Big Screen TV - where do you go??

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#36725 26-May-2006 14:34

davidcole: the Acer 3705-DTV - http://global.acer.com/products/lcd_tv/at3705-DTV.htm.

Ok, that is saucey and I want one. Shame DSE don't sell them online or in ChCh... meh.

lyonrouge

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#36736 26-May-2006 15:58

Aloha: With this kind of opinion you should stop buying any electronic equipment ever.. They will all develop and evolve to higher level as the time goes by.

Who knows when real HD broadcasting will start here? Maybe in 2011? Or later?
Too far.
That's why I am going to buy a plasma this weekend. At least I can already enjoy the World Cup in big.. :)

Too true, buy and enjoy. “future proof”, ask for an infinite guarantee if someone says that.

Purest angle (from recent investigation) if buying a 16:9 screen may sure the native resolution is 16:9. Read the reviews and be informed, but only trust your own eyes. Test it with a 4:3 input on 4:3 mode and 16:9 input on 16:9 mode.

TV angle, if you watch mostly a 4:3 feed but want the “big screen” experience (i.e. stretch) a native 4:3 resolution will be fine and little more bang for buck.

Ps. Sadly my future proof Loewe is now on trademe for about ~200 L

davidcole

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#36743 26-May-2006 17:19

I think there's future proofing and there's going stupid. And you can't future proof to much, or you'd never end up buying anything.

I think what I set out is do-able in the next 6 months or so the way prices are going.

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lchiu7

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#36879 28-May-2006 11:37

You can wait until the best deal arrives or bite the bullet. I have been using Toshiba 52JM9UA TOSHIBA 52" DLP RP TV for the past year and enjoying it. Of course regular TV looks pretty average (I have Saturn cable) but DVD using a PC rather than a DVD player with some upscaling in the software looks great. Also downloaded TV shows from the US look pretty also

And since most of them are in widescreen, they take advantage of the 16:9 AR of the set.

The PC side is good enough for surfing and I often sit about 3m from the screen and surf using a wireless mouse and keyboard. It's a lot less tiring on the eyes

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

davidcole

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#36909 28-May-2006 18:10

Ahh, so you can run upscaling on the pc. Was wondering ab out that. What do you use ffdshow??

lchiu7

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#36917 28-May-2006 19:13

I use Zoomplayer and ffdshow. I can't do much processing though since the onboard video doesn't have much GPU power so when I do even modest processing (upscaling, de-interlacing etc.) the CPU (Athlon XP 2000+) si running at 100% CPU. Hopefully a new video card with some GPU power on it will help.

But even using this configuration the PQ looks much better than my upscaling progressive scan DVD player using component or even DVI.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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slinkytrips

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#36953 29-May-2006 07:40

I saw the acer one as well, there seems to be two models only $200 apart. It beats the philips one by having a digital tuner but the screen soesnot compete 12ms refresh, 1:800 contrast vs 6ms, 1:5000. Plasmas used to always beat LCD in the important contrast stakes but now LCD is catching up.
One other thing to note is that all LCD screens are progressive scan so even though the max signal you can feed it is 1080i (this is because of bandwith limitations set by HDMI) you will have a 1080p picture.

jpwise

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#37805 6-Jun-2006 12:14

slinkytrips: I saw the acer one as well, there seems to be two models only $200 apart.

One is the -DTV - Digital TV ?
The other is the -MGW - Media GateWay.

The media gateway model has an embedded (linux?) system for playing media content from a LAN. Music, Videos, etc. Also apparently streaming several radio stations from the net etc. I looked at the two options and went with the DTV because eventually I'll built a Home Theatre PC or Media Centre PC at some point. So the Media Gateway wouldn't have any use.

Jp.

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Mutly

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#37828 6-Jun-2006 15:12

jpwise: I looked at the two options and went with the DTV because eventually I'll built a Home Theatre PC or Media Centre PC at some point. So the Media Gateway wouldn't have any use.

Fancy doing a mini review of the TV as you have found it so far? Go on ...

lyonrouge

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#37829 6-Jun-2006 15:18

Mutly:
jpwise: I looked at the two options and went with the DTV because eventually I'll built a Home Theatre PC or Media Centre PC at some point. So the Media Gateway wouldn't have any use.

Fancy doing a mini review of the TV as you have found it so far? Go on ...

I can give a review of a Pansonic TH-50PHD8 (http://www.panasonic.co.nz/professional-plasmas.html) verses the Panasonic PT-AE900 if you are interested?

jpwise

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#37831 6-Jun-2006 15:22

LOL. To be honest I don't actually use it enough to go over it's features. I know what it can and should be able to do, but the damn flatmates actually use it more than I do. ;p

In general it seems to be pretty good. I haven't played with the DVI/HDMI input yet. Got sky hooked up via the scart input, and flatmates got their ps2 hooked up to the av. Did hook the analog tv aerial up aswell and had a brief play with the picture in picture stuff, seems OK, but I haven't really played with that many tv's, and watch most of my dvd's etc on the PC.

If anyones got any specific questions about it though I'll try to answer.

One of these days I'll even shell out the money for the wall mount brackets (~$300 odd by themselves!!!)

Jp.

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jitendra

21 posts

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#39689 26-Jun-2006 17:53

I've found that going back to the same store and looking at the same TV BUT talking to different sales people is invaluable. Each sales person tends to give you slightly more info. It was only after 3 visits to stero world, did i realise they were showing and HD movie (from an HD DVD player) on an HD TV. . . .

It's also good to watch TV 1 or 2, to see what they are like. I did that at farmers, and you really notice what 42 inches of real eastate with a poor signal does . . .

lyonrouge

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#39696 26-Jun-2006 18:25

jitendra: I've found that going back to the same store and looking at the same TV BUT talking to different sales people is invaluable. Each sales person tends to give you slightly more info. It was only after 3 visits to stero world, did i realise they were showing and HD movie (from an HD DVD player) on an HD TV. . . .
It's also good to watch TV 1 or 2, to see what they are like. I did that at farmers, and you really notice what 42 inches of real eastate with a poor signal does . . .

... alos worth putting a 42" vs a screen with native 16:9 resolution with a 4:3 apsect ratio, quite a difference.

Frankei

66 posts

Master Geek

#39703 26-Jun-2006 19:22

In the long run anything worthwhile will be 16:9 so meh

lyonrouge

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#39767 27-Jun-2006 08:12

Frankei: In the long run anything worthwhile will be 16:9 so meh

I did not encounter a 42" 16:9 in my investigation, all where 1024 x 768. I found you have to go up or down a size to get native 16:9 resolution (1366 x 768).

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