pontyslapper Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 We had a 32" CRT in our lounge when that went pop I did the usual 'what size is best' routine. We now have a 27" Luxsor - granted its carp compared to the usual stuff discussed here, but now with a 14 month old 'sticky' running about its a bloody relief - if she fiddles with the TV or any of my AV stuff I don't get half as aeriated as I would if the TV was something approaching 'used small car money' as my old man puts it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted November 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Hmmm... some excellent advice there as ever (I knew this'd be the place to post), thanks all. It's sounding more and more like a 42" is the way to go then. Frustrating in a way as I really wanted a 50", but better than making a mistake and regretting it (particularly as it'll cost more). One thing I don't understand is all these references to "upscaling", what's that all about? And most importantly does it mean that my normal DVD's and DVD player will play ok on it? Got too many movies in "normal" format to change them now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopsta Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 errrm what Guy said below Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 All these panels are a fixed resolution, they will be 1280x720, 1920x1080 etc. Now the signal from TV and DVD is 720x576, so the image has to scale that resolution to fit your panel. There is a misunderatnding that scaling to a higher res causes a softer image, that is not the case, however, early 1080p panels have had pretty poor scalers in them so that is why some have looked poorer, also the bigger you blow an image up the softer it will look. Most people can't tell a 720 panel from a 1080 panel on a 42" when farther than 5ft away, and then only those that know what to look for. Get to a 50" and you need to be about 7ft from teh screen to really tell. That is the same for SD and HD. HD is so much more than resolution, it is more to do with colour, bit rate and everything else. I did an excellent demo once with 2 Panny screens, once was a 480p screen, once was a 720p screen. The source was a D-VHS player, sending 1080i to the 720 screen and teh same signal over s-vhs (so 480) to the 480 screen. Everyone in the room agreed that the difference was not worth worrying about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pincher Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 This might or might not be of some help to you, if you have decided what to get - Empire Direct are running a 10% off all Plasma & LCD screens code until midnight on the 10th November. Just put in Voucher ID EQ5070 at the basket and the discount will be applied. (I don't know if they are particularly competitive on prices though??) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm Chris Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 So in essence upscaling is the ability of the TV to cope with different source signals (DVD, VHS, Analogue TV, Digital TV, Sky and Sky HD, Cable, cable HD, DVD, Blueray and gaming) and convert the picture, where necessary to the best it can attain for the viewer. Pansonic is considered very good at doing this. Hence why the previous Pansonic units (1 year + ago) while not fully HD sold in buckets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cupramax Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 I went with a Panny 42PZ70 last year after one of these type of threads, haven't looked back, excellent with normal SD stuff and utterly stunning with Sky Sports HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 If this Panasonic falls in line with what gizze has been saying, then it sounds like a good buy to me. PANASONIC TH42PZ8B 42" HD Ready 1080p Digital Plasma TV with 100Hz technology £649.99 at Dixons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chav Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 So in essence upscaling is the ability of the TV to cope with different source signals (DVD, VHS, Analogue TV, Digital TV, Sky and Sky HD, Cable, cable HD, DVD, Blueray and gaming) and convert the picture, where necessary to the best it can attain for the viewer.Pansonic is considered very good at doing this. Hence why the previous Pansonic units (1 year + ago) while not fully HD sold in buckets The upscaling ability of ALL televisions is similar IMO. The only cheap mainstream device which can upscale noticeably better than the majority is a playstation 3. eg when viewing DVDs it upscales them pretty well to 1080p. Still nowhere near the quality of blu-ray, but hey ho. I think the important thing people forget is you cannot add detail that isn't there. It's impossible. Forget the movies, you cannot make an SD broadcast look photo realistic. The bandwidth of the signal is too low, the M/JPEG compression is too lossy etc. TVs with crap contrast ratios will typically produce crapper looking upscaled images. So it tends to be the better the blacks, the better the upscaling ability. All completely overrated nonsense unless you are dealing with big displays 50-100" +. Most people like gizze said, cant see the dots. If you dont have sky HD, bluray etc, buy the cheapest TV which is the size you want and looks pretty to you. They are all very similar inside. Most contrast ratio quotes are gibberish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chav Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 If this Panasonic falls in line with what gizze has been saying, then it sounds like a good buy to me.PANASONIC TH42PZ8B 42" HD Ready 1080p Digital Plasma TV with 100Hz technology £649.99 at Dixons Also, 100Hz is completely pointless on a plasma panel. They are just using the old trick from CRT days of pretending people will notice the difference. If you need further confirmation, what a bluray at 24 frames/sec on a device which handles 1080p/24 natively. That's just 24hz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark_90 Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Wasn't too bothered about the 100Hz-ness mate, just searched for a 42" Panny Plasma and that one came up. Seems not to have a PC input though? That's not good so I'll keep looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gb110430 Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 ari im in same position to you?? i really wante da pioneer, if we got for 42 inch it means no plasma screen??