Chew

I picked the Toshiba 51H83

--wanted to pick from the best-reviewed list of Toshiba, Hitachi, or Mitsubishi.
--wanted DVI (which eliminated Mits)
--Hitachi is very scarce in my area. I feel more comfortable buying from a store than online for this big of a purchase.
--wanted a TV with good 4x3 to 16x9 conversion

This model has

Best Buy had this unit hooked up to an antenna and the picture looked good. I would expect DirecTV to be at least 2-3 levels higher in picture quality over an antenna.

Draven

Niiiiiiiice.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it

huzefa

Hooray for Chew! Welcome to the bigscreen TV club; you'll never go back.

BDB

You suck, I am waiting and waiting to pull the trigger on a WS tv.
Been looking at a 27" for the last 5 years.

But seriously congrats, when I was looking I thought the Toshiba had the best pic by far, and the demo they had was a james dean concert, the sweat was dripping on to the floor it was that good.

I may just wait and get a plasma this christmas, the other thing I am waiting for is the HD Directivo, which is supposed to be out for the holidays.

abintra

Why would a standard channel look any worse on a big screen HDTV versus on a non-HDTV? Isn't the HDTV capable of everything a non-HDTV is plus?

Or are you talking more about stretching a 4x3 image to fit a 16x9? What are the reasons to stretch rather than watching 4x3 sources as 4x3?

Chew

The reason it wouldn't look as good is because it amplifies the imperfections of the source. On a standard analog TV, which is smaller, you don't notice it. On a screen that's twice the size and digital, you will.

As for 4x3 to 16x9, I guess two issues: why waste the screen? Also, some models can cause burn-in on the sides when you watch 4x3 all the time.

Tandem

On my Mits 55807 the 4x3 image comes up in a different place each time (slightly off center) and has gray bars to avoid burn-in.

I tried the progressive stretched mode for awhile but I didn't like what it did to the picture when the camera moved. I watch some 4x3 programs in normal mode (fills the 16x9 screen) and others in pillar box mode. It depends on how picky I feel about keeping the aspect ratio correct - on some programs it's more critical than others.

Up until a few months ago I only watched DVDs and OTA SD programs, so now that I have DirecTV, it looks pretty good to me.

abintra

Thanks. I was thrown off a little by the mention of how the signal would look specifically on a big screen HDTV.

It would look just as good/poor on a big screen HDTV as it would a non-HDTV correct? For example, the same DirecTV signal on a 65" non-HDTV and a 65" HDTV would look the same.. the fact you are watching it on a HDTV doesn't make it look any worse.

How do the stretch modes for 4x3 sources to 16x9 actually look? I have never seen one but am a OAR person so would be hesitant to do so unless there is a reason for myself.

Chew

That I wouldn't know. I've never seen it on a normal big-screen TV

I think they look pretty good actually. But, I was watching Episode 2 on HBO for a little while today. Phew! Taking a widescreen movie which HBO shapes to full-screen and then my TV takes that full-screen and shapes to widescreen. Now that doesn't look good.


So, after 2 days, here's the report: Wow! Everything looks awesome, even DirecTV.

Out-of-the-box, it was a different story though. The TV was set to 1080i, which I didn't know. Broadcasts looked like pure crap! I thought "what did I get myself into!". After a few hours, I set it to 540p and it was like night and day. The quality of the picture is nearly as good as my 4x3 set.

DVDs look awesome, and even sound a little better on the surround system too

Now I just have to wait until that Avia Home Theater DVD comes from DDD so I can get the whole system set-up properly.

I'm going to go finish up T2 now

nazz

Congrats on the purchase! You're in for loads of fun.