LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[Garf]

Nice one - cheers.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Didn't know that - thanks.

Whilst on the subject, if I already have a sky box, I assume there is no benefit to get a TV with a built in Freeview receiver - correct ?

(I am sure this is a real stoopid question, but all this new fangled TV stuff baffles me!)

I found that now I have Freeview in my TV I'm finding it hard to justify my cable TV subscription anymore. I'd miss BBC HD, but all of the other channels I watch often are on FreeView now. (More 4, Film 4, News 24, BBC 2, BBC 4)

[H-Man]

But thats what he's getting now so just looking for advice on which to get that will make SD stuff look the best, at least 32" and ?1000 is the limit.

I'd try and stretch to a plasma if possible. I owned two 32" lcds (Toshiba and Samsung) that were absolutely dire with SD compared to a crt. My plasma blew them away in this regard - and in movies.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I looked at plasma too but they just don't have the resolution, even at the really large sizes. You have to go 50" just to get 720p... which is pretty poor. Watching BBC HD at 1920x1080 is amazing, and that's on MPEG2 so I can only imagine how good that resolution must look on VC1 HD-DVD.

[SuperBeatBoy]

The U-Series (KDL-<size><series number><version number>)are designed to be cheaper than the S-Series. I haven't seen one in the flesh yet but my spidey sense and contacts tell me that the video processing probably isn't as good as the black one.

thanks for the info, i will definetly go black then. just wondering they say pc input on the spec, does that mean it has vga socket on the telly?

[Lyris]

Yep, VGA socket. Best looking out of all the inputs.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Yep, VGA socket. Best looking out of all the inputs.

cheers, thanks for the help!

[Lyris]

It's not a hardware thing - it's just that it acts differently on the V due to the wider colour gamut the backlight can reproduce. It is software in both cases which just exaggerates some colours.

http://www.sony-europe.com/PageView.do?section=en_EU_Press&pressrelease=1158155172111&site=odw_en_EU&page=PressReleaseDetail

Sony Europe's latest press release regarding their new BRAVIAs. It confirms my hunch that a part of what they call "Live Colour Creation" is indeed a physical filter (hardware):

A specially designed Wide Colour Gamut backlight, precision matched filters in the screen and real time signal processing by the BRAVIA ENGINE combine to boost the actual range of colour the W2000-Series can display. This Live Colour Creation system gives the W2000-Series its very distinctive and special advantage over conventional LCD TVs.

Treading old ground, I know...

[Rossco]

So my dad got the 32" Sony Bravia S-Series and I'm quite impressed with it in general. Alot better than my LG anyway. Black levels seemed alot better, notice it when watching a DVD thats not full 16:9, the black bars just disappear into the background compared to mine. And with a bit of tinkering about, got the freeview to look quite good too. Cant wait to get the V-Series now, hopefully at the end of the year.

Plus, he haggled the guy at Comet to give him a free Sony sound system with it as well, only worth ?200 but perfect for him, plus is does progressive scan which his old DVD player didn't do. Where'd the cheapest place to buy a set of male to male component cables for him? Not wanting any ?40 jobs.

[Lyris]

www.tvcables.co.uk has good cables, cheaper still I think are www.svideo.com (yes, they do Component too) in Texas.

[SuperBeatBoy]

well im really tempted by the sony bravia tv ive already mentioned and the toshiba kotatsu mentioned. I'll be getting my student loan next week (being a student bum), i want to save as much money as possible when investing into a new hd lcd tv, spending from 400-600 max would be good, doesn't matter if it isn't a brand name, as long as the picture quality is excellent and has all the inputs im good (24-32" max). so does anyone have any recommendations?

[Kevvy Metal]

well im really tempted by the sony bravia tv ive already mentioned and the toshiba kotatsu mentioned. I'll be getting my student loan next week (being a student bum), i want to save as much money as possible when investing into a new hd lcd tv, spending from 400-600 max would be good, doesn't matter if it isn't a brand name, as long as the picture quality is excellent and has all the inputs im good (24-32" max). so does anyone have any recommendations?

Dude for 400-600 just buy the Samsung R7 series.

*cue echoes of videophile retaliation*

The Samsungs are prob the best for ur money.

http://empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~SAM-LE26R74BDX.htm

[SuperBeatBoy]

thanks for the recommendation. anymore anyone?

[Kotatsu Neko]

I was turned off Samsungs as they lack backlight control, which is important if you ever want to watch something in a dark room. That said, I know several people with Samsung LCDs of various sizes and they all seem happy with them.

My vote would go for the Toshiba as it really has you covered on the inputs, has back light control, and seems pretty fairly priced. Whatever you buy though make sure it has at least 2 HDMI inputs. I gather sets are starting to appear with 3 HDMIs in the US, so to go with just a single input is surely something you'll come to regret.

[SuperBeatBoy]

thanks for the info. i wouldn't want to pick a new lcd tv without a backlight, i watch alot of movies in the dark.