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High Definition Media & Technology Thread

JsARCLIGHT

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myk Galactic Diva

myk

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BB then tried to pad the deal. $300 service to caliberate your picture experience. I decided to take my chances on my own. I did buy the extended warranty. I'm disapointed that my PS3 doesn't automatically come with the right cables for HD.

Wait a minute. Don't most modern sets calibrate themselves? Even my outdated "HD" projection monitor calibrates itself. What a rip-off.

In regards to the cables, I guess Sony figures that most people haven't gone HD yet...

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David Hingtgen Super Dimension Member

David Hingtgen

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Most people just leave the TV at the default factory setting (sad, but true). Most of the people reading this thread probably fiddle with tint/contrast/brighness/sharpness for a while until the picture's as good as it can get. If you're really obsessive ::cough:: you go into service mode and start adjusting the geometry, overscan, and might even fiddle with the individual guns (most of that only applies to CRT's, though most decent HDTV's should allow blue/green/red independent level adjustment).

A professional calibrator, will go DEEP into the service menu, into the "can permanently screw up the TV" level of stuff, and have actual colored filters, DVD's, etc to truly match the screen colors and sharpness to perfection. Or as close as that TV can get.

However, IMHO, since every TV is different, and no pro is going to know exactly what everything in every TV's service options can do (even the service techs often don't), you're paying a lot for someone who knows what they're doing to fiddle with a TV they don't.

I've gone into the "low level" service menus on my TV and adjusted overscan and geometry, but have never actually tried to align/compensate the individual colors relative to each other. Might try on my new one though, as people go so indepth on the forums and reviews I could at least get the basic red level right (that's the one usually off, due to the "bright in the store" setting effect)

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Hikuro Galactic Diva

Hikuro

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I just got my first flat panel HD TV on thursday. The plan now is to get set up on my dish for HD channels but I also want to get an HD DVD Player....but I'm assuming these players are not backwards compatible so I can't play regular DVD's on them andNOT have the HD quality of course?

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David Hingtgen Super Dimension Member

David Hingtgen

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They're very backwards compatible. I don't know of any "disc" technology that isn't able to read all previous versions. CD players can only do CD. By CD-ROM drives can also do CD's. DVD's can read CD-ROM and CD, DVD-ROM can also do DVD, CD-ROM, and CD. And HD-DVD's and BluRay can read DVD's, and usually do a good job upscaling them. (AFAIK the PS3 is among the very best at upscaling normal DVD's)

So if you buy a HD-DVD player, and it does decent upscaling, you can watch normal DVD's in the infamous "near-HD quality". Yes, they have the amazing ability to improve the image of old, normal DVD's. They will all be able to play normal DVD's at non-HD resolution, but depending on what player you get, you may be able to see a MUCH improved picture out of them. Google around or ask which ones are best at "upscaling" normal DVD's if that's a big concern for you. (It is for me when I'm going to get one).

One of the most common current HD-DVD players is Toshiba's HD-A3. It lists that it can play:

HD-DVD

DVD

DVD-R

DVD-RW

CD-R

CD-RW

CD

Plus upscale any standard DVD to 480p, 720p, or 1080i. (if you want 1080*p* out of an HD-DVD player, you have to buy one of the higher-end ones) Note: Toshiba keeps mentioning that upconverting DVD's requires you to use the HDMI inputs (probably a HDCP compliance thing).

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Uxi SMS Squadron Leader

Uxi

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PS and a 360 are still the best path into high def. Both are the fastest players on either format. The PS3 is much more the full media machine letting you browse the Internet, stream your stuff over and now with DivX/XVID/WMV today. 360 also adds DivX/XViD. Both have great visualizers for stored music and, of course, play games.

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David Hingtgen Super Dimension Member

David Hingtgen

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I'm still leaning towards a stand-alone HD-DVD. Many range from only a bit more to a bit less than a 360's add-on, cost-wise. I'll be surprised if my 360 lasts another year.

