Ricky

Hi,Newbie here

Still leaning on the subject of HDTV.I'm looking to buy a HDTV set,I could spend about $2,000+. I've seen projection tv's in displays don't like them compare to a direct view monitor. I've seen this weeken on Circuit City the new Sony 36in xbr800 I'm not sure the model #.Grey case black around the sceen,they also had a 40in.I'm not looking at 16:9 because there are no 36in + screens unless you go projection 34in is to small.This is were you pros come in I need a point in the right direction is this a great tv if not whitch tv. was the difference between the 36in 40in.The 36in is the newer moder i think it has more stuff than the older 40in.
Thank You,for any insight
Ricky

kevinw

If you are set on a tube TV and not 16:9, Then DO NOT buy a HD tv. High Def programing is 16:9 so it will all be letterboxed. The same with most DVD's. The square Tv will not be using almost a 3rd of the screen when watching Hd.
Besides at 6 or 7 ft away fom the screen you will not notice a 1k difference in picture, Also analog programing tends to be softer looking on a HD tv.

Ricky

Thanx, Kevinw

Thanks for the input but I read alot of feed back on this forum and there are alot of people with 4:3 aspect and they seem to be happy.Including the ones I read that bought the tv's I'm talking about.So you're saying if you want to go hd go 16:9 only.What about all those people in here with 4:3 hd tv's.One more thing woulding hd make Digital Cable look better with or the different resolution.

Thank You for your feedback
Ricky

kevinw

Yikes, This is the point when it becomes a 4:3 vs 16:9 war

I can't speak for those who bought 4:3 or tube tvs but I can give you my reasons for widescreen and large screen.

Wide screen duplicates the movie theater aspect as well as using your periphereal vision. 4:3 does not. With 4:3 your DVD and HD viewing will be letterboxed-bars on the top. WS tv's are capable of stretching a 4:3 program to fill the screen where as 4:3 tv's can not stretch a 16:9 program.

With traditional large screens you had to sit much farther away from the screen to have a clear picture-no visible scan lines. Hd large screens you can sit much closer duplicating the Theater experience. Hd is made for the widescreen. ALL Hd programming is in 16:9

To me a small tube tv is really a part time/bedroom tv. They just do not give the Theater experience that a correctly adjusted RP gives.
2k for a 34-36 inch tube or 2k for a 48-53in WS.

Digital cable on a small HD will not be any better than a Top line analog monitor such as the WEGA. Unless you are sitting about 12 inches from the tube.

Just my opinion....based on what I own-50 inch Toshiba Ws with a Hd STB to receive OTA hd programming.

Ricky

So can you get the clarity brightness crispness from a WS RV than from a HD monitor, and if yes witch one can I afford, don't forget Iwiil use it for all viewing.

Ratman

16:9 vs. 4:3 ?

Majority of programming is 4:3 today.
Majority of DVD is 16:9 and will always.
Direction of digital/HD programming is 16:9, no question.

So... pick your poison.

Black/grey bars on the top or sides?

Only thing to keep in mind is with a 16:9 set... you will grow into your TV. With 4:3 set... you will grow out! Simple!

kevinw

Absolutely-Panasonic 47-53 inch about 1600-1900
Toshiba 50 in 1800-2200
Hitachi-53-2200
Toshiba 57-2300-2500
Samsung 42-1599


We use our Toshiba 50h81 as a family TV. 3-4 DVD's on the weekend. Primetime programming in HD and regular TV such as A&E, The Cooking Channel,Nickelodeon and Sports.
The TV comes on in the morning for the kids to watch before school and is on when the come home...They play video games(X-Box,Gamecube,PS2) on it, I watch sports/ESPN, the news etc.

The best part is the TV fit in the same spot taken up by our old 27inch in an armoire. One call SEARS

zarlor

If you are looking for widescreen, I would definitely reccomend an HDTV. They will be brighter and have better clarity than a similarly sized analog set.

I'd actually say the same for a 4:3 set, though, as well. Some sets may not use their full resolution when showing widescreen HD material (since you'll get black bars on the top and bottom, somse sets may have CRTs that can handle a full resolution for that, while others may shortcut it by reducing the top and bottom lines from their resoltion limits.)

