Should I get LCD or stay with my CRT ?

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xlinknz

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Topic # 13372 7-May-2007 11:20

Hi all

Is the only reason other than ascetics in my home I should bother with a 32" LCD is if I watch something in HD i.e. blueray ?

We currently have a 2 year old sharp 29" CRT.

I was impressed at LV Martin when watching a 32" panel driven by a Blueray but when I got the salesperson to change to an analogue signal of public TV the contrast was shocking, CRT was definately better

So I ask the question

1. What HD input devices are there other than a Sony Blueray ?
2. How much HD media is available - I assume I can't rent HD Blueway DVDs from my local video store

sbiddle

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Reply # 69797 7-May-2007 11:46

Standard TV ranges quality from terrible to acceptible on any LCD or Plasma TV, it doesn't really matter what brand you go for. Obviously higher quality feeds like Freeview are as good as you will get - Sky runs at a lot lower bitrate so offers worse quality. Watching 4:3 TV and stretching it to fill your widescreen TV also makes things worse.

There are only 3 ways to watch HD content on a TV in New Zealand - a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player or using a PC to play back content in HD format that you're acquired such as downloading TV shows in HD format. There is very little Blu-Ray or HD-DVD media currently available to rent or purchase which is the big downfall..:-(

xlinknz

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Reply # 69802 7-May-2007 12:11

I appreciate the reply

So even if I get a 32" wide screen LCD I'm going to have to have a couple of bars down each side...

It makes me wonder why so many people are buying LCD & Plasma panels, must be those Sony blue-ray demos they run ?!

My conclusion is that I should keep my trustly 29" CRT [as unascetic as it is compared to a panel] until significantly more HD media is available buy then the cost should have come down

If I do buy I'm make sure the the response time is <8ms

Nightwyrm

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Reply # 69803 7-May-2007 12:23

sbiddle: There are only 3 ways to watch HD content on a TV in New Zealand - a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player or using a PC to play back content in HD format that you're acquired such as downloading TV shows in HD format.

What about the upscaling advertised on DVD players, etc.?

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Reply # 69806 7-May-2007 12:42

xlinknz: I appreciate the reply

So even if I get a 32" wide screen LCD I'm going to have to have a couple of bars down each side...

It makes me wonder why so many people are buying LCD & Plasma panels, must be those Sony blue-ray demos they run ?!

My conclusion is that I should keep my trustly 29" CRT [as unascetic as it is compared to a panel] until significantly more HD media is available buy then the cost should have come down

If I do buy I'm make sure the the response time is <8ms

You'll only get bars down each side if you view 4:3 content in it's native format and don't stretch it to fill the screen. I don't know anybody who has their TV set like this as it's so damn annoying. You tend to not notice everybody stretched horizontally after a while!

I think people buy LCD's and Plasma's for vaious reasons. In part because it's simply become the norm for large screens and secondly just because of the "cooless" factor of such a TV. I have a 50" Pioneer Plasma myself and love the screen especially for DVD playback. Trying to watch SD stuff that's poor quality sometimes makes you wonder whether spending so much money on a TV was a wise investment!!

The current model rear projection TV's are something worth looking at, IMHO the picture quality of models such as the Sony's is better than a LCD/Plasma especially for SD stuff and the price is also very competitive.

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Reply # 69808 7-May-2007 12:54

lugh:
sbiddle: There are only 3 ways to watch HD content on a TV in New Zealand - a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player or using a PC to play back content in HD format that you're acquired such as downloading TV shows in HD format.

What about the upscaling advertised on DVD players, etc.?

The material is still SD. You cant create information that is not there. All these do is "guess" what information would have been there if it was. In reality there is almost no difference between upscaling DVD players and your HD TV upscaling the picture to fill the screen.

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Reply # 69811 7-May-2007 13:26

You'll only get bars down each side if you view 4:3 content in it's native format and don't stretch it to fill the screen. I don't know anybody who has their TV set like this as it's so damn annoying. You tend to not notice everybody stretched horizontally after a while!

I think people buy LCD's and Plasma's for vaious reasons. In part because it's simply become the norm for large screens and secondly just because of the "cooless" factor of such a TV. I have a 50" Pioneer Plasma myself and love the screen especially for DVD playback. Trying to watch SD stuff that's poor quality sometimes makes you wonder whether spending so much money on a TV was a wise investment!!

The current model rear projection TV's are something worth looking at, IMHO the picture quality of models such as the Sony's is better than a LCD/Plasma especially for SD stuff and the price is also very competitive.

To watch DVDs or downloaded media we currently feed our laptop into the 29" CRT using a standard rca cable :-o and it does annoy me to stretch the content to fit the TV so as to not getting bars at the top and bottom it would be even worse to have bars on the side one of the reason's I didn't buy a wide screen crt

I'm not so sure now about spending $2000+ to get "coolness"

When is freeview going to be HD ?

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Reply # 69814 7-May-2007 13:48

xlinknz:
When is freeview going to be HD ?

There is talk of an HD terrestrial freeview broadcast march next year - that doesnt necessarily mean that all the content is going to be HD though... probably a mix. Also it is expected that the satellite will only be SD for the foreseeable future (Sky is aiming for HD next year though I believe)

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Reply # 69816 7-May-2007 14:17

xlinknz:
When is freeview going to be HD ?

The DVB-T (terrestrial) launch in February next year will have support for HD so expect to start seeing HD stuff then. If you look at the shows playing in HD in Australia which is primarily US produced shows and some local content it'll give you an idea of what to expect in NZ.

There were rumors of the satellite service offering HD broadcasts after the terrestrial launch but that seems to be unlikely to occur now at least in the short term judging by recent comments.

xlinknz

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Reply # 69818 7-May-2007 15:12

sbiddle:
xlinknz:
When is freeview going to be HD ?

The DVB-T (terrestrial) launch in February next year will have support for HD so expect to start seeing HD stuff then. If you look at the shows playing in HD in Australia which is primarily US produced shows and some local content it'll give you an idea of what to expect in NZ.

There were rumors of the satellite service offering HD broadcasts after the terrestrial launch but that seems to be unlikely to occur now at least in the short term judging by recent comments.

What is DVB-T (terrestrial) and will that be broadcast from Mt KauKau in Wgtn ?

Sound like I should hold off my 32" LCD HD TV until next year !

sbiddle

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Reply # 69820 7-May-2007 15:45

xlinknz:
What is DVB-T (terrestrial) and will that be broadcast from Mt KauKau in Wgtn ?

Sound like I should hold off my 32" LCD HD TV until next year !

It's the terrestrial (ie works with existing aerial) Freeview service. You'll still need to buy a new STB if you have an older TV but expect to see TV's available here towards the end of the year that will receive the signal without requiring a STB.

All you'll need is a UHF aerial and yes the signal will be transmitted from KauKau.