Video Asylum

Posted by padreken (A) on January 21, 2003 at 13:23:34

In Reply to: RPJ guru's, lend me an ear ! posted by audioman on January 19, 2003 at 10:34:56:

I bought my Hitachi 51SWX20B (51" 16x9 RPTV) in December, and with my service (Cox digital/HDTV San Diego) the quality varies widely. Live feeds like the various shopping channels look excellent, others are barely watcheable (our local Fox affiliate, for example). The Hitachi does an excellent job of upconverting standard definition cable, so these channels look about as good as it's going to get. The "digital" channels offered in my package (3 or 4 different versions of Discovery, Flix, Encore, etc. do seem to have better PQ than the "standard" channels do, but I don't notice any improvement in PQ with the standard channels since acquiring the digital service.
HDTV is incredible-watching CBS' hi-def feed of the NFL games was a blast, and it was downright painful to go back to crappy NTSC Fox after that.

Regarding progressive DVD, I did notice an improvement over my older Pioneer player when I brought home a Panasonic RP-82 for a tryout. It was especially noticeable with Toy Story 2-the infamous chroma bug was clearly visible with the Pioneer, absent with the Panasonic-nice and sharp, with no visible distortion. Given that prog-scan players are so cheap now, it's worth it, IMO. I've got the Philips 963SA on order.