New purchase...need help badly (1 Viewer)

[Jason Co]

I stepped up to the plate and bought a widescreen LCD HDTV. I'll tell you what, I have never been so confused by abbreviations, letters, numbers my head hurts from all this stuff. It's actually making me wonder if it's worth it. Anyway my questions are as follows;

1. My tv is a Panny PT-50LC14. I also had a Toshiba SD-597OSU progressive scan DVD player thrown in with the purchase. I have NO idea what the best resolution is to watch a movie. 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1024p this is ridiculous.

2. I hooked up the video/audio using HDMI, but because I am not using my tv speakers I also hooked the dvd player up to the receiver (Denon 3802) via optical cable. Does this make a difference?

3. Progressive scan...progressive scan...I have no idea how to tell if the damn movie is in progressive scan.

4.On top of that I fried at least 1 driver on my center channel because I think I hooked it up incorrectly to my freakin' amp.

If anyone can help stop the insanity and reassure me this is worth it in the long run....I will buy you a cold one...or two.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Elinor]

1. Is this an "upconverting" player? If you don't want to fritz with it all, and test different resolutions, then just set it to 720p. That's the native resolution of your set, and it should look fine. If for any reason it looks bad to you (be sure you are using the HDMI or component connection) then set it to 480p or 480i. I have the predecessor to your set, and my DVDs look almost equally good whether I use 480i or 480p. The set is going to convert 480i to 720p anyway.

2. That is fine, most people only hook up DVD audio to the receiver, but you are fine doing what you did.

3. All DVDs are recorded in 480i. That means they are not progressive. The player can make the signal progressive, or the tv can.

4. Sorry about that speaker.

 

[Jason Co]

Elinor

If this helps is the dvd player is here http://www.crutchfield.com/S-GbxX6aw...00&I=052SD5970

J

 

[Elinor]

Thanks for the link. I'd definitely set the DVD player to output 720p then. It will convert the signal to 720p, pass it digitally over the HDMI input to the tv, which will display it without any additional conversion. This should be a great picture for you.

 

[Jim Peavy]

Can a HDTV with a SD player give you a progressive picture? No doubt it would depend on the upscaler in the HDTV...?

 

[Elinor]

Yes, all fixed pixel HDTVs (RP-LCD, DLP, DILA, LCOS) are going to convert an interlaced (480i, or what you call SD) signal to progressive. They have to, it's the only type of signal they can display.

I'm not sure about RP-CRTs though, or direct view CRTs. Perhaps someone else can chime in on those.

 

[Jim Peavy]

^ ^ ^
Thanks, Elinor. How about RP or direct view CRTs -- anybody?


Buy, I wish I had your problem...!

 

[Jason Co]

Yeah I guess I am complaining about nothing really. On another note it looks like I will be buying 3 new drivers for my Axiom center channel.

J