Question about DLP/LCD (1 Viewer)

[Paul Simmons]

Someone was telling me that watching regular cable TV on a DLP or LCD TV set would provide inferior picture quality compared to a CRT TV. Is this true? I've been thinking about getting a new TV for quite a while but to be honest I won't be getting HD-cable for some time, my cable company only offers 6 lousy channels in HD and the premium for a HD-TV converter box ($700cdn) is too high so I'll be watching regular cable for some time :frowning:

 

[Allan Jayne]

I disagree. The fact the TV is LCD or DLP will not worsen the picture from standard definition TV shows.

The imperfections and limitations of SDTV will be more noticeable on a larger screen.

Some channels might look better using a composite video connection (via the yellow jacks). You would have to try it and compare the picture quality

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

 

[EdQ]

Hmmm.... I think broadcast TV looks better on my 27" CRT than my 62" DLP.

But I think it may have to do with the larger size showing imperfections.

 

[Steve Berger]

Perceived quality will depend a lot on the processing used (de-interlacing and scaling are needed with fixed pixel displays). My InFocus SP4805 (DLP at 140" diag) looks better on poor signals then the 53" Sony next to it.

The PJ has the excellent Faroudja DCDi processor for interlaced signals. That's why composite and S-Video inputs sometimes look better than progressive sources.

In general there have been a lot of complaints about SD on ED and HDTV displays but the problem is not inherent to the format but the processing used. Price driven sets are not likely to pay the licensing fees for the better processing nor have the ability to design their own.

 

[Ian-Fl]

It does depend on the set's deinterlacer.
I remember watching 20 years ago hockey games in bars with CRT projectors and standard def feeds. PQ was poor.
My LCD projector has a poor deinterlacer so I bought a TV capture card for $100 years ago and put it in my old PIII computer.
The PQ improved immediately. Believe me watching a Canadians hockey game is very watchable.
Since then I've built a more powerful HTPC and moved the card into that.
For watching TV just get a 4:3 TV with a DVI or VGA input.

 

[Paul Simmons]

Good info guys, thanks!
After a lot of debating and looking at cost vs size, I settled on a Toshiba 65inch CRT (65H85C). Why? I use my TV for mostly regular cable and videogames, also it can do 1080i and has an HDMI input so I probably won't have to buy another set again for a long time. I was upgrading from a 32inch and I can't even describe how tiny the 32inch looks now!

This is my BEFORE pic



And this is my AFTER pic (still need to finish setting up)



And before anyone says anything, let me say that YES! those are Athena speakers and YES! the DVD player(which I just bought BTW) is sitting on top of a box! I just haven't had a chance to buy a storage cabinet

 

[DonnyNP]

Hey Paul,

Nice HT setup!

Must look and sound great. I think you made a great choice going with the Toshiba.


Cheers,

Donny

 

[Reginald Trent]

Paul,

I could be wrong but it looks like you could angle the center speaker down for better imaging. Nice set up tho.

 

[Paul Simmons]

Good catch! In my rush to set everything up I completely forgot the angle the center channel, thanks

Thanks for the comments Donny, I actually bought this baby on Boxing day at A&B Sound. Believe it or not I had to pull an all-nighter and sit in the line up from 11pm Christmas Day. Let me tell you I don't think I'll be doing that again this year!