1080p vs 1080i/720p ?

[RoboDad]

For the best picture get a 1080P LCD TV with HDMI cable hooked to a blu ray player or PS3.

Pretty much anything you buy today (current models, at least, not old clearance stock or used sets) will have HDMI, so that isn't really an issue any more.

The difference now is in what HDMI features are enabled (such as 24p for movie playback, deep color, and so on).

 

[Nuka Cola Kidd]

thanks for the advice Robodad..the bands ive been look at are samsung(first choice) sony,sharp, and vizio(i see them in every store so they must be decent)

but for which models to go with...i dunno

 

[Bannister]

I guess it isn't for everyone. But I don't see it as being like live TV, I see it as like being live, period. And I think it looks pretty awesome.

I just don't think film should look like that. To me it looks bad. For things like sports I am sure it looks amazing, but I have never been a fan of how lcd's handle motion anyway.

 

[Sick Boy 82]

That's the problem with LCDs, is that you need 120HZ to make it look decent. I'll take plasma and it's price hike over LCD any day! My 42" 1080P Panasonic Plasma is absolutely amazing. And because I'm only about 6' away from mine, I can definitely tell the diff between 1080p and 1080i/720p. All my high-def channels look amazing, but when I throw in a BR and HD-DVD, it just kicks in bigtime!!

When watching Eastern Promises on HBO-HD and on HD-DVD, I can see the difference. Black crush is gone when watching it in 1080p and I never see ajggies on stuff. Hell, even old ass Top Gun looks stunning in 1080p. ANd I really do love the graininess of film. I guess I never really noticed it until I got the plasma, but it really does add a certain depth to movies. Also, A Clock Work orange, Blade Runner and a few older movies look stunning as well on BR!!!!

So just go with 1080p so you don't have to upgrade again in the near future. Easy peazy!

 

[Bannister]

That's the problem with LCDs, is that you need 120HZ to make it look decent. I'll take plasma and it's price hike over LCD any day! My 42" 1080P Panasonic Plasma is absolutely amazing. And because I'm only about 6' away from mine, I can definitely tell the diff between 1080p and 1080i/720p. All my high-def channels look amazing, but when I throw in a BR and HD-DVD, it just kicks in bigtime!!

When watching Eastern Promises on HBO-HD and on HD-DVD, I can see the difference. Black crush is gone when watching it in 1080p and I never see ajggies on stuff. Hell, even old ass Top Gun looks stunning in 1080p. ANd I really do love the graininess of film. I guess I never really noticed it until I got the plasma, but it really does add a certain depth to movies. Also, A Clock Work orange, Blade Runner and a few older movies look stunning as well on BR!!!!

So just go with 1080p so you don't have to upgrade again in the near future. Easy peazy!

^^^^, Nash could get a 720p 42" Panasonic plasma for like $650 off ebay with the live discount.

 

[Nuka Cola Kidd]

i heard plasmas throw off a lot of heat...do they?

 

[hairlesswookiee]

Vizio is quickly becoming one of the names to watch in the TV industry. Their sets don't offer all of the bells and whistles of the other name brands (yet), but that's because they are working hard to establish brand recognition and market share.

I put a Vizio 1080p 47" LCD in our family room almost two years ago, and we watch it almost every night. After I calibrated it (with Video Essentials), the color and clarity are amazing. It doesn't have all of the features I would have liked (for example, the zoom feature in the set is kind of weak), but considering how much I saved, it was worth the trade-off.

And, when I had a problem after about a year (one of the components I connected to the set had an electrical short, and fried some of the circuits inside it), the warranty folks actually had a repair man come out to the house, open up the set, and replace all of the guts other than the panel itself, which was not damaged.

If you can live without some of the features that a Bravia (Sony) or Viera (Panasonic) might offer, the Vizio is a great choice.

can you list some of the bells and whistles you are mentioning??? i'm thinking about getting a 50" lcd in a month or two and really like the Sharp Aquos lineup, but would look into one of these if there isn't too much of a tradeoff.

 

[Bannister]

i heard plasmas throw off a lot of heat...do they?

Yes they do throw off heat. I think it depends on what you are watching as to how much heat they put out.

 

[nash]

With all the money you make from flipping, just spend the extra on the 1080P man!



Seriously, you should really look at the 1080P sets with 120 HZ for smoother picture and reduced blur, especially for gaming though.

I have no problems spending extra money for the 1080p. I was just curious because a couple people told me that the human eye can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on smaller screens. So if that were true and as black and white as it sounds, then I would just go 720p because the 1080p would be more of a novelty than functional.

 

[Sick Boy 82]

Some people say the do, but my plasma has always been cooler than both my 360 and my PS3. It's never really more than warm.

Also, for those plasma naysayers, burn-in and IR are a thing of the past.

 

[Bannister]

Some people say the do, but my plasma has always been cooler than both my 360 and my PS3. It's never really more than warm.

Also, for those plasma naysayers, burn-in and IR are a thing of the past.

