Oh dear Dick smith Sylvia park

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wmoore

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#12823 7-Apr-2007 23:15

Went to look at the new powerhouse Dick smith at Sylvia Park today. Just like a normal DS but with Microwaves and other small
electrical goods

...Anyways went over to look at the TV's on display and went into their "Theatre room" which had Sony SXRD rear pro 60" and 2 Sony 3LCD's. All 3 TV's had a very noticeable flicking in the middle of the picture...also one of the LCD TV's in the shop had the same problem as well. All the TV's were receiving the same signal. (the movie "Cars") I noticed a number of DA's behind the sets.....So I guess a faulty cable in the chain somewhere or a faulty DA.

My question is. Why didn't anyone fix the problem..
Doesn't help sell the product.

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stevenz

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#66588 8-Apr-2007 14:03

It'll be because "it's not their job" or they just don't know how. DSE employess range from pretty clued up people who can actually use a soldering iron, to the ones that have to check the manual for how to plug in a power cord. There's usually only one token person with any actual authority in a DSE store, and it's unusual for them to actually be there for much of the time.

paradoxsm

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#66590 8-Apr-2007 14:16

I went one step further, I took photo's! i'll plave these online when i'm off the pda.

(I doubt they did this but I have had better pictures from my old betamax tapes of the late 80's playing through the rf cable of old.)

I commented with the friend I was with that they should not use Composite for a start and then using the horrible cheap 20mtr audio cables, running the 2.4mtrs coiled up among the 4_way powerboards picking up every manner of rf and emi interference possible.

And also, take in a DVD of your own in, especially one with lots of dark. The oldest scam in the book is the cartoon on the plasma or lcd hides the otherwise obvious shortcomings of the vdu.

One thing too about those 3LCD tv's, they use an expensive projector lamp, limited life and known for being unreliable, the image quality was also utterly awful even without that cable issue.. wheras the sony "dlp clone" did have a very nice picture however.

cokemaster

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#66597 8-Apr-2007 16:35

It'll be because "it's not their job" or they just don't know how.

Or that someone might know how, but hasn't been given the OK or time to do so... (happens all the time)

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sbiddle

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#66601 8-Apr-2007 17:42

paradoxsm:One thing too about those 3LCD tv's, they use an expensive projector lamp, limited life and known for being unreliable, the image quality was also utterly awful even without that cable issue.. wheras the sony "dlp clone" did have a very nice picture however.

The new Sony's aren't too bad. They only need a single lamp unit which is around $300ish and rated at around 8000 hours... It's funny how nobody in a store will dare even mention that the lamp has a finite life however when selling the TV! To be honest I think the new Bravia rear pro's are a very nice unit, put them in a darkened room with a good picture and they look stunning. They just have the usual rear pro problem of terrible viewing angle and are poor in daylight. Feed a crappy SD signal into them or Sky and IMHO they look far better than most of the LCD and Plasma panels around.

When I was looking around at TV's I couldn't help but notice that the DVD that a particular chain store was running across about 30 TV's still had the 16:9 borders at top and bottom on all the widescreen LCD's and Plasmas. I commented to them about why they didn't set the DVD player and TV to 16:9 rather than 4:3 so the picture was in the proper aspect ratio to be told that "it's a widescreen DVD so it always has the bars at the top and bottom"

Americancars

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#68876 29-Apr-2007 22:22

It's really annoying how shops never actually have the best signal for their tv's. As for Dick Smith, I have to agree with Stevenz when he says "they have to check the manual on how to plug in a power plug." Some of them can, as he said, be quite good, but most of them aren't that skilled. I have actually heard someone telling a customer the wrong information about a product and I had to correct them they were so wrong.

Can't beat the burble of that American V8. Ohh yea!

ZollyMonsta

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#68880 29-Apr-2007 22:34

sbiddle:
The new Sony's aren't too bad. They only need a single lamp unit which is around $300ish and rated at around 8000 hours... It's funny how nobody in a store will dare even mention that the lamp has a finite life however when selling the TV! To be honest I think the new Bravia rear pro's are a very nice unit, put them in a darkened room with a good picture and they look stunning. They just have the usual rear pro problem of terrible viewing angle and are poor in daylight. Feed a crappy SD signal into them or Sky and IMHO they look far better than most of the LCD and Plasma panels around.

When I was looking around at TV's I couldn't help but notice that the DVD that a particular chain store was running across about 30 TV's still had the 16:9 borders at top and bottom on all the widescreen LCD's and Plasmas. I commented to them about why they didn't set the DVD player and TV to 16:9 rather than 4:3 so the picture was in the proper aspect ratio to be told that "it's a widescreen DVD so it always has the bars at the top and bottom"

Mmm yes, the new Sony LCD rear projection I take it you're talking about? I was *this* close to getting the 60 inch one.
The picture was just astounding... but I restrained myself (taking into account the cost of my home decorating) ;)

Something they probably don't mention either is, in this model of the Sony the lamp is user replaceable. There is a access panel on the left bottom of the back (if you're looking from behind the tv set). This means you can buy the bulb and replace it yourself.

I usually get them to also show the picture quality in svideo, seeing as that is a resonably common connector (though yes, component and hdmi is nicer). The new Sony looked fantastic even connected via svideo.

