LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[Angry the Clown]

've read over on avforums, apparently the lamp assembly replacements are about £275 which is a bit offputting

They might get cheaper over time, plus one could always look into importing a replacement from Japan or the US in future for less. Lifespan on the lamp in the 55inch model really is very good for an RPTV though as I said.

I'll likely be in power saving mode and with more conservative settings than most (Like my image naturalistic as possible) I'll hopefully see longer lifetimes than that even.

Power saving mode is well worth using on the set, Freddo. In standard mode it delivers a very bright image so everyone I know with the set actually tends to use that setting as their default. There are some good threads at AV Forums about settings and so on. There really is a wealth of image settings you can tweak, more than I have ever seen on any Sony TV before.

I need to stop writing about the SXRD or I really will end up buying one myself.

[ascender]

Well, you were right. After looking at more small LCDs today, I can report that their quality was pretty dreadful. In the end I saved myself a couple of hundred quid and picked up a "slim fit" 21" CRT Samsung. Great picture quality and a bargain price.

What's the problem with small LCDs anyway? Is it just a case that the technology is still in its infancy as regards its use in TVs?

[oblivion_6]

Btw on the subject of small LCDs

We bought this at xmas for about 300 and ive been well chuffed with it

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/?modelcode=HUM-LU20TD2

Currently we run a Xbox 360 of it which looks great through PC input and SD runs through the built in digi box and looks a treat, the colour and balance etc also make the picture look really good, considering its quite a budget brand

[Oh_Mutants]

Just noticed on my wlt68 that if i have the sound turned up about 30 or so on an unused input, or whilst on the dash of my ps3 over hdmi, there is a, relatively faint admittedly, crackling from the speakers. Now i may just be being paranoid, cos i always find faults with my big purchases, but could other owners please check their's to see if this is 'normal'. It is quite faint as i see but still very audible right up close. I'm sad i know :-(

[andrewfee]

There is a slight hiss above 22 on mine, but having said that I don't think I've ever had the volume above 5. Small / cheap speakers, like those found in televisions and cheap surround sound kits tend to do this. (even at low volumes there was a loud hiss from my previous Sharp LCD which probably had the best sounding speakers I've heard for a TV)

[John Beaulieu]

I had that hiss on my wlt58 when i first bought it - it subsided with time (maybe the tv needed running in).

[IanE]

Slowly thinking about the new house, and what TV to have in the living room - it'll be the first time a house is actually my house, I can do what the ****ery I like with it, and golly gosh, I want a TV in the living room that I can be proud of, instead of being scared that some gobby student arse is going to smear their arses over it.

Currently have the Toshiba 42WLT66, and looking at something 1080p - perhaps plasma after seeing one of the Panasonic PX things recently and being very impressed for films, it looked shinier and better than my screen in 720p, Sky HD was lovely.

[Oh_Mutants]

Cheers guys, but it's more of a faint 'crackling' sound than a hiss. It isn't 100% constant, kind of fluctuates every couple of seconds or so.
Only really noticable with the sound above 30. It's got me quite worried cos other than that the tv's perfect.

[SharkSkin-Man]

Cheers guys, but it's more of a faint 'crackling' sound than a hiss. It isn't 100% constant, kind of fluctuates every couple of seconds or so.
Only really noticable with the sound above 30. It's got me quite worried cos other than that the tv's perfect.

I've had two WLT68's, both did this. It is less obvious if you turn off the SRS 3D thingy.

[Freddo]

Jeez, I had kind of gone off the boil for the 55" SXRD and just now my toshiba 32zp48 has died, wont take interlaced signals anymore, progressive is fine, interlaced a garbled mess.

So 55" SXRD it is.

literaly as i type this the microwave just exploded too, wtf?!

[andrewfee]

Just as an update for anyone that's been using my settings. I was doing some more reading / testing on things recently, and it seems that LCDs don't perform their best in terms of colour reproduction if the backlight is below around 120cd/m2, so I've now recalibrated for that.

Previously, I had used Avia-style test patterns and colour-filters as a starting point, and then working off that, but it seems the program I have been using actually has hue and saturation graphs for rgbcmy, but it was mistranslated, so I didn't realise that's what it was. I wasn't all that happy using tint at all to be honest, as PAL signals shouldn't need it. Getting rid of the tint ended up changing things quite a bit, as it was really affecting the saturation of the rgb primaries. (which is why colour is now 40 instead of 44, but saturation still looks about the same)

So these are my latest settings:

Back light: 11
Contrast: 100
Brightness: 55
Colour: 40
Tint: 0
Sharpness: -50
Black stretch: Off
MPEG NR: Off
DNR: Off
Colour Temperature: Normal

Colour Management: On
Red: +3 0
Green: +1 0
Blue: +1 0
Yellow: -5 +5
Magenta: +8 0
Cyan: -3 +3

Active Backlight Control: Off
Cinema mode: On
Active Vision M100: On


I know I said it last time that they were going to be the last changes I made, but that was before I read about this backlight stuff. To my eyes, it's perhaps a little brighter than I'd like, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I haven't watched a lot with these settings, but it has improved how some older US shows look, which were a bit... "dingy" before.

[Lyris]

Jeez, I had kind of gone off the boil for the 55" SXRD and just now my toshiba 32zp48 has died, wont take interlaced signals anymore, progressive is fine, interlaced a garbled mess.

So 55" SXRD it is.

literaly as i type this the microwave just exploded too, wtf?!

SONY TIMER!!! It detected that you were interested in a trip to your local electronics store

[buster_broon]

right chaps, for my new and improved games room i'm getting a new tv, i've narrowed it down to these 3 (hopefully all decent), which one would you pick

32wlt68 toshiba

KDL-32S2530 Sony Bravia

le32n73bd samsung

more offline than online at the moment, but not going to buy it until i get some feedback from you guys, if there is a glaring 'best one' pm davidholliss or seany1979 and he can let me know via text

[EvilBoris]

It is always the same 3 that people are Trying to decide between , but as ever my vote goes to the Toshiba again

[Freddo]

ahahah, true.

went to take a look at the set in the local sony center today, they were feeding it what i can only presume was a dvd-r of star wars episode 1, standard def, from a none upscaling player.

needless to say, there were mpeg encoding artifacts the actual no kidding size of my head.

still I'm not phased, I work on an AudioVisual department and you wouldnt believe the crap the sony reps tell us to do in terms of setup.

anyway its ordered now, and I grabbed a hd-dvd add-on for my 360, figure i need something really amazing to show it off