Lcd Tv

[ralfyguy]

If the SD picture on the new LCD was better than on your Philips it replaced, then I'll be really happy with it because I also have a 27" Philips CRT and I am really happy with the picture already. Would be just great if the new one I get is better too.

I will get A Olevia Syntax 32" LCD HDTV LT32HVE in a few days and I already looked up the manual and other documentation about it, but I could not find anything about the native resolution it has. Also I would like to know if I have to switch the resolution manually. If so, I couldn't find anything in the manual about that either. I just don't have any experience with those kind of TV's.
I got a pretty good deal on that, I think. It was $1199 at the RatShack and there's a $300 mail-in rebate on it.

 

[Rlanham]

If I were going to watch only SD, then I would get a low cost SD TV and save my money for the future. A $300 32" SD TV will look better when driven by a SD receiver than a 32" HDTV.And it doesn't make a lot of sense to buy an HDTV now and thus be ready for the future, because in the future the HDTVs will be cheaper ... and better.

Another good reason for a Panasonic EDTV plasma. Even old analog cable looks great on it.

 

[ralfyguy]

I got the TV today and hooked it up and the picture looks awesome to me on a 625. My voOm receiver looks better, but I expected the difference far far worse!

 

[Horsnuts]

So the HD on it looks good?

 

[ralfyguy]

Don't get me wrong. My eyes are in excellent shape. The HD picture looks good. Actually I expected HD to look better, but it's really good. On the other hand, the SD picture isn't really far behind. Unless on the locals, which are never that great on Dish, I sometimes forget which receiver I am watching to, HD voOm or Dish 625. I then have to check the OSD Input display, which one the picture comes from. The HD picture is sometimes not better, at least that's how it looks to me.

 

[ralfyguy]

Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart, and they had a stand there for DirecTv. They had a SD setup running with one of the movie channels. The display was a 23" LG LCD HDTV set. Dude, that PQ was bad!! It was sooo blurry! Artifacts showing in darker scenes, it looked like a bad VHS-tape recorded in EP. Now that LG set is not a bad one at all actually, so I was shocked about this. Especially the fact that it was just a 23", I expected it to be sharper than my new 32" LCD. My E* SD picture from a 625 looks like HD compared to that. That was the first time I saw a D* setup running. I mean, I don't wanna make D* bad, but that PQ was disappointing. Coincidence, or is that it? If so, then I really can't complain about my service at all.
I had analog cable before and it really wasn't that great. Switching to E* was an real improvement. I heard before that people said that som SD looks better on E*, some looks better on D*. But at least that movie channel I watched there, really sucked.

 

[Stacy A]

There are a lot of factors that go into making the picture look its best. Unfortunately, the display devices in the stores are not set up with care in most instances. First, the DBS companies create "pools" of bandwidth, lumping certain channels together on a transponder. Those channels are dynamic, with ever changing amounts of movement, colors, activity, etc. and this sucks up bandwidth. If the demands get too high, the other channels in the "pool" suffer with lower PQ. Also, the display device may not be hooked up using the best method or better cables. A poor quality cable using the RCA inputs rather than the S-video input bleeds a little quality away. Also, the display device itself more than likely has not been tweaked (using Avia or Video Essentials), and don't get me started on the lighting. Then you have to consider if there is perhaps a menu in the satellite receiver where you tell it what type TV you have (16:9 or 4:3) and what the native resolution is and all too often the person who set it up didn't bother to go throught that procedure. It's just really hard to get a good idea of the comparison of quality between displays because of all these factors.

 

[jbcheshire]

ralfyguy,
What did you wind up spending for the Olevia? i have been seeing them on Ebay lately and was wondering if it was a good tv or not.

 

[jergenf]

I will get A Olevia Syntax 32" LCD HDTV LT32HVE in a few days and I already looked up the manual and other documentation about it, but I could not find anything about the native resolution it has. Also I would like to know if I have to switch the resolution manually.

The native resolution is 1366 x 768 so all resolutions greater or less will be down or up converted to fit its native resolution. Check your manual to see if there's a 1:1 mode which would allow pixels less than native to be displayed as is, but that would produce an image less than full screeen.

http://secure.syntaxgroups.com/products/specs.jsp?pid=LT32HVE

 

[Stacy A]

The native resolution is 1366 x 768 so all resolutions greater or less will be down or up converted to fit its native resolution. Check your manual to see if there's a 1:1 mode which would allow pixels less than native to be displayed as is, but that would produce an image less than full screeen.
http://secure.syntaxgroups.com/products/specs.jsp?pid=LT32HVE

And that is another factor that affects picture quality. My Hitachi does 540p/1080i natively and therefore upconverts all incoming 480i signals to either 540p (on standard inputs) or 1080i (on all the component video inputs). But it can't add information that isn't there to begin with, so if it goes to 1080i its extrapolating information from the lines above and below to add in these extra lines of resolution and therefore the picture is softer than if it's just upconverting to 540p. Ergo, I switch my Dish 6000 back and forth between standard and HD depending on the content. And that's why I'm not really interested in a 942 really, because there is no S-video output on it.

