Video Asylum

Posted by Harmonia (A) on November 22, 2002 at 10:10:53

In Reply to: TV for a non-TV viewer posted by Mr. Walker on November 21, 2002 at 07:42:02:

Mr. Walker, from your post I deduce you are in the UK or Europe. Please be aware that the sets sold in North America are rather different from the models available in UK, never mind PAL vs NTSC.

In USA, our sizes go by *viewable* screen size, not total tube size, therefore our direct view wide screen models are sold as 30" sets(your 32") and 34" sets (your 36"). Also, the vast majority of our TVs here are not capable of displaying PAL, which (I presume) is going to be your primary source via tape or DVD. Moreover, all our current widescreen direct view sets are Hi Def capable, which means they are progressive scan capable. I don't think most recommendations of US models will be useful to you.

I think you would do much better over at avsforum.com's UK website, which will have more/better info specific to your location.

That said, as the recent purchaser of a 34" direct view wide screen set let me offer a few suggestions. The 30"US/32"UK set is too darned little to have much impact for watching movies. Unless this is going into a very small bedroom, go for the 34"US/36"UK if it's within your budget. I know the 32" seems huge to you now in comparison to your current TV, but go for bigger.

I suspect your TV salesman's spiel about picture quality applying only to TV signals and not to DVD display is mostly rubbish. PQ is PQ. Feature is features, and some of those may indeed be of little interest to you i.e. tuners, PIP etc. More bandwidth can't be bad - stick to 100hz given a choice. Adequate power supply, stable black levels, good color decoder, good geometry (beware, flat screens are very prone to geometry problems), the ability to tweak picture settings from user menu - all these things will affect the PQ no matter what the source. If the set has scan velocity modulation or some variant, be sure you can turn this pest off in the menu.

If you'll be watching many DVDs, keep in mind that Europe is about to get progressive DVD decoding - no more scan lines! You may not have HD sources there yet, but you may have new model TVs coming out or available that can take advantage of progressive scan DVD players or that have internal scalers - the new Phillips 963SA DVD player is out in UK and is Pal/progressive capable, plus all region hackable to boot. Even on a direct view set, progressive is the way to go to watch movies.

I'm not sure what connections are on European sets, but you'll want to pay attention to those too. Here in North Amerikay, connections like multiple component and S-VHS inputs, VGS inputs and progressive inputs are considered important. (We don't have SCART.) Since you're going widescreen, you may also want to check out sets' zoom and expand modes for letterbox and 4:3 material. I'm presuming you'll be using an external sound system and not the sets internal speakers.

One final caution, even in PAL VHS is a low resolution signal. You won't be as thrilled with tape as you will be with your DVDs.

FWIW, I purchased a Philips 34PW9818 34" (36") direct view and presume it has a European equivalent. I bought it over the popular Sony 34XBR800 because it is better IMO at displaying SD (tape, cable, satellite) than the Wegas with their internal scalers (DRC). I could also get it very reasonably. So far, no regrets.