What TV?
- Thread starter JohnBoyII
- Start date
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HD TV'S are available in LCD & PLASMA. I think you might be asking whats the difference between LCD & Plasma. If that is what you are after, try a search on google, I did a few months back & I found all the + & - of both, cant remember the url, but I will have a quick look.
Edit
Found It
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/specsformats/displays_LCD_vs_Plasma3.html
&
http://www.flattvpeople.com/tutorials/lcd-vs-plasma.asp
Edit
Found It
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/specsformats/displays_LCD_vs_Plasma3.html
&
http://www.flattvpeople.com/tutorials/lcd-vs-plasma.asp
Plasma longevity... this has been something that some people have been talking about since they came out.
The lifespan of a plasma TV is measured in 10s of thousands of hours. I can't find the information on any manufacturers' websites (Well, I only tried one!), but a 3-year-old article reckons 60,000 hours. And the trend has been to increased longevity.
Now, say you watch an average of 3 hours TV per day. That's about a thousand hours per year. If your TV has a lifespan of those 60,000 hours, that is nearly 60 years of TV service! Even if you leave it on in your every waking hour, that is still 10 years or more of service.
So, don't worry about it!
As to the original post: 720p and 1080i are the two standards Sky will be broadcasting in. The HD-ready TVs I have seen have ALL been 720 lines or more, but none have been 1080 or more. So, they will downconvert the higher-resolution broadcasts to 720 lines.
There are 1080 line sets available in the states, it is only a matter of time before we get them here. I suspect that the reason we are only offered 720 line TVs for now is to get consumer buy-in: HD-ready TVs are really not as expensive as I had expected.
Take a look at the LG ones, the picture is amazing. When I saw them, demonstrating with a HD video (from a PC stashed underneath), I had to be physically restrained from committing an act of self-abuse right there in the shop. The picture is that good.
The lifespan of a plasma TV is measured in 10s of thousands of hours. I can't find the information on any manufacturers' websites (Well, I only tried one!), but a 3-year-old article reckons 60,000 hours. And the trend has been to increased longevity.
Now, say you watch an average of 3 hours TV per day. That's about a thousand hours per year. If your TV has a lifespan of those 60,000 hours, that is nearly 60 years of TV service! Even if you leave it on in your every waking hour, that is still 10 years or more of service.
So, don't worry about it!
As to the original post: 720p and 1080i are the two standards Sky will be broadcasting in. The HD-ready TVs I have seen have ALL been 720 lines or more, but none have been 1080 or more. So, they will downconvert the higher-resolution broadcasts to 720 lines.
There are 1080 line sets available in the states, it is only a matter of time before we get them here. I suspect that the reason we are only offered 720 line TVs for now is to get consumer buy-in: HD-ready TVs are really not as expensive as I had expected.
Take a look at the LG ones, the picture is amazing. When I saw them, demonstrating with a HD video (from a PC stashed underneath), I had to be physically restrained from committing an act of self-abuse right there in the shop. The picture is that good.
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oh yeah, they had a 60-inch HD set up in dixons xl in doncaster, with a little cube PC underneath, if you stand right in front of it, its like you're actually there, it was showing scenes of cliffs and panoramic views, i was getting vertigo!!!
>>Guess what we bought last month
Yep, thats what I've been dreading as well. Theres so much conflicting advice around, I'm just trying to figure out which is better?
The longevity thing is an issue because I remember seeing a Phillips plasma in Barkers a couple of years ago and after about six months the screen had images burnt-in in the bottom right hand corner. Mind you, it was an early model so that might have been fixed by now. Like most people with traditional tv's (mines a 3 1/2 tonne sony trinitron, so I'll probably have to accidentally spill some beer before it stops working!) maybe I'm being too demanding.
By the way whats all this business about HD video and PCs? Will I have to scrap my current dvd player as well as the tv and buy HD versions of both.
Yep, thats what I've been dreading as well. Theres so much conflicting advice around, I'm just trying to figure out which is better?
The longevity thing is an issue because I remember seeing a Phillips plasma in Barkers a couple of years ago and after about six months the screen had images burnt-in in the bottom right hand corner. Mind you, it was an early model so that might have been fixed by now. Like most people with traditional tv's (mines a 3 1/2 tonne sony trinitron, so I'll probably have to accidentally spill some beer before it stops working!) maybe I'm being too demanding.
By the way whats all this business about HD video and PCs? Will I have to scrap my current dvd player as well as the tv and buy HD versions of both.
B
B.O.B DOLE
All this talk about plasma tv and lcd have you seen the price of them and all just to watch the same boring cr..p which is on week after week year after year.
2
2scoops0406
Or you can wait until LEP TV's finally hit the market, still it's been promised that they're only a couple of years away now for the last 10 - 15 years!
Update, went to Curry's today, (wasting an hour) is it me, or have TV's gone the same way as burgers, all seem to be super size these days. Now I would guess that I live in a slightly above average size house, living room being 16 feet by 23 feet, but there is no way I could ever get one of the monsters on offer into the room, without it looking totally dominating. Also even with HDTV, the 55 inch screens are still pixilating, although I admit, the picture quality in general is pretty darned good.
Seems to me that I'm going to looking nearer the portable end of the flat screen HDTV market. I feel a bit inferior now
Update, went to Curry's today, (wasting an hour) is it me, or have TV's gone the same way as burgers, all seem to be super size these days. Now I would guess that I live in a slightly above average size house, living room being 16 feet by 23 feet, but there is no way I could ever get one of the monsters on offer into the room, without it looking totally dominating. Also even with HDTV, the 55 inch screens are still pixilating, although I admit, the picture quality in general is pretty darned good.
