Opinions Requested - new 50"+ LCD TV

Aug 17, 2010 29 Replies

There are a number of pitfalls in the process of aquiring a signal for an HD set. By law in the US all TVs must have a digiatl tuner. An over the air signal can produce a stunning picture. However, this depends on the local station. Some broadcast in 720p, others in

1080i. And most are still using SD for any remote feeds.

Converting a 720p signal to 1080i or vise versa results in significant degradation. This can be made worse by 'professional' installers. Shortly after having purchased my HD receiver I upgraded my satellite subscription to include an HD receiver and the relatively few HD channels available at the time. The installer insisted on setting the HD receiver to output a 720p signal "because that matched the native resolution of the TV" (the TV's native resolution was

1080p). Since the HD receiver included OTA capability the idiot had set up a contition where a digital broadcast in 1080i would be converted to 702p by the receiver, then converted to 1080p by the TV with very unsatisfactory results. To further compound his folly the fool set it to display SD signals across the full width of the screen "so there wouldn't be any screen burn" - which does not occur with DLP sets.

PlainBill

You left out other 'magnificent' 3D movies, such as 'Gorilla at Large', 'Bawana Devil', 'It came from Outer Space', 'Cat-Women of the Moon'. And who could forget 'Jaws 3-D', no matter how hard they tried.

You inclusion of 'Avatar' is rather instructive. While Cameron has done some good work, 'Avatar' was a prime example of stunning CGI images masking a very pedestrian script and average (at best) acting.

PlainBill

I did mention "It Came from Outer Space", which is generally considered a "good" film. "Gorilla at Large" is an amazing example of a grade Z film with a largely grade A cast.

Oh, nobody's denying -- including the critics who liked "Avatar" -- that it's derivative and not particularly well-done acting- or script-wise. (Cameron's commercial success has blinded him to his own weaknesses.) But it's a very entertaining film, and it uses 3D with terrific effectiveness..

Here's a negative review of the Quattron set...

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Yes, there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding going on with this whole full HD / HD ready thing. I guess if the installer did not fully grasp the concept of native panel resolution as opposed to apparent resolution in terms of what the TV could accept, he might have felt that he was doing the right thing in forcing the box to output at 720p regardless of the actual source resolution, and in 80% of cases, he could well *be* right. From what I've seen, a very great deal of the LCD sets sold by the sheds, at least here in the UK anyway, only have a vertical panel resolution of 720, even though the set can accept a 1080i or p input.

Arfa

3D is a gimmick. We have the BD of "Coraline" in 3D and it is almost as good as the demo I have seen at the showrooms.

And here's a somewhat positive review.

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I'm of the opinion that it would take a complete rework of the system from studio to TV to get truely realistic colors. Heck, even photgraphs are at best an approximation.

I always try to remember that what one person sees as a needless frill someone else will see as a vital feature. And vice versa. So a suggestion that the OP take a look is just that - a suggestion, not a ringing endorsement of the technology.

PlainBill

It's impossible to design a system that's 100% accurate. The main problem seems to be that the green and blue cones' sensitivities overlap too much.

I'm color blind anyway.

Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse

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