My Home theater setup
01-25-01, 01:28 AM
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I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my SONY 61hs10. Quick question though...in order to receive the HDTV signal will I have to purchase the SONY SAThd100 unit for the HD signal or could I just go with the Dish 6000 system.
I want to obviously get the best picture possible but have the most flexibility in programming choices, and from what I hear Dish has more HD broadcasting anyhow (for the moment).
The other issue is that I have a problem with is watching DVDs with the bars on top and bottom. But I wonder if it is worth it to pay that much more just to be able to watch very limited TV that is HD (in 16x9 mode) and from the limited selection of 16x9 DVDs. Should I just get the SONY KP-65XBR10W or KP-57XBR10W and just live with stretch on the regular broadcasting. I just can't decide what is more important. I watch movies about 20% of the time and 80% of the time I watch regular TV. I want to be able to enjoy my picture though with all sources.
Now the other question is, with any of these TVs mentioned above, do I need to upgrade to a DVD player in the class of the SONY 9000ES or will I be okay with the Toshiba 6200. They both are progressive so I can't see much a difference there.
Well, any information would help. Thanks.
I want to obviously get the best picture possible but have the most flexibility in programming choices, and from what I hear Dish has more HD broadcasting anyhow (for the moment).
The other issue is that I have a problem with is watching DVDs with the bars on top and bottom. But I wonder if it is worth it to pay that much more just to be able to watch very limited TV that is HD (in 16x9 mode) and from the limited selection of 16x9 DVDs. Should I just get the SONY KP-65XBR10W or KP-57XBR10W and just live with stretch on the regular broadcasting. I just can't decide what is more important. I watch movies about 20% of the time and 80% of the time I watch regular TV. I want to be able to enjoy my picture though with all sources.
Now the other question is, with any of these TVs mentioned above, do I need to upgrade to a DVD player in the class of the SONY 9000ES or will I be okay with the Toshiba 6200. They both are progressive so I can't see much a difference there.
Well, any information would help. Thanks.
01-25-01, 01:39 AM
#2
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Why are you so hung up on Sony? You are limiting yourself out of much better sets with that problem. A good 16x9 set will show regular TV in stretched mode (much better than you might think) or 4x3 mode with bars on the sides. But not Sony (good stretched mode, that is).
And I don't have a clue what you mean by the "limited selection of 16x9 DVDs". I might have ten out of over 200 DVDs that are 4x3. And that's because they were filmed that way. Almost all movies now are filmed, and transferred to DVD, in 16x9 type format.
Aren't you asking this a little too late if your set is on its way?<small>
[This message has been edited by X (edited January 24, 2001).]
And I don't have a clue what you mean by the "limited selection of 16x9 DVDs". I might have ten out of over 200 DVDs that are 4x3. And that's because they were filmed that way. Almost all movies now are filmed, and transferred to DVD, in 16x9 type format.
Aren't you asking this a little too late if your set is on its way?<small>
[This message has been edited by X (edited January 24, 2001).]
01-25-01, 09:30 AM
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Strech mode on a 16x9 set looks just fine. On my Mits. stretch mode just streches the outer edges of the picture. If you are worried about black bars they are going to be worse on the 61HS10 than they would be on a 16x9 set when you watch HDTV brodcast or a DVD movie.
Also movies on DVD are presented in their OAR and not every movie is filmed in 16x9(1.85:1). On a 16x9 set there are no black bars for a 16x9 movie and very minimal black bars for a 2.35:1 movies. On the 61HS10 a 2.35:1 movie is going to be a thin stripe across the screen because the 61HS10 will have to use vertical compression to make it fit. As X said you are definitly limiting yourself with Sony. They are way overpriced and there are much better sets that will perform the way you want.
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01-25-01, 10:00 AM
#4
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I have 16:9 and still prefer the 2.35:1 ratio. Also having the Mits I have no trouble with 4:3 images. The only trouble is that stretch mode is not available in 480p, meaning I run an S-video connection for 480i mode for DVD 4:3 images like Star Trek or Documentaries.
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Jim's HT pics with Mitsubishi 55907, Yamaha 595a, Def Tech BP 2004's, Toshiba 5109, Pioneer LD
Widescreen Presentation
Jim's DVD's
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Jim's HT pics with Mitsubishi 55907, Yamaha 595a, Def Tech BP 2004's, Toshiba 5109, Pioneer LD
Widescreen Presentation
Jim's DVD's
01-25-01, 02:30 PM
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I do not know why I am so hung on the SONY tvs. I just seem to be a SONY person. I am just worried about getting a 16x9 tv, (i.e., the new 57" or 65" XBR RPTV or something else) and then being unhappy with the picture quality from anything that is not HD or anamorphic, such as letterboxed DVDs, VHS playback, Cable or Digital sattelite feeds. I think that stretching the images to fill the screen is going to make the picture look crappy.
