HDTV

[Guest Vitamin X]

I have a pretty decent 28" Olevia at home. If I were to go any bigger than that, I would almost certainly get an LG, Vizio, or Pioneer, although Pioneer can be pretty pricey.

 

My Olevia, FWIW, was $350 refub. from Newegg. Small risk, big reward.

[Dandy 0]

I have had my Panasonic since 2001 or 2002. Besides dumbshits putting their fingers on the screen, the only problem is it takes 5 minutes or so to "warm up" now, as their are lines and stuff until after that time. There is also a shadow of a cobweb that sways back and forth now. As soon as I can get the service manual for free or close to it, I am going to open it up and clean the wheels and such. It should be tip top after that.

 

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I bought a no name brand ("Digimate"? Who the hell are they?) 27" flatscreen HDTV on sale for $500 at Futureshop in 2006. At the time I just badly wanted to replace my loudly humming GE TV (which was originally my grandmother's and she couldn't hear the loud pitch) and figured I might as well make it an HDTV so I could be set for the future. It was only January of this year that I started watching HDTV, and for many months I was too dumb to watch TV shows in proper resolution (which seems to be a common problem with HDTV owners as I now admonish friends with units that do the same thing) because I didn't think it looked THAT stretched out until I could properly compare it. It was really good for widescreen DVDs though.

 

I'm sure there are performance issues related to it being so cheap and from a brand I've never heard of, but it claims to do 1080p when I'm running the Xbox 360 even though I'm not using an HDMI cable (Cogeco cable here does not support HDMI for 1080p so all the TV I watch is in 720p). The only two issues I noticed early on - which seemed to have stopped now that I watch TV through an HD receiver and component cables - were:

 

1. Black was terrible. People with black hair / black clothes would leave brief ghosting images of their clothes and/or I would see odd pixels in it. I think some of the pixels / artifacting issues were due to the channel I was watching, though (Scream TV seems to have a not that great digital conversion for their broadcasts).

 

2. The corners of the screen would have a slight white light around them.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The biggest problem I have with my TV is it has rendered a lot of my wrestling tapes obsolete... tapes with the slightest bit of tracking issues result in a black "No Signal" screen.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I was looking at a Vizio, but what had really attracted me to the Sanyo was the 5ms response time and the three HDMI ins.

 

On the other hand, I've got an interview with Future Shop next week; who knows? Staff discount is more than likely going to play a considerable role.

[Dandy 0]

How many places have you worked selling electronics? Not a slam at all, but it seems like you are switching jobs within the industry two or more times per year.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

1-1/2. Four-year stint with WalMart, interrupted by the place that shall not be named, then a return to Walmart. I had an interview with Best Buy for handhelds in 2006, but it was only part time. My Best Buy interview in March was a disaster.

 

I haven't really switched 'within the industry', but I went from two jobs (full time at a paper, part time at Walmart) in the span of three years to five jobs in six months. I didn't take it as a slam, but it's been a mess.

[NoCalMike 0]

I've got my eye on a 47" Vizio.....probably early 2009....of course by then something better is probably going to come along for the same price.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

RedBaron and I were in the Sony Store the other day, and we saw an OLED on display. My god, that article wasn't lying, it was magnificent. A million-to-one contrast ratio (and just saying it, even compared to what we know, doesn't do it justice). Not only that, how thin it was: it really was as thick as a credit card,

 

 

On the other hand, they had some PS3's on display (on a plasma, not an OLED). Now, we've both played our 360's in HD, and were impressed with how stable and crisp the picture looked. But we thought NBA 08 looked pretty grainy. I suppose that it could just be that game, but still; BluRay did look stellar on the plasmas, though.

[dubq 0]

This is gonna sound wierd.. but anyone have a recommendation for an affordable 4:3 (ie: not widescreen) HDTV 32" or under? I'm trying to build something similar to an arcade cabinet (but not an actual cabinet, more like the corner of a room, lol) and I want to go for something that's not widescreen since most of the games I'll be using for it are 2D fighters via my region 2 PS2.

 

Suggestions?

[Dandy 0]

Check Craigslist in your area. I just did a google search for "4:3 32" hdtv," and a Sony WEGA was in Fort Myers. Perhaps there would be one like that close to you?

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I would never recommend a plasma but Wal Mart is selling a 32 inch Vizio Plasma for $550, which is just crazy.

