Plasma TV boosts Gateway picture - (42 " HDTV flat-panel display for $3,000)

The San Diego Union Tribune ^ | December 28, 2002 | Bruce V. Bigelow

[Gracey]

Where's your sense of humor? There must be a thread that talks about old 15" CRT TV's.

[July 4th]

It won't take the digital cable directly, which would have made it an even better purchase. But it does have two RF inputs, so you can have it hooked up to an HDTV antenna and the RF output of a digital cable box at the same time (or an analog line directly).

[eddie willers]

A friend bought a 55" Mitsu Diamond series for 4K. Is there much difference?

You bet...your Pioneer is much (and I don't mean a little) better!

All HDTV monitors (that I know of) upconvert a normal 480i (meaning 480 lines interlaced) scanned picture to 480p (meaning 480 lines progressively) scanned.

This is accomplished by interpolating (ie...making it up) an imaginary line from the information of one scan line and the next and painting that between the two.

This is commonly call a "Line Doubler". A "Scaler" is an even a more complex program that looks at the picture that happens before and after a scene (or field) as well as the lines themselves.

And to add to your (no doubt) confusion, there is also the case that film runs at 24 fps (frames per second) while video is 30 fps. The way to make film look good on a video projector is to do what is called a 3/2 pulldown, where some frames are shown twice and others are shown 3 times to match the 24 fps to 30 fps.

And LASTLY, since most TV that you watch is "square" (a 4:3 ratio) the new sets are rectangular (16:9) and so, to make the 4:3 fit the 16:9, the picture has to be distorted (stretched) to fit. That is an algorithmic equation as well, and some are better at it than others.

WHAT I am saying is that your Pioneer Elite does all three jobs (Line doubler, 3/2 pull down and resizing) far better that the Mitsubishi.
It's not even close (though the Mits are getting better...their first line doubler was stomach churning horrible)

[eddie willers]

I have some very old (30 yr) MacIntosh speakers. Can I hook them up to my Pioneer and should I? (Also, have other old Mac electronics that I don't use anymore.)

Speakers are subjective, so I'd have to hear them, but McIntosh (showing my age again, when I hear McIntosh...I think "Amplifier"...the "kids" think "Computer"..LOL) is TOP SHELF stuff.

I mean better that 99% of the stuff on the market. And if it's tube equipment, it's now worth about 100 times more than the day it was bought.

One of my most memorial nights was listening to an old MC 220 stereo tube amp a friend had picked up. Listened all night with no ear fatigue.

[Gracey]

Dear Eddie,

Thank you SO very much for educating, and reassuring me about my choice of Pioneer Elite. Thanks for taking the time to explain the differences. You're a sweetie, eddie. I'm indebted and owe you a tall drink next time we meet at a freeper event. I'm looking at my new PE and am so proud of my choice, thanks to you. I'm going to print out your comments. One reason I chose the PE was that the A&B store in town had all their TV's turned to a cable channel with the news streaming on the bottom of screen. Immediately I could see that the Pioneer had little or no visible distortion on the sides using the "stretch" version you describe, compared with other sets.

Also, would you believe I have a tube MacIntosh set... amp, preamp, tuner (what else?) and a solid state set w/speakers. Haven't used them since I moved a couple years ago, into smaller living quarters. I picked up the tube set from a newspaper ad, and knew the guy. Got it for around $200. Wow...100 times original price? That's unreal. I'm going to take them out of box and set them up now that you've inspired me. I also have two B&O turntables from the 70's era. They were state-of-the-art at the time. (My ex-mate bought them)

Thanks so very much. I love FReepers for more than the conservative comraderie, but for the sharing of knowledge in all fields. Thanks again, FRiend.

[Gracey]

One of my most memorial nights was listening to an old MC 220 stereo tube amp a friend had picked up. Listened all night with no ear fatigue.

Nice to know. I'm quite sure mine is an MC 220, also. It's dark in the closet and I can't make out the model on the front panel.

[Gracey]

Apologies... MacIntosh = McIntosh

[redangus]

I have an HDTV setup and it is like nothing you have ever seen. If you watch TV and have access to HD in your area(either from cable or over the air with an antenna like I have) you should really look into it. Take a look out of an open window at your backyard, that is how HDTV looks. The quality of the picture can't really be described to anyone who has not seen it. It is better than any DVD or computer monitor you have ever seen.

[houstonian]

I like your ideas about outflanking the media gatekeepers. The media commando units might also include a guerilla advertising broker to sell time on the tape as the historical events are being filmed.

[livis_dad]

Right now the current depressed world economy will force big conglamerates in every sector into price wars on hot selling items. What will come of this? Slowed technology growth, but with focuses on current technology and reducing costs for what are hot sellers and availalbe now.

