I was very interested in the Panny 42in plasma, but deceided on the LCD.
Interested in HDTV?
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Lasvegasdave
I bought a 32" LCD-HDTV (ILO) and had to upgrade my DirecTV receiver and dish. The Receiver was an additional $100. but the dish was free. However, contrary to what the sales clerk said, there will be a $10.00 per month additional charge to DirecTV (the first four months are free). The receiver comes with the basic setup - but suggest that in order to obtain optimum reception you should purchase an HDMI cable. There are only a few HDTV stations available. More to come in a few months.
After hooking up the HDMI cable, I found it made a buzzing sound every time I changed channels. I called tech support at DT and they said that there is a glitch in the compatibility of some new TV's and new receivers (now they tell me after I spent $31. on the HDMI cable) ~ and that there is very little perceptible difference between "component" reception at highest resolution and HDMI reception. (More info they failed to know about when I purchased HDTV).
Bottom line, the picture is a big improvement over the old analog TV and there is a difference between true HD broadcast and analog. I'm not sorry I bought it, but it was more involved than I thought it would be.
There are two standard resolutions of high definition - 720 and 1080. The 1080 is a higher resolution by about 15 - 20% but most live sports events are shot in 720. Most people will not notice much difference between 720 and 1080 at the normal distances they will sit away from the TV.
Another choice to make is whether to buy an HD-DVD player or a Sony "Blu-Ray" disc player. Movies are now being manufactured as high definition discs in both formats but the two formats are not compatible. Both players will play standard DVD's you already have.
In many ways, this is the same kind of format battle we saw between VHS and Beta Max that took place at the beginning of video cassettes. Somebody is going to win. Right now, the HD-DVD players are about half the price of a Sony player. There are also some feature differences.
I think you made a wise choice.
I like the picture on the LCDs better than the plasmas. IMHO it's sharper. Maybe not quite as bright but sharper, easier on the eyes.
10 Years ago I bought a Toshiba 36" CRT with 800 lines of resolution that upconverts signals using artificial intelligence, or so I remember from Best Buy. ($2000) Anyway, this picture is glorious and everything I watch is like HDTV 720p. I use digital cable, but not the extra HDTV service. DVDs look good, too. Should I upgrade?
Congratulations! Nice looking set. Keep us posted on what you think about it. Are you wall mounting? Happy New Year.
I'm still shopping. I really like the picture on the Sony Bravia XBR (40"), but I hate the bright frame. Anything more than 40" is a waste in my space (I have a TV room). I have a large Sony CRT TV that is 12 years old and working fine. I am reluctant to pull the trigger on the Bravia because I just know 12 more months will bring improvements in price and functionality of HD.
But I really would like HD now.
Very good info here..
www.hdguru.com
The 787 received high marks from Consumer Reports, a 63 out of 44-77 spread with the lowest TV getting a 44 and the highest (JVC LT-40FN97)a 77.
I bought a Sony CRT in '04...and I love it.But there's not much decent programming to be found.Discovery HD can be good and National Geographic HD can be good when they not showing stuff about dogs.Other than those channels,PBS (sometimes) and the NFL (my Patriots look great in HD) it a vast wasteland,IMO.....(network sitcoms,reality shows,dramas are cr*p).
thanks for the ping
The 40” LCD is nice (or 42” or even 47”) because they’re somewhat manageable – 40” particularly.
When you get into the large plasmas you can have your hands full unless you have help.
I helped a guy put a 58” plasma up on a display stand. F-ing thing weighs about 175 pounds and is about the outer limit of what two people can put up on a 5’ display stand.
63” Toshiba plasma went up on the shelf with a forklift. Box says 245 pounds net weight and I was wondering how they were going to handle that because I had my fill with the 58”.
50” set is a monster – until you set it up next to the 63” set. That's when it looks puny...
The cable thing is crazy. The Movie Studios helped design the cables (HDMI) for DRM. I would like to avoid the HDMI route, I saw a HDMI to DVI cable at Micro Center a while back. Any thoughts?
The best thing to watch are sports, concerts or nature shows in HD...once you go to HD, you can never go back.
Read an article a few weeks back that HDTVs, plasmas and LCDs will drop prices again by up to 40% by summer. I can wait.
I bought a 40 in SONY Bravia, directly from SONY, based on Consumer Reports ratings.
It's awesome.
I've had HD for three years delivered via cable. The HD is great, but there are too few programs broadcast in HD to buy HD just for the HD. Non-HD digital channels deliver much better signal quality than analog channels, and there are numerous digital channels.
During setup, I noticed that "Energy Star" sticker, so I went Hmmm, and checked the website for our electric utility. Sure enough, it qualified for a $100 rebate - which I received a couple of weeks later.