LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[EJG1980]

The VGA output on the Xbox 360 goes up to 1360?768. Most monitors should be able to upscale it to their native resolution pretty well though. I read a review of the VGA cable by someone who was using a 1680x1050 Dell LCD, and they said the picture was fantastic.

[tbm]

i`d recommend the Acer. the picture quality is great, esp. running both a PC desktop and the 360. its so clear & a sinch to setup. try Ebuyer, might be slightly cheaper ? its where i got mine last year.

http://www.ebuyer.com/

[Shozuki]

Posted on AV with no avail, but I thought i'd ask here

looks like i've set myself up for the LC52XD1E but I wonder how it will accept 1080p on the 360?

Will it run 1080p via VGA?

[andrewfee]

Posted on AV with no avail, but I thought i'd ask here

looks like i've set myself up for the LC52XD1E but I wonder how it will accept 1080p on the 360?

Will it run 1080p via VGA?

Officially, I've only seen XGA res listed for VGA (1024x768 ) but that doesn't mean it won't do 1080p - most Sharp displays are only listed as XGA, but will do native. The US models don't have a VGA connector, so it's an unknown right now.

Currently there are no high-end displays that I am aware of that do 1080p over analogue, so I'm going to assume that it doesn't, but I still maintain that it's a non-issue. For HD-DVD, there will be very little, if any, difference between 1080i and 1080p. For games, 99% won't do 1080p, and selecting 1080p as your output will cause everything else to go through the 360's scaler, which is rubbish, and will make the majority of games look a lot worse than having the box set to 720p and running them natively, allowing the TV to scale. (even displays I've used that have bad scalers have looked better than the 360's)

[Shozuki]

ah ok, thanks then matey - im really excited about this telly now - if only it were available now!

[Simmy]

Can anyone recommend the king of roof top wide band ariels ? Moved into a new house which has no freeview reception according to the Digi UK site, but according to some of the more detailed reception sites, should be able to pick up free view with a good group W ariel !

I had a argos high gain ariel at my last house which seemed to do the job, but not sure if the same type would be sufficient in this low signal area. Really don't want to scrap my freeview PVR which I've only had 10 months, so any advise would be appreciated.

[Bort]

I'm about to get a new tele and I've only one issue left to sort out.

First a little summary(more for me than for you .

This will be a temporary tv that I'll be selling after xmas next year so I can get a 1080p 1:1 mapping set that I'll be using as my main monitor(I can't go too far backwards from 1600*1200).
Usage of it will be 65% gaming(pc and console)/10% lazy sofa web surfing/10% films/ 10% watching shows downloaded off the net/ 5% as a secondary monitor for holding reference images.

I'll be getting the Toshiba 32wl66(same as the 32wlt66 but without the digital tuner. I don't watch any broadcast tv so I can't justify the extra 100? for the digital tuner). I would go for the LG 32LC2D with it's 1:1 mapping but its an extra 65? for one less hdmi port. 1:1 is important but 768 is too small for any real use.

Now the question if you haven't fallen asleep.

The manual list the maximum vga resolution of the 32wl66 as 1280*1024 but it won't be a VESA standard so 1024*768 would be the best. I'd want to display a res of 1360*768. Would I be able to bodge that through vga or would I have to get a dvi to hdmi converter and sacrifice a hdmi port?

If I'd have to use a hdmi slot the different between the LG and toshiba would have gone(the LG does the widescreen res through vga) and I'd have to start pondering again.

[babs]

OK folks, I could do with some help from your collective wisdom here. I'm about to dip into the LCD market, having just bought a 360 and also having a wife who is super-keen to get 'that huge heap of plastic' (or 28" CRT to you and me) out of the living room.

I'm not made of money, and will be budgeting around the £500ish mark, so my question is - What're my best options?

I would like component, HDMI, Scart and maybe even VGA (yeah, I don't want much!). I'm going to be using a lot of the 360 with it, and possibly HD-DVD/Upscaling DVD. I'm not really bothered about 1080p for the time being.

A mate of mine has the bigger version of the nice Samsung used on the 360 pods, I know how nice it can look, something along those lines would be great.

(I notice the Tosh above, good?)

Also, warranty-wise, do people tend to go with the retailer's warranty? I'd never normally even bother, but it's quite a pricey purchase for me and I can't see the local TV repair places being equipped to mend LCDs should the worst happen.

(sorry if much of this is covered, I've been reading through the thread but it's huge now )

[themanwithapc]

?500 isn't much for a good HD ready screen, let alone a decent sized one. What sort of size are you looking at? The Toshiba you mention is a good TV, but AFAIK, the sony Bravia S/V series are the 'best' all round TVs on the market currently (in smaller sizes).

As for a warranty, I'd recommend you buy your TV from John Lewis. I've heard their service is second to none, and is included with 5 years warranty. I bought my TV a year ago with free 3 years warranty from another online retailer, and I've had an absolute nightmare.

[babs]

I'm not after anything enormous, 26" and up is fine for me. That Tosh looked great for the inputs it has and being 32" for not far over ?500.

500 is just a ballpark figure for me.

[andrewfee]

I'm not after anything enormous, 26" and up is fine for me. That Tosh looked great for the inputs it has and being 32" for not far over ?500.

500 is just a ballpark figure for me.

The Sharp LC-26SA1E seems pretty good on paper:

http://play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/1135467/-/Product.html?searchstring=LC-26SA1E&searchsource=0

[melody]

Well my Sharp 32" P70 order fell through (PC World ran out of stock and it's a discontinued model anyway) Anyone able to recommend an alternative? My needs are:

- 23-26"
- The best possible image via 480p component (specifically for my Gamecube and later on, Wii)
- Built-in Freeview
- Around ?500... ?600 at stretch

The main reasons why i'd like an LCD are for progressive scan, having a built-in Freeview tuner and being able to regain a lot of space (my CRT is HUGE!). I am not too bothered about HD quality (I have no intentions of getting Sky HD and if this generation is anything to go by, I will be spending far more time on my Wii than on the PS3).

I get the impression that there isn't an LCD that matches my needs!

[Escape-To-88]

Hi all,
Looking for a nice new LCD and thinking of gettign one of these 2:

*Samsung LE32N73BDX
http://www.rgbdirect.co.uk/Referrer....ReferrerCode=9

Or

*Samsung LE32R74BDX
http://www.rgbdirect.co.uk/Referrer....ReferrerCode=9

Going to be used for gaming, Dvd's and generally by the whole fam. Wondered if anyone has any good or bad things to say about either??
cheers

[melody]

If you're only going to feed it HD sources then they are good for the money. Samsung LCDs are atrocious for SD though and the built-in speakers are very tinny.

[Kotatsu Neko]

They also don't have backlight control so I'm told. And that's bad for watching movies or playing games in the dark.

Also, the Samsungs only have 1 HDMI input, and that just plain sucks.