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If you were to buy a TV now, which technology would you buy into? - Page 5

post #61 of 116
1/2/07 at 2:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vo328 View Post
Nice choice... I've been looking into the Oppo line myself, having read many great things about them. Slightly off-topic, but had to comment. Sorry all!
I'm the one who took us off topic. I heard great things not only about the player itself but the outstanding customer service. Honestly with a TV as small as mine I probably would not notice the difference between upconverted video and regular dvd video, but Oppo's solid reputation and the fact that it comes with a free 6ft HDMI cord are what really made me pull the trigger on one.
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post #62 of 116
1/2/07 at 2:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by F1GTR View Post
That's some pretty selective interpretation there from a questionable website.

Looking over your link it says "the average CRT" has a half-life of 25,000 hours. To me that means something like an Orion or some no name brand from Wal-Mart. I have two JVC's that are both well over 10 years old that look the same as the day I bought them. I have no doubt that my 34XBR960 will last a minimum of 20 years at 5 hours a day easily.
I'm sure we can argue just how long a given CRT, LCD, or plasma can last. Who knows what the average CRT they were using for the link I used: I'm just showing the point that plasma and LCD are at a point where they should be as durable as CRT. Yes, my grandma still has a small Sony 13" that's from the early 70s. You have to raise the brightness quite a bit, and colors are washed out, but the picture is acceptable. So there are lots of exceptions about what "average" is. Truth is, if you take good care of your TV, it should last quite a long time...no matter what technology. My family seems to hold on to one TV for 15 years if we can: though my dad got an expensive 36" CRT Sony that conked out after 4 years. Because of that, I haven't considered buying Sony for TVs. And with DVD and HD, I just like having a larger screen then what CRT offers. It's also easier to transport: who wants to deal with a <200lb 36" CRT over a >100lb 50" plasma?
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post #63 of 116
1/2/07 at 2:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zotjen View Post
Industry reports predict a lot of things. I find this hard to believe simply because the average person will have a hard time finding the space for a 70" set.
It was based on the fact that Samsung is about to release their 70" 1080p LCD into stores like Best Buy. By 2009, that TV should cost a fraction of what it will cost this year. They were also talking about what they believed would be the average TV purchased by multi-member households. A 1080p 70" does not require that much space. You can sit 8' from it and it only requires a wall big enough to fit it.

I think 70" is probably overshooting, but with the size of all the new 1080p sets aproaching 60", and the rapidly falling prices, 55"-65" would not surprise me at all.
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post #64 of 116
1/2/07 at 2:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by markl View Post
Nothing beats a CRT at this point. But you have size limitations, weight limitations, etc.


Way too many buts.

The day of CRT is over. I gladly gave away my line 37" Sony Wega CRT and a 76" Mitsubishi Diamond Scan RPTV to a friend. The only condition was that he had to move the 260lb and 450lb beast out of my house. My other friend and I then unwrapped and placed my new 32" LCD, 37" 1080p LCD and 65" 1080p plasma, which collectively, weighed less than the CRT.
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post #65 of 116
1/2/07 at 2:51pm
Laser.

If they ever get off the ground that is.
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post #66 of 116
1/2/07 at 2:59pm
I'm very happy with my 55" SXRD, fantastic TV and at a very reasonable price point IMO.
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post #67 of 116
1/2/07 at 3:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by archosman View Post
Ambilight is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. You really need a neutral grey color that is lit (can't remember at what level) to truly see color properly.
beg to differ there, seeing as I have Ambilight on my tv and it makes a heck of a lot of difference. And I can set the colour and brightness to whatever i like. And if grey is the magic color, how come almost all tv bezels are black?

That aside, just want to say Oppo's are great dvd players, if you don't mind the macroblock enhance on the 971/981 and the slightly iffy audio sync.
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post #68 of 116
1/2/07 at 5:54pm
If I have the money, I'd get the best CRT TV Sony currently makes.
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post #69 of 116
1/2/07 at 6:09pm
Honestly, if I HAD to buy a TV now it wouldn't be Plasma/LCD/DLP projection. I'd suggest two things:

(1) A projector setup. For MUCH less than you'd spend on a good quality LCD/plasma you can pick up a projector+screen+cables+whatever fixations you need. It'll run you the better part of a thousand dollars, but you get a nice large picture, which in a dimly lit room isn't too shabby. Sure there is the bulb issue, but in any TV something's going to bust. Whether plasma burns out or the bulb in an LCD burns out.

(2) Put down some money and pick up a 24/30" Dell screen and outfit it with the appropriate TV tuner and watch TV on that. You can even stream your internet through something like a slingbox or even use software-based services that are free (Read up on Orb).