Cheers,
ZollyMonsta

P.S... then later in the week I saw the 70 inch model.. but that's an entirely new post... ;)

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MackinNZ

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#68888 29-Apr-2007 23:34

sbiddle:

When I was looking around at TV's I couldn't help but notice that the DVD that a particular chain store was running across about 30 TV's still had the 16:9 borders at top and bottom on all the widescreen LCD's and Plasmas. I commented to them about why they didn't set the DVD player and TV to 16:9 rather than 4:3 so the picture was in the proper aspect ratio to be told that "it's a widescreen DVD so it always has the bars at the top and bottom"

Perhaps the movie you were looking at was in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, not 1.78:1 (16:9)? Many widescreen DVD's are actually 2.35:1 so there are still black bars visible top and bottom on a 16:9 TV.

alasta

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#68896 30-Apr-2007 07:14

I went to Dick Smith Powerhouse in Hamilton back in January. It was nicely presented but I was far from impressed when I saw them selling G4 iBooks and Core Solo Mac Minis for the same price that you would buy the latest models for.

These days I try to avoid buying anything from big box retailers. I'd rather do my own research and order stuff online.

sbiddle

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#68898 30-Apr-2007 07:52

MackinNZ:
sbiddle:

When I was looking around at TV's I couldn't help but notice that the DVD that a particular chain store was running across about 30 TV's still had the 16:9 borders at top and bottom on all the widescreen LCD's and Plasmas. I commented to them about why they didn't set the DVD player and TV to 16:9 rather than 4:3 so the picture was in the proper aspect ratio to be told that "it's a widescreen DVD so it always has the bars at the top and bottom"

Perhaps the movie you were looking at was in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, not 1.78:1 (16:9)? Many widescreen DVD's are actually 2.35:1 so there are still black bars visible top and bottom on a 16:9 TV.

No it wasn't a 2.35:1 DVD. I can't recall what movie it was now but I had the same DVD at home that's why I knew it was the DVD player set to 4:3 rather than 16:9.

2.35:1 DVD's actually annoy me. I know many movie purists love the transfer in the proper aspect ratio but IMHO it's just damn annoying.

DV

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#72644 29-May-2007 10:48

I should state first that I work in that particular store so there is no confusion.

The flickering problem was created by Hills when they did the install, the dozen or so amplified splitters used to get the signal to all of our TV's are all on different circuits and thus out of phase hence the flickering. It is not as simple as "just fixing it" it requires rewiring the entire area, and we are in the process of fixing the problem.

We do not use composite, the system uses component; running off a Toshiba HD-DVD player running trailers in 720p, the 20 meter audio cable was an unfortunate side effect of the audio setup. We don't just show cartoons our trailer disk also has some good quality dark scenes from the likes of King Kong and district B13.

The bulb life on the Sony Rear Pro's has been quoted to me by a Sony Rep as 7000 hours. The Vertical viewing angles on them are same old same old, but the horizontal viewing angles are almost gone.

Aspect ratios are always an annoying problem as most people don't have the inclination to really want to understand the letterboxing they just want it to dissapear, however we have trailers at both 16:9 and 2.35:1.

Hopefully that will ease some confusion as to the lacklustre performance of some the TV's.

Thanks
-The Guy Who Works There

wmoore

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#72646 29-May-2007 10:53

DV: I should state first that I work in that particular store so there is no confusion.

The flickering problem was created by Hills when they did the install, the dozen or so amplified splitters used to get the signal to all of our TV's are all on different circuits and thus out of phase hence the flickering. It is not as simple as "just fixing it" it requires rewiring the entire area, and we are in the process of fixing the problem.

We do not use composite, the system uses component; running off a Toshiba HD-DVD player running trailers in 720p, the 20 meter audio cable was an unfortunate side effect of the audio setup. We don't just show cartoons our trailer disk also has some good quality dark scenes from the likes of King Kong and district B13.

The bulb life on the Sony Rear Pro's has been quoted to me by a Sony Rep as 7000 hours. The Vertical viewing angles on them are same old same old, but the horizontal viewing angles are almost gone.

Aspect ratios are always an annoying problem as most people don't have the inclination to really want to understand the letterboxing they just want it to dissapear, however we have trailers at both 16:9 and 2.35:1.

Hopefully that will ease some confusion as to the lacklustre performance of some the TV's.

Thanks
-The Guy Who Works There

Thanks for the info.....

..........Guy who works there.

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-- Abraham lincoln

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Fossie

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#72721 29-May-2007 16:35

feel like getting me a job there, person who works there? I gave in my terrible cv about a month ago :P

paradoxsm

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#72759 29-May-2007 21:01

As promised too long ago, Pictures... I can't remember which though now. Quite stunning shots for just "snaps" using a Nokia 6275 aiming at a fuzzy-picture TV.

It's Actually "EAGLES" the music group before you get too excited.

To the Empolyee of DSE powerhouse...., the "composite video" comment was just a figure of speech as a gander joke between my mate and I who joke bout "Audiophile" and Videophile" garbage all the time.

Wait till they actually see some of the beat-up hardware that actually runs the show in many cases, or the non-balanced 1mm multistrand cables leading 12 CM across the powersupply up from the PCB to those little RCA plugs you plug in your $200 monster cables.!! but hey, they all know better!!!!!!!

paradoxsm

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#72763 29-May-2007 21:40

Those images are almost a sales point in themselves. The top was the Sony, The mid was the Projector, the bottom was that 3LCD one which had "yellowbands" which looked like a cheap camera under fluro lights, the 3 seperate phases explains this symptom well, and is something I had not thought of!

(I must take in my Toshiba LED Projector and see if a screen is a worthy purchase)
I have the plastic "screen" from a discarded "RGB tube Rear projection tv thanks to TISCO" that I might be able to huck the tiny projector into a "TV" of sorts.