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In Reply to: suggestion posted by Joe Murphy Jr on May 10, 2004 at 10:40:40:
Many thanks, Joe.
A concern of mine is no matter how good the TV set is, its only as good as the signal it receives. Im planning on going with "digital" cable. I put digital in quotes because Ive read its still an analog signal. Im not sure how true that statement is. This concerns me because most of what I watch will be cable broadcast with a few DVDs on the weekends.
Thanks for suggesting the Panny 42 inch plasma but a 50 inch is something I would prefer. Something like this maybe.
Familiar with PlasmaDepot?
Follow Ups:
Quality on my Brighthouse digital cable varies. Generally, the premium channels usually look the best (HBO) and the analog pass through look the worst. The HD cable content varies from very good to excellent. You'll get occassional artifacts depending on the provider and content, but usually it's a minor annoyance.Since the content I care about the most - movies, Discovery, sports, PBS - looks good, I've learned to live with the rest. (I don't care if QVC looks bad.) On the whole,I'm pleased, and I woudln't fret too much over SD on a 50" DLP. Even the analogue should be tolerable.
BTW, I'm a very picky person about my picture quality but I don't see rainbows on the 50" DLP sets. Murph is right, take a DVD to test - but don't take Finding Nemo or Monsters Inc - digital animation looks great on every digital display I've ever seen. Take a movie with a lot of movement, strong diagonal lines and dark scenes like The Two Towers or Master & Commander. These are all areas where a display (or a DVD player) can let you down. Also ask to see a prgram through a local cable feed if possible. This may tell you if you can tolerate the set's standard definition capabilites.
Keep inmind, most big box stores (CC,BB et al) do not have their sets properly set up. Be prepared to do some adjusting with the remote before evaluating each contender.
I like the latest LCD rear projectors better than Murph, but it's true the shadow detail and deepest blacks aren't as good as the DLPS. (I absolutely hated earlier LCD models and couldn't understand why anyone would buy one. The lastest ones from Sony and Hitachi are very watchable for me, although the Panny is till too blue.)
I bought my current (CRT) widescreen HDTV over the internet and was totally happy, but read up before you do this with a plasma or DLP. I wouldn't worry about scammers necesarily - many of these companies are very good to deal with - but these complex displays can be temperamental. It's much easier to call up Ciricuit City and have 'em replace your set than it is to ship a defective one halfway across the country.
One thing you may have picked up on - the recs are all fixed pixel displays: plasma, DLP, LCD.
I've found the most useful info at avsforum, as long as you heed Murph's caveat about owner bias vs "other" technologies. There is no perfect display yet, but there's plenty to enjoy in the meatime.
Finally, invst in at least a digital Video Essentials calibration disc, or a professional ISF calibration at best.
Many of the channels offered in the cable companies' digital tier are actually analog signals (just like their analog cable) that have been digitized. However, there are some channels in their digital offering that are delivered to them as digital signals. Unfortunately, just like satellite TV, the picture quality depends on the provider and how much compression is used. There are some very nice digital channels and there are some very poor digital channels.See if you can find some reviews of this model in the forums that I recommended. If a 50" display is more fitting to your needs, at your price-point, I'd suggest a DLP display. Just be sure to bring some DVDs that you are familiar with when you demo the display. DLP displays are known to produce an artifact called "rainbows" in some viewers. Along with seeing the "rainbows", some viewers even get headaches and suffer from motion sickness-like nausea. It's best to get other family members in on the demo (if others besides you will be watching the display) to be sure that no one is susceptible to this phenomenon. If anyone has a problem, it usually starts in the 50" and up DLP display category.
I am not familiar with Plasma Depot.
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