Blu-Ray...or however you spell it

BIZILL

indeed. well, mostly rear projection is 'older', imho.

jakelm

Some might argue, but I still think a calibrated RP CRT, has the best depth in terms of picture and greyscale, even though its the "older" 1080i.

Jake

bobman1235

Sure, just make sure you're in a pitch black room and directly in front of the screen.

jakelm

bobman1235 wrote:

Sure, just make sure you're in a pitch black room and directly in front of the screen.

Untrue with my Mit. But thanks for the opinion.

bobman1235

I'm basing that opinion almost solely on my brother's older (I think it's a Panasonic) 1080i RPTV. It's a **** to see in any kind of bright light, and the viewing angles are TERRIBLE.

I'm sure there are better sets out there, he bought his based solely on size.

jakelm

There are some bad ones out there. But there are some good ones I would put up against any LCD or DLP set out there (with the same scan rate).

My cousin just bought a 42" samsung LCD. I have watched movies with him time and time again (480p). I just cant get used to it. We have sat there and tweeked the (you know what) out of it. The only thing I can say good about it is that its thin and bright (if bright is a good thing). He even admits my Mit has better depth and color.

But I dont want to get into a tv war, but its always fun to talk about.

Jake

polksda

I am so sick of the 1080p vs. 1080i ****. I keep seeing Blu-Ray fans throwing this out as if it matters.

1. Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are encoded as 1080p on the disc.

2. Both the new XA2 and the Xbox 360 Add-On (via VGA port) can output 1080p.

3. 99.8% of people on this planet could not visually tell the difference between 1080p and 1080i if their life depended on it.

It. Is. A. Non. Issue.

*grumble*

polksda

bobman1235 wrote:

Sure, just make sure you're in a pitch black room and directly in front of the screen.

Just because the set you've viewed is crappy doesn't mean everyone else's is.

A properly calibrated CRT RPTV will still produce better blacks and truer color than most DLP/Plasma/LCD sets on the market today.

I'd put my ISF calibrated 65" Mits against any thing out there under $3k...

MacLeod

My sister bought a LCD tv and I didnt like it much at all. Personally Ive not seen a plasma or LCD with picture quality that has ever impressed me unless its running HD. Standard video looks like crap on LCD's and not much better on plasmas.

I see them in the stores with their HD demos and they look great but any "normal" video and they kinda suck.

I get all excited about all the fancy tv's available out there but then I see a 36" Sony Wega 4:3 set for $600 and wonder why I should spend $2000 for an inferior picture? Granted, once everything is HD Im sure Ill need to move on but since most of my video is SD, Im thinking a good solid CRT is going to be hard to beat in PQ, value and outright cheapness!

The more I think about it and plan my future home theater, the harder it is to talk myself out of that 36" set. At the least, I may snag the Sony 34" widescreen CRT for $900.

BIZILL

whatever you get now, make sure it's future-proof. hd-ready and widescreen.

cheddar

MacLeod wrote:

Bad thing about the home audio side of the force.....the price tags!

Im killing myself trying to save up the $700 needed to get a processor I desperately need for my system. That wouldnt even be a down payment on a good 1080p LCD!! :eek:

I'd wait as long as possible. Resist the urge to jump right in and let things shake out over the next year. We are still just in the 1st gen stage. That means hdmi 1.1 for our receivers and pre-amps and clunky, over priced players.

Within the next year, we'll see things like hdmi 1.3 receivers and pre-amps able to actually decode the new lossless audio formats and much more user friendly and reliable players at reduced cost. This Christmas season's almost over, why not just wait 'till next Christmas since you've got other expenses anyways. On the equipment and price side, you won't be dissappointed.

Just some things to think about...

HDTVs just keep getting cheaper:

http://biz.yahoo.com/fool/061213/116602395806.html?.v=1

And there will be over 6 million blu-ray players in homes sometime after March:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061214/japan_sony_president.html?.v=8

Ron-P

3. 99.8% of people on this planet could not visually tell the difference between 1080p and 1080i if their life depended on it

Two thumbs up bro.

bobman1235

I think side by side people coudl probably point out the 1080p vs 1080i, but it's not a dramatic enough difference that you would notice without having a direct comparison.

