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CNET's HDTV World
xerid writes "CNET.com has a collection of articles and videos on HDTV and related technologies. It looks like a good starting point for anyone interested in buying an HDTV in the near future. They also include Editors' Top HDTV picks. For top flat-panel HDTV plasma: Panasonic TH-42PHD7UY." From their Ultimate TV Buying Guide: "Since the first HDTVs appeared in 1998, high-definition television has been on the mind of every TV buyer. The big question is whether now is the time to pay a few hundred to a few thousand dollars more and take the plunge on an HDTV set. We can't answer that question for you, but we can provide some basic information that may help you decide."
Huh? Really? HDTV didn't spring to mind at all when about a year ago the hand-down TV from my parents died. Well, I still wanted a TV at my place and these were the criteria:
In the end, I bought a CRT 83cm 16:9 "flat" screen for about 900€. The thing weights over 80kg, but I don't move it every day, do I? I understand that these days, such a TV is even less expensive because they're pushing Plasma and LCD screens.
In my eyes price/quality of a good CRT cannot be beaten by the newer technologies (yet). Of course, I could just as well not have bought a TV, because if I use it once a week it'll be a lot.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
so much for news... anyway I think the next big thing will be 'real' dlp (digital light projection) sets. The limited but increasing number of theater ones can produce trillions of colors, and they can change color around 1000 times a second. For the consumer these days, one can only get a single chip system that uses a weird color wheel to translate grayscale into color. It looks good, but it kind of reminds me of those sets before color came around that came with cellophane color screens. Also, there is a weird rainbow effect sometimes with fast moving images. TI, the makers of the chip, has a pretty neat demo on their site. Essentially, the chip is just an array of millions of tiny mirrors that are capable of being toggled on or off quite fast. In 1 chip systems, which are avaliable from mitsubishi and some others, the grayscale deal is used. In 'real' three chip systems, each chip gets a primary color all to itself. The more time per second each mirror is 'on', the more of that color will appear in each pixel, = really good image. check it out.
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
I have a 22" monitor capable of 1,920x1,080 (1080p) which cost me around 300 , a HDTV tuner card is around 150 . I already have a computer that has PCI slots .. Seems like a far cheaper option at the moment for those who have computers .
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
There is no comparison.
Sports in regular definition looks like garbage.
I watched the Super Bowl 2 years ago on a friend's TV in HD. It ruined me. I couldn't watch non-HD ever again.
-Michael
Threshold RPG
If we're talking about value, why couldn't they take a look at some of the 30" CRTs that are out there from Samsung, Toshiba, Panasonic, etc.? They manage to get sets out there for well under $1,000. And, again, the complete omission of CRT RPTVs from their Editor's Choice list leaves out a lot of VERY good-looking sets (my parents' 57" Hitachi puts on a NICE show) that give more screen size bang for the buck.
I know flat-panel sets are cool, much easier to move around, and much easier to locate within a room, but it seems like a lot of folks have blinders on and assume that these are the only HDTV-ready sets on the market. This contributes to the notion that HDTV is still super-expensive. When you can get a Samsung 26" 16:9 CRT with HDMI input and an integrated HDTV receiver for $600 at retail, that's just not the case...
But I'm having a bit of trouble finding the parts of the articles where they say just how little, if any, Digital Rights Management are built into these televisions.
That would be one of the key factors to which HDTV to buy, for any geek, I would think.
His name is Robert Paulsen...
Note that many TVs have a "store demo mode" that is not really what you want to use at home.
As a good proportion of customers judges picture by brightness (geee look! that one is bright!) they always are set too bright and tend to wash out.
However, once you reset them to typical home conditions, the picture becomes much better.
You need to set both contrast and brightness in your own environment (preferably using a testcard) to make sure that the whole greyscale and colorscale are displayed correctly.
Still there is a definate small upperclass of screens that are way better than the rest.
Philips makes the "ambilight" models (37pf9986 and now 37pf9830) but I think they are not available in the US. Those really stand out when they are put between other LCD panels in a showroom. So much that you wonder why you would want to buy any of the others.
LCD also has some advantages over plasma.
- the power consumption is much lower (does not seem to be of interest to Americans, but still...)
- the front surface is dark and does not tend to mirror objects in the room
- there is no danger of burn-in of static displays
The only problem I have with football in HD is the fairly uniform green field seems to cause problems with the compression algorithm. You get large blocks where it trys to make the field the exact same color green. But with that being said, watching football (or anything) in HD is always much better than standard analog broadcasts or even SD digital broadcasts.