But for Blu-Ray, PS3's the only sensible choice. Cheapest and among the best in several categories.

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eugimon Super Dimension Member

eugimon

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Whoa, just noticed this:

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/12/Bourne.jpg

Get the entire Bourne trilogy in HD for free, if you buy the 360's HD-DVD add-on. Only valid at Amazon, only Dec 17th.

yay, amazon for the win. I actually bought both of these items seperately a week and a half ago... so I called up their help line and got refunded for the bourne trilogy. Pretty good, especially considering that I got the HD-DVD addon for less then what is being advertised on the sale. :)

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David Hingtgen Super Dimension Member

David Hingtgen

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It ACCEPTS 1080p, but it'll still downscale and show it as 720p (actually, 768p). Several 32's that are not a Sharp 1080 do the same. 32's that can't accept 1080p will just go nuts or show a blank screen if you try to give them 1080p. But among 32's, only a Sharp 1080p set can actually show 1080p at 1080. (And I looked again today, and still didn't see a difference--but the source and screen settings seemed especially bad today, probably due to the constant influx of Xmas buyers--I'm going to look at Sears tomorrow, generally a better setup) I was mainly comparing the Samsung LNT3253 and Panasonic TC32LX700 today (they were side by side this time). Most of the time was spent pressing the 700's "120hz demo" button and trying to compare. The 700's own self-generated superimposed scrolling text showed an amazing improvement, but all other things looked very similar. I'd really like to see a actual scrolling text test, but I don't think any demo has that. Just let me hook the TV up to CNN or ESPN or something.

I haven't looked closely at the HL67 (but I plan to---it's just always way up high or disconnected or something--never gotten a GOOD look). I would probably say "it's the cheapest of the good 32's".

Ishimaru--as you and I are looking for the same thing, have you downloaded the manuals of any TV you're considering from the manufacturer's website? You can often get a lot of info from them, and find out things you otherwise wouldn't know until you actually bought it. (Like what settings are in the menu, the remote layout, input layout, etc). I've got the 32S3000 and 32M3000 manual, 32HL67, 32XL700, 3253H, 32XBR4, etc.

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Ishimaru Global's Pipe Holder

Ishimaru

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It ACCEPTS 1080p, but it'll still downscale and show it as 720p (actually, 768p). Several 32's that are not a Sharp 1080 do the same. 32's that can't accept 1080p will just go nuts or show a blank screen if you try to give them 1080p. But among 32's, only a Sharp 1080p set can actually show 1080p at 1080. (And I looked again today, and still didn't see a difference--but the source and screen settings seemed especially bad today, probably due to the constant influx of Xmas buyers--I'm going to look at Sears tomorrow, generally a better setup) I was mainly comparing the Samsung LNT3253 and Panasonic TC32LX700 today (they were side by side this time). Most of the time was spent pressing the 700's "120hz demo" button and trying to compare. The 700's own self-generated superimposed scrolling text showed an amazing improvement, but all other things looked very similar. I'd really like to see a actual scrolling text test, but I don't think any demo has that. Just let me hook the TV up to CNN or ESPN or something.

I haven't looked closely at the HL67 (but I plan to---it's just always way up high or disconnected or something--never gotten a GOOD look). I would probably say "it's the cheapest of the good 32's".

Ishimaru--as you and I are looking for the same thing, have you downloaded the manuals of any TV you're considering from the manufacturer's website? You can often get a lot of info from them, and find out things you otherwise wouldn't know until you actually bought it. (Like what settings are in the menu, the remote layout, input layout, etc). I've got the 32S3000 and 32M3000 manual, 32HL67, 32XL700, 3253H, 32XBR4, etc.

Ah, well thats just great, then whats the point of pointing out the 1080 option if its just going to blank out, attract buyers or something? I don't think I would need it anyways since I'm not that far away from my TV set.