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Pioneer is good, but certainly not worth the extra. I have had 4 now and been diapointed everytime. Good way to get scaling is with your pc/mac lcd monitor. It has a native res, which will be 1024x768, or 1440x900 etc. etc. Go into the settings and change it to 640x480 and look how blurred it looks, exactly the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 I think the problem is places like avforums, Pioneers get rave reviews by certain retailers and everyone believes they are worth the 4x premium. They buy them and they will be impressed, but get them set up in the same room as other decent screens and you start to wonder where the money has gone imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gb110430 Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 gizze read your previous post with interest about samsung's It would be good if someone would give me the lowdown or better still a link where i can read about HD, 1080dp and Sky HD and the benefits and drawbacks and the best combinations. and where blu ray all fits in. Either way was in pc world the other day and a samsung was showing a sky HD film and it looked stunning, however a sony alongside showing a sky HD film looked poor in comparison. The samsung LCd just bought the picture to life much more, the picture was wasy more clear and bright..... was just weird looking at tv; side by side and noticing so much difference.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gb110430 Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 for sky HD to perform at its best does a tv need certain attributes and would the series 8 samsung fulfill these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Set up is everything though. There is no where really to read up on it all to be honest, everywhere is so biased. It is exactly the same as the GTi boys thinking the Golf is the best hatch available, go to the 1 series forum and they will laugh at you because they know the 130i is in a different class, then pop into the S3 forum and spend 2 hours reading that and you will wonder why you ever considered the VW or BMW! I think the Samsung is the best LCD out at the moment, still not as easy to live with as the best Plasma, but very nice. If I set up the Samsung LCD up next to the panny plasma it makes the plasma look a little dull, the Samsung is the obvious choice. However, I find tha with some material I really don't like the LCD, but with the Plasma I am constantly impressed by the image. So why when side by side does the LCD look better?? Well it doesn't, it is brighter, and has more sharpness added, so it has more of a wow factor, but when I watch stuff I know well on the LCD I know detail is missing in shadows, I know fine detail is crushed in brighter areas and I know the colours are a bit cartoony compared with the extremely natural colours from the Panny plasma. But I can see why when in a shop more people of going for the LCD, as under florescent lighting the LCD does have more snap. I would be more than happy with one of the latest 46" Samsung LCDs on my wall as a main set, but I would not want to see a plasma sat next to it as I may just regret my purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Panny PHD8, 4 years old, 6000 hours so starting to really bed in nicely, and calibrated to D65. HD Pioneer demo on the Pansonic.. 2 SD shots from Sky... And this is the little Panasonic PX70 plasma in the conservatory... I bought this and loved it, until I started watching it in the day, it looked washed out and terrible, so I swapped it for a £500 Samsung LCD, much lower specs but far better for the room, if you have lots of light to contend with LCD always wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gb110430 Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) thank you gizze.. appreciate the quick reply, For arguments sake, If I hung a samsung on the wall is it possible to hide all the wires if i wanted to include a sky hd recorder set top box plus a PS3 and perhaps a blu ray recorder in the future is sky HD still non recordable???? Edited November 7, 2008 by gb110430 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Yeah, just run hdmi cables into the wall, or buy some of the trim B&Q sell and paint it the same colour as the wall. They also do it in gloss black which looks good. Sky HD has a hard drive, I put a terrabyte in mine and get around 180 hours of HD recording or 600 hours of SD, I have pages and pages of stuff to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Had my Panasonic 42" Plasma for about a year now, been a great purchase. Have been running normal sky+ with it and been thinking about getting Sky HD. So the other day decided that £75 for the player was a good price and jumped in. Wow its is unbelievable!! Watching Sky sports is stunning, total transformation. Do not even consider getting a fantastic HD tv and then not getting HD. A total waste of money. There is only one problem however, going back from HD to normal sky. What you thought was an excellent picture is like watching tv through clingfilm, its rubbish. Roll on more HD channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarMad Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Yeah SkyHD is great and more channels have just come there is a great selection of movie channels to watch. If only it could tell you that you could get it to default you to the HD version of the program you are watching as default so you don't have to go looking if its on HD. I new guide is out next year was due out this month but its been delayed, fingers crossed it can do something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 Like the new Humax Freesat recorder does. That will come up and say "this is available in HD, do you want to record the HD version?" Also if you have a clash and you are recording 2 programmes already it will say "This programme is shown again at XX.XX do you want to record that?" It also groups all shows from the same series into their own folder, keeps the planner nice and neat, which is the feature my wife thinks is brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brabus Posted November 8, 2008 Report Share Posted November 8, 2008 Just bought a 40 inch Samsung series 5 LCD today (Full HD 1080p) and so happy I didn't go for 50 inches!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cupramax Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 There is only one problem however, going back from HD to normal sky. What you thought was an excellent picture is like watching tv through clingfilm, its rubbish. Roll on more HD channels. I find normal Sky SD stuff isn't too bad even after wtaching HD, its normally stuff like champions league on ITV1/4 that looks truely appaling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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