Hdtv

[Marvin]

For you techies, would you recommend a HDMI cable for HDTV?

And why did my "Hdtv" title set as cap and then small case when I initially typed them all in CAPS??

 

[gravitas]

For you techies, would you recommend a HDMI cable for HDTV?

I'm by no means technical but noticed a big difference when upgraded to a HDMI/DVI cable between the shaw box and my TV. Watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (the real version, not that POS with Jim Carrey) in HD and it was killer

I started with a Monster cable but picked up a replacement for 1/4 the cost on ebay that worked just as well.

 

[Marvin]

Thanks grav. I will check out ebay.

 

[PeterLongwood]

You seem to know your stuff

Yes, HDMI will offer a better picture. However, HDTV is not all what it's hyped up to be. There is no full rez (uncompressed) HDTV signal for the consumer, so what we are getting is just over priced equipment for nothing really. All consumer HDTV signal has gone through several stages of compression. What's fed to us through HDTV cable and satellite programming are MPEG2 compressed signals. It can look really good, but by no means is it the quality worth paying extra for. HDTV, 24p, 1080i, 1080p, 720p, etc are really just a marketing gimmik to generate sales. Aside from HDTV, the 24p hype is probably the most criminal.

Best to wait 7 to 10 years for the next generation of video technology.

What are your thoughts on the Plasma vs. LCD debate?

 

[87112]

It all depends on the feed, I have a 1080i and some of the top notch broadcasts like shows from ABC, NBC, CBS look glorious.

 

[SInCity67]

What are your thoughts on the Plasma vs. LCD debate?

If you plan on gaming, get the lcd. If you plan on watching tv and movies, get plasma.

 

[georgebushmoron]

If you plan on gaming, get the lcd. If you plan on watching tv and movies, get plasma.

I dunno about that. Plasma might have a nicer picture, but the glass in front of the picture does produce a lot of glare. I took a strong flashlight to a store to try it out. I shone the light directly at the plasma screen and could see a full reflection of the flashlight and my hand. I did that to an LCD and got almost no reflection. I then did it to a projection LCD, and also got no reflection. The only diff in picture quality between the flat panel and the projection LCD was the brightness of the picture.

 

[EZ-Dozet]

As part of my business I install Theaters.

They made HDMI for two reasons but the first is mainly why. That is the Film industry wants to make sure there is no pirating with video. What the HDMI does is look for a handshake or HDCP. If it doesn't see it then you will have problems hooking it up. Secondly it was suppose to make things simpler for the common man when hooking up their Home theater But in fact it made it worse.

If you plan on hooking up a Amplifier/Receiver to the system do not use HDMI.

It does send digital video but only sends PCMA which is stereo audio not 5.1.

Another thing is the equipment that you purchase is most likely not compatible too. There is 3 version of HDMI and soon a 4th. What you need to look for is the 1.3 version in the equipment you buy. Such as the DVD player receiver and TV or anything else that uses HDMI.

I was all hyped about HDMI until I started having issues on a regular basis. SO I still hook up any equipment with Component(video) and fiber optic(audio)

That is not regulated either. Plus the component does send out a digital image and honestly I didn't notice much if any difference in picture quality.

In short its the manufacturers that are the problem here. They are selling us BS and feeding us lines. The shitty thing is since 2001 they have been advertising ohh you NEED to buy this TV because it is future ready and so on. When those sets are not worth what is happening today. Just now and next year you will start seeing better product come to the stores. The main reason behind this is because in 2009 the US made it law that all cable providers and stations will have to send out HD signals. It was slated for 2006 but they extended it to 2009. And for Canada our systems are suppose to change over in 2015.

But since 80% of our signals come from the US we will be following their lead which is a good thing.

enough for now.

 

[EZ-Dozet]

Sorry I got off tangent too.

LCD vs Plasma

The winner will be LCD for now. Soon, if not already you will start seeing LCD go over 50"s. Plasma is cheaper and heavier but not as good as LCD's. When buying a Flat screen under 40" take a look at how many plasmas you see in the store. Barely any.

In the next year or two you might start seeing a new type of screen like someone mentioned called the SED. I am just starting to read up on the reviews. It will take the place of LCD and Plasma.

 

[PeterLongwood]

Wow!

Thanks for all the info on plasma vs. LCD.

You guys rock.

