32 inch LCD or Plasma recommendations

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#100661 18-Dec-2007 13:47

sbiddle:
gehenna:
And HD media players. They're not even available..

in what sense? that's a pretty bold statement...

Virtually any PC is a HD media player. There are plenty of people watching HD content on their PVR's/HTPC's hooked up to their big screen TV's as it's the only real way to get decent HD material.

thats my thinking. plus xbox 360 and ps3.

then there's the d-link range which is available here, the D-Link DSM-320RD, the DTS Modix HD-2510S, the DTS Modix HD-3510B, the DViCO TViX HD M-4000PA, the NetGear EVA8000....

to name a few. these are all set top boxes, not home theatre computers. just have a look on pricespy or something, you'll find that we're actually spoilt for choice.

old3eyes

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#100801 19-Dec-2007 08:47

Without looking up the rest of the media players you list the TViX HD M-4000PA is a SD player only so will not play HD content. While it's true that most PCs etc can be used as media players they are too expensive to use and who also wants to buy a Xbox 360 or PS3 just to use as a media player.. Not in my budget.. The Popcornhour looks the best bang for bucks at present but no stock until Feb 2008

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Old3eyes

ingies

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#101318 21-Dec-2007 22:40

uncmil:
Damn TVs for being so expensive. I remember when our TV got nicked, going to 100% Electric and getting a new, better, bigger CRT for $350. Not $2000! Admittedly, the CRT is considerably smaller than the LCDs I'm looking at. But my point still stands, LCD is quite expensive - even Sony's 20 inch G series Bravia, which is 4:3 and not high def, is about $700 or $800.

:

It was only 4 years ago in 2003 that we bought a 100hz 29 inch sony crt tv that cost $2000, there weren't many for sale for $1200 or less. Plasma screens were about $8000, remember the hyundai being displayed at farmers for that price. Tvs have become a lot cheaper in the last 4 years.

uncmil

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#101393 22-Dec-2007 13:12

Very true - the way of technology. Gets cheaper all the time, and I suppose that's why CRT TVs are now a couple of hundred and LCDs and Plasmas are a couple of thousand (for bigger sizes and higher quality). I still just can't get over the cost of an LCD TV. I think that's because the only thing I've spent that much on is a fully fledged computer (!), which is much more bang for buck than a TV.

gehenna

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#101396 22-Dec-2007 13:51

old3eyes: Without looking up the rest of the media players you list the TViX HD M-4000PA is a SD player only

the tvix hd m-4000pa supports avi up to 1920x1080...

JimmyH

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#103470 7-Jan-2008 22:35

I had a poke around in the Boxing Day sales as well (and have the $ put aside for the purchase) but haven't bought yet. Main problem is that I then to record most of what I watch to watch at a more convenient time and/or skip the commercials. By my reckoning, a HD TV is a bit pointless unless I can feed it a HD signal - and for me that means being able to record Sky/Freeview in HD. I have tried emailing Freeview to see if there are any TV Capture cards that can record the DTB signal they will transmit soon (the best lead I have been given is a Hauppage HVR-4000 from a friend) but Freeview replied refusing to tell me anything about the protocol & encryption etc that they will be using. Based on Freeviews' statements about requiring HDMI/HDCP to get HD signals I am not optimistic.

As for TVs, I love Panasonics ( have a panny TV now, as well as a panny DVD recorder, and they work really well). I have heard good things about Samsung, Toshiba and Pioneer, and have been repeatedly advised to avoid Philips (based on my experience with the last Philips kit I had, that is good advice!). The other brand I won't touch is Sony. I used to be a real Sony fanboy and had a lot of their kit (Monitors, TV, VCR, stereo system, original Walkman etc), but I am well and truly off them now. I regard them as a scummy company that shaft their customers (aggressivley promoting obnoxious DRM, rootkits, deliberatley crippled minidisc players, ARCOSS, cameras that lock up and need to be sent away if they detect a non-Sony battery, membership of the RIAA etc). I now regard buying Sony as just too much of a risk. When I am buying stuff for my employer, I have even started to make comments to vendors that solutions that don't include Sony Kit are preferable, which they seem to take on board.

I will leave the cash earning interest until I am reasonably comfortable that I can record signals etc, and that unexpected DRM issues won't make an expensive investment worthless. So, for the moment, DVD and my CRT will remain "good enough". I am, however, looking seriously at adding a good Sat & Terrestrial tuner card to my PC once DTB is running, and that will probably be my comparatively low risk "toe in the water" to start with.

walt12

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#103500 8-Jan-2008 08:50

As long as you have a TV and video card which are HDCP compliant, then there is no reason why you can't build a HTPC now that is more than capable of recording HD content and displaying at a time of your choosing.

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sbiddle

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#103505 8-Jan-2008 09:12

It's possible to watch the DVB-T trials now with a regular DVB-T card in a HTPC and view both the SD and the HD test feeds.

The unknown factor will be what impact (if any) the decision by Freeview to enable the ICT flag could be. Enabling ICT stops HD feeds from being watched on anything but a HDCP capable receiver and TV and means that you can't see HD content via component, only via HDMI with HDCP. Most broadcasters overseas aren't using ICT because of the large number of TV's that are HD capable but hack HDCP. It appears Freeview could be broadcasting some or all of their HD content with ICT enabled.