Frank Z

BIZILL wrote:

whatever you get now, make sure it's future-proof.

Future proof? No such thing. There's always something new just around the bend. Remember when leather belts were all the rage and then those little grey men crashed their space scooter in Roswell and we learned about Velcro and microwave ovens?

sickicw

are you talking about 1080p display vs 1080i display, or 1080p 60hz signal vs 1080i 60hz signal? If you are talking about the signals, then yes it would be hard to tell the difference because most films are in 1080p 24hz and each 60hz signal will contain almost every piece of data after conversion. Now when you talk about the display, it is very easy to tell, at least for me. I mean come on, a 1080p display has twice the resolution as a 1080i display (1 million pixels vs 2 million pixels).

jakelm

Electronic companies must be laughing their asses off,,

,,"and just wait till we show them this...hahahahaha"...."they wont resist buying this upgrade...hahahaha". "Boss would you like to come out with the playstaion 6?"..."no dummy...let them all buy the playstaion 3 first...we will sell our product 2 or 3 times yet...hahahahaha"

jakelm

To me IMO... a picture can get too clear...If its sharper or clearer than the real world, I might as well watch Shreck.

bobman1235

Uh, what? Can you be sharper or clearer than the REAL WORLD? Maybe brighter or darker... but the real world is as "sharp" or "clear" as your eyes can possibly detect... how would a TV not only improve upon the infinite resolution of the real world, but also make your eyes see better?

jakelm

Bob...you miss understood what I ment. I have seen picture quality so detailed that it would surpass the source. Tv's so detailed that the picture looked terrible, every blimish showed as "in your face " kind of way.

MacLeod

Im with Jake on this. The first Pioneer Elite $10,000 set I ever saw looked better than reality!

Im sure this was just due to the colors and lights/darks and all but it still looked unbelieveable!

Bill - You bring up a good point about being future proof but a 36" 4:3 set will have about the same viewing area as a 32" widescreen set but with half the price tag.

However, while at Walmart today making a delivery I decided to run thru the electronics section and they now have Sanyo 32" LCD's for $700'ish! I know Sanyo is no Sony but still, that was a $2000 set 2 years ago!

MrNightly

polksda wrote:

Just because the set you've viewed is crappy doesn't mean everyone else's is.

A properly calibrated CRT RPTV will still produce better blacks and truer color than most DLP/Plasma/LCD sets on the market today.

I'd put my ISF calibrated 65" Mits against any thing out there under $3k...

Um, question.

How do you calibrate a TV? Is this only possible with HDTV's? I've never heard of that before. Educate me please!!!

PolkWannabie

One way ...

http://www.ovationmultimedia.com/avia.html

Here's another ...

http://www.videoessentials.com/

MacLeod

Another trick - when you buy your new TV, get the extended warranty. The extended warranty will cover service and the repairman will come out to your house to work on the set. Call in for repair and when he gets there get him to calibrate your set for you. I did this on my last TV. Worked like a charm and didnt cost a dime and the picture never looked better.

You have to go into the service menu to calibrate your set and if you dont know what youre doing, you can do a lot more harm than good.

Jer_ry

(sorry new to hd) so your saying there is blu-ray dvd's and hd dvd's? So you have to buy, for example a blu-ray disc to play in your blu-ray player? That sucks...

BIZILL

yes, and if both formats survive, and the studio's stand firm with either side, eventually we'll need to have both an hd dvd player AND a blu-ray player to watch a given movie. that, or someone had better come out with a dual format player. or, movie studios will have to contract out to both formats. seems to me that we, the consumers, are the ones who pay the price. and i mean that in a very bad way.

jakelm wrote:

Tv's so detailed that the picture looked terrible, every blimish showed as "in your face " kind of way.

i remember when i first watched some spiceHD action. can you say "5 o'clock shadow" down below on the ladies? can you say "razor burn"?