Is it really worth it to compromise everything other than just 16x9 DVDs or HD? And deal with bad picture?
I am so lost now.
Please help.
Is it really worth it to compromise everything other than just 16x9 DVDs or HD? And deal with bad picture?
I am so lost now.
Please help.
01-25-01, 02:35 PM
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In the last issue of Home Theatre I believe had a review on the kp61hs10 and they said that there was no finer rptv out there for the price range. They also said it was one of sony's best TV and it put more expensive RPTV to shame basically. Take it as you like, but I am also going to get the sony 61.
01-25-01, 02:42 PM
#7
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I don't know what you're paying for the Sony, but check out reviews of the Pioneer Elite RPTV's. You will learn all about how the 4x3 source looks in stretched or zoomed modes.
As for quality, I'll have to look at the Home Theater review of the kp61hs10. But I've read many reviews, and have never seen one that had Sony RPTV's anywhere near the top tier.
As for quality, I'll have to look at the Home Theater review of the kp61hs10. But I've read many reviews, and have never seen one that had Sony RPTV's anywhere near the top tier.
01-25-01, 02:44 PM
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Well all I can say was I went through the same decision. Should I buy a 4:3 TV or a widescreen TV. If you have a crummy cable signal it is going to look mediocre on a large projection TV, widescreen or not. Digital cable and satalite signal look very good. Like I said the different viewing modes does help on a HDTV for viewing 4:3 programs and in the end I decided to "buy for the future" and got the HDTV. It's all going to come down to your personal tastes. You should go to a HT store and have them pump a regular cable/antennae signal into a HDTV for you and check out the different viewing modes.
Hope that doesn't dig you in deeper.
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01-25-01, 02:57 PM
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Here are some purchasers' reviews of the Sony:
http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/H...ct_48035.shtml
This review looked fair:
NOTE: I DID NOT WRITE THIS. IT IS COPIED FROM THE LINK ABOVE IN ORDER TO HELP THE PERSON ASKING FOR ADVICE!
Word of advice, this set is extremely marked up over cost. Make sure you debate with your Circuit City / Best Buy / etc salesperson because they can come down further than you think in price. I repeatedly visited Circuit City for a month until I finally got a sales counselor to offer me a lower price; after 30 different people told me their 'lowest' price, the 31st person lowered another $1,000!!!
The glare problems mentioned in other posts are real, but are no different than any other RPTV if you have direct sunlight that hits the front of it. All RPTV must have a dark room for optimal viewing; light should only come from behind the set. (ever seen a window in a movie theater!)
The DRC for regular NTSC viewing is simply stunning. Although a degraded signal will be magnified by the display, it is not very forgiving. If you have poor signal quality (a problem which can usually be fixed), you will notice it on this set, even if you did not notice on your previous set.
HDTV or progressive video from a progressive DVD is almost as good as it gets, however I will say that this set is not the sharpest or most visually stunning HDTV in HDTV mode; I have read reviews in Widescreen mag. and others that do agree with me. I have not seen the banding problems mentioned in other posts; my build date is recent so maybe this is fixed. I have never had the 5-blink code error either. This set is good with HDTV, but not stunning - it looks as though the engineers focused more on NTSC quality with compromises 80% of my viewing any way. One HDTV plus is that the set will except 3 input component, or 5 input RGB+sync signals, most sets only accept one or the other not both.
By the way, this is one super-sized TV! You're gonna need to make some room to fit this mother in the living room!
The real value here is that you can still see regular broadcasts (4/3 non-letterboxed material) without squishing or distorting like you see on other widescreen HDTV’s. My old Toshiba did this and made the picture look horrible - make sure you see a real regular cable or VCR feed on any HDTV before you buy it because that is what you will be watching a majority of the time, and most HDTV’s look like piss with such a signal; not this baby.
This is not a naive review like others who are obliged to write glaring reviews because they just dropped 3-5 grand on a TV; those dopes usually buy the 'Monster Cables' with it, sure sign of a rookie. When I use to sell electronics, I would always tell people it doesn't matter what you buy because you will never have the other similar items in your home to compare it with - you won't know what your missing or what you have gained. I spent 3 months traversing around 10 different stores bringing my own VHS videos and DVD’s to compare picture qualities with, I even brought my own cables and DVD player to one of them. Other sets included similar Hitachis, Toshibas, Sony XBR versions, and the Pioneers. This set is hands down the best over all value, the Pioneer does blow my set away when it comes to picture quality though, at double the price unfortunately. The Toshiba has the best options, being able to control your viewing sizes no matter what input which is impressive, this set locks you into 16:9 on a HDTV signal, no choices there. The Toshiba and Hitachi butcher NTSC, making it almost unbearable to watch. The good Pioneer's are widescreen only. You must compare the same sets in the same place next to each other with the same source to get an accurate idea - then repeat this test in other stores before deciding.