Seems to me that I'm going to looking nearer the portable end of the flat screen HDTV market. I feel a bit inferior now
I have noticed on our 42inch plasma, when there is a lot of action and fast moving pictures, the image does suffer in quality. Whether this is down to the processing hardware or the screen, i don't know, but being built to HD standards, you would think this wouldn't happen! Then again, it coult be the Sky box, since it happens less with the DVD player.
Another annoying thing is the widescreen settings. The widescreen models are built to 16:9, yes? Then why does my TV stretch the left quarter and the right quarter of the image to fill the screen (looks like a funny lens on the camera when it pans across a scene)? Only when the signal is true 16:9 (sky1, bbc1 etc) does it not stretch the sides! even widescreen DVDs gets stretched for some reason! I have messed with the other widescreen options on the TV, but all the others end up with grey bars down the sides or the top, and i dont want that burnt into the screen!
Another annoying thing is the widescreen settings. The widescreen models are built to 16:9, yes? Then why does my TV stretch the left quarter and the right quarter of the image to fill the screen (looks like a funny lens on the camera when it pans across a scene)? Only when the signal is true 16:9 (sky1, bbc1 etc) does it not stretch the sides! even widescreen DVDs gets stretched for some reason! I have messed with the other widescreen options on the TV, but all the others end up with grey bars down the sides or the top, and i dont want that burnt into the screen!
Ah, well you are finding out, like every other widescreen owner in the land, that there is simply no satisfactory way to watch 4:3 broadcasts on a 16:9 screen!
You have a few choices with most:
1) an allegedly clever mode, as you are using, whereby it stretches the picture more at the edges than at the centre.
2) Cropping the top and bottom of the picture in order to fill the screen with the correct aspect ratio, but losing some picture
3) stretching the 4:3 image in a linear fashion to fill the screen with fat people (unless they are lying down, in which case they become tall and thin)
4) a mode that does a little of 2 and a little of 3 (called "Smart" on my TV)
However, the best way to watch them is with borders down the sides. It sucks, but I'm sure people with colour TVs got miffed with being forced to watch black-and-white repeats.
Thing is, 99% of British programming is shot in widescreen and has been for years. I've been watching widescreen digital TV broadcasts since the days of onDigital, back in 1999 or 2000. Even "Neighbours" was in widescreen then (being a student I had much time to watch it!)
The only things I find aren't are on the lesser channels or are "international" programmes that are dubbed into English (e.g. all those shows about American cops, many have English narration). Whilst it has taken them a while to catch on to widescreen, many American programmes are also now made in widescreen... some even in high-definition which will come in handy from 2006!
You have a few choices with most:
1) an allegedly clever mode, as you are using, whereby it stretches the picture more at the edges than at the centre.
2) Cropping the top and bottom of the picture in order to fill the screen with the correct aspect ratio, but losing some picture
3) stretching the 4:3 image in a linear fashion to fill the screen with fat people (unless they are lying down, in which case they become tall and thin)
4) a mode that does a little of 2 and a little of 3 (called "Smart" on my TV)
However, the best way to watch them is with borders down the sides. It sucks, but I'm sure people with colour TVs got miffed with being forced to watch black-and-white repeats.
Thing is, 99% of British programming is shot in widescreen and has been for years. I've been watching widescreen digital TV broadcasts since the days of onDigital, back in 1999 or 2000. Even "Neighbours" was in widescreen then (being a student I had much time to watch it!)
The only things I find aren't are on the lesser channels or are "international" programmes that are dubbed into English (e.g. all those shows about American cops, many have English narration). Whilst it has taken them a while to catch on to widescreen, many American programmes are also now made in widescreen... some even in high-definition which will come in handy from 2006!
Some channels transmit mostly widescreen pictures, yet have logos and what-not in the black banners top and bottom, so the TV doesn't realise its widescreen and therefore can't show it normally.
I wouldnt mind watching a 4:3 programme with black borders down the sides, but grey borders just aren't cutting it for me! Thats just our TV i guess though!
I have noticed that even though the TV stretches 4:3 broadcasts, the sky search and scan banner is cut off the bottom, which tells me i'm missing a bit from the bottom of the broadcast too!
I wouldnt mind watching a 4:3 programme with black borders down the sides, but grey borders just aren't cutting it for me! Thats just our TV i guess though!
I have noticed that even though the TV stretches 4:3 broadcasts, the sky search and scan banner is cut off the bottom, which tells me i'm missing a bit from the bottom of the broadcast too!
M
Moz
my proline old square 32 " tv works lovely an it only cost me £200 5yrs ago,I hate widescreen tvs ,lol
M
Moz
crafty1289
I dont know , I just hate the squashed picture but Ive sat an seen them at friends an after 30 mins not noticed it (after 11 pints of stella mind , an a jemma jameson film , lol)
I have the brass/money to buy these plasma screens etc but Im just a bit wary about things I read about pixellation an /burnt images etc ...
I have on my Mobo here an old 19" Iiyama VisionMaster , CRT
,I would do the 21" TFT (?) screen but heard for gaming they are not as goods as old crt , an I love my FPS gaming after the pub ..
I dont know , I just hate the squashed picture but Ive sat an seen them at friends an after 30 mins not noticed it (after 11 pints of stella mind , an a jemma jameson film , lol)
I have the brass/money to buy these plasma screens etc but Im just a bit wary about things I read about pixellation an /burnt images etc ...
I have on my Mobo here an old 19" Iiyama VisionMaster , CRT
,I would do the 21" TFT (?) screen but heard for gaming they are not as goods as old crt , an I love my FPS gaming after the pub ..
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