HD t.v. recommendations???
- Thread starter DiddyDave
- Start date
tdodd
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 6,481
- Name
- Tim
- Edit My Images
- No
We watch our 40" 1920x1080 TV at 8'-9'. It could easily be bigger for photos and Sky HD. For SD broadcasts I think it is a miracle that it looks as good as it does. I think a significantly larger set would be disappointing to watch for regular TV, as SD was simply never designed to be viewed at that sort of scale. You have to balance size, resolution and viewing distance with the quality of the source material and what you watch most of, or what is most important.
Uprezzing one photo at a time may not take too much processing power but you do need a good scaler to be able to convert 720x576 resolution SD material to cover 1366x768 or 1920x1080 pixels at 50 fields (25 frames) per second, and do a good job.
I also agree about black levels (especially for photography) and a fast response panel and good processing to avoid smearing on motion.
Uprezzing one photo at a time may not take too much processing power but you do need a good scaler to be able to convert 720x576 resolution SD material to cover 1366x768 or 1920x1080 pixels at 50 fields (25 frames) per second, and do a good job.
I also agree about black levels (especially for photography) and a fast response panel and good processing to avoid smearing on motion.
hank_marvin
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 158
- Edit My Images
- Yes
get any of the sony w4000 range and you will be in full HD heaven
- Messages
- 5,943
- Name
- Darran, Daz or ****
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I rate the Samsungs, we have two of the 32" LE3287BD models.
I bought the first one as a bit of self indulgence (for using with my Xbox 360 and PS3) as they were well regarded amongst the console gaming community.
The 2nd one was to replace our 5 year old Toshiba CRT when we moved last year.
I've had not issues at all with fast pace gaming, no motion blur or ghosting issues whatsover so I would expect photos to look generally quite good, however, I haven't tried this myself as of yet.
The newer Samsungs are supposed to be even better but for the price, I can't really fault the ones we have.
Don't forget that Samsung are also a large TFT/LCD manufacturer and their displays are used by quite a lot of the other companies.
I bought the first one as a bit of self indulgence (for using with my Xbox 360 and PS3) as they were well regarded amongst the console gaming community.
The 2nd one was to replace our 5 year old Toshiba CRT when we moved last year.
I've had not issues at all with fast pace gaming, no motion blur or ghosting issues whatsover so I would expect photos to look generally quite good, however, I haven't tried this myself as of yet.
The newer Samsungs are supposed to be even better but for the price, I can't really fault the ones we have.
Don't forget that Samsung are also a large TFT/LCD manufacturer and their displays are used by quite a lot of the other companies.
divine`
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 581
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Since always, Plasma is an inherently better display technology, though LCD is cheaper. This will be especially true for photographic purposes as Plasma can do 'black' blacks, which LCD can't by virtue of needing a back light all the time, where a plasma doesn't.
Anyone interested in make money on average priced sets will tell you LCD is better because it will sell them more TVs at higher margins.
Plasma isn't cost effective enough to build under 32" and even then, those are rare, with most being 42" and above.
admirable
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 11,612
- Name
- Jim
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Marks and Sparks have a few deals on Sony just now.
http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/s...6030,k:tv,n:43992030,p_4:Sony W Series&page=1
http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/s...6030,k:tv,n:43992030,p_4:Sony W Series&page=1
Pound for pound plasma is much better at colour and blacks, along with smooth motion.
The best Plasma's are by Pioneer, but very very price for there Kuros (hope i spelt that right) but a very close second is Panasonic Viera, i have one the 81 range. Mind blowingly good for the price.
Top spec LCD's are pretty these days and better match up to the Plasma's, but the old age thing of image retention on plasma's is pretty much out of the window on the new higher spec models, i play the WII and xbox 360 on my plasma without any issue at all, although my old LG plasma did suffer i wee bit, but nothing the inbuilt white wash wouldnt solve, but something to bear in mind if having static images for long peroids of time.
In terms of LCD's Sony tend to be the ones to go for, closely followed Samsong, ok the blacks will not be as black, and they do tend to suffer slight motion bleed, and will not match the SD image IQ that plasma's will produce, there HD IQ isnt a million miles of plasma, and SD IQ will be more then adequate for most peoples need's.
The larger the screen gets the more notice the difference between LCDs and plasma generally due to the costs most manufactors do not build plasma's below 42inch, and LCD's become more expensive to produce at larger sizes to get IQ's levels to be a match for plasma's.
Provided you are not going to be displaying pics more then 5minutes static you should be fine getting a plasma to which id say the Panasonic being the best compromise for money and image IQ, the 81 series having inbuilt Freesat is handy, as you can recieve free HD channels on it, and simply stunning SD image IQ, and mind blowing HD. If you are going to be having lots of slide shows of static images for longer periods of time then LCD would be the wiser choice, as screen burn hasnt been completely resolved on plasma's, although dont be fooled by some, screen burn can happen on lcds but there much better at handling static iamges. In which case the Sony W4000 is pretty tasty.
Providing ofcourse you have around £1,000 to spare.