 

AVS thread

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

That's god damned cheap.

 

I was actually beginning to lean towards the 42-inch Vizio LCD that we'll be carrying starting July 14. 1080p, same price as the Sanyo I had my eye on, but response time is a little slower, and only two HDMI. I want three, baby, at least until 360 releases a BluRay add-on.

[dubq 0]

Well I scored a 4:3 LCD TV via ebay. Sharp brand with a silver casing. Pretty much brand new condition. I lucked out and got it for $125 CAD + shipping and border tax I paid about $200 on the dot for it, which is really good, IMO. One step closer to having my "arcade corner" set up at my place.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Anyone here have experience fixing a stuck pixel on an LCD screen? We bought a new 19" Toshiba LCD TV for our kitchen last night, and there is one small spot that is constantly a blue-ish green color. It's not that noticeable, but is constantly there, and really sticks out when the background is black (obviously you can only see it when the TV is on). Any fix for this, or should I just take it back to the store and exchange it? It wouldn't really bug me, except for the fact that it's towards the middle of the screen.

[MrRant 0]

I'd exchange it.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Olevia filled for bankruptcy last week, essentially meaning if you bought a TV of theirs, the only warranty you'll get is if you used a credit card or bought the dreaded extended warranty (maybe one case where it would have been a good idea?) since they wont be able to honor warranties under bankruptcy.

 

But hopefully..you didnt buy one of their pieces of crap that they tried to pass off as a TV.

[Guest Vitamin X]

My 32" Olevia LCD is perfectly fine, but yeah in the future I'll probably get a larger Vizio or something if I feel the need to. It only cost me $300 for a refurb. off Newegg, and it's been a great deal for me.

[SuperJerk 0]

Is an Xbox 360 going to look any better on a 37" 720p lcd if you use the standard component cables, versus VGA adaptor or the HDMI adapter?

 

Can someone explain the difference between VGA and HDMI output quality-wise? Would switching to HDMI for my computer or my Xbox make any difference?

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I can't say for certain with a 360, but I didn't notice a major difference with my cable box, when comparing HDMI to component. This is probably underlined by the 720p you mentioned (since 1080p typically requires HDMI). The only discernible difference I noticed was less noise around text. I will say it was infinitely more convenient having one cable, as opposed to five, especially with how often I unplugged my 360 to take anywhere with me.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

After months of pandering, I'm settling on the Vizio 42VUL. Even if I'm not working at Wal*Mart by then, 1000 bucks for a 42" 1080p sounds awfully good. The response time is good at 6.5 ms, and it's got two HDMI, plus a fibre optic out for a home theatre I'm looking at.

[SuperJerk 0]

Because of the special they are running at Circuit City this week (36 months no interest on select brands), I decided to pick up an LG 42" 1080p LCD for $1099.99.

 

Since its I'm not confined to 720p anymore, should I get the VGA cable, the HDMI adapter, or stick with component cables for my Xbox 360?

 

Is HDMI better than VGA? Or just handier?

[Guest Vitamin X]

If you're going to upgrade to anything, I would go up to HDMI. It's digital, as opposed to the component (also known as YPbPr) cables which are analog, and VGA cables, if you're talking about what I think you are, don't connect to the 360 and I believe that is because VGA (also known as 15-pin D-Sub) is video only, no audio. HDMI is digital, and it has audio and video all in one nice little neat package, and it's pretty much the way to go as far as a/v connections go these days. However, if you're not willing to drop the money on the HDMI quite yet, don't worry about it, components are okay and you'll be getting your HD regardless. The only problem is that some component cables don't work for 1080p, so YMMV there.

 

HDMI is better than anything out there, pretty much, and handier. But also more expensive and usually not included with things. VGA/D-Sub is pretty much for use with computer graphics cards, so if you have a laptop and it has a D-Sub out, you can display your screen on the TV, for example, or if you want a second "monitor" for say, putting on visualization displays for music or watching downloaded movies and such, then there you go. Hope that helps.