Not on mine. For some damn reason I have a light line running down on one side from watching stuff in 4:3. Makes no sense that it would only do it on the one side, not both. Every other time the image retention goes away, just not that one side.

 

[The Chaver]

Some people say the do, but my plasma has always been cooler than both my 360 and my PS3. It's never really more than warm.

Also, for those plasma naysayers, burn-in and IR are a thing of the past.

So it's just the heat which still an issue?

 

[Sick Boy 82]

Not on mine. For same damn reason I have a light line running down on one side from watching stuff in 4:3. Makes no sense that it would only do it on the one side, not both. Every other time the image retention goes away, just not that one side.

Then you may have a defective panel. I've played Halo and COD4 and other games for like 10 hours on the weekends and nothing on mine. Panasonic Viera Concierge service kicks ass!! They will come out and fix it for free or repleace the whole TV if it is to defective to have the guts replaced!!

I've left it on overnight in 4:3 and when I turn the TV off in the morning, nothing. But I also had my Plasma calibrated by a guy from Magnolia, so he really turned down the brightness and stuff on mine. At first everything looked really dark and I wanted to make it brighter, but I got used to it and everything looks amazing. Now when I got to friends houses with LCDs, it's almost blinding and their movies never look as good as mine do.

 

[Sick Boy 82]

So it's just the heat which still an issue?

Not really, cause all TVs get warm with lots of prolonged use. Mine has never been "hot". My PS3 and my 360 get "hot". Not my plasma.

 

[Bannister]

Then you may have a defective panel. I've played Halo and COD4 and other games for like 10 hours on the weekends and nothing on mine. Panasonic Viera Concierge service kicks ass!! They will come out and fix it for free or repleace the whole TV if it is to defective to have the guts replaced!!

I've left it on overnight in 4:3 and when I turn the TV off in the morning, nothing. But I also had my Plasma calibrated by a guy from Magnolia, so he really turned down the brightness and stuff on mine. At first everything looked really dark and I wanted to make it brighter, but I got used to it and everything looks amazing. Now when I got to friends houses with LCDs, it's almost blinding and their movies never look as good as mine do.

I need to do that. I was under the impression that burn in wasn't covered by the warranty however.

 

[pixletwin]

Thanks Robo!

 

[RoboDad]

can you list some of the bells and whistles you are mentioning??? i'm thinking about getting a 50" lcd in a month or two and really like the Sharp Aquos lineup, but would look into one of these if there isn't too much of a tradeoff.

Sure. Some of the things I'd like to see, but weren't deal-breakers considering the price:

• 120 Hz display / 24p input
• Full HDMI 1.3 support
• A higher-quality scaler for non-HD sources
• A higher quality zoom feature set for non-widescreen sources
• Card inputs (with support for popular video formats such as DivX)
• Multiple coax inputs (it would be nice to be able to connect my dish and an antenna directly to the set)
• Downloadable firmware updates

If I thought about it some more, I'm sure I would think of a few more, but hopefully this gives an idea of what I meant.

 

[RoboDad]

Then you may have a defective panel. I've played Halo and COD4 and other games for like 10 hours on the weekends and nothing on mine. Panasonic Viera Concierge service kicks ass!! They will come out and fix it for free or repleace the whole TV if it is to defective to have the guts replaced!!

It could be defective, but it could also be a calibration issue. The right edge of a typical 4:3 image, when "windowboxed" in a widescreen display, tends to be slightly brighter, and it can, over time, cause image retention if the set is adjusted for too bright an image. That's why I usually watch 4:3 sources in "partial zoom" mode. It isn't perfect, but at least I know there won't be problems later.

Now when I got to friends houses with LCDs, it's almost blinding and their movies never look as good as mine do.

That's not because they are LCDs though. Again, it all comes back to calibration. My LCD is calibrated (as is my DLP), and I think you would find the image quite pleasing .

 

[Sick Boy 82]

It could be defective, but it could also be a calibration issue. The right edge of a typical 4:3 image, when "windowboxed" in a widescreen display, tends to be slightly brighter, and it can, over time, cause image retention if the set is adjusted for too bright an image. That's why I usually watch 4:3 sources in "partial zoom" mode. It isn't perfect, but at least I know there won't be problems later.


That's not because they are LCDs though. Again, it all comes back to calibration. My LCD is calibrated (as is my DLP), and I think you would find the image quite pleasing .

True, true. But I hardly ever watch 4:3 stuff. The only channels I watch in 4:3 is Comedy Central and Cartoon Network for Adult Swim. Everything else looks to crappy to watch in SDTV now.

For sure, a calibrated TV is the only way to go!!!! Yeah, I'm sure my buddies didn't pay an extra $300 to get their TV calibrated by a ISF certified tech.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Is there any reason besides not being as "flat" to not get a DLP? I'm looking at getting one of the Mitsubishi 62" or 65" DLPs that are so much cheaper than a flat screen.