 

[Sonny]

JVC has been advertising their HD-ILA Projection TVs a lot recently, 3 microchips, 2 million pixels, more techo stuff I don't understand. Here's the link to the features on the HD-ILA. Isn't rear projection still bulky? They also have a LCD series of TVs.

http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027834&pathId=125&page=2

I don't see JVC stuff in the stores so much. Any comment on them? Good, medium, garbage?

 

[Ilovethemall]

just wait

Keep your big ass CRT screen -best picture except for the glare form lights....or get a plasma, LCD looks like shit with an analog signal....or wait a year and get an SED TV.

 

[totravel]

JVC has been advertising their HD-ILA Projection TVs a lot recently, 3 microchips, 2 million pixels, more techo stuff I don't understand. Here's the link to the features on the HD-ILA. Isn't rear projection still bulky? They also have a LCD series of TVs.

http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027834&pathId=125&page=2

I don't see JVC stuff in the stores so much. Any comment on them? Good, medium, garbage?

I looked at JVC, since my old JVC served me well for 16 years, but I found (in the Digital TV forums) that the company has not been doing well, since they did not make the same technological advancments the other main players have.
I ended up buying a Samsung LCD. (see other TV thread).

 

[Maury Beniowski]

For you techies, would you recommend a HDMI cable for HDTV?

I recently went through this decision process. I purchased a 37" Viewsonic from Costco. Shaw connected me to their two month free trial HD/Digital package. Initially, I used the component cable supplied with the basic HD box. I then bought the HD cabling kit from Costco for $99. This kit included an extensive variety of cables and an HDMI/DVI adapter - a single HDMI Monster cable can cost up to $199 at Future Shop.

The basic HD box from Shaw has a DVI connector only. DVI carries video, but not audio. This means you cannot use the TV's speakers and must route your audio to an external sound system instead. That may be fine, but space constrictions confined me to the TV set itself, and I wasn't in the mood to fork out some extra dough on a home theatre system for the time being. Yes, the 5.1 channel sound is being wasted, but that's a challenge for another day.

So my dilemma was I had a great HD picture in DVI, but in order to hear the audio, I had to switch over to the component cables which gave me a degraded picture - component video can only handle analog which has been converted from HD. I then decided to upgrade the HD box to the HD-PVR for an extra $300 ($748). This box has a HDMI connector, and allows me to combine both the native HD video and audio feeds - and what a difference that makes.

I read an article that helped me understand the fundamentals, and it is available here: Ecoustics Forums

One more thing... HD broadcasting can sometimes be a patchwork of analog, digital and HD programming resolutions. It can also be fed in letterbox, 16:9, 4:3 or other digital formats (1080/720/480). So your viewing experience will be tainted by all these formulas until the broadcasters arrive at a more consistent formula, and this will probably take another generation. The best HD quality broadcasts that are filled with the Wow factor are Discovery, PBS, National Geographic and Sports. Local news and movie channels are a hit and miss.

 

[Marvin]

Thanks Maury, you've been very informative and helpful.

 

[EZ-Dozet]

One thing you need to understand.

As I stated in my previous post that we are in the midst of changing our analogue signal to a digital signal.

Because of this you will always get variations in HD channels and even with some HD channels not all programming is in HD. One way of noticing this is see on channel 308 which is TSN HD. If the screen is using the full screen or 16:9 more than likely that is a true HD feed. But if you are seeing a 4:3 or where you see two black bars on either side well that signal is an analogue signal transferred over to HD.

But by 2009 all US stations must be transmitting all programs into HD. And for Canada it is by 2015

Maury,
There is not much of a picture difference between the DVI and Component. Secondly since you are using your TV speakers just use the left and right audio connectors to get that to work.

When you decide to go 5.1 then you can choose fibre optic.

Next thing is there are companies out there that offer different types of speakers for constrained rooms.

Take a look at This one:

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/surroundbar/

I have sold and installed a couple of these bars and they sound great.

The only thing you will need is a sub.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/psw202/

This sub is small enough to go into a corner and not effect your room and add to the great sound.

Hope this helps. I do have other solutions but then I am doing myself injustice by offering free advice. Because like a SP they want to get paid for their experience. hehe And I am cheaper. Plus I am a Monster Dealer and offer clients 25% off retial

 

[Randy Whorewald]

What are your thoughts on the Plasma vs. LCD debate?

Watch out for FED and SED they will blow Plasma and LCD out of the water.

Various companies are currently trying to perfect the technology behind a new type of flat-panel display that will rely on diamonds or carbon nanotubes--two forms of pure carbon--to produce images.

