LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[Concept]

That's not bad.

I sent my LG back months ago to their repair centre but the stain problem wasn't solved. Within hours it came back once the unit was powered up. I would have thought it was this room and interference (somehow) but the other televisions didn't suffer the same problems.

[Gouk]

thanks Concept - I may have to look into one of these. Anyone know how it compares to the KDL V2000..

[Stoise]

I'd also like to know that, as well as how the toshiba compares - I got the impression that the V bravia was the best lcd out there at the moment but with Andrew's high opinion of the wlT68, and criticism of the colour gamut in the v2000 I'm not sure.

[EvilBoris]

thanks Concept - I may have to look into one of these. Anyone know how it compares to the KDL V2000..

Tis the same set, the bit after the V20 just is the colour

I'd also like to know that, as well as how the toshiba compares - I got the impression that the V bravia was the best lcd out there at the moment but with Andrew's high opinion of the wlT68, and criticism of the colour gamut in the v2000 I'm not sure.

I had 1 of the S-series Sony as the Tosh is better all round by far. I didn't feel happy spending over a grand for a TV that only had the 1 HDMI port , which was my main critiscism of the Sony sets.

The colours are very natural on the tosh, even straight out of the box and the active M100 makes a significant difference when watching freeview and DVDs.

[sj33]

Tis the same set, the bit after the V20 just is the colour

I think he means how the S series compares to the V series.

[EvilBoris]

Oh yeah, I thought concept had the V series for some reason :S

[Gouk]

thanks guys for all your posts..

EvilBoris those pictures you put up of the WLT68, is that a 26 or 32 inch set?

Those pictures looked the business - was the PS2 connected via component?

[EvilBoris]

That is the 32" set, those are all via component , non progressive scan. I'm well chuffed with the performance of standard definition stuff, its incredible compared to what I'd had previously.

[Oh_Mutants]

With my 32WLT68 coming on wednesday (Zoinks! ), i'm looking to get my existing DVD collection displaying as best they can, i'm guessing i'd need an upscaling DVD player to achieve this? Can anyone recommend me a good cheapish one, needs to be multi region and looking to spend around the ?100 mark (can go a bit more if it'll make the difference). Or would i be better off just sticking to my 360 for DVD's (how is it for upscaling picture quality)?
Recommendations please people

[RLench]

Upscaling DVDs are a con. They upscale an image but it's pointless as your TV will upscale as well, and will do a better job of it. With an LCD as well, you would have to scale up to 720p and then up again to 768p (to reach the 1366x768 resolution of your LCD). Remember that DVDs are 480i and 576i for PAL. Upscaling improves the image but it won't add information to it

I've seen several upscaling DVD players and tbh all of them look better at 576p/480p and with the TV scaling up the image to its native resolution. The Toshiba SD360 does look very good at 576p via HDMI but I see absolutely no benefit between setting it to 576p and 720p. The only benefit of the cheap upscaler players is that they have an HDMI connection, which results in a much nicer image.

[Lyris]

Upscaling DVDs are a con. They upscale an image but it's pointless as your TV will upscale as well, and will do a better job of it.

Usually the TV doesn't though...

[Oh_Mutants]

Upscaling DVDs are a con. They upscale an image but it's pointless as your TV will upscale as well, and will do a better job of it. With an LCD as well, you would have to scale up to 720p and then up again to 768p (to reach the 1366x768 resolution of your LCD). Remember that DVDs are 480i and 576i for PAL. Upscaling improves the image but it won't add information to it

I've seen several upscaling DVD players and tbh all of them look better at 576p/480p and with the TV scaling up the image to its native resolution. The Toshiba SD360 does look very good at 576p via HDMI but I see absolutely no benefit between setting it to 576p and 720p. The only benefit of the cheap upscaler players is that they have an HDMI connection, which results in a much nicer image.

Thanks, i see what you're saying So i'd still be best getting a HDMI DVD player anyway, to enhance picture quality rather than simply using my 360 over VGA? Would people recommend any specific players, RLench - i take it you'd recommend the Tosh SD360? Edit; Would also need an optical out so i could hook up my 5.1 system, does the Tosh have this?

[EvilBoris]

DVD players will sometimes be made to take a little bit longer upscaling/processing the image (causing a delay) which you obviously can't see/hear because it isn't 'live' material.

TV scalers don't have the luxury of having longer to upscale and have to perform a near instant image.

[Kotatsu Neko]

With my 32WLT68 coming on wednesday (Zoinks! ), i'm looking to get my existing DVD collection displaying as best they can, i'm guessing i'd need an upscaling DVD player to achieve this? Can anyone recommend me a good cheapish one, needs to be multi region and looking to spend around the ?100 mark (can go a bit more if it'll make the difference). Or would i be better off just sticking to my 360 for DVD's (how is it for upscaling picture quality)?
Recommendations please people

Yeah as RLench says upscaling players are a waste of space. DVDs are SD and that's all there is to it, there's nothing any player can do to change that. The built in scalers in TVs are adequate for blowing up the low-res source to fit your screen.

The 360's DVD player is okay by and large but I've found it's quite terrible when it tries to play interlaced discs. Abysmal in fact, it just doubles up the lines and it ends up looking like a VCD.

[RLench]

I would recommend the Tosh 360 apart from one reason...it is rubbish as a DVD player! It regularly pauses and locks up for a few seconds ft: Image quality is fantastic but I could never use a DVD player that pauses 2-3 times during a DVD.

I think there's equally good DVD players that would work without that problem though (Samsung make some very good ones, as do Panasonic and Sony). If you can afford the extra then the Oppo 971 is just about one of the best machines you can buy.

If you're buying a new player and are on a ?100 budget then, yeah, I'd suggest getting one with HDMI as it will look great. For the price you'll get a fantastic image. Don't let it upscale the image though as it's just not necessary. With your WLT68, just let that scale the image and it will do a great job