Help w/TV Selection (1 Viewer)

[DavidShlapak]

Hi there. I'm in information overload mode, trying to choose equipment for a setup in our renovated family room. My wife has the "no clutter" aesthetic, and would strongly prefer a flat-panel display. I think I've settled on the Sharp LC-45GX6U, or at least I thought I had until I read the latest issue of Home Theatre, which basically raves about the new Sony KDS-R60XBR1. Now 60" is more than our room needs, but the Sony's little brother, the KDS-R50XBR1, is suddenly in my mind a contender. Of course, as an RP set, it's not "hang-on-the-wall" friendly; it sits on a stand, which is not what is desired. So, my question for your collected experience and wisdom is: In a moderately-bright family room setting (e.g., not a dedicated "home theater") are the differences in picture quality between the two sets going to be sufficiently noticeable that it's worth opening up the discussion with my bride? I'm not looking for the "ultimate viewing experience," but for $4K I am hoping to get a set that will keep us happy for 5+ years.

Viewing time would be split fairly evenly between DVDs (and, eventually, some flavor of HD-DVD, if the ball can ever move forward on that one) and HD/SD DBS (lots of sports), if that's any help.

Also, a side question: Pretty much every review I read of "1080p" sets says that they don't accept 1080p signals. Can someone explain what the heck that means? How can a set be "1080p" and not accept the signal? Does this mean that when 1080p material actually becomes available, some sort of outboard box will be needed to view it in native resolution on my "1080p" TV? Just color me sort of puzzled on this one.

Thanks in advance for any advice/thoughts/enlightenment.

Cheers.

--- das

 

[John S]

LCD 1080p direct view -vs- 720p RP, both LCD...

Drag about them not accepting 1080p though I agree. All these digital panels, scale all sources to their native resolution for display. It seems these displays should be able to take 1080p via HDMI/DVI, but maybe not.


A 1080p LCD panel should allow you to sit very close without see'n any screen door effect.

The Sony LCD RP's have so little, I am not sure if it is to much of a concern anyways.

Direct view will be better in day light / working / reading light. No lamps as in projection, so that is a plus as well in my book for the direct view. Often times the LCD RP's will have better black levels, which is still the biggest buggaboo against LCD technology.


Not sure I helped any here. best of luck, I'd probably go with the wife on this one. Now screen size is eveyrthing, but from 45" to 50" just isn't that much of an increase.


If you go with the LCD 1080p direct view, you will be somewhat ont he cutting edge. Which has coolness in and of itself ya know.

 

[Allan Jayne]

You probably should not buy a 1080 plasma that does not take 1080p (@ 60 fps).

An LCD or DLP or plasma set with 1080 rows of pixels displays only in 1080p. It is unfortunate that many such sets will not accept 1080p (@ 60 fps) input yet the set must convert anything and everything that comes in to become 1080p @ 60 fps. You are stuck with whatever quality 1080p conversion the set possesses which could vary widely from one model to another and which I cannot tell you.

At least if the TV set accepts 1080p, if you don't like the way the set converts other formats including 1080i, you can buy an external device that does a better conversion.

If you were to get a 720p or 768p plasma set, you will probably (you still need to do homework) have a set that takes 720p and does a minimum of processing to that video. 720p is a standard format that can be transmitted from one video device to another. Everthing entering that set must be converted to 720p or 768p if not already. If you don't like the way the TV set converts 1080i input you can at least get an external device that converts 1080i to 720p or to 768p with better quality.

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm