LCD or Plasma?

[NeilMcRae]

Sorry mate , I have a SONY WEGA LCD and the picture is superb.In 525p or 525i its a blinding picture...

Sadly I have not pushed it to 750p or 1125I but in time ,


(incidently its a Japanese model I have )


Also its interesting to note LCD tv seem to be becoming the forerunner of major Japanese retailers, now that screen sizes arent an issue.

Is it the floating screen one? If so I agree its good but it still has significant refresh rate issues. Stand it next to a Sony floating screen plasma with the same input of say Halo and you'll see what I'm talking about. Its one of those things that are subjective in some cases. Also what is the resolution of the screen?

Let me know the model number please.

Regards,
Neil.

[tankplanker]

blocky on the lower bit rate channels, like the BBC ones.

Interesting. On my CRT at least, I've always found BBC1, News 24 etc to be some of the most vivid and sharp pictures on Sky.

They are some of the worst honest. On my old TV they looked fine, but on my new TV, pants, almost as bad as through the aerial (i.e., non Sky digital feed). I think some of its to do with the lower bit rate, and some of its to do with crappy lighting/recording. Ceebies can be really bad - hey I have 2 two year olds. While stuff like spooks (which I think was recorded in Hi Def) looks great.

The Sky channels (Sky One, Mix, Movies, Sports & Boxoffice) have the best picture by far. Box office & the movie channels offer nearly the same sort of quality that you get out of the xbox DVD - I've done a side by side comparison of a couple of (new) films.

Don't take my word for it, ask on www.avforums.com

EDIT: D'oh, forgot to say that it wasn't as noticable on my old TV as it was smaller (32") plus the newer set has a much sharper picture

[mid]

Neil - did you test either (there is a 42" as well as the 37" I linked) of the new Philips ones with Pixel Plus? The HT mags are all raving about them, but since the older model Philips I looked at wasn't terribly impressive I'd rather hear your opinion. Certainly, I've heard that Panasonic is the way to go where possible, but the 50" one I saw was rather muddy, but that may have been calibration or source material.

[Mike UK]

I would second the front projector vote. I just picked up an NEC LT240K DLP projector, and am very happy indeed with my 7 foot wide xbox picture - playing DOA3 for example with the characters almost the size of real people is awesome. Plus, it's truly fantastic for home theatre with a 5.1 surround set up.

The main advantages to projectors are the relatively low cost for picture quality and size, portability (to get it up to the third floor), ability to accept any type of input signal you can throw at it, and a real 'wow' factor when your mates come round to play four way halo.

The main disadvantage is that you really need good light control. If you have that, then it's really worth considering. The Infocus X1 for example goes for $999 here in the US, and it may be all you'll ever need.

If you're interested, hop over to avsforums.com for more info.

[quexex]

DScaler is an open source de-interlacer and resolution scaler for the PC that does a better job than most of the hardware ones you can buy for less than a fortune. Its not going to make your watching of Star Wars on a CRT much more impressive, as the only help it could be would be in faking an anamorphic signal, but if you're watching it on a natively progressive display unit (like plasma, LCD or a projector) then its a godsend.

Out of interest, which version are you having image complaints about? The THX releases, while the best 'original' trilogy release by far (with the exception of the almost identical transfer in the Definitive Edition CAV box) still come a fair way short of the picture you get of the glorious NTSC Special Edition box. But then you get the whole Greedo shooting thing, so its a tradeoff either way.
the screen.

Thanks for that, i have the PAL Star Wars 'Special Edition' box set only one of the disks is CAV (RotJ Speederbike section), however the picture quality is good, better than VHS but not as good as DVD (or the recent ITV broadcast of SW on digital) which is a shame as the sound is excellent...

As for the Digital TV issues I get great picture on Freeview because the BBC have reduced the no. of channles to get the best picture quality most movies look as good as DVD shame they don't broadcast in 5.1 though! I guess that SKY asssign better bandwidth to there channels therefore losing bandwidth for the other channels (like the BBC)...

Cheers

Quexex

[NeilMcRae]

Neil - did you test either (there is a 42" as well as the 37" I linked) of the new Philips ones with Pixel Plus? The HT mags are all raving about them, but since the older model Philips I looked at wasn't terribly impressive I'd rather hear your opinion. Certainly, I've heard that Panasonic is the way to go where possible, but the 50" one I saw was rather muddy, but that may have been calibration or source material.

I looked at the older Phillips ones and they sucked. All plasma/lcd screens have some type of scaling technology built into them. There are two 50 inch screens by panny, a HD one and a non HD one, Both are great but the HD one is better.

Neil

[Salsa Party Animal]

Someone in Rackhams (Brum) mention there will be a 27 inches Plasma TV on the way in December, but I don't know who make them as he couldn't explain as he went to answer a phone call.

I wish there is a big TV for 1,000 pounds and no fat arse or use rear projection TV. It will be ideal for my bedroom.

[mid]

There is a big TV for ?1000, its called front projection. Surely any room you can control the light in enough to be useful as a bedroom is suitable for FP?

I can't use it at home as we have no curtains or blinds (spoils the look of the room) in our living room, but if it were an option I certainly wouldn't be faffing around with plasmas.

Thanks for the info Neil, by the way - I agree that the old Philips screen is pretty poor.

Finally, on the subject of Star Wars laserdiscs, I can definitely recommend an upgrade (provided it won't break the bank) from PAL to NTSC ones - there difference is pretty clear when you a/b them.

[NeilMcRae]

Light can be an annoying thing mate!

Neil.