The Semi-Official HDTV Thread - Page 4

I'd go to the store and do some comparisons at the proper distance yourself. It all has to do with how good your vision is and how far the TV will be away from you.

I've got a 57" 1080p TV that is something like 15ft. away from my couch and I can only sometimes tell the difference between 720p and 1080p with straight-up video. I usually can tell if text is on the screen though (sports or video games) because it's usually larger for 720p. Depending on your own vision you can sometimes tell that it just doesn't look quite as sharp.

I can't really recommend highly enough to measure the distance that you'll be sitting from the TV and going into a store and checking out a 720p TV and a 1080p TV at the same distance. Most likely you won't notice a huge difference. Of course, the 1080p set may have better other features that make it look better independent of resolution.

Yeah - ty Eyeball - I read about that. I've messed with the settings a bit (using the THX calibrator found on some DVDs - I used Nemo) and I don't notice it nearly as much, or perhaps I've just gotten used to it.

So these new LED are supposed to eliminate most of the problems with motion blur?

I recently slightly upgraded and haven't noticed a big enough difference. So next its either get a 120hz or a risky downgrade to a plasma.

lcds are coming out now with 240hz technology which should effectively eliminate fast motion blur.

The new Samsung LED TV's are 240hz. At least the 8000 series are, I can't remember if the 6000 series is or not, though I don't see why it wouldn't be.

I wouldn't say getting a plasma is a downgrade. The colours on plasma's ARE better to me and they do like 700 or higher hertz compared to LCD's at 120/240hz.

The only downside I see for plasma's are that they're fucking heavy, the burn in problem (which if you don't leave the DVD menu on 24/7 you pretty much WON'T get it) and that they run hot and suck up power. And the glare issues if you have the TV in a brighter room or one with windows.

But Panasonic makes some pretty good Plasmas. I wouldn't trust a Samsung plasma but Samsung LCD's/LED's, YES!!

The term for how physically big a pixel is, is called pixel density. Your eye can only resolve so much visual data at a certain distance. If you had a 52" TV with pixel density of an iPhone, it would have a bajillion pixels onscreen and you wouldn't be able to see all of them from your sofa. But you can appreciate how fine the detail of that image is on a handheld device.

A 720p 32" TV has a much finer pixel density than a 720p 60" TV, so in order to really appreciate that 1080p image, you would need to skew larger. 37-40" is where the added pixels of a 1080p image start to really become noticeable. The thing is, you need to have a 1080p signal to really appreciate the added PQ. Sure, 1080i or 720p images will look a bit cleaner on a 1080p screen, but the only place to get 1080p is from a Blu-Ray or HD gaming system (I think.)

With a 42" TV, you could go either way and basically be happy. It's important to note that there are more important things to image quality than the amount of pixels. Color fidelity, shadow detail, viewing angle, contrast ratio, and response time all can mean just as much to your personal enjoyment as the 1080p resolution. It all depends on what your eyes notice.

Ended up with a 40" Sharp Aquos. Hooked up a HD antenna and checked out the local ABC affiliate in high-def, and it was amazing. Then I turned on my 360 and goofed around with Madden, and it looked even better.

As for me, Samsung is the best LCD TV as for its quality and price. It allows you to do whatever you want on a tv ranging from playing games and connecting your the pc to watching tv programs and blu ray movies.

Part of the fun for shopping for anything expensive is the shopping part and how the sales people realize how much of a possible commission they are about to make....
...only for you to tell them you'll come back tomorrow. Only one will win. Its like a crazy reality show.

Nevermind, meant to post this in the home theater thread and wasn't paying attention to where I was.

DirecTV only broadcasts up to 1080i, but offers On Demand movies in 1080p.

How would I go about connecting my MacBook Pro to my HDTV and get both the audio and visual? I understand I need a DVI to HDMI thingy but when it comes to figuring out how to hook up the audio I always get lost. I'm not good with any of this stuff and I don't want to run off and get the wrong thing because I didn't understand what I was reading, so if any of you guys have any experience with this it would be greatly appreciated!

Depending on how you're TVs audio inputs work, you'll either need a male-to-male 1/8" TRS cable (like your typical headphone cable), or a 1/8" TRS to Stereo audio cable (like the red and white on typical video composite cables). Plug the 1/8th end into your MacBook and the other into your TV. You may have to use your TVs menu to set the HDMI audio input correctly.

So i just hooked up a 47" Vizio 120hz in a friends home and the 120hz I believe is the culprit making everything except for sports look like an oversped silent film. Just bizarre and unsettling.

Recommend turning off the 120hz setting, whatever it is, during anything but sports?

I'd just recommend turning it off all the time. The algorithms simply try to 'guess' what images will be there meaning that half of the refreshes are wasted showing you some weird average between two frames instead of what was actually filmed.

So is this 120/240/480 stuff a horrible fad that the manufacturers got themselves into a dick measuring contest over or will it eventually be worth a damn?