Theoretically, these "field emitter displays," or FEDs, will consume less energy than plasma or liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs, deliver a better picture and even cost less. The development of FEDs underscores the rapid changes taking place in what had been a relatively staid TV market.


Once dominated by a few Japanese manufacturers, the television market now includes a wide variety of companies, including Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Westinghouse. If successful, FEDs could even render the new TVs being shown off this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas as has-beens.

more here:

http://news.com.com/Carbon+TVs+to+edge+out+liquid+crystal,+plasma/2100-1041_3-5512225.html

SED technology works much like a traditional CRT except instead of one large electron gun firing at all the screen phosphors that light up to create the image you see, SED has thousands of tiny electron guns known as "emitters" for each phosphor sub-pixel. Remember, a sub-pixel is just one of the three colors (red, green, blue) that make up a pixel. So it takes three emitters to create one pixel on the screen and over 6 million SED emitters to produce a true high definition (HDTV) image! It's sort of like an electron Gatling gun with a barrel for every target positioned at point-blank range. An army of electron guns, if you will.

This may bode well for video purists who feel that CRTs offer the best picture quality, bar none. One prototype has even attained a contrast ratio of 100,000:1. Its brightness of 400cd/m2 is a tad on the low side for an LCD TV and nowhere close to a plasma. This is expected to increase in the future, but still works out to about 116 ftL (foot Lamberts) or more than twice a regular TV. To put this in perspective, a movie theater shows a film at about 15 ftL.

more here:

http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/sed_tvs.htm

 

[deke]

I recently went through this decision process. I purchased a 37" Viewsonic from Costco. Shaw connected me to their two month free trial HD/Digital package. Initially, I used the component cable supplied with the basic HD box. I then bought the HD cabling kit from Costco for $99. This kit included an extensive variety of cables and an HDMI/DVI adapter - a single HDMI Monster cable can cost up to $199 at Future Shop.

The basic HD box from Shaw has a DVI connector only. DVI carries video, but not audio. This means you cannot use the TV's speakers and must route your audio to an external sound system instead. That may be fine, but space constrictions confined me to the TV set itself, and I wasn't in the mood to fork out some extra dough on a home theatre system for the time being. Yes, the 5.1 channel sound is being wasted, but that's a challenge for another day.

So my dilemma was I had a great HD picture in DVI, but in order to hear the audio, I had to switch over to the component cables which gave me a degraded picture - component video can only handle analog which has been converted from HD. I then decided to upgrade the HD box to the HD-PVR for an extra $300 ($748). This box has a HDMI connector, and allows me to combine both the native HD video and audio feeds - and what a difference that makes.

I read an article that helped me understand the fundamentals, and it is available here: Ecoustics Forums

One more thing... HD broadcasting can sometimes be a patchwork of analog, digital and HD programming resolutions. It can also be fed in letterbox, 16:9, 4:3 or other digital formats (1080/720/480). So your viewing experience will be tainted by all these formulas until the broadcasters arrive at a more consistent formula, and this will probably take another generation. The best HD quality broadcasts that are filled with the Wow factor are Discovery, PBS, National Geographic and Sports. Local news and movie channels are a hit and miss.

I was by Cosco today and saw the HDMI/DVI kits. They also just sell the HDMI cable for 34.95. If that is what you want, that may be the easiest way to go.

 

[Maury Beniowski]

Maury,
There is not much of a picture difference between the DVI and Component. Secondly since you are using your TV speakers just use the left and right audio connectors to get that to work.

Thanks for your comments. I guess it comes down to the equipment I'm using (Viewsonic). I was able to distinguish quite a difference between Component and DVI, as I had both connected at the time and toggled back and forth. It was quite dramatic. In Component mode, while the picture was crisp, the colours were bleeding over causing the skin tones to look orange. No amount of tweaking helped either. In DVI, the tones were very natural, almost life-like in appearance.

As for the absence of sound in DVI, I tried every combination between the box and the TV set. Viewsonic's monitor was not responding to audio inputs in the only ports available in Component or AV. Now, that could be a manufacturing defect, but since HDMI resolved my problem, I opted not to pursue it any further.

I was by Cosco today and saw the HDMI/DVI kits. They also just sell the HDMI cable for 34.95. If that is what you want, that may be the easiest way to go.

Thanks Deke. The Costcos I checked did not have this cable; only the large kit, which I could return. What store location did you see this at?

Thanks Maury, you've been very informative and helpful.

Aw shucks, it was nuthin!

 

[deke]

It was at the Richmond Cosco. Walk in, along the right wall.