Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent TV and value, September 16, 2008
Review: I have had my WD-73736 TV for about a month now and I absolutely love it. Originally I found that it did need some color adjustment as the blues were too strong. I have not changed it around that much other then deciding what was the best picture mode (changed from Brilliant to Bright) along with changing the color temp (from cool to warm).
When I first powered on the TV, I did notice some "screen door" effects that seem to be inherent to DLP televisions but after living with it for a while I don't even notice it at all. The picture is larger than life and extremely bright (much more so then the display had when in the store - especially compared to the flat panels). I have viewed the picture on the following sources:
1080i HDTV via HDMI (Verizon FIOS): Excellent. However, with a TV this size you start to see which channels skimped on the budget (*cough*...TNT....*cough*). On the good HD channels the picture is amazing. On the ones that did it properly (FOX, NBC, etc) it is great. I hate to say it, but you start to see how bad some of the actor's skin is because the picture is so large...lol.
480i SDTV via HDMI (Verizon FIOS): Good. Since having a rather large selection of HD channels to choose from I do not watch much SD programming. Still, when the mode of the TV is set to narrow (4:3 - bars on the sides) the picture is good. Not great, but I would not expect much from SD once you have watched HD.
1080p HD BluRay via HDMI (Sony Playstation): Truly Amazing. I have only watched one movie via BluRay (Resident Evil: Extinction) and was completely floored. I cannot claim that the difference between 1080i and 1080p is that great, but having a disc encoded for HD is obviously better than a broadcast channel. I have played a few games as well and the picture is amazing. I did notice one or two jagged lines, but I cannot say if that was the source material or the TV. Nothing crazy though.
480p via Component Video (Nintendo Wii): Very Good. Originally I had my Wii hooked up via composite and it looked pretty bad. I quickly ordered a component video cable and was much happier with the picture. I think a lot of the issue is that I got so used to HD that Wii's lesser SD picture was just not as good. With the new component cable the picture has improved dramatically, but has jagged lines (that is the Wii, not the TV as others have reported the same).
The thin bezel (1/2") around the TV makes the picture look even larger and less cluttered and is one of the main reasons I was drawn to this TV (not to mention that a comparable flat panel would be $26,000!). The funny thing is, on my stand it looks like a flat panel to me as all you see is pretty much screen.
All in all I am so happy I made this purchase (as is my wife). I now have been spoiled and my next TV will have to be even larger ;)
Pros:
- Amazing, bright, clear, sharp picture
- Does not take up a ton of space - depth is only about 17"
- Minimal distance viewing requirements (I am about 10' away)
- Light weight ~ 95 lbs.
- Very handsome cabinet
- Auto-sensing inputs (only enables an input if there is something plugged into it which prevents you from having to scroll through unused inputs).
- Variety of picture settings (not that I can figure them all out ;) )
- Bargain: $2,200 for 73" of screen. Can't go wrong with that!
Cons:
- Switching between inputs takes a few seconds
- Speakers are a joke. I think I would get better sound out of a Pringles can! Having a home theater is a must.
- Lamp gets hot. Not much of an issue if you have clearance around the TV (manual suggests 4") but if you have this built into an enclosure it may need additional cooling.
- Vertical viewing angle: I have this on a rather tall stand and the picture looks it's best when the middle of the screen is at eye level. My review is viewing the TV from my seated position but it could be even better if I had a lower stand.
- Long power-up time on energy saver mode: I read that the power consumption when off for the "quick" power mode is quite a lot so I switched to the low power mode. It can take up to 30 seconds to get a picture. Since I only turn the TV on once a day I was ok with this to save a few $$$ in electricity.
Summary: I could not be happier with this purchase. The only thing I would do differently is buy a bigger model (if they made one) as the 73" isn't as overwhelming as it was a month ago :)
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply The Best, November 10, 2008
I looked at big screen TV's for over a year. I researched big screens endlessly include many, many hours on the AVS forum. I looked at hundreds of tv's at several different showrooms over the course of one year. I looked at LCD's, plasma, DLP's. I waited for the release of the laser Mitsubishi models, to read actual reviews by real people. We purchased this TV about a month ago.
In brief, this TV is the best that you can buy. The colors are accurate and vivid. The blacks are strikingly black, with details in the black areas due to the newer dark chip in the set. Whites are pure without a tinge of any color. We have the tv in a very bright room with in essence a wall of glass windows and doors. Even with all of the ambient lighting the tv is bright in the daylight.
I am an experienced portrait artist and I know my colors and tonal values exceedingly well. Having said that, I have not adjusted the color settings on the tv. Nothing has been changed since the tv was first turned on. I am quite experienced in electronics and would have no difficulty or hesitance to adjust the picture if necessary but...it's not necessary in the smallest way.
The picture is the best that I have ever seen, even at the movies. You can sit as close as eight feet (even closer in HD)and their is no loss in picture quality. At 10 feet the image size on the screen is about what you would see from a middle seat in a movie theater.
The audio is more than good enough. We listen to the tv speakers almost always but we do have a high end surround system for listening to certain movies or concerts. Once again, the audio for this tv is more than good enough. If you want better then you must buy a surround system. With a picture of this size, I would recommend a good surround system for a perfect experience.
We got it from One Call through Amazon and I would certainly buy it that way again. No problems at all.
I can't imagine and I haven't seen a better picture. I looked at every technology including the LED's and this is by far the best picture.
This is my first review for Amazon. I have used Amazon's reviews to help me with many purchases and I am writing this to help the "community" of reviewers.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Agree with Al, August 8, 2008
Gotta agree with you Al. My first major purchase from Amazon. TV was delivered in 5 days. It took them 10 minutes to unpack the TV, get it up the stairs and onto my stand (I didn't pay for any fancy white glove as I knew I could take care of all that myself). I gotta say that for the price of this TV it is a outstanding value. It does take a bit of tweaking in the menu to get the brightness, contrast and color inline, but that is to be expected. If I only have to replace a bulb every other year I'll take this TV and the 73 inches any day. My only rub is that I actually had to read the manual to get thru some of the menus.
Where's the popcorn!
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