THE ABOVE REVIEW CAME FROM A REVIEW LOCATED AT THE LINK GIVEN ABOVE. I DO NOT ENDORSE OR REJECT ANY STATEMENTS MADE THEREIN
[This message has been edited by X (edited January 26, 2001).]
http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/H...ct_48035.shtml
This review looked fair:
NOTE: I DID NOT WRITE THIS. IT IS COPIED FROM THE LINK ABOVE IN ORDER TO HELP THE PERSON ASKING FOR ADVICE!
Word of advice, this set is extremely marked up over cost. Make sure you debate with your Circuit City / Best Buy / etc salesperson because they can come down further than you think in price. I repeatedly visited Circuit City for a month until I finally got a sales counselor to offer me a lower price; after 30 different people told me their 'lowest' price, the 31st person lowered another $1,000!!!
The glare problems mentioned in other posts are real, but are no different than any other RPTV if you have direct sunlight that hits the front of it. All RPTV must have a dark room for optimal viewing; light should only come from behind the set. (ever seen a window in a movie theater!)
The DRC for regular NTSC viewing is simply stunning. Although a degraded signal will be magnified by the display, it is not very forgiving. If you have poor signal quality (a problem which can usually be fixed), you will notice it on this set, even if you did not notice on your previous set.
HDTV or progressive video from a progressive DVD is almost as good as it gets, however I will say that this set is not the sharpest or most visually stunning HDTV in HDTV mode; I have read reviews in Widescreen mag. and others that do agree with me. I have not seen the banding problems mentioned in other posts; my build date is recent so maybe this is fixed. I have never had the 5-blink code error either. This set is good with HDTV, but not stunning - it looks as though the engineers focused more on NTSC quality with compromises 80% of my viewing any way. One HDTV plus is that the set will except 3 input component, or 5 input RGB+sync signals, most sets only accept one or the other not both.
By the way, this is one super-sized TV! You're gonna need to make some room to fit this mother in the living room!
The real value here is that you can still see regular broadcasts (4/3 non-letterboxed material) without squishing or distorting like you see on other widescreen HDTV’s. My old Toshiba did this and made the picture look horrible - make sure you see a real regular cable or VCR feed on any HDTV before you buy it because that is what you will be watching a majority of the time, and most HDTV’s look like piss with such a signal; not this baby.
This is not a naive review like others who are obliged to write glaring reviews because they just dropped 3-5 grand on a TV; those dopes usually buy the 'Monster Cables' with it, sure sign of a rookie. When I use to sell electronics, I would always tell people it doesn't matter what you buy because you will never have the other similar items in your home to compare it with - you won't know what your missing or what you have gained. I spent 3 months traversing around 10 different stores bringing my own VHS videos and DVD’s to compare picture qualities with, I even brought my own cables and DVD player to one of them. Other sets included similar Hitachis, Toshibas, Sony XBR versions, and the Pioneers. This set is hands down the best over all value, the Pioneer does blow my set away when it comes to picture quality though, at double the price unfortunately. The Toshiba has the best options, being able to control your viewing sizes no matter what input which is impressive, this set locks you into 16:9 on a HDTV signal, no choices there. The Toshiba and Hitachi butcher NTSC, making it almost unbearable to watch. The good Pioneer's are widescreen only. You must compare the same sets in the same place next to each other with the same source to get an accurate idea - then repeat this test in other stores before deciding.
THE ABOVE REVIEW CAME FROM A REVIEW LOCATED AT THE LINK GIVEN ABOVE. I DO NOT ENDORSE OR REJECT ANY STATEMENTS MADE THEREIN
[This message has been edited by X (edited January 26, 2001).]
01-25-01, 08:32 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by X:
This is not a naive review like others who are obliged to write glaring reviews because they just dropped 3-5 grand on a TV; those dopes usually buy the 'Monster Cables' with it, sure sign of a rookie. <HR>
What if one of the 'dopes' who bought a 3-5 grand TV bought a set of Tara Labs component cables to connect to his set. Does that make them a 'rookie', too?
Please elaborate on how the brand of a/v cables you buy classifies a person as to your 'rookie' status.
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01-25-01, 08:47 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by DVD_O_Rama:
What if one of the 'dopes' who bought a 3-5 grand TV bought a set of Tara Labs component cables to connect to his set. Does that make them a 'rookie', too?
