LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[Oh_Mutants]

Component all the way. Set the 360 to output it's native 1280x720 feed and let the TV do the rest.

Will look great with rich colours and no off-set images.

Thanks Bit of a shame though, i was hoping to connect my modded Xbox through Component and 360 through VGA (aswell as using the 360 as an upscaling DVD player, which i believe it can't do over component), but if Component's superior for 360 then it's gonna get the Component input.
How are component switcher boxes btw? Pricey, picture quality loss?

[sj33]

How are component switcher boxes? Pricey, picture quality loss?

A funny thing these, I paid for that Joytech switcher, biggest pile of crap ever, sold the bugger.

Dug out a cheapo passive analogue audio switcher I had lying around here, flippin' lossless! I don't really understand it.

[Soi]

What was wrong with the Joytech switcher? I have one here at work we me. Not taken it home yet. If it is poo, I'll send in back unopened.

[EvilBoris]

I'm ordering the wlt68 today, 360 wise what's the best way to connect it, i keep hearing contradicting opinions on this. I'd like to go through vga but i hear this will leave borders, or end up looking worse than through component? Do i need to set my 360 to a certain res to get it right over vga? Could someone please take the time to explain all this to a total hdtv noob

I'd still say go for VGA, lovely crisp picture and no overscan (i.e. everything is on screen)

The component is excellent on the Tosh though so there is not much wrong with that (except for little overscan)

[sj33]

What was wrong with the Joytech switcher? I have one here at work we me. Not taken it home yet. If it is poo, I'll send in back unopened.

Very poor HD quality.

[EvilBoris]

Does 100Hz make a difference on an LCD btw? Never really seem to see any difference in refresh rates on LCD other than sync timings.

It isn't tru 100hz scanning on the WLT68 , but instead a picture processing system that creates a new frame based on the information between the current frame and the next frame.

Also the VGA inputs are totally screwed on the Toshiba, it is impossible to tell what it wants. It must have a REALLY specific set of timings it accepts.

I can can 1:1 mapping of 1280*768 from the 360, but I get the 1024*768 rendering thing if I try it from the PC. I'm sure with enough playing around with powerstrip you could get it display everything correctly.

odd indeed, I think the set is alround very good unless you specifically want to connect it to a PC

[sj33]

That's what turned me off really, I did consider the Toshibam but I would have been using it for 50% PC. In that sense, I'm glad I went the Bravia as it does 1360x768 1:1 (and can stretch to 1366x768 if you'd prefer).

But someone not really interested in PC use would have more use for the 3x HDMI of the Toshiba.

[EvilBoris]

That's what turned me off really, I did consider the Toshibam but I would have been using it for 50% PC. In that sense, I'm glad I went the Bravia as it does 1360x768 1:1 (and can stretch to 1366x768 if you'd prefer).

But someone not really interested in PC use would have more use for the 3x HDMI of the Toshiba.

Indeed, its one of the many pros and cons you have to take into consideration, why they can't just make it work is beyond me but hey.

All I wanted was a decent Picture, a decent amount of HDMi ports and it to work with 360 over VGA.
I got them all so I'm happy.

[Soi]

Very poor HD quality.

Annoying. It would be really useful if it worked properly.

It is just lossy then?

[sj33]

Annoying. It would be really useful if it worked properly.

It is just lossy then?

It's faded and dark. Maybe tweaking with the screen would solve that, but when by cheap audio switcher did it properly, it sorta takes the piss.

[Concept]

Well, I stayed away from the WLT66/68 series because of conflicting reports on it's VGA support. I was going to get a Bravia S-Series but the it was overpriced by a couple of hundred quid at Comet compared to what I could find online elsewhere.

Their only suggestion was "oh, you need a headsocket so why not just take any with one in for the ?500 range", which kind of defeats the purpose of actually going to buy (a) range of specific television(s) first place.

In the end I only managed to actually get them to agree a suitable exchange when I pointed out that the old model (LX) to the LGLC series does have a headphone socket on the 32" unit in the actual store.

Even then they only agreed to exchange it for an ex-display model, so no doubt with the way things are going when it comes tomorrow, it'll be dead pixel and stains-underneath-the-screen delights.

Ugh. Who would have thought just getting an LCD which does the job and looks good over VGA would be this much hassle?

[EvilBoris]

Even then they only agreed to exchange it for an ex-display model, so no doubt with the way things are going when it comes tomorrow, it'll be dead pixel and stains-underneath-the-screen delights.

Its not that I would be worried about, but the fact it will of been sitting switched on for 12 hours a day for the last goodness knows how many weeks.

The backlights only have a limited life

[Concept]

We'll see how it goes. I'm fully expecting the worst to happen and for it to have all the flaws (if not more) which my current 26LX2R experienced last year (which is annoying because VGA/DVI is lovely on it).