Rollux

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#103559 8-Jan-2008 12:56

Excuse my ignorance, but is it safe to assume that if you have HDMI inputs on a new plasma that it is HDCP compliant? My GPU is, but can't find any specs stating specifically for my TV (37" Panasonic Plasma)

Lounge:
WIN7 HOME x64 HTPC - E6420 2.13Ghz - 4Gb 800MHZ PATRIOT RAM - ASUS HD5670 1GB
ASUS P5B-VM MOBO - LG BLU-RAY DRIVE - BG3595 TUNER - 1.5TB STORAGE
PANASONIC 42" FULL HD PLASMA - PIONEER VSX1019AHK RECEIVER - WHARFDALE DIAMOND 10 SPEAKERS

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walt12

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#103569 8-Jan-2008 13:26

I'm not sure about HDMI = HDCP, I suspect not, but in anycase I have the Panasonic 37" Plasma and the good news is that it is HDCP compliant.

JimmyH

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#103903 9-Jan-2008 22:22

walt12: As long as you have a TV and video card which are HDCP compliant, then there is no reason why you can't build a HTPC now that is more than capable of recording HD content and displaying at a time of your choosing.

I have a video card that is HDCP compatible, and a monitor as well. That means that I can play HD content from my PC to the screen. What I can't do with any certainty is record HD content. As far as I can determine there is only one capture card (the Black Magic Intensity Pro?) that can take an HD signal through HDMI and record to the hard drive. It specifically won't capture signals where the HDCP is activated in any shape or form - so good for a home movie camera, lousy for Freeview or Sky. The only solution would seem to be to use this card in series with an HDCP removal box, such as the one Spatz Technologies make. However, this is beginning to get too complicated and expensive, so I will sit on the sideline until there is a solution.

If nothing else, my foray into looking at what TV I might buy has been very educational - I have learned a lot about media technology and how things have changed, so even if I don't buy the time has not been wasted. As I understand it, I can spend $thousands on new kit, and if the key gets leaked then licencing group revoke it, and my shiny new equipment simply won't work and I am stuffed! I am certainly not buying until I am confident I won't face that risk.

Interestingly, the debate used to be about whether the quality if pirated material was as good as the quality of the original. Given that pirated material presumably won't be encumbered with any of this rubbish, that debate is now settled - the pirated material is probably better. To date I have never priated anything, nor do I want to. However, I am beginning to wonder whether the industry is trying to drive us all into the arms of the pirates - they keep going as they always have, and the paying and law abiding consumers are the ones who get shafted.

walt12

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#103954 10-Jan-2008 09:30

Are you talking about FTA broadcasts? In which case surely it's just a case of recording (undecoded) the raw transport stream. The decoding and HDCP verification would come at the point which you chose to play those recordings. Of course what is untested and unknown is if the original stream is subsequently moved across to a different format, although in the case of NZ DVB-T, it is already compressed so I'm not sure why you would need to do this.

As for SKY, given you can only capture downstream of the STB decode, if the ICT flag is activated, then all current methods will be unable to capture in full HD as neither composite, S-Video, or component will transmit the required protocols.

If you were talking about capture of HD/BR based HD material, then surely at the point that this occurs these protections are removed thus rendering the HDCP moot.

In anycase we don't know for sure yet whether the ICT flag will be activated and the best you can do at this point is just ensure that every component in your setup is HDCP compliant.

scattorshot

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#104424 12-Jan-2008 20:18

Hi there all,

Well this is my first post on geekzone, consider ma a virgin

Any way i have recently just brought a 42" Inch samsung plasma and the quality in this product is great, sky could be better as i seem to be getting a little ghosting from it at times, im actually going to head out tomorrow and get a decent scart cable for it and see if it makes any difference.
I would like to ask a question, hopefully someone can answer it for me?
My Screen Aspect Ratio is 16:9 but i still seem to be missing the the full picture when watching movies on sky and it doesnt come through as widescreen, am i an idiot? can someone please help me??

old3eyes

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#104677 14-Jan-2008 09:10

scattorshot:
Hi there all,
I would like to ask a question, hopefully someone can answer it for me?
My Screen Aspect Ratio is 16:9 but i still seem to be missing the the full picture when watching movies on sky and it doesnt come through as widescreen, am i an idiot? can someone please help me??

Welcome to the wonderful world of home theater. With the exception of TCM all the other Sky movie channels transmit in 16:9. Have you set your Sky STB to output 16:9 and you should not loose anything?? The exception will be if the movie is in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio in which case you will see black bars at the top and botton of the picture. 16:9 is 1.87:1 aspect ratio in movie talk..

Regards,

Old3eyes

garvani

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#104726 14-Jan-2008 12:09

On saturday i purchased a 40" Samsung LCD for $2500, it came with a $600 dvd recorder (with 160bg hard drive) It has HDMI out which ive plugged into the lcd. On the box it says the recorder is hdtv capable, so theoretically ill be able to plug the freeview tuner into this and record tv when freeview go HD or am i missing something here?
Also has anyone got any idea on the freeview rollout other than the main centres (chch, wellington etc)? i live in blenheim and would like OTA hdtv asap but assume it won't be here till 2009 :(

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