Please elaborate on how the brand of a/v cables you buy classifies a person as to your 'rookie' status.<HR>
Since I didn't write the review, I can't. That appeared to be kind of an aside. You might want to post that question at www.audioreview.com where the review came from.
01-26-01, 07:23 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by X:
Since I didn't write the review, I can't. That appeared to be kind of an aside. You might want to post that question at www.audioreview.com where the review came from.<HR>
I'm not talking about the review, I'm talking about the comment in your post, on this website. Do I need to quote you again to remind you what you said?
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01-26-01, 07:35 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by DVD_O_Rama:
I'm not talking about the review, I'm talking about the comment in your post, on this website. Do I need to quote you again to remind you what you said?<HR>
I'll say it one more time. I didn't say that. The entirety of my writing was the words I will again put in this post (between the ***************** to make it easy) for you.
Now if you want to pick a fight, go to the link, read the guy's review, and fight with him. I was just trying to help out somebody and I don't give a rat's ass about anybody's cables
The complete contents of my own writing from the above post in question:
*****************
Here are some purchasers' reviews of the Sony:
http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/H...ct_48035.shtml
This review looked fair:
*****************
01-26-01, 10:51 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by X:
I'll say it one more time. I didn't say that. The entirety of my writing was the words I will again put in this post (between the ***************** to make it easy) for you.
Now if you want to pick a fight, go to the link, read the guy's review, and fight with him. I was just trying to help out somebody and I don't give a rat's ass about anybody's cables
The complete contents of my own writing from the above post in question:
*****************
Here are some purchasers' reviews of the Sony:
http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/H...ct_48035.shtml
This review looked fair:
***************** <HR>
Thanks for making that clear for me. I guess I failed to comprehend that you posted a link to the same review you cut and pasted into your post. One would think that cutting and pasting the review would make a link to the same exact thing useless, and vice versa.
And I wasn't looking to pick a fight by any means, I simply asked for clarification.
I'm glad you don't give a "rat's ass" about cables, too many rodent rectums are already in a tizzy on the subject.
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01-26-01, 11:04 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by DVD_O_Rama:
Thanks for making that clear for me. I guess I failed to comprehend that you posted a link to the same review you cut and pasted into your post. One would think that cutting and pasting the review would make a link to the same exact thing useless, and vice versa.
And I wasn't looking to pick a fight by any means, I simply asked for clarification.
I'm glad you don't give a "rat's ass" about cables, too many rodent rectums are already in a tizzy on the subject. <HR>
First, check out the link. It isn't only the review I posted. It's more comprehensive for somebody who cares about the subject, not just getting into an argument. But I guess you call the statement "Do I need to quote you again to remind you what you said?" merely a request for clarification. Others might disagree.
One might think that someone would do their "homework" before going off so half-cocked. And it sure seems that you were looking for the cable argument that you now say is incidental. Perhaps all parts of your signature should be taken literally.
01-27-01, 12:37 AM
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Hey you what about Mitsubishi? Any suggestions on any of those sets. I hear that they and Pioneer have about the best picture of any HD RPTV.
Your thoughts please.
Thanks.
Your thoughts please.
Thanks.
01-27-01, 01:42 AM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by X:
First, check out the link. It isn't only the review I posted. It's more comprehensive for somebody who cares about the subject, not just getting into an argument. But I guess you call the statement "Do I need to quote you again to remind you what you said?" merely a request for clarification. Others might disagree.
One might think that someone would do their "homework" before going off so half-cocked. And it sure seems that you were looking for the cable argument that you now say is incidental. Perhaps all parts of your signature should be taken literally.<HR>
X, lay off that Ether, it's gettin' to ya. I asked for clarification of something I saw in your long-winded post. I did read it there- it turns out it was a review posted on another website, and I guess if I would have actually read your long post line for line, I would have realized it was a cribbed review from Audioreview and not something you actually had any input or thought about at all. My bad.
Again, it's obvious I goofed and should have realized that not everyone who posts on this forum writes their own material. Perhaps quoting other people's works in a 'quote' or using italics would make it more noticeable that it wasn't your thoughts at all, and merely someone elses you...borrowed. So for the thrid time (I think- I've lost count now) I admit I flubbed. Not sure if you're reaching for an apology or not, but thats as close as it's going to get.
I never go off half-cocked, btw. It's a genetic thing.
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01-27-01, 02:18 AM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by X:
Perhaps it will be more clear now.<HR>
Thank you, Mr. X. (Or is it just...'X'?)
You have made my day. Posts like this are fine examples of people who take this stuff way too seriously.
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