jmj713

Not that I'm a totally dummy, but I am looking to buy an HDTV this year, and the various technologies make my head spin. Is there a consise but simple pros/cons sort of chart where one could get a better idea of all these different technologies. Ideally, what's the best kind of HDTV one can buy?

Premise

IMHO,either a dlp or a 3 chip lcd.

jmj713

Not plasma?

Spiky

I wouldn't be surprised if Best Buy or Crutchfield showed something. If you google HDTV Primer or FAQ you will find many such websites. Many of them can be biased towards one tech or the other, though. I'd find it pretty hard to be unbiased myself.

There is no end-all best technology for everyone because everyone is different and has a different sized bulge in their pocketbook. I just thought about it, I believe there are 11 different types of HDTVs available, with at least 2 more coming soon.

I guess the first things to look at are room size, viewing habits (time per day, types of shows/sources), budget.

jmj713

Well disregard budget for sake of argument (although my personal ceiling would be around 3-4 grand)...

Spiky

The best picture (IMO) would be a stack of Sony G90s. (9" CRT front projectors) Takes more work. Cost is somewhat high. Something like $25K for each, and you still don't have a room, screen, player, scaler, chair, etc. I hate Art Sonneborn, if jealously counts as hate.

For less than $3K, I put in a 90" screen with an HD DLP projector. I see rainbows occasionally, esp when I am tired. But other than that it is awesome, and the best I could afford. I would consider LCD projection if it weren't for the higher maintenance issues with dust and cleaning. Light control is a must with front projection, though.

For a smaller setup that doesn't require full light control, I was all set to get a 65" CRT RPTV, about the best picture around. Just friggin' huge box, so I went larger with essentially no box in the room.

After that I'd lean toward plasma. LCD flat panels are just catching up with plasma's picture quality, but they are more expensive still.

For small TVs, there is really only LCD flat as an option to me. CRT tubes are small screens, but giant boxes. I just don't have the space.

jmj713

Here's a nice quick guide I found: http://www.coleprojectors.com/which_...er_types.shtml

bboisvert

What do you mean by "best"? Best picture quality? Because then you can bypass all of this plasma/dlp talk and look at a RPTV. But, if you don't have the space to put the (usually rather chunky) TV, you may want to look at thinner options. But, at this point, that usually means making a trade-off in picture quality.

nodeerforamonth

Not if you play video games. You get burn-in with plasma.

Spiky

Definitely biased and opinionated. That's not necessarily bad, but be aware. For instance, under front projection they mention DLP, which coincidentally they sell. No mention of LCD, no LCOS, no CRT.

And I'm not sure why they say a 12' room should have a 42" TV. I sit 12' from my 90", just about precisely at the SMPTE recommended viewing angles.

Spiky

Can we please not go through this again? Do you have a plasma? Do you play games on it? Have you ever seen a plasma with burn-in from a game?

This topic has been done to death in the Hardware forum, I won't bother re-posting the details, y'all can search.

jmj713

I've read that there is very little if any burn-in now with the newest plasmas. Is that true?

Spiky

If treated properly, there is never any burn-in. Ex: http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ghlight=plasma

jmj713

I still don't know which technology to go for... I think it's a given that it should be 1080p, right? Does that narrow it down somewhat? And HDMI, of course.

awmurray

Doesn't 1080p narrow the search down to zero?

I'm not sure there are many (if any) HD monitors that support 1080p natively. I guess most support something like XGA (1024 x 768) natively. But, of course, you'd at least want one that can accept 1080p input.

Spiky, is this correct?

eau

I don't think there are many consumer HDTV sets that support 1080p natively. Most HDTV supports 720p natively and it scales down 1080i and 1080p inputs to 720p. There may be more 1080p native displays in a year or two since the Blu-Ray is coming to the market very soon.

Costco.com has a Sceptre X37SV-NAGA 37" LCD TV that supports 1080p. It's about $1599 + S&H with a $100 rebate. The reviews I read so far seem to praise the display of the TV but thumb down for the cosmetic design and the speakers (which are detachable anyway).

