LCD v Plasma TV

It sure is Meister, back there today at Goals for a footie tournament,.

 

Well forget HD.

The BBC still can't pull their finger out and get the Dolby Digital sound right. They have forgotten about the centre dialogue channel so all of the commentary on the golf sounds like it's from a telephone.:rant:

 

It was bl**dy hot!

I think there were 16 teams which is a fantastic turnout and must have raised a lot of money for CRY. I think the fact that half our team were drinking beer between matches was the reason we came dead last! My defending was Doyley-esq however.

 

Does that make admin the new Doyley?

 

I expect Lloyd has a bigger tv.

 

OK, so TV purchased, (Richer Sounds don't do an automatic 5 year guarantee, you have to pay for it), and plonked onto the wall. Existing arial put straight into the back and auto tune done. All freeview HDTV channels picked up OK, all normal channels picked up.

I watched the 2nd half of the match on it and I must say I'm not impressed with the picture. Certainly didn't look HD, (I assume BBC and ITV were broadcasting it HD), just looked like a bigger version of my "normal" lcd 32" Sony that was still running in the other room.

Does my arial need upgrading, do I need better cabling, better TV setup, or am i just being a bit fussy?

 

I think there are are specific channels for HD on bbc and itv.... Or is that just on sky?

 

Nope your aerial or cables for that matter will not affect picture quality. You'll either get a picture or it'll keep stuttering and cutting out.

You'll need to have be tuned into the HD channel which is different to the SD channel. Saying that quality for the final was pretty poor imho. BBC just edged it with Dolby digital sound but a poor showing by both channels.

BBCHD runs a loop of demos when it's not broadcasting propert telly so switch it over and have another play. Some of it is pretty good however my experience is through satellite.

 

Cheers Meister. I'll have more of a play later.

 

Wow, that was better! It's quite a shock switching between the same program on "normal" TV and HD. You can see everything! Not sure I'm going to enjoy that dodgy bodies program .

 

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

 

Good.:forehead:

The think that I noticed most was the depth of field.

I first had HD last year and flicked over to the Tour de Frogs on Eurosprout. They had a motorcycle shot of the field and every single rider was in pin sharp focus but switching to SD there were just coloured blobs at the back of the field.

 

Do you really want to see Adrian Chiles in HD?

 

I don't think anyone who says they can't see the difference between SD and HD actually has the first clue what they're on about. The difference is massive, even more so when done well.

 

Just you wait till you run a blu ray.

 

See, Blu Ray - the name puts me off. Blu Ray sounds like a kid's toy and it should be Blue Ray.

 

Very happy with the TV, so I went and purchased a "cheapish" surround sound system with DVD player. It connects to the TV via Scart, but has all the other colour coded connectors if required.

The problem is that the sound and vision don't match with any DVD I play. The sound is definately ahead of the vision. I've tried every available setting on the surround sound system, and the same wth the TV. I'll be taking it back today unless anyone has a suggestion.

 

There in lies the issue I have that's been driving me nuts for ages.

You feed digital sound to the amp which processes it immediately. You feed analogue pictures to the tv which takes a second or so to digitise and display. There's normally a delay setting on the audio source or amp to compensate but it's not the best solution as differing sources may need differing delays and you'll be constantly adjusting stuff.

1 simple solution. You need an amplifier that takes the feed from your video and audio sources and outputs the video via hdmi (upscaled where neccesary) to your telly, these days the amplifier is the centre of your home cinema set-up. That way there will be a constant video delay due to the telly end which can be compensated for in the amplifier's set up.

You can get a budget upscaling amplifier for a couple of hundred quid but really you need to spend a bit more.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/sony/strdh500/sony-strdh500
Will probably do you on a budget

http://www.richersounds.com/product/1-box-home-cinema-systems/onkyo/hts3305/onky-hts3305-blk
might work as a package

IMHO you really need to spend as much on the amp as you did on the telly and as much on 5 speakers as you did on the amp.

 

Absolutely right HM.

There is no doubt that a receiver plus speakers bought to suit each other blows away the performance of the so-called "home theater in a box" setups.

