Need advice on first 16:9 HD set! (1 Viewer)

[Lev-S]

I have been seriously considering the option of upgrading my 27" Wega and Sony basic DVD player to a widescreen tv and progressive scan player. I am thinking about purchasing
the Toshiba 30HF83 since it sells for a meagre $1,799.99 Canadian ($1,353.96 US) and has 540p and 1080i support. It is VERY visually appealing, and features a nice black border that makes it virtually invisible in the dark, and blends well with 2.20:1+ OR software.


http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.gr...6&product=2270

Some questions however... (People with experience with this set in particular would be great).

1. Whats the deal with 540p? How will it deal with all my 480p anamorphically encoded DVDs?

2. DVI vs. Component: Will the progressive scan feature still work through DVI, or will that be taken care of through the set? I tried a Samsung Prog-Scan player on one and it would not let me activate prog when running DVI.

3. Misc. comments about service menu, calibration etc???

Also, how does the Samsung TXN3071WHF 30" compare?
Thanks!!!

 

[Lew Crippen]

Lev, I have the Samsung, but I can’t compare it to the Toshiba, which I have not seen. The Samsung has a good picture, but I thought that it not quite so good as the same size Panasonic. But then a year ago the Panasonic cost more.

The Samsung has a reasonable number of inputs (2 component sets), but not DVI and the only S-Video input is on the side of the set—sort of a compromise between the front and back I suppose.

Several sets up-convert 480 to 540, no doubt because this is one-half of 1080. I’m pretty sure that 540 is also the PAL standard.

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

I am not an expert, but I have seen that TV, and I think it is fantastic. If I had it to do over again I would have waited and bought that instead of the (albiet much cheaper) JVC i'art analog tv I got.

Upconverting to 540p should be no problem. In theory it could produce some artifacts, but in practice the algorithms are pretty good. I am still amazed every time I see a huge 50" plus display being used with a dvd. It's simply incredible how much you can strech a modest 720X480 image, you'd swear the resolution was much higher.

 

[greg_t]

All of your dvd's are encoded at 480 interlaced (480i, not 480p. A progressive scan dvd player will convert them from 480i to 480p. If you get the Toshiba, it will accept the 480p and will upconvert to 540p, or if you choose, 1080i. As noted above, this usually causes some additional artifacts, but in real world, it may not bother you, especially with only 30 inches. Most sets do 540p because it is cheaper to implement than allowing native 480p. The reason being is that by having your set convert both 480i and 480p to 540p, the tv doesn't have to look at the signal and determine what to do with it, it just upconverts anything coming in. Sets that allow native 480p have to be able to recognize if a signal is 480i or 480p and determine what to do with it. There are only a few sets the allow native 480p. I know Pioneers still do, and I know that Mitsubishi and Panasonic used to unless that has changed. Hope this helps some.

 

[Lev-S]

Thanks for the feedback! Saw 'Matrix Reloaded' on the Toshiba today (the scene with Smith in the infinite hallway and almost collapsed): AWESOME! Now to calculate the necessary funding...

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

The TV calibrates well ... like most Toshiba Tube sets. Grayscale work is standard and additional tweaking is done in the NDA portion of the service menu. (NDA=nondisclosureagreement)

540P upconversion makes the tV cheaper to make. Artifacts appear to be small.

Regards

 

[Rob Tomlin]

2. DVI vs. Component: Will the progressive scan feature still work through DVI, or will that be taken care of through the set? I tried a Samsung Prog-Scan player on one and it would not let me activate prog when running DVI.

I assume you were using a Samsung HD931 DVD player with DVI output? If so, yes, it should output a progressive signal via DVI. The real issue is whether it will do so at 540p, which I doubt. I know that it will output 720p, but this might not help it the TV does not support that resolution and may add additional artifacts (thus defeating one of the main advantages of DVI).

You might be better off setting the Samsung DVI player to output 1080i to the TV.

 

[Lev-S]

I assume you were using a Samsung HD931 DVD player with DVI output? If so, yes, it should output a progressive signal via DVI. The real issue is whether it will do so at 540p, which I doubt. I know that it will output 720p, but this might not help it the TV does not support that resolution and may add additional artifacts (thus defeating one of the main advantages of DVI).

Yeah that is the one that the Toshiba was hooked up to. When the DVI input was enabled, the progressive scan indicator stayed off. When DVI was switched off, progressive scan mode was able to be enabled. Man DVI is confusing... Anybody have any other good info on DVI?

 

[david stark]

I bought the Toshiba HF83C last weekend from a store in Toronto and got it for $1670 CDN including taxes and delivery.

I'm very happy with it so far, I think it's pretty hard to beat at that price. I've no experience of DVI and I don't use it. I've got my dvd player (Arcam DV89) hooked up through component input and the picture is great although it still needs a little tweaking I think.

It is bloody heavy though, much heavier than my previous tv (28" widescreen Loewe Cantus).

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Yeah that is the one that the Toshiba was hooked up to. When the DVI input was enabled, the progressive scan indicator stayed off. When DVI was switched off, progressive scan mode was able to be enabled.

Are you talking about a progressive scan indicator on the DVD player? If so, I would assume the reason the progressive scan indicator went off when switching to DVI is because you need to go into the menu to make sure the Samsung is putting out a progressive signal through the DVI output. Perhaps it was set to 1080i?

Like I said, the Samsung will definitely output a progressive signal via DVI.

 

[David_D_C]

I also picked up a 30HF83C for ~1650 Canadian including taxes at my local A&B Sound here in Edmonton.

This is my first 16:9 set so of course to me it looks totally awesome even coming off an old Toshiba SD-2700 non-progressive scan player. I've only had it for 6 days but I love it.

I waited and waited for the 34" to come down below the $2000 mark, then I saw the 30" and jumped on it instead.

 

[Beau B]

I have the Panasonic 47WX53. How do I get into the service menu?

Thanks, Beau

 

[Rick Westfall]

OK. For all those that made the jump from the standard 4:3 TV to the Toshiba 30HF83...one quick question. How does it affect your regular TV watching. Obviously much smaller screen (I understand it's about the equivalent of a 24" 4:3 monitor). Seems small but does the increased quality outweigh that?

Thanks
Rick

 

[Mark Hamilton]

Lev-S, I'v been playing with a Samsung DVD HD-931 and a Toshiba 34HF83 quite a bit at a local Future Shop. I probably would have liked the 30HF83 more if not for the black border.

First off, remember that the data being transfered via the DVI cable is digital and is, due to the Samsung's scaler, inherently progressive. I believe that's just the nature of the medium. The progressive scan light on the player is there for the component video outputs I believe.

Overall, I'v been very dissapointed with the Samsung player but extremely impressed with the Toshiba 34HF83. It's just a matter of finding an affordable progressive scan player to pair with the soon to be purchased Toshiba set until we see a greater number of quality DVI players out. That's my current dillema.... :frowning: