Flat Screen TVs

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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:19 pm

I've been looking at flat screen TVs for the living room and all the ones I've seen (including the expensive jobbies) don't seen to have as sharp a picture as my 100hz CRT beast, especially when it's fast moving action like rugby or football.
Have many people got one and notice this, or didi you learn to live with it ?

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

Look for a TV with progressive scan.

That improves the clarity of the balls, e.t.c

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:36 pm

I've read that it is largely a myth that flat panels (lcd or plasma) have better quality pictures that CRTs. They're just smaller. And much cooler looking. But they are getting better.

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:48 pm

The jaggity lines is a feature of LCDs. Better LCDs have less. An LCD will never be equal to a CRT but they can be bigger and lighter. The screen size has to be matched to your viewing distance to be far enough away that you don't notice the minor problems. I noticed that the cheaper screens have more of a problem with the break up during fast motion. I have a Samsung42" and have not noticed any artifacts, but obviously if you stand too close you see a fuzzy image. Another problem is with the conversion of a standard broadcast scan to a nonstandard picture size. The scan rate is slightly off so you can notice a movement of a static image as the screen skips some of the scan rate. Sorry I can't explain it better than that.

DLP is suppose to be better. But you sacrifice weight and they are deeper than LCDs.

I was told to stay away from plasma.

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:41 pm

The LCD flats screen don't really come to life and do what they can until you fulfil all the steps on the way:

1. LCD capable of HDTV with progressive scan, 100hz, high contrast, etc. (e.g. Panasonic TX-32LX70F)
2. digital Sat/cable receiver capable of HDTV
3. connenction with with HDMI cabel (full digital)
4. broadcast in HDTV, and receiver tuned to the correct frequence.

When you have all of it, the results are amazing.

419Eater Admin Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Posts: 7469

And remember, there's HDTV and HDTV. Don't be caught out by the advertising guff, such as "HD Ready". Just because a TV can display a HD signal, it doesn't mean it can do so in actual "real" HD. 1024x760 should be your minimum resolution for a 32" and above TV. 1080p is what really gives the "wow" factor, but you probably would only get the benefit of that on a 50"+ screen. IMHO the best FSTV manufacturers at the moment are Pioneer and Panasonic.

All that's assuming you give a rat's ass about HDTV of course!

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:04 am

I connect my flat screen 1080p CRT with DVI and optical. Pretty old school but its been working for me. The optical connector has become harder to find and seems to be very tasty according to my bunnie. DVI and a RCA phono jack for digital audio is still all digital but it does not light up the cool blue lights on the components and is dependent upon the quality of the corrosion resistance of the jack.

The motion thing with LCDs is pretty much in the past. Of course its not as fast as a CRT but getting better.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 3551

I just bought a 32" flat-screen and did the steps KD outlined above. The picture is fantastic. The screen is 4" deep.

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:42 am

reading this almost made me want to go buy a TV!

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:00 am

^^^Nooooo. Don't do it. Wait a year for digital to really hit the market. It will drive the technology up and the cost down; economies of scale come into play. Look at what happened in the quality and the prices in the last year.

From Wiki-

Code:

As of July 2007, HDTV saturation in the US has reached 30% � in other words, three out of every ten American households own at least one HDTV. However, only 44% of those that do own an HDTV are actually receiving HDTV programming, as many consumers are not aware that they must obtain special receivers to receive HDTV from cable or satellite, or use ATSC tuners to receive over-the-air broadcasts; others may not even know what HDTV is.

I don't watch TV but that's OK as I am not paying for Sat or cable. I do have 38 channels of digital crap over the air but can easily ignore it. My biggest complaint is that light guns such as those used for Time Crisis do not work on HDTV sets and the Wii controller does not quite have the feel of an M9 Baretta. A normal DVD up converted is watchable but a VHS is out of the question.

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:46 pm

DrWho wrote:

I was told to stay away from plasma.

Plasmas are supposed to have a definite life span. Now, I don't know what that life span is. It could be a ridiculously long time. But I know that when they originally came out, that was a concern. I would be very concerned with the heat that plasma gives out. I have never owned one, but I would think it would put a nice burn mark on your wall if it was too close.

I have an HDTV, but I do not pay for HD service. For some reason, I only pay $7 a month for extended cable and HBO. I am not going to have them come and hook up HD for fear they might realize they forgot to turn a couple of things off. I can deal without HD for now.

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:12 am

im surprised that they dont just invent a tv so light is can be connected to ur head so u can be glued to the thing 24/7 lol

then again now my ideas being put on show watch it turn into a �2 ideal which gets bankrupted in 24 hrs Laughing

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:06 am

Here's what I've run across:

- Plasma sets are very nice but highly reflective. They do have a limited life, but with average usage should last more than ten years. (My wife's addiction to Lifetime Movies will probably result in mine - purchased this past Christmas - failing by Thanksgiving.) The market is moving towards LCD. This doesn't really matter for a new purchase, as these things aren't really repairable. A friend of mine who works for a large computer company that sells both plasma and LCD sets through Best Buy thinks you'll start seeing fire sale prices on plasma sets this Christmas.

- LCD sets are proportionally more expensive as the screen size increases. The technology is getting better and better, but is more prone to motion artifacts than plasma. You can get higher resolution on the LCD at bigger screen sizes. LCDs use backlights (plasma doesn't). The backlights are fluorescent tubes. Over time, those get dimmer, and the ends get dim before the middle (check any older fluorescent tubes in your house to see this). I have no idea whether the backlights in an LCD TV are field replaceable units, and your average Best Buy salesman won't know either, but I'll bet they aren't. With all that said the lifespan on that grade fluorescent tube is probably pretty good. If I recall correctly, the bulb spec on a laptop screen is something like a 50% reduction in light output after 10,000 hours. It's been a long time since I worked in that field, so don't quote me on that!

- I personally hate DLP. I have yet to watch a DLP set without getting annoyed by the motion artifacts. I also do not trust the TI chip with all the little mirrors on it - that seems like an expensive repair waiting to happen. Too many moving parts have to line up just right for DLP to work for my taste, and then when they do line up, there are too many artifacts. Blech.

I haven't watched the market since I bought the Panasonic plasma set last December. I think it I were made of cash, this year I'd buy a large LCD and a Blu-Ray player.

By the way, styling is more important than I thought it would be. The Panasonic I bought got all sorts of great picture reviews, and I agree - the picture is great. The frame is ugly, though. Some of the black frame sets are much nicer looking.

Once I settled on a plasma set, I found this web site to be extremely helpful:

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/reviews.html There is probably something similar out there for LCD.

By the way - who's winning, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD? From the little I hear on this (I don't follow closely because if I did I'd want to buy a unit), Blu-Ray has the lead in the US, HD-DVD is more popular in Europe.