[SuperJerk 0]

If you're going to upgrade to anything, I would go up to HDMI. It's digital, as opposed to the component (also known as YPbPr) cables which are analog, and VGA cables, if you're talking about what I think you are, don't connect to the 360 and I believe that is because VGA (also known as 15-pin D-Sub) is video only, no audio. HDMI is digital, and it has audio and video all in one nice little neat package, and it's pretty much the way to go as far as a/v connections go these days. However, if you're not willing to drop the money on the HDMI quite yet, don't worry about it, components are okay and you'll be getting your HD regardless. The only problem is that some component cables don't work for 1080p, so YMMV there.

 

HDMI is better than anything out there, pretty much, and handier. But also more expensive and usually not included with things. VGA/D-Sub is pretty much for use with computer graphics cards, so if you have a laptop and it has a D-Sub out, you can display your screen on the TV, for example, or if you want a second "monitor" for say, putting on visualization displays for music or watching downloaded movies and such, then there you go. Hope that helps.

Thanks.

 

I see what you are saying about component versus HDMI. The problem I'm facing with HDMI is that my 360 isn't an elite, so I'd have to get the Mad Catz HDMI adapter, plus the cable.

 

I was hoping this thing would be cheaper (over $50 less on amazon.com, and you still need to order the actual cable) and get the same results...

...but probably not, I guess. (As you can see, they've gotten around the audio output issue by making it a secondary line.)

 

Has anyone ever used the 360 VGA adapter?

[Guest Vitamin X]

Oh, that sucks man. I got my 360 more recently, so luckily my Pro 360 came with an HDMI port already, I just haven't used it yet. Always be careful with those third-party peripherals, though. I'm scared of anything MadCatz.

 

And yeah, that cable is crap. And it probably costs too much.

 

If you need cheap HDMI cables, Newegg.com is the best way to go, I think.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

Anyone here have experience fixing a stuck pixel on an LCD screen? We bought a new 19" Toshiba LCD TV for our kitchen last night, and there is one small spot that is constantly a blue-ish green color. It's not that noticeable, but is constantly there, and really sticks out when the background is black (obviously you can only see it when the TV is on). Any fix for this, or should I just take it back to the store and exchange it? It wouldn't really bug me, except for the fact that it's towards the middle of the screen.

 

 

There are programs that help fix stuck pixels. Do you have the right equipment to hook it up to your computer?

 

 

 

If you're going to upgrade to anything, I would go up to HDMI. It's digital, as opposed to the component (also known as YPbPr) cables which are analog, and VGA cables, if you're talking about what I think you are, don't connect to the 360 and I believe that is because VGA (also known as 15-pin D-Sub) is video only, no audio. HDMI is digital, and it has audio and video all in one nice little neat package, and it's pretty much the way to go as far as a/v connections go these days. However, if you're not willing to drop the money on the HDMI quite yet, don't worry about it, components are okay and you'll be getting your HD regardless. The only problem is that some component cables don't work for 1080p, so YMMV there.

 

HDMI is better than anything out there, pretty much, and handier. But also more expensive and usually not included with things. VGA/D-Sub is pretty much for use with computer graphics cards, so if you have a laptop and it has a D-Sub out, you can display your screen on the TV, for example, or if you want a second "monitor" for say, putting on visualization displays for music or watching downloaded movies and such, then there you go. Hope that helps.

Thanks.

 

I see what you are saying about component versus HDMI. The problem I'm facing with HDMI is that my 360 isn't an elite, so I'd have to get the Mad Catz HDMI adapter, plus the cable.

 

I was hoping this thing would be cheaper (over $50 less on amazon.com, and you still need to order the actual cable) and get the same results...

...but probably not, I guess. (As you can see, they've gotten around the audio output issue by making it a secondary line.)

 

Has anyone ever used the 360 VGA adapter?

 

 

 

There are WAY cheaper HDMI cables on monoprice.com. Take a look around the site.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

There are programs that help fix stuck pixels. Do you have the right equipment to hook it up to your computer?

 

I actually tried one of those...hooked the screen up to my PC. Ran it for quite a while and it seemed to have no effect. I did end up exchanging the TV. The new one works just fine with no problem pixels at all.

[MrRant 0]

I would stick with VGA if your TV has the input so that you keep an HDMI input free for other devices. Both are capable of 1080P.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Not sure if this belongs in this thread or not, but in Feb 09 when tv goes digital does that mean that anyone w/ a HDTV receive HD programming anytime a station airs something in HD basically rendering how many "HD channels" a cable/satellite company offers useless?

 

Yeah, I know that wasn't worded very well.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

No.