LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[Kotatsu Neko]

Read it on some MS technical blokes blog, so I dunno.
I did assume jaggies were just caused by the low resolution, and interlacing is more about how the signal is encoded and sent.

Xbox stuff was always 480p as it had enough memory and a proper video processing chip. PS2 does all it's processing in software, including flicker fixing for 480i output. Trouble is if you're trying to save memory by using a half height buffer (240 lines) you can't do the flicker fixing as you have nothing to blend to, which is why most early PS2 had those apalling jaggies.

I doubt the 360 will be rendering to an interlaced 1080i buffer, especially not now that they've enabled 1080p.

[Oh_Mutants]

I'm seriously thinking now about getting a HD LCD 32inch TV, on a budget of about ?900. Been reading up on them on here and AV Forums, and am quite tempted by the WLT68. Is it true then that it's 1080p??
I'll be using the new TV with my 360, regular Sky box and a lot of consoles going through good old fashioned RGB Scart, is the WLT68 any good with SD? Are there any other tv's on the market that people would seriously suggest as an alternative for what i'm looking for, or is the WLT68 probably the best in my range?
Thanks in advance for any advice

[EvilBoris]

I'm seriously thinking now about getting a HD LCD 32inch TV, on a budget of about ?900. Been reading up on them on here and AV Forums, and am quite tempted by the WLT68. Is it true then that it's 1080p??
I'll be using the new TV with my 360, regular Sky box and a lot of consoles going through good old fashioned RGB Scart, is the WLT68 any good with SD? Are there any other tv's on the market that people would seriously suggest as an alternative for what i'm looking for, or is the WLT68 probably the best in my range?
Thanks in advance for any advice

It accepts 1080p, but the screen is only 720p.
The quality was very good, but the viewing angle of the screen left alot to be desired.

[Oh_Mutants]

How is it for SD Boris? I guess i can check out the viewing angle if i pop down to comet or currys, but with their piss poor set ups it's much harder to check picture quality

[EvilBoris]

How is it for SD Boris? I guess i can check out the viewing angle if i pop down to comet or currys, but with their piss poor set ups it's much harder to check picture quality

To be honest I didn't get to check any other SD content other than the Freeview , because the set I took home had broken connections so Only VGA dn Freeview worked.

Freeview looked alright, but I didn't play with the settings too much.

The HD picture was lovely, and the actual set was lovely looking too, but the crappy remote/menus and the viewing angle were a bit of a shame.

[andrewfee]

I'm now torn on what to do about a new set. I love the 37" size, but anything over 32" isn't all that cheap, and I'm sure that whatever I get now isn't going to last - I just want something for Gears etc.

There's now really only two sets I can go for - the 40s2030 which can be had for about ?1100, and other than the response time (I've not seen the larger BRAVIAs) I know how it's going to perform - it won't do anything terribly, but the image will be a bit soft in comparison to other screens, and it'll have very limited connectivity.

The other is the 37WLT68, which sounds great on paper, but is about ?200 more, and I've really got no idea how it will perform, other than the fact it's got bad viewing angles. (which aren't an issue for me) I'd be able to get that nice Toshiba stand for it too, rather than spending ?700 on the Atacama one. (I'm sure it'll be better built, but ?550 is quite a saving)

While the screen itself is more expensive, assuming the Tosh stand is big enough, it would end up saving me ?350 overall.

My main concern is the response time - I realise that no LCD is going to be perfect, but the Sharp has those nasty green/brown smears over the image, which are intolerable. The BRAVIAs aren't perfect, but they don't do that.

I'm also a little worried the Toshiba will buzz with the backlight dropped right down - most LCDs other than BRAVIAs seem to do that. (though you can't hear it over the fan noise on this Sharp)

[sj33]

Dunno about the 37WLT68 specifically, but I know the 32WLT66 (and possibly 68) could only do 4:3 ratios over VGA.
You could sorta trick it into accepting 1360x768, but it actually rednered it as 1024x768 then stretched it to 16:9.
It's the reason I got the Sony instead, as the main appeal of the Tosh for me was the multiple HDMI inputs (2x on the 32", 3x on the 37"?).

So it's a no-go for 360 VGA. Or anything VGA except maybe Dreamcast.

That is, if the 37" 68 model has the same limitation.

[Kotatsu Neko]

My Toshiba will accept 16:9 VGA resolutions, but I found it cropped the 360's VGA off one side and I could find no way of fixing it.

The response time is superb though, so good I never notice any afterblur. Compared to my Dell 20" W/S LCD monitor, it's miles better. The test I use is Sonic on the Mega Drive (through an Xbox emulator). On my Dell it's quite blurry, so much so it puts me off playing it. On my 42WLT66 it looks great.

I haven't heard any buzzing with the backlight down either, but as I've said before the black levels aren't great. Even with it turned down really low the best it can manage is dark grey, but I haven't seen an LCD yet that can do a real black.

[andrewfee]

The 68s can definitely do 1280x768 properly, though I'm not sure about 1360x768. It's 1280x720 you want from the 360 anyway, and I prefer component unless it can do that - which I know the BRAVIAs can't.

Good black levels would be nice, but I'm not too bothered about that. The Sharp can do great black levels, but lacks depth due to the Gamma used, and I don't really watch in a dark room anyway. (every LCD I've seen recently has had perfect blacks with the lights on)

Does anyone know how to get into the service menu on these Toshiba sets? I know that with the BRAVIA I'll be able to get it to D65, but I'm not sure about the Tosh.

[EvilBoris]

They can definately do it properly if you want black bars down either side of the screen

[Oh_Mutants]

Do you get black bars down the side of the screen over component with 360 too, or just VGA? I'm a bit of a technical noob when it comes to TV's, why exactly are black bars produced? Any way around it? This TV still seems to be my best bet i'm thinking

They can definately do it properly if you want black bars down either side of the screen

[EvilBoris]

Do you get black bars down the side of the screen over component with 360 too, or just VGA? I'm a bit of a technical noob when it comes to TV's, why exactly are black bars produced? Any way around it? This TV still seems to be my best bet i'm thinking

Only Over VGA it was, but VGA is how you want to play the 360.

[RLench]

Andrew the Toshiba WL66 does have a very slight backlight buzz. It's so faint that you will never hear it unless everything else is switched off, and you're standing right in front of your TV. Even with my TV speakers turned down to a very low volume, I can't hear the backlight buzz. I can just about hear it sometimes after I've switched everything off apart from my TV at night.

I don't think there's a service menu but if you remember, I showed you that photo of the base colour menu. That should be enough to get satisfactory colours although tbh I'm happy with mine at default levels

[Kotatsu Neko]

Only Over VGA it was, but VGA is how you want to play the 360.

I disagree there, I find the 360's VGA out to be washed out and lacking the vibrancy and contrast of component.

[EvilBoris]

That is true, but that is why you turn up the colours :P

I haven't seen component come close in terms of sharpness though.

Is it that the 360's VGA is less colourful or that component is over saturated?