LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[Daragon]

Those are some pretty sweet screens you got there - can anyone with a Sony Bravia "S" series possibly post some comparisson shots? Could really do with seeing one handle HD content and none of the electrical stores near me seem to stock any ><

[Shozuki]

Spatial101 asked me for some ingame shots of Gears via PM, so I thought I'd just post them up here for anyone interested in the WLT68's.

Unfortunately I must have changed some settings on my camera without realising, and most of the pictures I took came out dark or blurred. These were the best ones, but most still have moir? on them from not getting the focus right. (vertical banding / grainy look)






I could have probably fixed them up a bit in Photoshop, but I didn't want to do any editing. Other than a resize, they're straight out of the camera.

Unfortunately the moir? gives the impression of more aliasing / shows it up more, but I spent quite a while taking them, so I felt I should just post them anyway. If you let imageshack shrink them down, it's probably a lot more representative of how it really looks.

Note: Possible (minor imo) spoilers.

What camera do you have mate, it looks fantastic and just the thing to take some pics of the Bravia W and finish my impressions.

One note - I asked this in the component cable thread in the Wii section already but it might be more appropriate here.

My component lead arrived for my Wii this morning and it looks gorgeous - infact it surpasses 480p on the PS2 and GC - any ideas why this could be?

[andrewfee]

What camera do you have mate, it looks fantastic and just the thing to take some pics of the Bravia W and finish my impressions.

It's a Fuji Finepix F30 - I already had a perfectly good 7mpx camera, but I couldn't resist upgrading; thing is amazing at natural light photography - shooting at ISO 400 is equivalent to ISO100 on any other compact camera for noise levels thanks to the SuperCCD chip. It lacks full manual controls, and doesn't have a histogram function, but the rest is so good, I'd rather do without. (my Casio does everything and then some, but it just doesn't compare to the sensitivity and processing on the Fuji)

There's also a great mode that takes one shot with natural light and one with the flash at the same time, letting you pick whichever looks best.

They've just released the F31 recently - it's exactly the same camera but with face detection built in - unless you feel you need that, you might be able to get an F30 cheap.

[Shozuki]

lovely thanks!

[Reef]

Shozuki, can I ask you, with getting the W2000, did you think about getting the X2000 at all? If you did was there a reason not to (price, looks, etc). Did you see them both side by side? I prefer the look of the X, have seen them both playing 360 side by side and can see very little difference tbh. I've not tested them with any other inputs.

I was just wondering how you came to your decision for the W.

And just so you know, am looking forward to seeing some more pics of your set v much *hint*

Thanks

[andrewfee]

For what it's worth, the W seems a better buy all round in my opinion. Ok, it doesn't have the looks of the X, but it's got a newer 1800:1 panel instead of the 1300:1 in the X, and will accept 1080p over VGA and HDMI whereas the European X will only do 1080p over HDMI.

It's lacking DRC-MF, but that's a good thing, the majority of the processing on these sets should be turned off, especially DRC.

[Shozuki]

I came to the decision really because of the price, but it has been said essentially the W is better anyway...

im seriously loving the set and as soon as I can source a decent camera - you'll be seeing pics of all the external inputs and such...

[Salsa Party Animal]

There are no budget projectors that do 1080p and I doubt there will be for a number of years.

I don't know how limited your budget is, but I've got a 480p native, 2500:1 static contrast Toshiba projector that looks stunning. Looking to sell it for about ?400. Will do 720p and 1080i too, just not natively.

Not buying one just yet. If I have plenty of money and is going to Japan next September I will try to get one from Tokyo. But it is not high priority for now. I got a lovely TV which I am happy just want bigger and 1080p but not yet.

[Soundwave]

Guys need some help please.

I'm after a new LCD for my bedroom.
I currently have a 17" LG screen but it's just proving too tiny for gaming/movies from anything further up the bed than being sat right at the bottom.

It will mainly be used for all my retro consoles (Saturn/DC/SNES/X-Box/GC/N64) & some DVD watching while my main 32" HD CRT in the lounge will be home to the Wii/360 & PS2

Now my main requirements are...

Preferebaly no smaller than 26"
2+ Scarts (Pref RGB on both)
Component would be nice but no way near essential
S Video
VGA
No more than ?300

Finally it DOES NOT have to be HD ready in any way shape or form as I wont be feeding it any HD signal at all period
If you can recommend any reasonable sets it would be appreciated...I have trawled through here but 300+ pages it's not easy

Thanks for the help & advice much appreciated.