Oh and yes SKy only broadcast in a max of 1080i, but the difference between that and SD is mind blowing, but id prefer to get a 1080p tv set, as i think that will become the norm, as wil 24fps, the Panasonic 81 will do both, pretty sure the Sony W4000 will too.
One other thing to bear in mind too, plasma run hotter, some like the Panny i have has has to control the temp, but i cannot hear them, they keep the set very cool. some cheaper plasmas dont have any so can buzz slgihtly if they get very hot, and you will find them dishing out alot heat.
LCD's do not have this heat issue with them.
The best Plasma's are by Pioneer, but very very price for there Kuros (hope i spelt that right) but a very close second is Panasonic Viera, i have one the 81 range. Mind blowingly good for the price.
Top spec LCD's are pretty these days and better match up to the Plasma's, but the old age thing of image retention on plasma's is pretty much out of the window on the new higher spec models, i play the WII and xbox 360 on my plasma without any issue at all, although my old LG plasma did suffer i wee bit, but nothing the inbuilt white wash wouldnt solve, but something to bear in mind if having static images for long peroids of time.
In terms of LCD's Sony tend to be the ones to go for, closely followed Samsong, ok the blacks will not be as black, and they do tend to suffer slight motion bleed, and will not match the SD image IQ that plasma's will produce, there HD IQ isnt a million miles of plasma, and SD IQ will be more then adequate for most peoples need's.
The larger the screen gets the more notice the difference between LCDs and plasma generally due to the costs most manufactors do not build plasma's below 42inch, and LCD's become more expensive to produce at larger sizes to get IQ's levels to be a match for plasma's.
Provided you are not going to be displaying pics more then 5minutes static you should be fine getting a plasma to which id say the Panasonic being the best compromise for money and image IQ, the 81 series having inbuilt Freesat is handy, as you can recieve free HD channels on it, and simply stunning SD image IQ, and mind blowing HD. If you are going to be having lots of slide shows of static images for longer periods of time then LCD would be the wiser choice, as screen burn hasnt been completely resolved on plasma's, although dont be fooled by some, screen burn can happen on lcds but there much better at handling static iamges. In which case the Sony W4000 is pretty tasty.
Providing ofcourse you have around £1,000 to spare.
Oh and yes SKy only broadcast in a max of 1080i, but the difference between that and SD is mind blowing, but id prefer to get a 1080p tv set, as i think that will become the norm, as wil 24fps, the Panasonic 81 will do both, pretty sure the Sony W4000 will too.
One other thing to bear in mind too, plasma run hotter, some like the Panny i have has has to control the temp, but i cannot hear them, they keep the set very cool. some cheaper plasmas dont have any so can buzz slgihtly if they get very hot, and you will find them dishing out alot heat.
LCD's do not have this heat issue with them.
Bit of a meth that one.
Current Plasma's will last just aslong as current LCD's, you will find the LCD back light dims over the same period of time, that time frame is much more that though, most are getting to atleast 100,000 hrs
and if you left it on 24/7 no doubt youd fall asleep and image burn in would occur..
similar to when watching DVDS, the black bars at top and bottom (on most plasma's) will burn in.
Will take some doing, and thats scare mongering. I have had plasmas for about 3 years with out any issues of screen burnin.
The 60,000hours is the half life brightness, a TV rated at 1:1000cdm after 60,000 hours will in effect drop to 1:500cdm which is way above most LCD's in the first place. But now factor in the point that most new plasma's have ratings in the 1:10,000+ bracket the half life cycle is way over most users.
My mun has my old LG plasma and still is a match to my brothers newer Sony LCD, and still no screen burn in.
Do not get screen burn in mistaken for image retenation issues though.
What brand outta interest and what where they playing on it?
Was the unit run in correctly as plamas are more susepitable to burn in with the first 250hrs while the gas settle down. Thats in the user manuals of both tv's i had. if playing a video that has a static image for 7hrs a day then maybe.
I have watched 3 films back to back my current Panny had no image burn in nor any image retention, the LG did have image retention, but nothing the burn protection system (white wash) couldnt handle.
Has the built in protection been enabled on that set?
divine`
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 581
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Yes, Burn in is very different to retention. Retention will go away and LCDs are almost as susceptible to it. I left my LCD on a forum once when I went out, power saving didn't turn it off and I ended up staying out for a couple of days, so when I got home, I had a faint image of the forum left for a couple of hours.
You'd really have to put the effort in to get a modern plasma to actually burn in.
You'd really have to put the effort in to get a modern plasma to actually burn in.
it's alive
Suspended / Banned
- Messages
- 265
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I did lots of looking into HDTV earlier in thea year and ended up with a Samsung. The LCD panels are identical to the Sony (but the firmware and control systems will differ) as they are mde in the same place.
I ended up with the Samsung unit as it had a much higher contrast, something to consider when showing photos. My 40" unit is fabulous for it.
I ended up with the Samsung unit as it had a much higher contrast, something to consider when showing photos. My 40" unit is fabulous for it.
I can't really remember to be honest mate. Only there for 2 days, crap company to work for!! Started in london bridge, second day was moved to somewhere else up london!