TV for import console recommendations

[Weinberg]

I've sent off my seemingly faulty lan-kwei RGB for the Panasonic Q console to Saurian to fix, but in the meantime have also been considering a new TV.
I've looked on empire direct and found a Toshiba TV at:

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/productdetailsnew.asp?modelcode=TOS-28Z23B

It's cheap and has loads of connections. It states it has RGB for sure, although I thought RGB connected through scart, but another site showed a diagram of RGB connecting through 3 coloured sockets!? (or was that just a generalised diagram). Any idea on the above tv working with my Q with the RGB cable then?

Or any other recommendations? The above tv's really cheap from Empire, has all the stuff I need it seems and has a nice stand

[Weinberg]

and I'm not *just* looking for one compatible with a Q! I'm sure that if NTSC consoles work on the TV it will be fine.

What TVs do you all use?

[Treble]

I play a lot of 'retro' games, so a widescreen is no good to me. Indeed, so few games other than Xbox ones have widescreen options, I'd only consider widescreen if you are planning solely for future releases and for watching TV/movies.

I use a 4:3 Sony Trinitron, 29".

[Weinberg]

So if I play any old Gamecube game for example on a widescreen TV, how will it look? I did the other day and it seemed fine

[g-funk]

The thing I don't like about games and widescreen tv's is that it stretches the picture to fit, which then makes the colours seem a bit washed out. Of course most widescreens have an option to change the ratio to 4:3.

A few more games are starting to give you a widescreen option but not nearly enough, i'd love to see a Winning Eleven release with widescreen.

I'd go for widescreen over 4:3 as it gives you the best of both worlds.

[Henning]

I kind of like my 4:3 TV?s wide screen option. Borders at the top and bottom and perfect where games support it. It?s Trinitron technology so everything is sharp and clean.

> 4:3 Sony Wega FD Trinitron 21FX30

[wager]

i'd love to see a Winning Eleven release with widescreen.

Agreed.

I've currently got a 29" 4:3 Philips. Its very good, but i'm currently looking to upgrade to a 36" WS. Any suggestions? Can you get TV's which support both PAL and NTSC progressive scan?

[Henning]

i'd love to see a Winning Eleven release with widescreen.

Agreed.

I've currently got a 29" 4:3 Philips. Its very good, but i'm currently looking to upgrade to a 36" WS. Any suggestions? Can you get TV's which support both PAL and NTSC progressive scan?

[wager]

That is seriously nice.

[Weinberg]

Thanks for the replies-I'm looking at prices.

Can someone confirm that the TV I mentioned would work? It does state that it accepts RGB (though I wasn't so sure if that meant through a scart), and says it accepts NTSC video etc. So will my Q work?

[gtskater]

I've got that TV's 'updated brother' so to speak. The 28ZD26P which I picked up for ?590. It might be out of your price range, but AFAIK the two TV's are very similar except for a couple of things.

First major, especially if you're looking to play NTSC GC games is Progressive Scan. The picture is absolutely incredible, I can't emphasise enough how good Metroid Prime / Rogue Leader look.

It's unclear whether the Z23B has Component input. It might not be an issue, but I've found this to be very useful. I can have the GC hooked up to the component Input (which gives an arguably better than RGB picture) and then something else (at the moment PS2) connected to AV1 in RGB.

The spec on Empire Direct says the TV has a side AV input, mine doesn't, front and rear only.

I'm pretty sure the TV will accept a NTSC signal from the GC thru Scart, S-video or Composite (but I am not sure). Something to look into. Apologies if I'm being patronising, but you want NTSC 3.58MHz as well as 4.43MHz (I think).

I have no experience of your TV but from what I read when investigating TV's when I bought mine, the sets are very similar. It'd be advisable to look over at AV Forums.


If you've got any questions, feel free to ask, I'd be happy to help in any way I can.

[Weinberg]

Are you sure it's not the "28ZD26B" instead of P? Otherwise I can't find it!

That TV (if it's the B one) is a bit too expensive. However, I've found a TV like the one I posted above, which also seems to be a 'bigger brother', so could you help me out?

This one's around ?50 more and is at:

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/productdetailsnew.asp?modelcode=TOS-28Z27B

The other one's cheaper and is at:

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/productdetailsnew.asp?modelcode=TOS-28Z23B

Now the more expensive one strangely doesn't list half the features of the cheaper one, despite seeming the same! On the other hand it mentions features the cheaper one DOESN'T have.

gtskater you seem to know a bit about these Toshibas so help me out here!

You can easily see that the more expensive one doesn't list half the features of the cheaper one if you click the two. Maybe that's just an error.

To compare the two click on:

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/menu2.asp?subdept=ctv&specials=ctv

Then at the top menu in the centre click 'widescreen' and 'Toshiba' brand, and the first 2 results are what I'm talking about.
Does the more expensive one have progressive scan? And is it much better than the other?

Thanks very much for any help!

[wager]

Does the more expensive one have progressive scan?

No.

Check out www.toshiba.co.uk for specs on all their TV's.

[Weinberg]

And a quick cruise through AV forums has a big topic on the problems with progressive scan with the Toshiba ZD26P

Is this progressive scan going to get me a better picture than the Toshiba I'm looking at if I use an RGB cable with my Q?

[yashiro]

If you're using RGB scart you wont be able to use progressive scan. (progressive scan requires yet another set of cables)

Progressive Scan CRT's ('normal type' TV's) are still in their infancy and as such they do have problems. I would avoid progressive scan crt's at this point in time.

Set yourself a budget. Get the best RGB capable TV (with RGB screen adjust facility).

The 4:3 vs 16:9 decision is down to you.