New TV advice please you clever lot......

unless you are going to be running true HD or blueray/HD DVD you are better off NOT getting a HD tv. if you screen is 1080p and your imput is only 720 (thats max for sky hd channels etc) then you are going to have the problem that your tv is way to good for the image.
same problem occurs with high end speakers, they can be good enough to make the cds sound poor, because it exposes shortcomings in the recordings.

plasma, go for pionner for the best, fujitsu 2nd best and panasonic 3rd. but for me, while the pionner has the most realistic image, i find the fujitsu to be more pleasing on the eye simple because it isnt as realistic.

LCD go for Loewe, very very expensive, but they are by far the best on the market.

for a 32" IMHO you should get LCD, plasma for bigger sizes. (pros and cons of each have been covered already)
this is because the draws backs to LCD are not as noticable on smaller screens.


BUT, hands down, no contests, for best picture you want a projector. in my shop we have a £60,000 home cinima demonstration room with a 102" (if i remember correctly!) rigid projector screen. the quality is arguably better than cinima becuase it is on a smaller scale. it is truly emence!

My 2penneth...
I was about to wibble something about not worrying about HD but pencil shavings has done it for me.

The recommendations above are fine - if you have a large budget and that's half the problem with buying something like this, workign out what is best for YOU (your needs vs your budget taking into consideration your preferences).

Me and my sis' bought our parents a Panasonic 37" plasma recently. Did what was needed (not HD), good reviews and easier on the pocket than I was expecting. It was right for us, possibly not for lots of other peeps.

[Balky001]

I just bought a 37 inch Samsung LCD which has decent contrast ratio and 720p. I managed to get it for £530 (was in the shop at £699) and I am very pleased with it. The 32 inch Samsung in your link it a decent TV - one of my friends owns one and the only criticism he has is the sound quality is average. I was going to spend a lot more but once you are out of the 'buying' mode (hooked aon the tech diffs than you'll never really notice) then I don't think the difference between a £5000 TV and a decent £5-600 is worth worrying about in the real world as long as you are happy with it. and you can chage it more often!

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

unless you are going to be running true HD or blueray/HD DVD you are better off NOT getting a HD tv. if you screen is 1080p and your imput is only 720 (thats max for sky hd channels etc) then you are going to have the problem that your tv is way to good for the image.

Not quite correct. We (Sky) broadcast HD in 1080i, so you'll get the best quality from Sky HD with a 1080 panel. Any decent HDTV (even 720p panels) will make standard definition broadcast TV look pretty bad.

As pencil shavings says, you'll get the best quality with a good home cinema projector, but they're not really suitable for normal TV viewing. I use mine for DVDs and Wii games and it's great.

[TSM]

Originally Posted by wyrdness

Not quite correct. We (Sky) broadcast HD in 1080i, so you'll get the best quality from Sky HD with a 1080 panel. Any decent HDTV (even 720p panels) will make standard definition broadcast TV look pretty bad.

As pencil shavings says, you'll get the best quality with a good home cinema projector, but they're not really suitable for normal TV viewing. I use mine for DVDs and Wii games and it's great.

1080i is good an all, but for most films and sport i would prefer 720p over 1080. As you said, if you have 1080 or 720 source its better to have a panel that does not need to scale the image to fit.

We capture lots of stuff off the HD platforms in the US and UK and 720p is better because we dont have to de-interlace the images.

Originally Posted by TSM

1080i is good an all, but for most films and sport i would prefer 720p over 1080. As you said, if you have 1080 or 720 source its better to have a panel that does not need to scale the image to fit.

We capture lots of stuff off the HD platforms in the US and UK and 720p is better because we dont have to de-interlace the images.

Almost!

You are better off giving any video display the best available video source.
With a Sky HD box, this is 1080i!
The deinterlacing chip in the Sky HD box is a very cheap, basic one and the majority of plasma screens will have a better one built into them.
You are also best off using the component video connection rather than HDMI on most screens!

