HDMI input and may not get around to that. The Toshiba discrete power commands DO work - which is great news! And of course discrete input and aspect ratio commands also work great.

2 Component inputs; 2 HDMI inputs (this is a Cinema series TV); fixed and variable audio output. BTW, this unit is actualy 31.25" diaganol. Not sure how they get 32" out of this. I wish this unit had an rgb input for a computer monitor input.

Does anyone know if you can feed a computer DVI output into a TV's hdmi input? I've never seen anyone post that it can be done.

I know most that post here favor the Sharp, but I do like Toshiba's other TVs (by most accounts) and I'd have to buy Sharp through my regional AVAD dist. I do everyhting I can do to NOT support AVAD, when I can. Just a personal vendetta. Sharp LCD's are widely over distributed in my area - both at the big box movers and with custom installers (especially trunk slammers). So the Toshiba gives me a little differentation (sp?)- at least at this current time.

I hear ya. We have a direct account with sharp, and now anyone with a tax ID can sell it in my area. It sucks because we get beat up on price all the time. Toshiba Cinema series is a good line that is on a very "Limited" Distribution. They have always had great sets with great reliabilty. We no longer do them direct because he margins were soooo low.

Mike

Please correct me if I'm wrong - but from my experiance Sharps's have discrete power , but the input selection is NOT discrete (what the heck is their problem?) so you can either do cheesy Macro strings [i.e.- ch+, input, input, input, enter]or IR to rs 232 converter