I took the HD plunge and am somewhat underwhelmed

[midnight armadillo]

new tv, tivo, etc. After adjusting FiOS service to reflect our actual usage we cut that bill by $50/mo. Took advantage of football season sale, had a gift card, got a refurb Tivo Premiere and transplanted a 2TB disk drive (already owned) into it...out of pocket expenditures was fairly mild, certainly compared to what many people I know spend on TVs. Also it may help with my son who is on the road to nearsightedness and reduce eye strain headaches for my wife since the old CRT was fuzzy and small for the room. Not that we watch that much tv, but they were both physically unhappy with the old arrangements.

So, fine, we spent some money. The guides all called for a 52" or greater TV due to the distance across the room (13ish feet). I couldn't abide the thought of something that large in the room so went for a 47" LG LCD. Blah. The picture is nice, no more eyestrain trying to read text on the screen, but it's friggin' gigantic. I find myself having to look around the screen to see everything. I find this very distracting. It also completely dominates the room as a giant black rectangle when off, which I really wanted to avoid. I don't know where those nutjobs recommend a 52" or greater TV, or who buys those giant sets. Maybe it's because I don't watch sports or something. I think I'm going to return the TV and step down to a 42" which will be slightly more discreet when wall mounted. And still be bigger than the ole CRT and good enough for Lego Star Wars on Wii.

[Newest Reality]

1. Been there,

done that.

You may not believe this yet, (and it is discussed on AV forums) but the set and screen will shrink over time. Honestly.

It is brand new to you and you are not yet used to the size, so it seems overbearing. You may want to consider that before downsizing.

For me, after a month or two, I wanted a larger screen.

Why not watch several really good movies with great effects for a week or two and see if you discover the shrink effect?

[midnight armadillo]

2. comparison page

I was comparing screen sizes here: http://www.displaywars.com/

I think it's partly just an aesthetics issue, not just a viewing experience issue. I'll give it a few days then we'll decide.

[Newest Reality]

4. Yes,

your priorities are what matters.

For me, home theater, (to replace going to the movies) was the criteria, because my set was a 57" rear projection and living room was not that big.

Oh, and no matter what size you settle on, look into settings, (you can get good advice online). All TVs come in "flame mode". That is, they are adjusted to impress and dazzle people with brightness and contrast set far too high and the color is over saturated. They stand-out in the showroom to say, "pick me", that way.

Properly adjusted, a much better, (and more natural looking) viewing experience is gained.

[HopeHoops]

3. Get a Roman curtain for it.

[OriginalGeek]

5. Also I don't think the Wii displays true HiDef

so that picture will never be optimal.
DVD is not hi def either so pick up a Blu-Ray player. (Or a PS3 if you play games as that can handle both).

I'm not familiar with the Tivo hardware so I don't know what resolution they pump out but make sure you are getting all your new TV is capable of. (if it's not a HDMI cable or component cables, it's not hi def - the red/white and yellow cables are composite cables and do not send HiDef to your TV)

And do adjust it like suggested in the other posts - here are some links that might help:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/157131/how_to_finetune_your_hdtv.html
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/news-electronics-computers/how-to-finetune-your-hdtv-306/index.htm
http://reviews.cnet.com/basic-hdtv-tips/

Full disclosure: I don't have a big flat panel TV yet. I do have an HDTV but mine is about 6 or 7 years old - it's a TUBE TV! Only 30something inches - the biggest HiDef Sony tube tv made at the time. The thing takes up half my living room. I love the picture on it though - it's gorgeous but the damn thing is a behemoth. My friend just recently got a 60" flat panel though and I like going to his house for tv watching. If my Sony will ever die I'll replace it with a bigger screen size but I'll still reclaim several sq feet of living room
by wall mounting a flat panel.

And my apologies in advance if you've already done all that - I didn't see it specifically mentioned so I just wanted to make sure.

Also never spend more than a couple bucks on HDMI cables. I don't care what anyone says, you gain nothing spending 60~80 bucks on Monster cables. Monoprice.com has them all day for 2 and 3 dollars - maybe a little more if you need a really long cable.

[midnight armadillo]

6. $5/pr on amazon

6 feet HDMI cables on amazon - $5.84 with shipping. Makes you feel guilty, really, except that they're probably made side by side with the $40/ea cables at Best Buy. Once I got Wii hooked up at 480p with component cables it looked pretty good in "game" mode at 60 Hz.

Anyway, it has been decided. 47" is just too much for us, 42" looks like it'll work...I just gotta move since there's slim stock in stores it seems. I think I'd be happy at 40" but the family overruled me.

[pokerfan]

7. It's only a marginal improvement (not like the move from b&w to color)

but the downside is that you almost have to have HDTV these to read anything on the screen anymore, like the scores of a game or the cards in a poker game as standard TV programming is often just the HDTV source cropped and reduced in resolution rendering the graphics tiny and a little bit fuzzy. It's annoying.

[RZM]

8. I took the HD plunge in late 2005

And I must say I was pretty impressed. It's like anything. They are going to charge you the maximum that you will pay for it. But it's pretty nice I must say.