Best 37" LCD TV for mythtv?

[Steve]

Hi guys,

I'm contemplating replacing my pants no-name (well, no name of significance) 32" LCD TV with a nice 1080p 37".

My current TV has a few issues, so if I'm to get another, these must be ironed out.

Biggest problem is with getting a decent signal from the PC. The HDMI receiver and the VGA receiver are both crap, and I cannot get a proper image (1366x768) without some serious fiddling.... and even then it's pants.

So, I want a 1080p TV that'll negotiate with my GeForce 7300LE and establish a nice 1920x1080 signal. Incidentally what am I looking at refresh-rate wise? What's the best way of playing back video from mythtv to get the minimum of motion blur/tearing.

Also am I right in thinking 1080p @ 50Hz is the best I can hope for over single-link DVI->HDMI? What does that mean for me if I get a 100Hz set?

Money is an object, so if it's got four digits in its price... I'm out!

Looking forward to the info/advice!

Cheers,
Steve.

[Howard]

Samsung ones are known for their 1:1 pixel-mapping abilities I believe (what you want to get a proper crisp picture from the PC) and being generally decent TVs.

Want my suggestion? Take a laptop to Currys and hook it into the TV you like and see if it displays properly You shouldn't have to do any fiddling with the refresh rate, just set the output to 1920x1080 (if you must have 1080p) or 1366x768

[Steve]

A good idea, unfortunately my slaptop has no DVI output.

[Howard]

Have a look on avforums, they have a big thread dedicated to most popular TVs in their LCD section, ask in there if people have had luck with PC Inputs

I use VGA on mine, I can get a more acceptable picture than I can through DVI>HDMI

[directhex]

for no nonsense, what you actually need is valid EDID data. EDID is a technology which, amongst other things, allows a computer to get full characteristics of a monitor just by plugging it in (it's how Windows' "Plug and Play Monitor" knows the max res of a screen). unfortunately, it's very common for LCD TVs to have invalid EDID data. for example, my oldish 26" samsung has a res of 1366x768, but the EDID data says 1024x768 maximum, forcing me to hack around with xorg.conf to push the res higher.

if you want no hackery, you need a screen with valid EDID (in theory, just plug a computer into the screen and run "hwinfo --monitor" as root). if you don't mind a couple of extra lines in xorg.conf, then any 1:1 screen will do

[Steve]

Indeed directhex, I dumped the read my EDID over HDMI/VGA on my current monitor and the modes are rubbish... had to disable a lot of options of the DVI port to force it to run at the res/refresh I wanted.

[Howard]

I wish I knew how to do all that with mine to make it accept a decent signal so I can get it to run at 1:1

[Steve]

Been doing some pixel mapping research and have also decided 37" is too big.

LG's looking like a good candidate, either the 32LB75 or the 32LC56 - I'm not sure which is better, nor if either will do 1366x768 50Hz over HDMI - all three criteria must be met for me to be a happy chappy!

[trickz]

Check out Currys. They have the best deals

[dave87]

I personally quite like the look of the Toshiba 37"s, actually ended up buying one of the 32c3030s in the end (size restrictions). No problems with running PCs through it, 1360x768 seems to be the res it likes. I haven't noticed any motion blur or screen tearing on DVDs and the like, and the freeview side aint too bad either.

Well worth a look, a reasonably priced 32" which does pretty much everything. Oh, I'm using VGA btw, not HDMI.

Trickz - how exactly did your comment add anything to the discussion? Things can quite often be found cheaper online if you know what you are looking for/where to look.

[directhex]

Originally Posted by trickz

Check out Currys. They have the best deals

nothing says good deals like the dixons stores group?

[lily1101]

Check dixsons, I got my samsung 40'' from there, and you can have a discount code as well.

[Steve]

Time for opinions again guys.

I'm tempted by the LG 37LF75 : LG UK

Here are my reasons:

- 37" is a little large for my cramped living room, but I'll only be here another 18 months and don't plan on getting another telly for about 3 years. (The 32" is big enough already, but the jump to 37" isn't so big it's going to be detremental, I don't think)
- Once HD-DVD kills off Blu-Ray and somebody gets on-the-fly AACS decryption working in Linux (or the same for BD+ if too many loons buy the PS3) I'll be using it for lovely HD playback.
- It has some good input capabilities, such as 1:1 pixel mapping for my mythtv box.
- I also have a choice between sending out a 720x576i signal to it, or a 1080i, or a 1080p with bob deinterlace on the mythtv box. So essentially I can pick which is best at upscale/deinterlacing.

Any thoughts?

Cheers.

[directhex]

i've been looking at a few sets, actually!

