Good week to join the HD revolution (1 Viewer)

[Derek Miner]

Until this week, I did not own an HD monitor, and it was hard to believe. I work in a video facility and look at perfect pictures every day I'm working. I had been using a 27" Sony set that had never failed me, therefore never giving me the absolute need to upgrade. And last year, my PARENTS even got Fios and an HD monitor to go with it - embarrassing!

So this past Friday, I finally hit the jackpot at the annual company Holiday Luncheon and won a 32" Sony KDL 32L4000. It's an entry level set, but the reviews are good. So then I knew I had to add something to display nice images on my set, so I went to pick up a Panasonic DMP BD35. I was prepared to pay almost full retail on this just to buy one today, but it turns out it's on sale at Best Buy this week for $249. And then I picked up Firefly on Blu-ray at Target for only $49.99, which appears to beat the best online price by almost $8. I've heard Wall-E will be on sale next week for $20 as well, which I can't wait to pick up.

Of course, I had to go and spend $30 on an HDMI cable as well, but everyone else I know has been complaining they couldn't find one for less than $60. I guess they don't know how to shop online...

So I'm pretty tickled to be enjoying some great HD content in my own home for a change, and on an outlay of only around $350!

 

[MielR]

Congrats!

I just bought that same TV. It's my first HDTV too. It's still in the box though (LOL) so I can't offer a review just yet.

 

[Patrick Sun]

FYI, Monoprice has a nice selection of HDMI cables and they are much less than $30 (unless you need a super-long HDMI cable need, or one with a thicker gauge).

 

[Derek Miner]

Yeah, I know. I wanted to get one in a store right now instead of having it shipped, though. Wasn't planning on needing an HDMI cable earlier this week!

 

[Jerome Grate]

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Derek,

Very good read. A hearty congrats and welcome to the HD club!

 

[Craig Beam]

"You just taken your first step into a larger world."

(Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi, Star Wars)

couldn't resist.

 

[MielR]

Well, I finally set up my KDL-32L4000 tonight. I put on the 'HELP!' DVD I got for Christmas last year as a test, and it looked great!

Derek, I'm wondering if you have any recommendations for picture settings?

 

[Derek Miner]

Sure, here's what I know so far...

My assumptions on most sets are that I should turn the "enhancement" options (like noise reduction) off and where this particular set has a color temp setting, I chose "neutral." Not sure if I set "CineMotion" on or off but the manual says it's in the "Setup" section of the menu.

I took a look at the Video Essentials Blu-ray and discovered that this set has one of the inexpensive types of contrast circuits that expand the range from the center, which makes the brightness and "picture" levels more interactive. Also be aware that the set will clip the upper levels if you drive the picture setting too high. Playing test patterns from my new BD35, I found that leaving the brightness at the middle setting (50) was most correct and the "picture" setting maxed out before clipping around 80. I'm thinking of rechecking this to see if the low end clips as well. Of course, this varies a bit from source to source. I do like that each input has a separate "custom" mode to keep specific picture settings (I hope this is pretty much a given on most new TVs). I found that my cable system was sending a variety of black levels, making some stations look incredibly dark. I had to bump the brightness up a couple notches for that input.

I will also note that I wanted the TV to default to 4:3 mode on standard def channels in the tuner, but the set defaults to wide mode. There's a "4:3 Default" choice in the menu that I thought needed to be set to "Normal" but this actually needs to be "off" or else the choice only applies to the station the set is tuned to.

The one drawback with this model is that there is no zoom mode that doesn't also stretch the picture. This means that if I have a 4:3 source with letterboxing, I can't zoom in to fill the screen. I could stretch to fill left to right, but the height stays the same. "Wide Zoom" is so close to "Full," I don't even understand why it's an option.

 

[MielR]

Yeah, I noticed that too. It's very odd. When I buy a blu-ray player I'll have to look for one with a 'zoom' function for letterboxed DVDs as my DVD player doesn't have a zoom function (any recommendations?)

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Derek Miner]

Forgot one thing. If you set the sharpness too low on the KDL-32L4000, it starts to soften the picture, and like most sets, as you go up, it artificially enhances the picture. I have it set on 5, but I haven't given it such a detailed look to see if that's THE setting.

Also, just discovered something odd. The Sony TV has an optical audio output, so I thought I could go Blu (Panasonic BD35) to TV via HDMI, then TV to receiver via optical. I set this up and everything seemed to be coming through, then I noticed that when playing a DVD with DTS audio that I was getting sound at the receiver via digital, but it wasn't DTS. Somewhere in the signal path, the DTS was being turned into two-channel audio. I tried using the optical cable direct from the Blu-ray and that DID send DTS to my receiver, so I'm puzzled. I can pass Dolby Digital via HDMI through the Sony TV but not DTS. And the DTS doesn't go away, it gets converted. Would the TV do this? I would think if the TV was not capable of DTS, it wouldn't pass ANY audio from a DTS bitstream.

 

[MielR]

I have mine set to '8' right now on sharpness. Seems OK.

Sorry I can't help you with the audio stuff- I don't have mine hooked up to a receiver.