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

unless you are going to be running true HD or blueray/HD DVD you are better off NOT getting a HD tv. if you screen is 1080p and your imput is only 720 (thats max for sky hd channels etc) then you are going to have the problem that your tv is way to good for the image.
same problem occurs with high end speakers, they can be good enough to make the cds sound poor, because it exposes shortcomings in the recordings.

Well - kinda! As said before - it depends on the deinterlacing and scaling chips in the screen.
I have not been at all impressed by any of the 1080p screens I have seen or installed - I think you are much better off going for a better quality 720p set than a cheaper 1080p one.
As for high end speakers - so what if it shows up badly recorded CDs!? If it's bad, at least you know it's bad - the same goes with video! They will - of course - show off well recorded sounds/images!

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

plasma, go for pionner for the best, fujitsu 2nd best and panasonic 3rd. but for me, while the pionner has the most realistic image, i find the fujitsu to be more pleasing on the eye simple because it isnt as realistic.

In my experience the Fujitsu 58 series panel is much better than anything that Pioneer have ever produced and is, IMO, the best plasma screen on the market.

I have been on training with The Imaging Science Foundation who think the same.
The Fujitsu also has more adjustment available on it and is most accurate as standard than any other panel currently on the market.
Pioneers are too bright and colourful and the current Kuro range seem to have trouble creating true, sharp images! The blacks are blacker than black, the whites are whiter than white and the colour balance is unnatural! They create almost a cartoon version of life!

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

LCD go for Loewe, very very expensive, but they are by far the best on the market.

Loewe are good but don't make their own LCD screens - when I used to sell them, they used Sharp panels, re-boxed them in s flashy frame and put their own software in them. Still good screens but way overpriced!
Look at Sharp and Panasonic for good LCDs at more sensible prices.

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

for a 32" IMHO you should get LCD, plasma for bigger sizes. (pros and cons of each have been covered already)
this is because the draws backs to LCD are not as noticable on smaller screens.

Well - that's a bit of a no-brainer, really. LCDs start at 12" and now go up to similar sizes to Plasmas, whereas the smallest widely available plasma screen is Panasonic's 37" models. The rest start at 42", with most manufacturers also doing a 50". Some do a 60", 62" or 65" and Pansaonic do an insane 103" model which I will happily sell you for just under £50,000!!!
It does need a site survey from Panasonic which is a non-refundable £350.

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

BUT, hands down, no contests, for best picture you want a projector. in my shop we have a £60,000 home cinima demonstration room with a 102" (if i remember correctly!) rigid projector screen. the quality is arguably better than cinima becuase it is on a smaller scale. it is truly emence!

Indeed - Projection still creates the best image and is capable of creating the largest images. With cost - you can spend as much as you want! Proper home cinema projectors start at around £1,000 and tail off at around the £1,000,000 mark! This of course, does not include a screen and a Stewart Screen can set you back as much as £45,000! Let alone the sound system to go with it, the room to put it in, the light control and the installation costs!
Projectors also have issues - they don't work so well in light rooms and if you use them for day to day TV viewing, be prepared to replace the bulbs relatively frequently!

Not meaning to pick on you pencil shavings - you just put a lot of info that I was going to mention into your post!

Home Cinema is a minefield and no magazine will give you the definite answer (bear in mind that most of their revenue comes from advertising!) and Comet/Currys, etc. are NOT professionals and their showrooms are not like your living room so are an awful place to look at television screens... Factory settings are also set to look good (well - overly bright & colourful!) and catch your attention in places like this. If you leave your plasma panel at factory settings, you could be cutting it's lifespan by up to 50% and will definitely not be getting the best image from it.
To do it properly, look up a professional in your area or at least go to a small independend dealer who will be more likely to give you proper advice.

Sorry it was such a long post but it's what I do for a living!
Between my business partner & I, we have over 20 years experience in the industry so know a fair bit and I hate seeing people get the wrong advice.

HTH

[TSM]

Originally Posted by coombest

Almost!

