nandywell

I had the good fortune to have viewed two 60" LG Plasma TVs in my local Empire Direct store last week. The models were 60PF95 (£1,995) and 60PC45 (£1,799). I have to say, I was amazed at how large these things are in the flesh. They had a DVD film playing on each and the quality was stunning. I can't imagine live feeds to be that good on both these sets but to be fair, there isn't much on TV worth watching anyway.

I've started saving for the 60PF95 model, as it's slightly larger than the other model and is aesthetically better looking. I feel such a sucker for having been sucked in to this advanced world of home entertainment but, these whopping big TVs are just shagadelic.

Don't suppose anyone owns one of these beasts or wants to add anything?

Steve Crook

Bear in mind that large TVs have the same number of dots on the screen as small TVs. It's just that the dots are bigger. That's all right if they're on the wall of a pub or club but if they're in your living room and you're a lot closer to them you may well be able to see the individual dots rather than seeing them merge into a good picture.

Also, how big is your room and how much time do you spend watching TV? A 60" TV can easily take over a room.

The store is probably showing it in the best way possible, playing a DVD from an HD/BluRay system. But check what it looks like when it's showing a broadcast signal (from a non-HD channel) or when it's playing a non-HD DVD?

Steve

julian_craster

Why not go for a HD Sony Projector ?
dabs.com - PC Hardware, Components, Software, Digital Cameras, MP3 Players have the latest model......at around £750

You can make the image as big as you like, without this bulky 'thing' in your living room that weights a ton.....

nandywell

In reply to the first message, I get what you mean. If you stand about 1-2 feet away all you see is pixels. But if you sit the normal distance away i.e. around 5-6 feet away, it looks great. Thanks for the advice though Ste.

As for projectors, despite the obvious price difference, I'm not won over by them.

julian_craster

But have you actually seen one of the new SONY HD Projectors in action ?

(they are new to the UK market)....

You might change your mind....

rskershaw

Big plasmas or LCDs will really only come into their own when we get HD broadcasts. SKY broadcast a limited service, but the real solution will be HD Freeview, however we could wait another two years for that.
Playback of DVDs on even a good quality DVD player with a HDMI output, at best, gives variable picture quality. The latest Hollywood CGI filled Blockbuster looks great, but unfortunately older films can look poor, often because the size of the TV highlights the age or the poor/deteriorating quality of the print from which the DVD was taken. (Even remastered older films such as Lawrence can be disappointing).
Nandywell, ask the store assistant to play terrestrial digital TV on the 60" TV you're interested in. Sales rooms have their Plasmas and LCD wired up to a HD DVD player or Sky HD broadcast. Its an unfortunate fact that a lot of people buy on the strength of the quality of what they see in the sales room, not knowing that they are effectively watching a gimmick. When they get home and plug in their new set they are aghast at the poor quality of terrestrial digital broadcasts and the playback quality of their DVD collection. The bigger the telly, the more garish the TV picture, particularly on cheaply made (video recorded?) programmes. I noticed David Attenborough's recent series looked almost perfect, but then I read it had been shot in HD so that it could be sold as a HD quality DVD, for the American Market in particular.
Now that the brand HDDVD looks like it is obsolete, BlueRay might be an answer, but you will need to purchase your film collection in that format otherwise you will just be playing regular DVD's with a HD output, with the results be nothing different from what I mentioned before. Sorry to be downbeat but I hear that the BlueRay recently released versions of 2001 and A Passage To India are not particularly impressive, again probably because of the quality of the master from which they were taken, but this becomes technical now so I'll let somebody who knows more about that side of things continue
But there is no indication BlueRay is the future at this time, it will certainly benefit and grow from the demise of its rival and hopefully become less expensive, but downloaded films are being widely talked about and I think there are threads on this forum about that subject.

rskershaw

I'd also check Which? before you buy any model.

lordtednfs

Have you thought about buying a rear projection tv? They are much cheaper, and don't listen to the hype, watch with your eyes. I have a Samsung 52" rear projection tv, hd ready with a surround sound system and it's awesome, the cost, less than 900.

I recently had a friend here from the UK and he told me that they are basically giving away rear projection tv's and with great deals. Free home theatre systems, dvds and so on. Look around, I am sure you will find a great deal out there.

___________________
Hooked off the line

Carmel

The picture quality is much better on a plasma then rear projection Tv's maybe its just me that thinks so but you cant beat a HD Plasma far better quality picture and sound. That my opinion anyway. i have a 42 inch at the minute but im thinking of treating myself to a 60 inch soon.

Live each day to the full because one day it will be your last.

IAN P

The Panasonic ax200 projector,is cheaper than those plasma tellys,and you will get at least an 84 inch picture,use the rest of your cash to buy a ps3,use the hdmi socket,and trust me when i say,you will be amazed.You can also buy a dirt cheap HD-DVD player(you can get the discs cheap as well),and use it as a superior upscaler.Remember the hd player or ps3 will play sd-dvd as well.
.
The panasonic costs anywhere from £800.00 to £1200.00

Steve Crook

But what do you do if you've got a large library of films that isn't recorded on HD, hasn't been released on HD and isn't likely to be?

Steve

IAN P

Yeah mate,trust me when i say,the stuff i have put on dvd from the telly,looks rather splendid blown up to 7 feet wide,obviously some dont look as good.They are not hd,but perfectly watchable,even my 500 vhs tapes looked half decent once i put them on disc.

Steve Crook

Are you saying that they look better on DVD than they did on tape or than they did when they were broadcast? How can that be? Putting something on DVD doesn't add anything to the picture quality, it actually degrades it a bit from the picture quality of a tape or a broadcast signal - but once on DVD it is easier to copy it more reliably

And how much better do they look when blown up to 7ft wide if the source is a basic PAL signal (not HD) either from tape, DVD or broadcast? Putting it onto a big screen only makes each 'pixel' bigger. It doesn't add any detail.

As I said above, that's fine if it's on the wall in a big hall or a pub. But my house ain't that big that I can sit 20 feet away from the screen

Steve

IAN P

They look better than the tape,to my eyes,because you record them on to the hard drive first,using the best setting,it cleans the picture up very nicely.You only notice pixels if you stand 3 feet from the screen,im sitting 9 feet away and the pic is great,also Panasonic have a system called smoothscreen which eliminates pixels(at the seating position), which you probably would notice on a lesser model.and you dont really need a big room

Steve Crook

I'm very dubious about anything that claims to "clean up the picture" when you record from tape (or non-HD broadcast signal) to disk.

They do that by trying to merge from one frame to another and filling in a few pixels in-between. That's fine when the two frames are part of the same scene but it does leave some ghosting and blurring when they are different scenes. Especially after a jump cut

Steve