Personally I prefer 16:9 sets, but no matter how you look at it I'd still reccomend ANY HDTV set over an anlog set. Enough new programming is coming out that I think if you bought an anlog set today you'd probably be kicking yourself in the next few years and going out to buy "yet another" brand new TV so you can get the HD programming you want to see.

Just my thoughts on it, though. I've loved every minute of HD I've been able to get over the past 2-1/2 years, limited though it was, and it was all worth it for me, especially since at that time I was most defnitely a fairly early adopter. Others may advise differently, though.

__________________
Lenny Zimmermann
zarlor@acm.org

DISCLAIMER: I am not and have never been some kind of video expert. Take absolutely everything I post (along with anything else you read on the internet) with a HUGE grain of salt! If you really want the most complete and truthful answer, go to engineering school and find out how this stuff REALLY works.

Ricky

Thanks You guy you been great help a little confuse still maybe i'll go 16:9 check out the Toshiba's I heard go reviews on them.One more thing nobody told me anything about those Sony 40-36 xbr800.So everybody agrees Toshiba good make.
Goin to look at more HDTV's WS and 4:3 still have 2,000+ any other input on what HD's to get or on more information please reply.
You guy are great
The site is great
keep it coming going shopping soon.

Ricky

P.S Being that there is not that much 16:9 viewing in tv when it comes out to be standard no time soon woulding the sets of today be old and (WS) and the new ones be cheaper cause it's standard.All i'm saying is it worth buy one know than in the future with so littler programs.
Just wondering.
Buying aHD is a big deal for me
just want everything to be perfect
not looking for disapointments.

kevinw

You will never watch 4:3 programming in that mode again. Almost all WS tv's have an option to fill the whole 16:9 screen. Some call it a stretch others call it a zoom with the best being a litle of both combined.
Have you noticed that even commercials are now letterboxed. You will not be disapointed.

Un alterd DVD's are WS-Thats where Ws tvs kick!!!

It took me over a full year of research of brands and aspects before I decided. Of course price helped.

Wooger

Read this thread too, Ricky:

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showt...s=&threadid=600

__________________
Sony KP-61HS10 4:3 HD TV, Sony SAT-HD100 HD/DSS rcvr, Sony STR-DE935 rcvr, Sony DVP-S360 DVD, JBL PowerBass PB12 sub, Bose Acoustimass AM5 sat spkrs, DirecTV (HDNet, HDMovies, HD-PPV, HBO-HD, Discovery HD Theater, ESPN-HD), Local ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX HD/ED feeds.
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I want to die peacefully, in my sleep, like my granddad... not screaming and crying, like those in the back seat of his car!

kevinw

Do you need a new TV or do you want a new TV. If your ready to buy and you need one go WS. After all this is a 10 year investment. If your happy wait but I think RP Tv prices will not vary much over the next 5-6 years. Analog big screens did not come down untill after Digital Tvs started to fill the market. Digital Tvs did not drop in price untill the manufacturers recouped some of the money spent on R&D.
There are more people who will say" I wish I had bought a Wide Screen" than people who say the opposite. This is one of those times that Fatter is better than taller..4:3 big screens are going the way of the Dinosaur..
I know people say" there is so much OLD programming " but really how many reruns do you watch. I even heard that the owner of HDnet is thinking about re-releasing Hogan's Heros? or something like this in HD.

zarlor

I'm also solidy on the 16:9 side. It's the way of the future and more and more programming will show up letterboxed on those 4:3 sets as time goes by.

Relatedly. kevinw, I hadn't heard about the HDNet thing, but it's kind of funny to think that when it comes to reruns the old Star Trek series will actually end up looking better in an HD rerun than the Next Generation will. Simply because the old series was done on film (no resolution or infinite resolution, depedning on how you want to look at it) and can easily be transferred to HD, while Next Gen was filmed on video (640x480i, effectively, although I suppose that might have filmed with the progressive-scanned cameras, I don't really know) and will have to be upconverted.

Also these days I've noticed that some shows are filmed with 4:3 cameras, but framed with the idea that they will be cropped on the top and the bottom for 16:9 sets. I suppose the same could be done with older shows as well, much like widescreen movies are "pan-and-scanned" to fit on 4:3 sets today without letterboxing. You lose some of the picture that way, but so many people seem to hate the idea of black areas on their screen that I'm not sure we can avoid that.