My local Best Buy had the 32HL67U available, it seemed pretty good, not sure maybe the BB dudes didn't tweak the settings correctly but it is worth what it is worth though.

As for the manuals, I never knew they were even available online. I'll take a look, I was generally looking for more information beyond the specs that amazon or any other site provides. I'll check out the manual for the 32HL67U and so forth, if my budget expands I'll take a look at higher priced models.

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Hikuro Galactic Diva

Hikuro

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Wep picked up the 32 inch HL67U, that's the Regza or something like that on thursday. We managed to get it for about 650 or so at Video Only. Once we get our HD services actually start from DirecTV and get an HD DVD player I'm sure we'll enjoy the tv even more.

So far though, this is 650 well spent. And thanks for the info earlier, I'll have too do alittle bit of searchign to find a player at a good price.

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Dangard Ace SMS Squadron Leader

Dangard Ace

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For those of you with Disney's POTC: CotBP framing issues you can call these numbers to have them replaced.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Also this morning, we wanted to let you all know that Disney has kicked off their replacement program for those original copies of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl on Blu-ray, which had an image framing problem on a few shots. Call their customer service hotline at 1-800-723-4763 to arrange shipment of a fixed copy (or 1-888-877-2843 for you folks up in Canada).
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Roy Focker SMS Squadron Leader

Roy Focker

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Update on my new TV.

Last night I when out and bought a HDMI cord for my PS3 and popped in that Free blu-ray Copy of Pearl Harbor that I've got. Yes the movie still

stinks but watching the action scenes in 1080p makes it look "good". My PS3 games looked unbelievable.

I also upgrade my cable to get HD service. Found out even though I had dozens of channels I had to go up a level just to get the HD service. I hate Comcast and their damn levels of service. $6.5 extra became $16.50+ extra. I also hate that when I arrived to pick up my new cable box. They weren't interested in helping me unless I had pulled off a ticket number. WTF do I need one for I'm the only person waiting? Then someone made a mistake with my HD service over the phone. They gave me the wrong package. They gave me the super premium one that they were trying to talk me into. The one with all the premium movie channels and every cable channel offered! I decided to test it out for a day before I'll call them back.

My observations? A lot of the cable HD channels are just the same channels. I have a set that can do 16:9 Wide screen and 1080P but the premium channel HD movies look better at 4:3 setting. This leaves a ton of black area on the screen. My TV manual suggests that I limit the times I do this.

I'll get much better results with renting movies then these channels.

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myk Galactic Diva

myk

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My HD cable service is anything but that; there are about 8 channels over the entire lineup that are offered in HD and the rest is just as bad in transmission as standard cable. Oh well, at least I get to listen to tomorrow's weather forecast in 5.1 surround sound and eye-popping 1080...

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David Hingtgen Super Dimension Member

David Hingtgen

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A request for anyone who's going out looking at HDTV LCD's soon:

Could you check the Samsung LNT-3253H for white stuck pixels in the upper right corner? I just noticed the very same TV that I stared at yesterday, had a GROUP of pixels stuck white today. AFAIK stuck pixels are usually "set" when the TV is new, and don't generally start appearing later. The absolute upper-right one is stuck white, with the next 3 or so to the right "trailing off" with less degrees of whiteness. It doesn't really look like a stuck pixel, more like the pixels themselves are somehow peeling off the backlit area or something.

So then I go to BestBuy---same thing! Same place! I have no idea what's going on. I doubt I could have missed such an obvious flaw on the multiple times I've stared at these TV's, but I also doubt 2 TV's could have an identical stuck pixel patttern. The one at BB also has the extreme upper LEFT pixel stuck white.

Now, in the thousands of posts at the AVS forums on this TV, no one's ever mentioned it. And you'd think they'd complain about multiple stuck-white pixels.

I'm driving to the BB 30 miles away tomorrow to go check theirs and see what's up. I'm wondering if this TV has an inherent "stuck white pixels in the corners" flaw, or "backlight leaking in the corners" or what. Darn. I was *this* close to finally deciding on that TV.

