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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."
Once you watch a football game in HDTV, you can't watch it any other way.
Heroscape, it's like legos combined with anachronistic wargames.
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.
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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 .
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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
I assume you're referring to front projection, as most HDTVs are projection in some form (DLP and CRT rear-projection). Anyway, front projection has its pros and cons, and you still have the same hoops to jump through. Do you go CRT, which is cheaper, but also bulkier and requires periodic calibration? Do you go with DLP and risk rainbow effects from color wheels? Do you go LCD and risk screendoor effects? Prices aren't too bad, in line with rear projection TVs (generally a bit cheaper), but you're not done once you've bought the projector.
Before you even consider front projection, you need to look at your viewing area. Is it sufficiently dark? Front projectors wash out very easily with very little ambient lighting. If your viewing area isn't dark enough (or can't be made dark enough), don't bother with front projection. Do you have the room for a projector? Theoretically, the size of the image is limitless (within the bounds of the projector's focusing ability and your ability to ignore huge pixels), but if you don't have enough space you're not going to get any larger size that what you could get with a cheaper rear-projection CRT. Did you budget for a good screen? A flat, white wall is a start, but most walls aren't that flat (go look at your walls -- chances are they have some amount of texture, which will cause weird shadowing) and a wall will never be as good as a purpose-built screen. How do you plan to mount everything? If you mount the projector to the ceiling it's no longer easily portable, but if you don't then it's susceptible to vibrations and the image can easily be blocked depending on where you place it.
When it's all said and done, unless you're really hardcore and plan on building a full home theater or portability is a huge priority and you don't care about sacrificing image quality to get it, you're better off with something else. What that something else might be will depend on your budget and the research you do (e.g. even if you can afford it, you probably don't want to buy a plasma TV since plasma is very susceptible to burn-in and has a relatively short lifespan compared to other technologies and can't be extended with a simple bulb change).
Ignoring all of that, front projection isn't any better or less hassle-free than rear-projection or flat-panel technologies. You're still going to have to do your homework on display technology (LCD, CRT, DLP, or plasma), you're still going to have to deal with idiot manufacturers configuring their sets to push red because it's more eye catching in the showroom (good sets let you calibrate that out, bad sets don't), and you'll still want to have your set professionally calibrated after a break-in period (I'd give it about 6 months based on my own viewing habits), and every year or two thereafter.
Something I've noticed about HDTV is that you almost have to look at the screen from a distance to see the most quality difference.
Having your face pressed up against the glass does make it difficult to judge quality differences.
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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...
It's a rookie mistake. People buy a projector because of its "limitless" size, and then maximize the distance between it and the screen without adjusting their normal seating position. They do the same thing with other TVs as well. Consider that the optimal seating position for a 50" TV is somewhere around 10 feet away from the screen, and then see what most people do -- they replace their old 25" CRT with a screen twice as large or larger, and then sit in the same position. Then they complain that SD content now looks like crap, even though the signal itself hasn't changed. Duh. The image would've looked just as bad if you stuck your nose up to your old 25".
You still need a relatively dark room. And moving the projector closer to the screen negates one of the prime reasons for buying a projector in the first place :) (come on, you know everybody wants to have a 100" image!).
Just throw out your TV and do something better with your time. And believe me, everything is better than watching those horrible reality shows, sitcoms with predictable jokes, news that makes you feel there are terrorists living in your basement, and soaps that seem to be designed to to make you stupid.
Really, TV is an insult to your intelligence. I'm boycotting them since 2004.
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
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
Where are the options for smaller, cheaper sets?
I second that important question. (Set includes the required tuner, otherwise it's just a monitor)
Dorm dwellers, RV'er's, apartment renters, homes with kids (Dad has no interest in the purple dinosaur) and such. A one TV home theatre solution is not a solution for a house with a family. A multi thousand dollar set in each bedroom, kitchen, den, living room, etc are also not a solution.
Just where are the cheap small sets? Where is the over the air demo at the local electronics store? I keep looking. The demo is either for a subscription Satelite or Cable pay TV service, or from an in-store demo loop.
If it won't work in the store, how the heck do I expect it to work at home?
Show me the sets in operation! Don't show me a 5.1 sound system, monitor, tuner package. I have a good stereo. I'm just looking for a few small inexpensive TV's to replace my analog stuff for the local news. Don't try to sell me components. I just want a TV for after analog does dark.
If the sets don't show up, then the Internet will be my TV of the future.
The truth shall set you free!
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.
If you want to know what content is actually HD, one option is CheckHD.
All is not lost. In fact, you situation is much better than you think. In regards to your HD setup I envy you and wish I had it. (I recently moved from Phoenix to a basically dark area.) In fact I percieve that the OtA HD broadcasts are of better quality than what DTV broadcasts. (I attribute this to the mpeg2 encoding DTV does to their video)
Phoenix metro broadcasts (iirc) everything major network in HD OtA (over the air), free.
So, being the super fan that you are I will assume that you have the DirecTivo. If that's the case you're golden. Simply buy a cheapie antenna from radio shack or bestbuy ($30-$40) plug it in (to the tivo box) and tell Tivo you have it. It'll add the channels right in-line with your regular DTV channels. It's a really slick set up.
If you don't have DirecTivo, I'm not sure exactly what you can do (but it can be done you'll just need to do some research), but you probably needs to start buy purchasing an OtA HD decoder. I recommend forgetting about all the hassles and just buying a DirecTivo. Though it's my understanding that DTV will be obsoleting the DirecTivo (which does mpeg2 HD) in favor of a unit that does H.264 HD. So take your tech chances there... I did.
When you get the antenna all you need to do is point it towards South Mountain (that's where all the networks broadcast from.) If you have an attic simply put the antenna in there, you can lay it down on the flooring if you like. (thats what I did, yeah it was ugly, but who goes into the attic/crawlspace?)
I don't know what kind of HOA rules you have to deal with or anything, but there are tons of different ways for you to solve your problem.
Hope this info helps get you started...