LG 37LF75 : LG UK
Sharp Electronics (UK) - LC37X20E 37 inch HD Ready 1080P Slimline LCD TV - Buy online direct from Sharp UK
Toshiba 37X3030D - Regza X Series - Toshiba Home Entertainment UK
LE37M87BD LCD - television SAMSUNG

all 1080p, all (AFAIK) 1:1 pixel mapped, all with optical out (in case i want to pass audio from the tv to an amp)

and the sharp's a derisory £600 at dixons right now, which seems silly

oh, and been looking at 2 larger sets - the lg 42ly75 and samsung le40m87bd. all mentioned teevees are £750 or less

[andy572]

Guys, as great as the Toshiba sets have seen for some time and just in case you have the VGA input in mind (which I'm referring to here), having looked at the specs on a few occasions and having a friend that owns one, I haven't yet seen one that always does 1:1. The sets of a year or so back were 1024 x 768 over VGA - even the large displays! - and when looking a few weeks ago, 1360* x 768 seemed the order of the day.

[*That may have been 1368, and was on the 1080p panel.]

The Samsung sets that I have seen and used (I own one that's about three years old) are 1:1 over VGA (albeit losing eight pixels on the horizontal with my display) and I believe that they run as one would hope with HDMI. Just to be complete, I have run 480p, 576p, 720p and 1080i via component (various hardware) and had no problems with a Sony DVD player up to 1080i over HDMI (though I use 720p).

I have seen a few people have problems with LG quite recently (some said they wouldn't return to them), though as much as any inherent fault and given that there's plenty of people happy with them, I have wondered if it was 'user error' or something as simple as an incorrectly placed HDMI cable. I'll leave quality assurance out, as it seems all too flaky with most mainstream companies at this time (unless the Internet amplifies everything!). Regarding the HDMI problem with a cable, I've definitely seen the latter in one case recently and myself had rather a fiddle and a couple of attempts to get the cable adequately sited into the socket of the aforementioned Sony before I got a picture after doing a 'power off, power on' cycle with the TV and DVD player for the HDMI 'handshaking' to occur. After that, as the saying goes... it just worked.

Are there any tricks or differences with HDMI and graphics cards or any particular brand or range that's more suited (or more successful) when it comes to using with HDMI, as I have seen in the past with VGA-to-TV and nVidia or ATI cards (or the drivers)?

In terms of thoughts about resolution, Steve, my suggestion would be to let your eyes decide. I'd usually suggest that you pick the highest resolution that your source allows, but with a good display there is the possibility of it doing a better job. If you're after 1:1 though, you'll really want to be doing the processing before it gets to the display. Still, it's something to try for your preferences. I run video with a huge range of quality and resolution (from old VHS conversions and files from Archive.org through to DVDs and higher resolution files) via both my PC's VGA (with MediaPlayer Classic and FFDShow) and the upscaling Sony via HDMI and in both cases, there's an appreciable improvement beyond the processing of the television (with a particular reduction in what I feel are flaws or a combination of lazy (variable 50/60Hz conversion) and overzealous processing (edge enhancement)). I was entirely cynical of upscaling players until the Sony took the place of its thoroughly temperamental predecessor. That was a prog-scan player, but the output has been transformed by this newer, cheaper Sony. In this case, the source has the better processing. To my eyes, anyway!

Should the last part appear off-putting, it is important to note that not everyone spots the things that I have described and that I am talking about what is now considered an old model. What's more, a wealth of anecdotal evidence (ain't it the best? ) and the few TVs that I have seen more recently (anecdote from me, this time!) would suggest that processing has improved across the board over the last couple of generations of displays produced by the major manufacturers. Of course, there's plenty of moaning to be found out there; but it's a rare thing to see comments equivalent to those I have given about my older TV - and I believe that all too often it's about finding a fault (though that's for another discussion).

Finally (phew!), apart from really looking into 1:1 and any other prime requirements, I'd suggest that you try to spend a bit of time looking at various displays - all the better if it's a shop where they may be configured better than the often single shared feed and varied brightness/contrast settings that I've seen in larger stores (where they're often dull, dull, dull or... retina-burning!). I have seen first-hand that as with any aspect of life, we all have different tastes and it's worth making that trip as you'll be spending a lot of time looking at the panel and you may find one that 'clicks' with your preferences.

Yikes, I hope that lot transfers through the ether in the way it's intended (trying to help)!

Good luck, anyway - and enjoy your new, possibly bigger, better TV!

[directhex]

Originally Posted by andy572

Guys, as great as the Toshiba sets have seen for some time and just in case you have the VGA input in mind (which I'm referring to here), having looked at the specs on a few occasions and having a friend that owns one, I haven't yet seen one that always does 1:1. The sets of a year or so back were 1024 x 768 over VGA - even the large displays! - and when looking a few weeks ago, 1360* x 768 seemed the order of the day.

hard limit, or bad EDID info?