Basically, we are going to see cheaper prices on tech introduced in the late '90s, company's will focus all their efforts and realign manufacturing to mass produce high-tech products, fast sellers. It happens in every down turn market, just get ready to start investing big in 2004-2006... the next big tech boom.

Just my thoughts, I can't wait.

[TheEngineer]

Its just a matter of time before Joe Six Pack will buy one to set up in the family living room.

Just like Tony Soprano! :-)

[eddie willers]

I'm going to take them out of box and set them up now that you've inspired me

Look on the back of the Pioneer on the far bottom right for red and white RCA jacks in an area labeled "Output" (underneath it says FIXED/VAR). Run a set of cables from there to your pre-amp. (Use "AUX" or "TAPE" etc... anything BUT "PHONO"!)

Go into the TV menu and look for something that allows you to set the audio out to "variable". (Make sure you also find the section that allows you to turn the built-in TV speakers OFF)
Then set the volume of the preamp to around 11:00 and the remote control of your TV set will raise and lower the volume through the Mac.

(Set your TV between the two speakers, of course...LOL)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Makes sense!

[spectr17]

It won't be long before digital display technology marries the PC enough for:
1. Freeper threads in multimedia
2. Video conferencing from your living room for the price of your DSL/Cable modem line
3. Movies over the web.

Last I read over 50% of the wild wild web users are stuck with a dial up modem. Movies/video over the web is still a way off for us poor schlubs stuck with no fat pipe.

I have a 57" Sony HDTV and the future is not looking good with the studios making noise about decoder boxes to block HDTV signals unless you pay their usage fees. HDTV over the air is the cat' pajamas but I think you're right, the studios will kill HDTV.

[Brellium]

In about 15 years or so I'll be able to pick one up for a pittance!

Don't worry, you can laugh at everyone in 5 years when you're buying an OLED display for 1/5 of the price of the LCD systems.

[isthisnickcool]

I looked at one of these. Good price, but you get what you pay for. Samsung has some new DLP based projection TV's coming out in the next few weeks. They are supposed to have incredible pictures, be reasonably priced and have a very shallow box.

The plasma's are nice, but I have yet to see one that has a real clear picture. Not in this price range. Under $10K. The Gateway had shadows and "lag" like most of these do.

The technology is getting there. In the long-term the "organic" stuff is going to be "oh wow" technology. I think someone mentioned that already.

[Nowhere Man]

In about 15 years or so I'll be able to pick one up for a pittance! I just replaced my 1985ish 20" TV (with dials on the front and a separate cable converter) with a new 27" thanks to a great Boxing Day sale! It's nothing fancy, analog, not a true flat screen, but for the amount of TV I watch it might even have bordered on a splurge. The old TV was starting to have some problems though. I have to admit, DVDs through an s-video connection look pretty great! 27 inches, for me, is a pretty big screen.

Myself, I still watch the same TV that we had when I was in high school. We have a 1982 Zenith 25" that is still going strong. It is an old "System 3" chassis that came out in the late 1970's. I remember watching everything from Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire and SDI speech to 9-11 and beyond on it. CRT is showing its age al ittle but the picutre is still as magnificent as when we first got it. I also still have our first color TV, a 1970/71 23" Zenith that I'd like to fix someday. One interesting thing on that TV, you have vacuum tubes, transistors, and early computer chips existing all at once. B-)

I remember vaguely when for color TV's, 23" screens were the biggest until the 25" screens came out. My aunt still used her old 1962? RCA color TV until a couple of years ago, it was one of the old round 21" RCA tube models that came out in the mid 1950's and lasted until the mid 1960's.

[Jhoffa_]

I bet you do..

(LOL!!)

[badfreeper]

"Where's your sense of humor?"

I've got a good sense of humour. Calling someone a troll and criticizing their tastes isn't funny. Funny would be something like, "So you're going to enter the 21st century around 2017 or so?" Your comments were just mean. I thought making fun of people for being less well off than yourself was something an elitist Democrat-type would do.

$3000 (almost C$5000) is not a TV for me. It's almost half of the downpayment on a home. Maybe after I've got that home and have a good chunk of it paid for I will go out and get a luxurious creature comfort like a 42" TV.

[Future Snake Eater]

Stay away from Bose....not only outrageously overpriced, but poor sounding as well.

No kidding! I remember back in the "old days" when I first heard the Lifestyle 12 5.1 system and how incredible it sounded to me! Then, a few months ago, I went to a new Bose store and heard some of their latest stuff. It all sounded like crap. My Aiwa mini-system was easily just as good. My, how the mighty have fallen...