Then it's a case of throwing ?550 down the swannie and calling it quits, or going back again and paying the more for the Bravia out of the sake of convienence. I'm sure that'll go down a treat with the store staff returning a second time in 48 hours...

Meh. I hate being in the company of people at times.

[andrewfee]

Well my WLT68 arrived on Wednesday, and I love it. It's not perfect, but it's definitely staying.

The backlight buzzes, the speakers are ok, but not near the level of the Sharp's, (probably better than the majority of TVs though) I've found one red stuck pixel, (only saw it when I hooked up a PC and sat close) blacks are good, but not great (not at the same level as Sharp, or Plasmas) and response is pretty good most of the time, but does still smear a little in darker scenes.

Onto the good side - colour reproduction is very nice - good strong colours, and the gamut is almost perfectly matched to sRGB/PAL:


(sRGB is coloured, the wireframe is this set. I used L* gamma for the profile rather than 2.2 which is why the "grid" inside doesn't match up though)


720p via component is easily the best I've seen on any LCD so far - lovely and sharp, but without a ton of edge enhancement (there might be some, but I can't see it from 6/7ft back) and far sharper than the BRAVIAs.

Freeview looks great (for what it is) via RGB too. With a good source, it looks excellent. I watched Sunday's Planet Earth (was saving it ) and it was jaw-dropping. Really, really impressive.

100Hz makes a subtle, but noticeable improvement to motion, and does improve response time somewhat, but not hugely (it's mostly the smoothness of motion that changes) and I've not seen any artefacts from leaving it on, or any lag etc when playing games.

360 VGA or Component? Either. They both look stunning. VGA will get rid of overscan, but it's not intrusive on this set anyway. For VGA you want to use 1280x768 and stretch it - you won't be able to tell the difference from where you normally sit. The scaling is very impressive on this set actually - if you choose to stretch 1280x768 to fullscreen with a PC hooked up, text still remains very nice and sharp with virtually no artefacts.

It seems to do a great job handling VGA too - it's the only LCD I've seen that has dealt with the Gamecube's VGA signal properly - most would either not display anything, or wouldn't sync properly - this was perfect just from plugging it in. Again, very little difference between VGA and component, other than overscan. (which isn't much)

I'm personally going to stick with Component for the 360 as that lets you play games like Halo, and there's no chance of running into VGA related performance issues with games.

Viewing angles aren't quite as good as the BRAVIA's, but significantly better than Sharp's, and a non-issue if you ask me.

The colour management options are pretty nice too. I would only adjust primaries (RGB) and not secondaries (CMY) though, as things just don't look right once you start changing them.

My current settings for my Topfield PVR are:

• Back Light: 0
• Contrast: 94
• Brightness: 62
• Colour: 40
• Tint: 0
• Sharpness: -50
• Black Stretch: Off
• MPEG NR: Off
• DNR: Off
• Colour Temperature: Normal
• Colour Management: On
• Red: -8 +2
• Green: +9 -4
• Blue: -15 -7
• Active Backlight Control: Off
• Cinema Mode: On (I'm guessing it's best turned off for interlaced gaming)
• Active Vision M100: On

(note: turn up the backlight if you're not viewing in a dark room and find the image too dull)


Build quality is fairly good - it doesn't feel cheap, but it doesn't feel particularly "high-end" like the Sharp / Philips sets. Seemed awfully light for a 37" display though - someone could easily set it up on their own.

I've never been a big fan of "Piano Black" after the Samsung I had, but this is very well done - not overly shiny, and reflections are fairly flat - no significant warping. The design makes the TV seem smaller than it is somehow - it doesn't have the same "impact" that the Sharp did.

The remote looks nice, but the buttons aren't great, and while menu response isn't instant, it isn't slow either.

Something to note is that there's only one dedicated audio input shared between all the HDMIs and VGA, which might be a bit limiting. (it will of course decode audio transmitted over an HDMI lead) I'm not sure if the 3rd side-mounted HDMI can use the same audio input as the composite jacks or not though, that would be quite handy.

It has a headphone jack, two RCA audio outputs, and a subwoofer output. (presumably for the subwoofer addon but I'm sure it'll work with anything)

Was definitely worth the money if you ask me, and apparently John Lewis will price match with Miller Brothers for ?1221. (unfortunately it seems they won't price-match if you order online, so I'm stuck having paid ?1500 - if only I had ordered over the phone. I could return it under the 30 days, and then get one price-matched from the Glasgow store, but I've been without a good TV for too long, and done this too many times, so I think I'm going to just keep it.

[Shozuki]

is the WLT68 a 1080 panel? or should I just get the Bravia X in december?