Mitsubishi WS-55905 55 in. TV

My parents and I recently embarked on a journey to find the best replacement for our last TV after it decided it had lived a full life of 8 years. We looked at everything from the 36? Sony Wega to Pioneer?s 50? Plasma HDTV. At first my parents were vehemently opposed to purchasing a projection television, since two of my uncle?s had purchased projection televisions back in the 1980?s. (Needless to say, they have improved dramatically since then)

We started off by heading down to Sound Advice to see some TVs in real life. We assumed that whatever TV we found we could find for cheaper on the internet, but we wanted to make sure that we saw the TV?s picture quality at least once before we purchased it.

The plasma TVs looked great, but I don?t think anyone in the family ever really considered them, especially since the only one with true HDTV resolution was the 50? Pioneer with a MSRP of $19,999.99.

The flat screen Sony Wega?s were nice, but my mom and I both preferred the room with wide screen projection TV?s playing video from an HDTV feed. If it were up to my dad, I think he would have preferred buying a Wega, since our old TV had been 36?, and it would have been the least expensive replacement. We headed down to Circuit City and Best Buy and eventually decided on a 56? Toshiba wide screen HDTV ready projection TV (TW56X81). It was nice and we could get it delivered for $4000 on the internet. We were going to start calling companies on Monday to see when we could get it, but my friend, who is a true videophile and audiophile, asked if we?d looked at the widescreen Mitsubishi TVs. Both he and his friend had had great experiences with Mitsubishi TVs and he highly recommended them. (We had originally though the 55" TVs were too large when we were at Sound Advice)

The next day my dad and I headed out to Sound Advice again, knowing we could get the 55? Mitsubishi dropped on our door step for $3500 before shipping, then we could get it moved inside and upstairs for another $200. We found the WS55805 and WS55905 on sale for $3000 and $4000 respectively, and the salesman told us he would offer us Toshiba TW56X81 for $4000 as well. I knew the WS55805 was on sale because Mitsubishi was coming out with the WS55807, but that didn?t really matter to my dad or myself. We asked which were in stock at the Tampa warehouse (so we could have it delivered as soon as possible) and found that the WS55905 was the only one, and that we could have it by Tuesday (this was Sunday).

The WS55905 (The Toshiba Diamond series, the highest quality TV they offer) is supposedly brighter, has enhanced depth-of-field Lenses, improved Sound and nicer cabinetry than the WS55805. Since we were would be using our Bose speakers and a receiver for our audio, we didn?t really care about the audio, and I don?t know of anyone who would pay $1000 for the cabinetry. The brightness and picture quality were valid differences, since brightness and picture were my dad?s only concerns about purchasing a projection TV. Between that information, Sound Advice?s policy that would allow us to exchange the TV for the Toshiba if we wished to do so within the first 60 days and the fact that it was in stock, we decided to purchase the WS55905.

The TV was $4000, an umbrella protection policy was $450 and tax was $300, meaning we would have saved a lot of money buying this TV over the internet. However, as we would soon learn, buying this TV locally was probably the best decision we could have made. The TV was brought in and set up on Tuesday morning, and aside from doing minor damage to the walls of our staircase (which has a right angle turn halfway up) the movers got it upstairs and setup up in a very satisfactory manner. Unfortunately, I didn?t need to see my dad?s reaction to know what it was. We had analog cable (a weak signal at that), a VCR and a Dolby Pro Logic receiver. My dad was going to be sorely disappointed with the picture and sound. For this reason my mom and I decided to buy him a Pioneer DV-434 DVD player and a Pioneer VSX-309 receiver (both of which I have reviewed).

The picture quality wasn?t as bad my dad thought it was, but it soon became non-existent. Our old RCA TV had to be replaced because it had suddenly stopped displaying all video, and within 4 hours, the Mitsubishi followed suit. Since we were using different outlets, a surge protector, and it had been set up by people who did this for a living, we wanted to know exactly what had caused this to happen to a second TV. After contacting several technicians, it seemed the most logical culprit was the GTE cable box, although, to quote one technician, ?Good luck trying to get GTE to admit it?s their fault.? We arranged to have our cable provider changed that day and Sound advice had a technician out Thursday and a new TV for us the next Tuesday. (Since the problem was cause by an external source, this would not have been covered by the factory warranty. At this point my dad and I were very glad we had purchased it locally with the optional warranty.)

Since then we have acquired a progressive scan DVD player, digital cable and a Dolby Digital/DTS receiver for the audio, and the TV has been working flawlessly ever since. We are very happy with the TV and with Sound Advice, who were a big help. Even my dad, who was very skeptical of the TV after being intially disappointed, was very impressed with how good DVDs looked and sounded. As for HDTV, HDTV receivers are too expensive, so we?re waiting for either the prices to drop or for our cable company to start offering more HDTV channels, but for now the DVD is just fine.

If there is one thing I learned from this, it?s that both the umbrella insurance policy and buying it locally was worth it. I gave the TV 4 stars because it?s a great TV, but I?m not sure I wouldn?t have been just as happy with the Toshiba, or another HDTV ready wide screen TV.