__________________
Lenny Zimmermann
zarlor@acm.org

DISCLAIMER: I am not and have never been some kind of video expert. Take absolutely everything I post (along with anything else you read on the internet) with a HUGE grain of salt! If you really want the most complete and truthful answer, go to engineering school and find out how this stuff REALLY works.

kevinw

ER and West Wing are 2 examples of shows filmed in WS then letterboxed for 4:3 televisions.
On an other forum a cameraman for West Wing said that this was because they may eventually start filming in HD and to make it easier to convert reruns to HD.

calabria

One can only HOPE that WW and ER will be two of the 11 or so hours NBC has promised in the fall primetime season!

Just to comment on RPTV vs. direct view; again, it really is dependent on what you're going to be watching, where you'll be watching it (room size, viewing distance, and viewing angle), etc. I chose a 34" widescreen because it fit my criteria. To get a RPTV would create problems with "wing chair" viewing through loss of resolution. Plus the room size would make a larger RPTV prohibitive. Personally, I haven't seen a RPTV that can mirror the image of a direct view, especially when viewing analog signals (well, maybe the nice DLPs).

Ricky - My advice would be to consider all the above mentioned, then make an informed decision on what fits YOUR needs and desires. Look for youself. Do lots of research. As Kevin said, it took him a TON of time to finally decide. I was in the same boat (as most of us have been), so be patient, look, look, and look again. Your spending allowance will limit the playing field, but you should be able to buy a decent monitor with your budget.

My $0.02

Wooger

BTW, I happened to catch Hogans Heroes on HDNet... I still cannot believe how good it looked for such an old show!

...and how BAD the plots were. Stinkers. God, I hope they don't convert Beverly Hillbillies or Petticoat Junction... I may start having HDConvulsions!

Oh, and btw #2... I used to have to convert old films of shows like Hogans and Hillbillies to video at an old indy TV station in Richmond, VA (WVRN-TV 63 I think it was) WAAAAY back when it was a true indy. The films were all beat up (from being shipped around from station to station and re-threaded and used repeatedly) and looked fantastic to me as the 'master' to the video. Still, it was in 4:3 I think... I wonder how Hogans Heroes can convert (without stretching, I recall) to 16:9... Seriously looked good.

Just wondering.

__________________
Sony KP-61HS10 4:3 HD TV, Sony SAT-HD100 HD/DSS rcvr, Sony STR-DE935 rcvr, Sony DVP-S360 DVD, JBL PowerBass PB12 sub, Bose Acoustimass AM5 sat spkrs, DirecTV (HDNet, HDMovies, HD-PPV, HBO-HD, Discovery HD Theater, ESPN-HD), Local ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX HD/ED feeds.
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I want to die peacefully, in my sleep, like my granddad... not screaming and crying, like those in the back seat of his car!

Ricky

Was going on fellas !6:9 is the way to go I got that out the way.Just came back from J&R or they had were Sony's and Samsung's and one Elite.They or look the same the picture looked smash from topo to bottom the people look like midgets (sorry small people) on or the sets. The Elite look the same but Still the best picture.(out of price range) Was up with that calibaration problems i guess.Thats not the picture you guys get home is it,also went to P.C Richards (I know high prices just looking) I so the most amazing picture on a LCD monitor from Panasonic I know way out of my league. They were showing promotional Discovery Channel HD (one of my favorites) my god the insects you could grab them even my girlfriend notice the difference.The clarity was unbelivable thats what I'm talking about can I get that picture on a Toshiba or any RV thats what I want.Coulding find no Toshibas on displays just almost or were Sony's.Toshibas HDX82 has DVI inputs I read on other forums that they just upgradable.Was the difference between the HDX82 HX82 H82.Can a Toshiba give me what I want.Oh I also saw the Sony Grand Wega 60in XBR I don't know if it was'nt set up right the picture sucked $6400 for what no way.I want that 3D picture that LCD had willing to spend $3000-.

Ricky (my god this is addictive)

Ricky

P.S no Kevinw I do not need a tv I want a new tv electronic buff. I watch Resident Evil in my 32in and the picture clarity was beautyfull.Look in the back of the DVD is recorded in HD.So I say in a HD tv it must be breathless.
Oh by the way nice to meet you guys.
Ricky, N.Y Manhattan anybody from my way. P.S to tweak your tv do you have to open the back panel.