Lastly I'd recommend that people hold out for the new generation of pure OLED televisions that promise contrast ratios of about 1000000:1. As of the last time I looked into it, Toshiba had only made a 15" version but boy it looked beautiful, and it doesn't have the same burnout problems. I'd expect them to pop their heads out this year, but take another 3-5 to really hit mainstream.
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post #70 of 116
1/2/07 at 6:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by craiglester View Post
beg to differ there, seeing as I have Ambilight on my tv and it makes a heck of a lot of difference. And I can set the colour and brightness to whatever i like. And if grey is the magic color, how come almost all tv bezels are black?

That aside, just want to say Oppo's are great dvd players, if you don't mind the macroblock enhance on the 971/981 and the slightly iffy audio sync.
I wasn't clear...

The optimal viewing experience is to have a neutral grey wall directly behind your set. You then need to have a particular color temperature light on that wall behind your set also at a particular level. It's been so long I'll have to do some research as to the exact specs.

I work for a edit house here in Nashville. I've got a $20,000 QC monitor in my taperoom and a $60,000 Sony HD edit monitor which I have had to calibrate from time to time. Basically the Ambilight is a marketing gimmick. Having something rotate through a bunch of colors or display one primary color is not an optimal viewing experience. Might be exciting, but not the best.
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post #71 of 116
1/2/07 at 6:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by archosman View Post
The optimal viewing experience is to have a neutral grey wall directly [i]behind ]/i]your set. You then need to have a particular color temperature light on that wall behind your set also at a particular level. It's been so long I'll have to do some research as to the exact specs.
Having an art background, I can say that there is a reason why TVs have a black frame around them. What's interesting is that commercial art fields prefer black matts.....fine arts prefer neutral grey to off white. This all gets to how the background enhances an image. Generally, black helps enhance your perception of contrast. A neutral grey will help the perception of tonality: why I like lighter matts so much more for drawings and other works of art that have subtle shading. A TV can't capture that level of detail, but needs slick saturation and good response times for moving images.

Who knows what optimal grey level the back wall should be?? I would suspect it would be absurdly hard to say what the best color is: since everyone has a different Gamma/Saturation/ and size of border around the actual image. Heck, if you have indoor lighting on....that completely changes the color of the wall as oposed to daylight. I never compare colors under artificial light (not even special white light), because it doesn't show as much of the true hue as sunlight does. IMHO, it's better to have as large of a black border as you can find on a TV.
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post #72 of 116
1/2/07 at 6:43pm
Watch what happens to LCD pricepoints this year. I already see it happening in my costs per unit.

EDIT: To answer the question: LCD panel. I need the 1080p resolution, love the low power consumption, lower heat output, brightness, lightness, and how some sets have a pure white compared to some plasmas with a red push.
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post #73 of 116
1/2/07 at 7:02pm
yeah, good luck getting your wife to agree to having the entire back wall behind the TV painted a neutral grey, and then lighting the room around the TV

If you're gonna do that, then the Ambilight isn't for you. In fact if you're gonna go to those extremes then Plasma isn't for you either, or LCD,
We like it for the fact it significantly reduces our eyestrain when watching in a darkened room, kinda like a movie theatre.

and, like I said, it looks purdy, I don't believe for a second it's doing anything other than that. I do know enought to have calibrated the set and turned off all the dynamic picture controls though.
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post #74 of 116
1/2/07 at 7:08pm
i bought a Panasonic 50" 9UK plasma which has about 300 hours now, the black levels are very good and getting better as the pixels age, but still not near CRT and it can become noticable. in a dark room an LCD is just a bad choice. also, i am not noticing ANY fast movement blur or ghosting, plasma has the advantage in speed. permanenent burn-in is now a non-issue, i left a static image for 6 hours and after 2 hours of normal use the image was not retained.

edit: the white level on this set is near perfect and i notice no color push at all it really looks pure white. highlights get blown out in some cases but i'm 99% sure its the DVD source material. apparantly the Pioneer plasmas have better whites than the Panasonic which i was concerned about but now its a non-issue. i have the contrast level at +9, it goes to +40 i think and at that level the screen causes squinting. i am convinced deep black level is THE most important aspect of good PQ.
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post #75 of 116
1/2/07 at 7:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by craiglester View Post
yeah, good luck getting your wife to agree to having the entire back wall behind the TV painted a neutral grey, and then lighting the room around the TV

If you're gonna do that, then the Ambilight isn't for you. In fact if you're gonna go to those extremes then Plasma isn't for you either, or LCD,
We like it for the fact it significantly reduces our eyestrain when watching in a darkened room, kinda like a movie theatre.

and, like I said, it looks purdy, I don't believe for a second it's doing anything other than that. I do know enought to have calibrated the set and turned off all the dynamic picture controls though.
Well if you're happy with it then that is what's most important. I basically do the same thing... I'll look for weeks at diffferent sets in different enviroments before I make a decision.

I'm probably a little more critical about calibration than most since that's one of the main components of my job. We edit television shows as well as author dvds here as well. We have to make sure it looks right and is in spec so when it trickles down to the consumer what you see is close to what I see.

By the way... if you're interested go out and pick up "The Essentials of Video" calibration disc. There are a lot of test discs out there now.
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