I got an Onkyo "606" receiver which performs well, but it has some switching problems that required a warranty repair. However the other Onkyo units like "607" and higher dnever had the problem. It costs about $300 here.

I bought 5 Infinity P362 speakers for about $100 each which completely kick ass in the room. My room just isn't big enough for 7 speakers, so I am sticking with 5.1 surround.

For the .1 in the 5.1 setup, I got a subwoofer custom made from Elemental Designs, and it is unbelievable. It cost a little more than I wanted it too but in the end I have no regrets. It ran about $400.

Combine without the 52" LCD (Samsung), I much prefer watching games and movies from my living room over just about anywhere else.

The convenience of an HTIB purchases is great, but they rarely deliver the results you expect, as you've found out.

 

Bang on.

I've not been to the cinema in 10 years, preferring to watch DVDs here.

7.1 is OTT in my opinion, 5.1 is fine. I've got twin passive subwoofers in my front floorstanders so actually I'm running 5.0 but the sub channel is more than catered for in the fronts going down to 20Hz.

Currently I've got a Pioneer THX certified 7 channel DD amp, with the front speakers bi-amped. Unfortunately it's all pre Blu-ray and I need a new amp which can do the upscaling and handle HDMI video switching. Unfortunately the replacement to do this costs £1200 (I reluctant to drop quality just for this function) and I'm currently between jobs, so it's having to wait:dismay:.

 

So I plugged the system into our old TV and it worked fine, (sound and vision match). Plugged it back into the new TV and switched on and off some settings in the surround sound system that enbled other settings, and after a bit of trial and error it appears to work very well now. I think the key setting was one that is now set to "RGB"??

I understand what you guys are saying, but there's a reason I'm on a budget after buying the TV, and it's simply not worth me spending out thousands on sound because we will use it twice a month maximum. Anything more expensive than I purchased and I'd be on constant gaurd from the kids going anywhere near it as well.

Anyway, once I got the system running OK I wired it up temporarily and popped up to the DVD shop to hire out Descent 2. WOW, the sound was awesome, even with my cheap a55 system. It's a jumpy film anyway, but with the sound system my wife literally jumped out of her chair several times. I'm happy with it.

 

Good.

Once you get the upgrade bug you spend more and more and are never truly happy. I suggest you burn any hifi magazines or brochures you have quick.

 

Looks like I'm a bit late with this thread.

I got a Panasonic Freesat Full HD 1080p 32" LCD TV from Marks and Spencers. Came with a free 5 year warranty and a free Blu Ray player. All for £630. I got the 32" as I live in a 160 year old cottage and the front door probably wouldn't get anything bigger through it.

Picture is amazing, the world cup in HD was great. I kept switching channels to see the difference.

 

:biggrin:

Thought it was just me that did that, welcome to meisterworld.

 

I just can't tell the difference.

 

That's because dogs perceive flicker better than humans so would see telly as a series of still images rather than a moving picture. Don't you also see in black and white?

 

Dogs can smell TV.

 

I could also if your talking CRT, think it was the gently burning dust on the coils. Could also hear the high pitched whine when one was switched on. Maybe I'm part dog?

 

I had the family over for the England game, I kept turning the channel over to show them the difference. After the 5th time they were not very happy. I wanted to get SKY HD but decided to renew my season ticket instead.

 

My wife can't believe that I can't tell the difference. She'll flick back and forwards, exasperated, whilst I go "Oh, yes, I think I can see it now, that IS better" but then she'll explode "That's the normal definition one!!"

 

:biggrin: :biggrin:

 

The new TV developed a fault already. There was a thick black line running left to right about 1/3 of the way down the screen. It was more noticable in the evening and with dark backgrounds, so I was a little concerned about taking it back to Richer Sounds. I shouldn't have worried, they spotted it right away and swapped it for another brand new one. They also couldn't have been nicer about it, even giving more tips about backlight settings in darker surroundings while we waited for the new TV to be brought round.

5 stars to Richer Sounds in Watford. They know the customer is king, (unlike BT). I'm so glad I didn't buy it online now, that would have been fun to return with no box!

 

I did read of someone complaining about watching HDTV, then looking out into the garden and being disappointed that the garden wasn't in HD.