Well, 120Hz is actually useful since it provides a way to watch 24FPS and 30FPS content (film and TV respectively) at their native frame rate. Additionally, 120Hz is what allows for 3D TV with active shutter glasses.

Beyond that, yeah they're pretty useless. Although faster refresh rates on LCD should theoretically help eliminate ghosting which was one of the bigger issues with the technology.

So... is the thread we'll use to discuss 3D TV?

The Semi-Official 3DTV Thread?

Oh, nice, should I start a thread? Or is there one? I used the search for threads on 3D TV and nothing came up.

Do it now.

I used to use it for hockey and football, but now I leave it off all the time.

Done.

Hockey and auto racing seem to me the only things that would justify it.

Holy shit the movies we were watching looked terrible with everything speedramping like some sort of 21st century Ted Turner colorization-type fad had caught on after Zach Snyder got ahold of some classic film.

YES! This. Right. Here.

The soap opera/speed issue is a perfect description. I thought it was something besides the Hz issue but couldn't for the life of me figure out which setting to change in the Vizio menu. I don't think Vizio has menu's where you can change the "Motionflow"(SONY bran name) setting. One of the few drawbacks to them.

I'll check it tonight when I get home.

So I bought a 60hz Samsung LCD last January, and was very happy with it up through the new year. Nowadays I get very distracted by what looks to be ghosting. Has it always been there and I'm just now noticing it? Or is something in my LCD somehow degrading?

That TV I talked about right above? Picture blew out just a few days ago. Warranty expired last month. Tech guy on the phone said it was probably the color wheel, which might cost about 500 bucks to get fixed.

I'm currently trying to talk my girlfriend into just getting a new TV, one that will have less judder/ghosting or whatever you want to call it. Something that can display at 24fps. Trouble is she has absolutely no problem with how the tv looked, and when I tried to describe what was bothering me she just thought I was nuts. It makes me feel a bit neurotic.

Richard, you mentioned you were going to stick with basic cable.  My apartment complex also provides basic for free, but Time Warner just charges me the difference for my digital cable package, which is a good $40 credit per month.

 

I got a 37" LG 1080p LCD in early December, and I've found that having the cable network channels in HD is so satisfying that I don't know how I ever lived without them.  Upgrade and you'll hardly ever find yourself tuning into ABC.
 

 

 

That's weird.  I didn't think LCDs HAD colour wheels.  That's a DLP thing.

okay so i'm thinking about getting in on this ridiculous game of hdtv's.  i've heard the basics, read thru this thread, and watched dlp/plasma/lcd.  now here's what i'm looking for...

 

-  i primarily watch movies.  90% of my TV-use is movies.  the 10% of actual TV-watching is either sports (hockey) or food network.  i've been reading about this whole 120hz thing that i never knew about, so i'd prefer a tv that has the capability of turning this silly thing off (for movies).  you can probably turn it off on any tv, but i thought i saw someone say their tv wouldn't allow it.

 

-  i have a samsung 1080 blu-ray player which is hooked up to the internet and netflix instant watch.  that's really all the use i could want (features-wise).  if the tv happens to be internet-capable and isn't any sort of extra cost, i wouldn't complain.

 

-  i've read that plasma wears out quicker, develops weird image problems, is an incredibly energy sucker.  it's now 2011.  do these problems still exist or have they fixed them?  conversely, i've read that lcd's are problematic in presenting deep contrast ratio's and deep black's.  have they figured this out yet?  and if so (on both the plasma and lcd questions), what are some models or specs i should keep in mind?

 

-  i don't care about wall-mounting.  yes, i might move, but i don't see myself wall-mounting anytime soon.  also, i'm looking for a 1080 in the 40-50" range.  if it was a little bigger and was some tremendous set/sale/deal, i guess i'd check it out.

 

-  i have the most basic comcast cable package.  i don't watch a lot of TV so i don't care if i'm only getting select channels and programs in HD.

 

-  i have a ton of standard def. DVD's and i don't feel like switching them all over to blu-ray anytime soon.  i hear that some tv's look better than others when it comes to playing standard dvd's.  i want one of those ones.

 

-  i'd like something that is going to last.  now i know you can't control the weird issues that plasma, dlp, and lcd all can have, but what's going to have the best longevity?

 

-  dlp.  what's up with these things?  a friend of mine has one and it looks nice from my estimate.  of course, i haven't seen him in a couple years so i don't know what it looks like now.  i hear they're much cheaper and display a much nicer contrast ratio and blacks, compared to lcd.  but i hear they can eventually be annoying with replacing the rear-projecting mechanisms and whatnot.  is that true/untrue?  anyone have any idea what's up with these things?

 

-  and finally, i'm trying not to spend a fortune.  i'd prefer something with financing options or on sale (now that it's post-xmas and post-superbowl).

 

i know that's a lot to take in and request and whatnot.  but i read thru the whole thread and figure'd i'd cover all bases.  i know there's the whole debate about 1080 not mattering until particular screen sizes and whatnot, among other things, so... yeah.  i'm basically looking for the perfect tv.

This or this? 

 

Any suggestions?  Thank you.