You are better off giving any video display the best available video source.
With a Sky HD box, this is 1080i!
The deinterlacing chip in the Sky HD box is a very cheap, basic one and the majority of plasma screens will have a better one built into them.
You are also best off using the component video connection rather than HDMI on most screens!

I agree on component video, it also allows me to get rid of the HDCP when trying to capture in the computer. I use a Component to HDMI convertor and a blackmagic HDMI card. I would use a DVDO scaler to make SD stuff better but we cant justify the costs at work without seeing the quality diffrence first.

Originally Posted by coombest

Home Cinema is a minefield and no magazine will give you the definite answer (bear in mind that most of their revenue comes from advertising!) and Comet/Currys, etc. are NOT professionals and their showrooms are not like your living room so are an awful place to look at television screens... Factory settings are also set to look good (well - overly bright & colourful!) and catch your attention in places like this. If you leave your plasma panel at factory settings, you could be cutting it's lifespan by up to 50% and will definitely not be getting the best image from it.
To do it properly, look up a professional in your area or at least go to a small independend dealer who will be more likely to give you proper advice.

Sorry it was such a long post but it's what I do for a living!
Between my business partner & I, we have over 20 years experience in the industry so know a fair bit and I hate seeing people get the wrong advice.

What is the Home Cinema industry like to work in? It's something I'd love to do as I'd like a slight career change at some point in the next couple of years. At the moment, I'm an engineer at Sky, working on the firmware for the next generation of HD boxes, so I have a pretty good technical knowledge of digital TV.

Originally Posted by coombest

Almost!

Not meaning to pick on you pencil shavings - you just put a lot of info that I was going to mention into your post!

HTH

Ive only been dealing with this technology for 2weeks now, so sorry if ive got info wrong!

I forgot who mentioned it about the sky HD feed being 1080i, isnt that the equivilant to 720p, as i said?

Originally Posted by wyrdness

What is the Home Cinema industry like to work in? It's something I'd love to do as I'd like a slight career change at some point in the next couple of years. At the moment, I'm an engineer at Sky, working on the firmware for the next generation of HD boxes, so I have a pretty good technical knowledge of digital TV.

I love it!
It's hard work and working for myself, it's difficult money-wise, hoping that we get enough work to survive and to expand the business (one of those catch 22s - need money to advertise and market the business better but need more work to earn more money to be able to do that!!!).
It is good fun though as it's basically playing with big boy's toys all day and efectivey spending other people's money for them!
I do like that fact that working for myself, I can sell what I want and what I like & believe in - I would gladly have any of the systems I install in my own home (although the smaller ones would have to go in the bedroom or somewhere else to keep my big living room system!)
I also quite like my boss and he lets me have whatever time I want off!!!

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

Ive only been dealing with this technology for 2weeks now, so sorry if ive got info wrong!

I forgot who mentioned it about the sky HD feed being 1080i, isnt that the equivilant to 720p, as i said?

Sky HD has the option to output 720p or 1080i.
It's the 'i' and 'p' parts that really matter here as they stand for interlaced and progressive...
Basically - progressive sends the picture, (horizontal) line by line, for every screen refresh (frequency, eg. 50 & 100Hz) and interlaced images do half the image per screen refresh, every other line, odd lines first, then even lines.

Plasma and LCD panels cannot display interlaced images, hence incorporating a deinterlacer to convert them to progressive scan images.

Interlaced images can be displayed on (most) plasma screens with a screen resolution smaller than the image being sent to it. Hence stating on the spec of screens that they work with 720p & 1080i even though they may have only 768 physical horizontal lines.

If the deinterlacer in a video device is better than the one in your screen, you are beter sending the progressive image. If it's better in the screen, then you're best sending the interlaced image. The one in the Sky box isn't great and it also has the advantage of providing a 1080i output for a screen to scale down from... Bear in mind that you can't add things that aren't there but you can reduce things down. Think of jpg images on your PC - if you enlarge it, the picture isn't very good but if you shrink it, it will stay the same or often get better!

Whereabouts do you work? Must be somewhere reasonable to have a projection system of that scale on dem!? I assume you are enjoing the job!?