The Plasma & LCD TV Thread: Post Pics of Yours? Ask Questions?

[uraflit]

Originally Posted by DarkAngel

Which Plasma or LCD model has the best standard definition picture?

All the show room display models and discussion here so far is centered around how good a HD signal picture looks which is fine, but the majority of programing in USA cable TV is still SD so this is still very important......did you ask salesman to show you a SD signal before buying your current HD set?

My fear is that I will spend big bucks on new HD set and then discover the SD picture is actually worse than my current set which does a great job on SD programs

ya, one of my fears too since my parents watch a lot of asian channels which dont have HD

[DLeeWebb]

Originally Posted by uraflit

ya, one of my fears too since my parents watch a lot of asian channels which dont have HD

SD looks decent when you go through a video processor/receiver that upscales the SD...my SD looks pretty good...

[DarkAngel]

I am waiting for either more HD content from my cable company or better SD picture quality from current HD sets..........if someone has a HD set that does a great job with SD programs please let me know, I am ready to buy

BTW my current TV is 57" Hitachi Ultravision HDTV purchased in 6/2005

[dj_mocok]

SD looks just fine with my TV, the thing I don't like about SD is lots of them is still not in full wide screen format, so I have to stretch the image a bit to fill the whole screen.

DarkAngel, have you tried Pioneer Kuro with SD channels? Maybe you can burn some SD quality movies into a DVD and bring it to the shop and see how they look like.

I can post picture of my TV showing SD materials but judging picture quality from a picture is kind of pointless.

This is the link for the review where he briefly mentions a bit about SD picture quality.

[DarkAngel]

DJ
I have not seen Pioneer Kuro playing SD programing because last time I was able to get a salesman to switch display models to SD was almost 9 months ago and they didn't have any Kuros in store back then.

[intoflatlines]

My Panasonic is fed through HDMI from my HD box, so my TV ends up upscaling the SD content and it looks decent, but nothing like HD.

[intoflatlines]

Check this forum for info about HDTVs..

AVS Forum

[DarkAngel]

DJ
I must say I was impressed with the Pioneer Kuros I have seen at local Best Buy etc, also like the styling. Still not sure whether I want to go Plasma or LCD for next TV.......

[dj_mocok]

Originally Posted by DarkAngel

DJ
I must say I was impressed with the Pioneer Kuros I have seen at local Best Buy etc, also like the styling. Still not sure whether I want to go Plasma or LCD for next TV.......

Wait til you actually take it home, set it up properly and play a decent source with it. It's jaw dropping.

Now back to your earlier question about SD quality, I am not sure you meant SD quality as in regular DVDs or SD quality as in (maybe not even SD) very crappy sources such as the whole season of TV series cramped in 1 DVD;
But all I can say that of course the TV won't do magic, but it doesn't make them horrible or unwatchable either (especially if your watching distance is at least 2.3-2.5m)
But the point is, I never experienced one moment that I think "this is unwatchable", and my partner watches lots of crappy sources.

If in SD you meant DVD movies, I must say that they look very very good, especially the colours. You should try testing the Kuro with "I am Legend" DVD, it looks almost as good as Bluray.

Now if you are talking about TV programs, I think all TV programs in US is already HD-aired right? I never watch SD anymore since 95% of the broadcasts here are both in HD and SD.

I am not sure if they are still selling 508XD or 428XD there, but if they do, try to haggle it down and make the most out of it because they are being discontinued to make way for the 9th Generation. I really think they are currently the best money for your TV at the moment.

The only negative that I can think of is this TV takes quite awhile to change TV channels, I think it's around 4-5 seconds, so if you are a channel flipper, you might have to learn the virtue of patience. Or get a HD TV turner.

Here's a link to UK Pioneer Kuro Thread, mind you I think it has around 12,000+ posts in it, so you can read til your eyes pop.

[uofmtiger]

Originally Posted by DarkAngel

BTW my current TV is 57" Hitachi Ultravision HDTV purchased in 6/2005

Nice TV. I had the 57XWX, but the thing had a problem that was not repairable. CC ended up replacing it with the Samsung (I bought an extended warranty) I mentioned in an earlier post.

Widescreen DVDs look good on just about every HDTV that I have seen. The problem with SD is that many people like to stretch the picture, which makes it look worse than seeing it in its original format on a 4:3 TV. Of course, if you decide not to stretch, you will end up with bars on the side of the screen.

I have Directv and most of the new stuff I watch is in HD. The fact that you can flip from an HD channel to an SD channel with the same content does make the SD look like pretty bad in comparison. Not much you can do about that.

Finally, I would go with the TV that does HD the best. I would not want mediocre HD so that I could get the best SD picture.