Spiky

There are wobulated 1080p DLP rear projection units available right now from Samsung, Mits, etc. But wobulated is not quite as good as a full 1920x1080 mirror DLP chip, which doesn't exist yet. And these output 1080p, they don't accept a 1080p INput signal, although I think they announced some that do. Perhaps those models are out, I haven't looked. In a strange move, Sony's Qualia 006 ($12K 1080p RPTV) does NOT accept 1080p.

There are a couple front PJs that are 1080p, these are the only ones that will actually accept a 1080p signal so far, I think. They are all over $20K, AFAIK.

Panny just announced a 103" plasma at 1080p. It will (if it ever comes out of vaporware status) probably ship for over $100K. The current largest shipping plasma is 80" and is supposed to be $130K, not even sure which countries it is available to, though. Can't fathom what use any of these would be to 99.999% of consumers.

That Sceptre might be a great buy at this point, assuming it can actually deliver. Off-brand without too many reviews at the moment.

So, it sorta narrows the search to zero, at least in the price range mentioned a few posts ago. Not completely, depending on what caveats he can live with.

To defend the TV makers (which you may never see me do again ), 1080p requires a great deal more bandwidth than either 720p or 1080i. The electronics to do this are not real cheap or common right this minute.

jmj713

Since Blu-ray Discs and HD-DVDs will have content encoded in 1080p, one doesn't want to get a new TV that couldn't display 1080p - like some people that bought older HDTVs without HDMI and are now pissed off.

I don't think I'm in much of a hurry at this point. Perhaps by the end of 2006 at the earliest.

Spiky

See, now I thought about it a bit more. And I'm going to reverse course on the TV makers, they are just not getting it done. Computers have been doing 1280x1024p @ 75-85Hz as a basic standard for next to nothing for years. And many do 1600x1200 or higher @ 60-75Hz for just a bit more coin in the monitor and graphics card.

So why can't a TV do 1920x1080p @ 24Hz easily? And it ought to be 30Hz. They're just being slow and trying to grab excess cash. Bastards. The 19Mbps HD broadcast signals aren't that crazy on bandwidth if they really want to get it done.

RockStrongo

Is there even a chance that 1080p HD broadcasts will happen within the next couple years? Everything that I have read has said not for a while at least.

I was at Best Buy's Magnolia home theater area the other day. I overheard the salesman telling a potential customer that this year's superbowl will be broadcast in 1080p. I about wanted to slug him.

Spiky

I don't think so, maybe not ever. I'm not sure if the bandwidth needs could increase, or if they would require better compression to make 1080p fit into the 19Mbps spec. Checking some facts in the ATSC document A/54D (atsc.org/standards) shows they consider 720p to be the highest-res progressive signal sometimes, but they also list 1080p @ 24Hz and 30Hz. The 19Mbps is supposed to be the most a broadcast 6Mhz channel can transmit, so I think more compression would be necessary.

It would still take more bandwidth for the calculations once the signal is in the tuner and decoded from the OTA signal, though.

Edit:
I'm not sure how the ATSC standard of 1080p @ 30Hz compares to 1080i @ 60Hz. On paper, I believe the math actually says they are the same bandwidth. But the TVs are likely to be capable of 1080p @ 60Hz. The Sceptre 37" LCD at Costco certainly can, its refresh rate suggests it could do 120Hz. So, I don't know how it adds up. What would BD/HD-DVD output for 1080p? 24Hz, 30Hz, 60Hz?

jmj713

Another good article I found: http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/art...&page_number=1 Granted, it's from 2003, so some stuff may be outdated.

awmurray

Yea, that's what I'm interested in. What about all those HD "ready" TVs and outright HDTVs that were sold without HDMI?

I have to assume that at some point there will be a player that will output via component cables.

Anyone know?

DthRdrX

It appears, from what we have, that Hd-dvd only supports 480i/p through component. With BR it is up to the studios. Fox, Disney, and Sony have already said they don't intend to limit early HDTV adopters months ago.

Keep in mind Fox and Universal allowed full HD through component connections with D-VHS.

awmurray

The first one (BR or HD-DVD) that supports full resolution (1080p) through component cables will be the one I adopt.

Otherwise, I'll have to wait for the "war" to be over because I'll have to pick up another projector and that's going to cost a bit...

Sounds like Blu-Ray at this point.