Video Asylum

Posted by petew (A) on May 21, 2002 at 11:07:03

In Reply to: Re: Why is Plasma better??? posted by ICI on May 20, 2002 at 17:34:53:

haven't seen the new digital cable feeds because i dumped my cable service years ago--the signal quality varied from just OK to horrible, with all kinds of audio bleeding into the system (ham operators and hot-rodded trucker CBs ), and went out of service frequently for hours at a time especially when there were thunderstorms, but sometimes for no reason at all. They don't give you a rebate if you lose service for a day, nor do they apologise.

so i went to Directv and have never had a problem, except for the occasional very brief (1-2 min) loss-of-signal when a particularly thick thundercloud was directly between my dish and the satellite, but that is quite rare. most thunderstorms do not block the signal enough to lose the lock.

for network stations i use a UHF antenna in the attic and take ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and a few PBS stations right off the air (and it's FREE!!) in the digital bands. The networks occasionally broadcast in HD, like for the olympics (FANTASTIC PICTURES!) or some feature film event, otherwise you get a very good digital picture in 4:3 format (with the gray sidebars). Some shows like "The West Wing" are broadcast digitally in "widescreen" (not high definition), but the taping of that show is done on 1/2" used VHS tape and has the worst lighting and resolution ever broadcast for TV. The show looks like it was taped underwater and dubbed six times then suffered signal jamming on the bounce from LA to NY. So I watch it on the satellite feed and adjust the parameters--even then the color is so bad it's better in black and white.

The PBS stations are great. They have an all HDTV demo channel with music that is mesmerizing--this is the stuff that will show you why the plasma phanatics have gone bonkers about the light, colors, and 3D quality of their sets. When you see an "off-the-air" HD broadcast on a plasma you will understand what all the fuss is about.

I too have the 42" Panasonic. It has a built-in scaler/doubler that upsamples your input to 480x756. You don't need a 480p DVD player to get the best picture with this model. The high-definition 720p and 1080i signals are down-converted to 480p, since this model is not HD capable (that's why you want a 50" set!).

That being said, a 1080i HD feed looks much much better than a 480p feed--don't ask me why. Even though the 42" Panny is not HD capable, it's awfully close--to me it wasn't worth twice the price to have certified HDTV.

I'm using the 18" round dish with the single LNB that i had installed a while back, but upgraded from the Sony SAT-60 to the HDTV capable Sony HD100 tuner/sat receiver. This unit will take off-the-air, cable, and satellite feed and output every format currently in use around the world: it is the "universal translator" of television. Very highly recommended. To get HDTV from the satellite I'll have to intall the 24" x 18" dish with dual LBNs. I'll be doing that in a few weeks. So far I think the only HD signals from the satellite come from HBO and the HD network, both of which are premium ($$) options. But the regular digital broadcasts on satellite are very good quality, although it does vary from network to network--C-span is consistantly the best quality signal and the Republican-affiliated stations (Rupert Murdock, etal) are the worst.

BE WARNED that a bad signal looks really really bad on a plasma, and no amount of rescaling and line doubling will help that. There will be times when you wonder if you were nuts to spend so much more to get a plasma screen, and then you'll switch to the PBS HD channels and go WHOLLY SHIT THIS IS FARKIN AMAZING!!!!!! Yes you keep forgetting how good HDTV is, and other amazing things too--like the extremely good picture and color of the old television shows like the origional Star Trek as compared to their "new and improved" counterparts on pro video tape, like "The Next Generation"--which looks horrible on the big screen (pro video tape is no match for film).

Perhaps that is another reason the networks are so slow to switch to all HD broadcasts--it makes their post 60's syndicated videotaped shows look so bad--and yet The Beverly Hillbillies and The Three Stooges look fantastic!

Also, I love the fact that you can hang this TV on the wall like a fine work of art, and get rid of all that TV furnature you used to have cluttering-up the room. Mine is mounted low (at couch-potato height) with all the wires hidden between the studs behind the drywall. Even when it's off it looks fantastic. Visitors don't know what it is. How cool is that?!

You must have the set re-calibrated. They come from the factory way way too hot so they look good in the store. Since you've spent so much to get a 50" plasma you should hire a professional video technitian to set-up and re calibrate for you in your home. If you leave it as delivered you will burn out early (on some models you can access the set-up menu and turn down the white level, but then you have to adjust the black levels too so you might as well hire a pro to be sure you don't screw yourself)--and you won't be seeing everything you paid for.

then again, if you wait a week or so something new in plasma will happen--the price keeps dropping and the quality keeps getting more awesome, if that's possible.

usually they release the next generation about a month after you buy one.

Bruce tells me about the 43" HDTV Pie-in-ear set right after i bought the 42" EDTV Panny...

the horror...