HD Ready LCD TV recommendations

[etccarmageddon]

this is a good place to go hunting for discount codes:-

www.hotukdeals.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4

[Tezcatlipoca]

Discount codes sound like a good idea.

Definitely going to wait 'till at least after Christmas, not gonna buy before the sales.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Hmm.

Been doing some measuring.

Samsung LE26R74 26" HD Ready LCD... same width as my current 28" CRT, & the screen has the same visible diagonal of 26" (as visible diagonal sizes for CRTs are smaller than quoted diagonal sizes for CRTs).


Samsung LE32R74 32" HD Ready LCD... over 12cm wider than my 28" CRT, plus the screen's visible diagonal would be 6" longer.



No space for a 32".....oh well, makes my choice easier lol.


Now to wait for the sales...

[SOSAGES]

if u wait u will only see something better while ur waiting

a new range of hd tv's are out that have built in computers (for networking / playing of divx / pictures / mp3s ) still in its early stage but looks like a good all in one solution as currently getting all ur content to play on is a complicated business. I currently use an xbox1 to do it all (using xbmc)
i hope by the time i have to go over to digital someone has some sexy nice HD content and a nice way of getting it into my house and allowing me to use it to record the shows to a hard drive and play my networked content from any other source (external hard drive / NAS / pc / mp3 player etc)

[Tezcatlipoca]

I use my old XBox with XBMC too. I'd stream from the PC to the 360 if it played more than just WMV...might try converting stuff....


Settled on the Samsung LE26R74BD. Just gonna hold off a bit to see if it gets cheaper in the Boxing Day / Jan sales. Or just buy from Dixons/Currys (convenience), & use the "Jan sale price match" if it goes down in price.

Also looking at LCD TV's in the sales - whats the difference between P and I's? Think I know - just want some clarification! Cheers


Lee

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by lsainsbury

Also looking at LCD TV's in the sales - whats the difference between P and I's? Think I know - just want some clarification! Cheers


Lee

P and Is?


P = Progressive scan

I = Interlaced


Standard HD resolutions...

720p - 720 lines, progressive scan

1080i - 1080 lines, interlaced

1080p - 1080 lines, progressive scan



Normal PAL TV is 576i

Normal NTSC (US) TV is 480i



To be "HD Ready" a TV must be capable of displaying a minimum of 720p, must have component video inputs, and must have an HDMI or DVI input which is HDCP-compliant (HDCP is some annoying copy protection "feature" not yet implemented).


All HD ready TVs can do 720p & 1080i. There is a growing number of 1080p capable sets, but they're v expensive, & also only in larger sizes.


Have a look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_ready

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

[ikthius]

Originally Posted by lsainsbury

Also looking at LCD TV's in the sales - whats the difference between P and I's? Think I know - just want some clarification! Cheers


Lee

interlaced
progresive

if i remember correctly, progressive is best, i may be wrong

ik

p.s. beaten to it....

[Tezcatlipoca]

My 26" Sammy came today.


It's bloody gorgeous


The 360 looks great using component, set to 720p.


Sky & Freeview both actually look really good too (I've seen some HD Ready TVs which look crap when using standard definition sources).



It pales in comparison to Alison's brother's HD Ready TV though....he got himself an LG HD Ready 50" plasma.... Looks amazing, COD3 on his 360 was ridiculously awesome...

[ikthius]

why does some scrolling text (say from gillet soccer saturday) seem jittery on some LCD and Plasma tv's?

is this just the refresh rate?

ik

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Matt D

All HD ready TVs can do 720p & 1080i. There is a growing number of 1080p capable sets, but they're v expensive, & also only in larger sizes.

Also, to add to that:

26" (equivalent to 28" CRT) & 32" HD Ready LCDs tend to have a native resolution of 1366x768, & give optimal results at 720p. They can still do 1080i, but IIRC have to deinterlace & downscale, as it's greater than their native resolution.

Originally Posted by ikthius

why does some scrolling text (say from gillet soccer saturday) seem jittery on some LCD and Plasma tv's?

is this just the refresh rate?

ik

Dunno. I guess the refresh rate, as you say?

[pedantic]

Originally Posted by ikthius

why does some scrolling text (say from gillet soccer saturday) seem jittery on some LCD and Plasma tv's?

is this just the refresh rate?

ik

Refresh rate and other "enhancements" can cause this.

Taken from the Pioneer FAQ over at avforums

Q: I'm seeing DVD judder / scrolling text ticker tapes with interlace lines through it making it unreadable / seeing a slowdown effect on things like Football - how do I fix this?

A: This relates to Pure Cinema settings. In the normal course of events, Pure Cinema should be OFF (for progressive source) & STANDARD (for interlaced source). If you see scrolling text with interlaced lines, try switching to one of these settings. Also make sure you're using the 100Hz screen refresh setting below.

However, in certain cases, you can set the Pure Cinema setting to ADV (Advanced) as it is likely to stop judder with NTSC DVDs (and won't effect PAL anyway and so is effectively off).

Pure Cinema essentially automatically detects a film-based source (originally encoded at 24 frames/second), analyses it, then recreates each still film frame for high-definition picture quality. Settings are as follows:


OFF - Turns it off
STANDARD - Produces smooth and vivid moving images (film specific) by automatically detecting recorded image information when displaying DVD or high-definition images (e.g., movies) having 24 frames per second. It helps prevent interlacing artefacts on, for example, SKY/Freeview, and is greyed out when watching PAL DVDs.
ADVANCED - Produces smooth and quality moving images (as shown on theatre screens) by converting to 72 Hz when displaying DVD images (e.g., movies) having 24 frames per second. When watching NTSC DVDs this stops judder by converting 75Hz to 72Hz. 72 divided into 24 (fps) = 3, so there is no 3/2 pulldown taking place.

Note these cannot be set as follows:
"Standard" is not selectable when 480p or 720p@60Hz signals are input.
"ADV" is not selectable when PAL, SECAM, 576i, or 1080i@50Hz signals are input.
Neither “Standard” nor “ADV” is selectable when 576p, 720p@50Hz, or 1080p@24Hz signals are input.
You can also read this article here, which covers more ideas for Pure Cinema for a Pio 50" panel.

[ikthius]

Originally Posted by pedantic

Refresh rate and other "enhancements" can cause this.

Taken from the Pioneer FAQ over at avforums

so at the bottom of your quote, it really just contradicts itself, by saying they cannot be set?

ik

[pedantic]

Originally Posted by ikthius

so at the bottom of your quote, it really just contradicts itself, by saying they cannot be set?

ik

They can be set, it depends on the input.

For example, my SD sky box, the input is via RGB scart, and is 576i. I can choose the standard setting, but not the advanced setting. Personally, I leave it off anyway.