Have a few Q's about HD and LCD-Projector TVs
06-28-05, 02:39 PM
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Have a few Q's about HD and LCD-Projector TVs
Hey guys,
My friend at work was looking at getting a 50" Panasonic Plasma. Well, he ended up with a Zenith/LG 52" LCD Projector which I had never even heard of but he did get it for a good price at $1800. Anywho, he got it hooked up at home with regular satelite (DISH NETWORK). He was not happy with picture on regular broadcast so he calls the Dish Network and they tell him he has to have a HD receiver. So he gets it along with a $120 DVI cable from CC. The HD channels looks sweet! But the standard TV still looks not-so-good. I went over to check it out and he was right. The standard channels were washy looking - instead of smooth color transitions, looks like a paint by numbers. The DVD's look amazing. The VCR even looks OK. What's weird is for S&G's I switch the DVI cable to an S-Video and the standard channels improved (not profoundly though). He orders a new receiver box from Dish Network thinking that the box might be faulty and nothing changes. So he is returning the TV and again looking at the Panasonic Plasmas.
Anyone have any experience with this? Is it common for HDTV's to have so-so non-HD broadcasts? Does a DVI not send a non-HDTV signal? Will he expect the same issues with a Plasma TV?
Thanks for any and all advice.
My friend at work was looking at getting a 50" Panasonic Plasma. Well, he ended up with a Zenith/LG 52" LCD Projector which I had never even heard of but he did get it for a good price at $1800. Anywho, he got it hooked up at home with regular satelite (DISH NETWORK). He was not happy with picture on regular broadcast so he calls the Dish Network and they tell him he has to have a HD receiver. So he gets it along with a $120 DVI cable from CC. The HD channels looks sweet! But the standard TV still looks not-so-good. I went over to check it out and he was right. The standard channels were washy looking - instead of smooth color transitions, looks like a paint by numbers. The DVD's look amazing. The VCR even looks OK. What's weird is for S&G's I switch the DVI cable to an S-Video and the standard channels improved (not profoundly though). He orders a new receiver box from Dish Network thinking that the box might be faulty and nothing changes. So he is returning the TV and again looking at the Panasonic Plasmas.
Anyone have any experience with this? Is it common for HDTV's to have so-so non-HD broadcasts? Does a DVI not send a non-HDTV signal? Will he expect the same issues with a Plasma TV?
Thanks for any and all advice.
Last edited by Bose Pro; 06-28-05 at 02:40 PM. Reason: Typos
06-28-05, 04:20 PM
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Satellite SDTV from Direct or Dish is one of the worst signals you will find. Once you get an HDTV, you find this out. Sucks, huh? It may be better to use an Svideo connection, even from the HD STB (set top box), for watching SDTV channels. Sometimes that helps, depends on the STB and the TV.
Another issue is that they may need to be calibrated differently. If you get them all from the same STB, you'd want to use the TV's memory for various settings. Most have them these days. My DLP has 3 possible custom settings for each input, which means 18 different memory settings if necessary.
Another issue is that they may need to be calibrated differently. If you get them all from the same STB, you'd want to use the TV's memory for various settings. Most have them these days. My DLP has 3 possible custom settings for each input, which means 18 different memory settings if necessary.