 

[ralfyguy]

ralfyguy,
What did you wind up spending for the Olevia? i have been seeing them on Ebay lately and was wondering if it was a good tv or not.

I bought it at RadioShack and paid $1199, and there's a $300 Mail-In Rebate.
The TV is just awesome. I've seen a bunch of TV's and this one I liked best.

 

[ralfyguy]

There are a lot of factors that go into making the picture look its best. Unfortunately, the display devices in the stores are not set up with care in most instances. First, the DBS companies create "pools" of bandwidth, lumping certain channels together on a transponder. Those channels are dynamic, with ever changing amounts of movement, colors, activity, etc. and this sucks up bandwidth. If the demands get too high, the other channels in the "pool" suffer with lower PQ. Also, the display device may not be hooked up using the best method or better cables. A poor quality cable using the RCA inputs rather than the S-video input bleeds a little quality away. Also, the display device itself more than likely has not been tweaked (using Avia or Video Essentials), and don't get me started on the lighting. Then you have to consider if there is perhaps a menu in the satellite receiver where you tell it what type TV you have (16:9 or 4:3) and what the native resolution is and all too often the person who set it up didn't bother to go throught that procedure. It's just really hard to get a good idea of the comparison of quality between displays because of all these factors.

You're right, I should have checked how it was connected and such, but I just expected them to try to make it look as good as possible to sell it. Maybe they don't really care about making it look good. BestBuy and such try to get you to see the best PQ possible, because they wanna sell it. Maybe Wal-Mart doesn't.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Another good reason for a Panasonic EDTV plasma. Even old analog cable looks great on it.

I agree.

I've had the opportunity to view several of the Panasonic 42" ED plasmas and they are excellent. The colors and blacks look slightly better than their 50" HD big brothers.

I don't like the concept of an EDTV, but the Panny plasmas execute it very well. SD can be very good and even HD looks very good if one is 8' or more from the screen. DVDs are superb. I once witnessed a comparison between a calibrated 42" ED vs a calibrated 42" HD plasma at a trade show. They had a line 9' from the TVs. They were showing high bitrate HD video. They asked about 50 people to view the sets and describe the differences. The vast majority could not tell them apart. Of the rest, more picked the ED as being better than picked the HD. If I remember correctly, only 3 people were able to consistently see shortcomings on the ED monitor.

I looked at them long and hard, but then went a different direction. The small'ish 42" size was a major factor for me.

 

[ralfyguy]

I agree.
I've had the opportunity to view several of the Panasonic 42" ED plasmas and they are excellent. The colors and blacks look slightly better than their 50" HD big brothers.
I don't like the concept of an EDTV, but the Panny plasmas execute it very well. SD can be very good and even HD looks very good if one is 8' or more from the screen. DVDs are superb. I once witnessed a comparison between a calibrated 42" ED vs a calibrated 42" HD plasma at a trade show. They had a line 9' from the TVs. They were showing high bitrate HD video. They asked about 50 people to view the sets and describe the differences. The vast majority could not tell them apart. Of the rest, more picked the ED as being better than picked the HD. If I remember correctly, only 3 people were able to consistently see shortcomings on the ED monitor.
I looked at them long and hard, but then went a different direction. The small'ish 42" size was a major factor for me.

What does calibrated mean?

 

[Stacy A]

Calibrated means adjusting the display device as close to the NTSC engineering standards for color reproduction. You can google ISF, or Imaging Science Foundation to find their website. I highly recommend finding an ISF certified calibrator to come in and calibrate any high dollar HD display device. There is a website forum (HomeTheaterSpot) that a lot of calibrators hang out at. However, they have become a completely pay site and are no longer available to lurkers or non-pay registrants I believe.

You can do some calibrating of your own by using a home theater calibration DVD such as "Avia" or "Video Essentials". These two discs do a great job of teaching you the basics about contrast, sharpening, color and tint and they provide video patterns for various adjustments. They also teach you about "red push", blooming, and other terms.