Neil

[Reef]

Cheers guys, will be looking to make a purchase at the start of the new year, will give them both a run out before then. Either way I am already stupidly excited!

[melody]

Guys need some help please.

I'm after a new LCD for my bedroom.
I currently have a 17" LG screen but it's just proving too tiny for gaming/movies from anything further up the bed than being sat right at the bottom.

It will mainly be used for all my retro consoles (Saturn/DC/SNES/X-Box/GC/N64) & some DVD watching while my main 32" HD CRT in the lounge will be home to the Wii/360 & PS2

Now my main requirements are...

Preferebaly no smaller than 26"
2+ Scarts (Pref RGB on both)
Component would be nice but no way near essential
S Video
VGA
No more than ?300

Finally it DOES NOT have to be HD ready in any way shape or form as I wont be feeding it any HD signal at all period
If you can recommend any reasonable sets it would be appreciated...I have trawled through here but 300+ pages it's not easy

Thanks for the help & advice much appreciated.

Neil

No such TV at that budget sorry. You're either going to have to up your budget or get something smaller. If retro games are a priority then I outright wouldn't bother with an LCD unless you are willing to spend double your current budget.

I've asked John Lewis to price match PRC Direct so hopefully I will get a call from them soon giving the all clear to buy the Bravia 26S2030 for ?615! If they refuse I will probably lose patience and just order it from RGB Direct instead. TVs tend to break within the first year of usage anyway.

[Soundwave]

No such TV at that budget sorry. You're either going to have to up your budget or get something smaller. If retro games are a priority then I outright wouldn't bother with an LCD unless you are willing to spend double your current budget.

I've asked John Lewis to price match PRC Direct so hopefully I will get a call from them soon giving the all clear to buy the Bravia 26S2030 for ?615! If they refuse I will probably lose patience and just order it from RGB Direct instead. TVs tend to break within the first year of usage anyway.

Yeah I had been looking today & coming across a bit of a stumbling block regards to the price & size issue...well until I found this one anyway...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=AV-003-OK

Granted its ?40 over budget but does seem to do all I need.

I would love to avoid LCD but my bedroom just doesnt allow for any reasonable size CRT & still leave me room to move about so basically it's a wall mounted LCD & Small AV stand for the consoles & thats it...I hate LCD with a passion but alas it's my only hope

Neil

[Salsa Party Animal]

What about plasma TV for you as you can have this in a small room. I think Panasonic make one in 37 inch.

[sj33]

Yeah I had been looking today & coming across a bit of a stumbling block regards to the price & size issue...well until I found this one anyway...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=AV-003-OK

Granted its ?40 over budget but does seem to do all I need.

I would love to avoid LCD but my bedroom just doesnt allow for any reasonable size CRT & still leave me room to move about so basically it's a wall mounted LCD & Small AV stand for the consoles & thats it...I hate LCD with a passion but alas it's my only hope

Neil

Just be aware that cheap LCD's, while generally fine for HD if you ain't too fussy, are invariably crap for standard definition content. You really have to start looking at the more middle-range stuff from decent name brands to get decent standard definition. Budget screens have budget scalers/deinterlacers, budget image processors, and well, budget everything. This matters all the more with standard definition content.


That ?615 Bravia 26S2030 is a bargin, and one of the best screens out there for SD content. You really have a choice of saving a bit more or putting up with mediocre quality.

[Soundwave]

Just be aware that cheap LCD's, while generally fine for HD if you ain't too fussy, are invariably crap for standard definition content. You really have to start looking at the more middle-range stuff from decent name brands to get decent standard definition. Budget screens have budget scalers/deinterlacers, budget image processors, and well, budget everything. This matters all the more with standard definition content.


That ?615 Bravia 26S2030 is a bargin, and one of the best screens out there for SD content. You really have a choice of saving a bit more or putting up with mediocre quality.

I've decided to give it till the new year & see what there are in the sales.

Would prefer the best SD quality I could get & if you think that display will be a false economy I'm then I'll give it a miss.

Will keep an eye out for a cheap Bravia.
Any recommendations for other brands I should look at?

Thanks

Neil