PS---I had considered that maybe it was an underscan issue or something, that it was trying to show something "beyond the edge" that it shouldn't--but it's not, the Samsung was actually overscanning compared to the other TV's there.

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Gaijin SMS Squadron Leader

Gaijin

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A request for anyone who's going out looking at HDTV LCD's soon:

Could you check the Samsung LNT-3253H for white stuck pixels in the upper right corner? I just noticed the very same TV that I stared at yesterday, had a GROUP of pixels stuck white today. AFAIK stuck pixels are usually "set" when the TV is new, and don't generally start appearing later. The absolute upper-right one is stuck white, with the next 3 or so to the right "trailing off" with less degrees of whiteness. It doesn't really look like a stuck pixel, more like the pixels themselves are somehow peeling off the backlit area or something.

So then I go to BestBuy---same thing! Same place! I have no idea what's going on. I doubt I could have missed such an obvious flaw on the multiple times I've stared at these TV's, but I also doubt 2 TV's could have an identical stuck pixel patttern. The one at BB also has the extreme upper LEFT pixel stuck white.

Now, in the thousands of posts at the AVS forums on this TV, no one's ever mentioned it. And you'd think they'd complain about multiple stuck-white pixels.

I'm driving to the BB 30 miles away tomorrow to go check theirs and see what's up. I'm wondering if this TV has an inherent "stuck white pixels in the corners" flaw, or "backlight leaking in the corners" or what. Darn. I was *this* close to finally deciding on that TV.

PS---I had considered that maybe it was an underscan issue or something, that it was trying to show something "beyond the edge" that it shouldn't--but it's not, the Samsung was actually overscanning compared to the other TV's there.

Saw one tonight...no stuck pixels or anything of that sort.

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myk Galactic Diva

myk

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I can't believe that rear projection style t.v.'s are still being made, period. Well, I guess there're still many people out there who don't want to pay the price for comparable LCD or plasma sets...

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mikeszekely Super Dimension Member

mikeszekely

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I can't believe that rear projection style t.v.'s are still being made, period. Well, I guess there're still many people out there who don't want to pay the price for comparable LCD or plasma sets...

Rear projection TVs have their advantages, too. Plasmas and LCDs deteriorate gradually over time, AFAIK. While projection TVs do as well, replacing the bulb makes them like new again. And, until recently, projection TVs did much better blacks. The main allure of LCD and plasma sets was their trendy thinness. Only recent advances have leveled the playing field in terms of picture quality.

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myk Galactic Diva

myk

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...And the advantages you listed, as well as the lower cost, are how I go to bed at night after deciding to buy a projection versus an LCD or plasma. Going over to friend's houses, it is painful to see though how much better picture quality is on any newer LCD or plasma...

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Uxi SMS Squadron Leader

Uxi

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Even then the new LCD's only match brightness. They don't come close to matching SXRD-level blacks, for example. Especially the Sony Bravias.

Plasmas are comprably still very expensive for 1080p 60" or bigger...

It's definitely a shame, though. I was planning on a 70XBR5 and moving my 60XBR1 to bedroom duty. Guess I'll save up a bit more and get a Black Pearl projector and a 123" Vutec Silverstar instead. :ph34r:

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Gunbuster Global's Pipe Holder

Gunbuster

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anyone seen the samsung LCD 81 series in the store?

it has a contast ratio of 500,000:1, i wonder how black is black? I know it's dynamic contast, but even at this level, it's has to look incredible.

57" 1080p HDTV

If you are ready for the clearest, brightest LCD picture on the market today, look no further. The LN-T5781F offers full 1080p resolution and reduced motion blur due to its LED Motion Plus™ feature. Samsung's SmartLighting™ technology allows for an amazing 500,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and ultra-sharp blacks. The LED backlight also provides more natural color representation. Your home viewing experience has just risen to a new level.

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/...d=LNT5781FX/XAA

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