HDTV - A bit of guidance please....

[TiG]

A little bit of background for you on what i'm likely to do with the screen and the parameters I'd like advice on....

I love watching DVD's but sadly my screen isn't up to much (generic 21" screen), i'm getting an X360 on release and i'm seriously considering buying a new screen to take advantage of the X360's ability to use HD technology.

This is where I come across a problem, What HD screens should i be looking at?. I mean i do watch some normal TV, and i understand that LCD screens just aren't up to much when looking at standard TV pictures, what with the scaling etc.

Playing Xbox360 games and PC games onto the big screen as well as DVD's with the possibility of Sky HD stuff some point in the future.

I figure i'm not going to be changing the screen for a fair few years (~5yrs) so want HD with this screen to take advantage of the things i'll be using. Not planning on making a purchase till christmas time/sales possibly.

But is LCD or Plasma the way forward, am i going to be disappointed with a 32 or 36" LCD's ability to show standard TV pictures compared to a 37" plasma.... such as this panasonic one.... (which seemed to review well)

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/plasma-tv...0wal/index.htm

Any thoughts people?.

Cheers
TiG

[Blackmage]

that's a nice HDTV, Plasma's arn't worth the bother they bring Pixlated pictures etc but LCD and anything that is digital can't be that bad looking. and because everything is going Digital they are phasing out analog so in couple years time there will be no need for analog displays anymore and digital looks better on LCD look at DVD's

[5lab]

i would wait. given a year, maybe 2, the prices will have completely plummeted. a good lcd is on form with a good plasma (both are slightly behind a good crt, but not much, imo), but there are a lot of crap ones out there which is why you've probably got that impression

a cheaper option may be a rear-pro screen - they've come a long way lately and you can get an excellent rp hdtv set fairly cheap.

[Funkstar]

Both Plasma and LCD look stunning with HD. I'd always laughed at the rows of LCD TVs you see in places like John Lewis and Dixons etc, i always thought they looked pants...which they did. Then I say a nice 37" HD capable LCD being fed from a PC. wow! amazing colours and clarity.

With HD i donæt think there is much in it between plasma and LCD, with SD though, plasma kicks way ahead.

If you are going to drop a bunch of cash on a big screen now that you want to laft, i would get an HD set. But if you are going to spend a lot less cash now and then the same again in a couple of years i would go for a basic mig screen instead.

Thats what i did. Got my 42" plasma a few months ago, guessing i'll replace it in a couple of years. figure i'll end up with more for my money as i won't be paying a premium for the latest and greatest.

[Muttley69]

Buying the very latest and greatest always carries a premium, and there's always a better model only 6 months away. IMO A buying a HD screen today is going to be a bit risky, as we don't really have any mainstream HD programming to test the hardware with. Yes the XBox 360 is out soon, and Sky HD early next year (hopefully), but I think you're be better off buying a cheaper non-HD screen and waiting to we get some mainstream HD material (via satellite, HDDVD/Blu ray). Bear in mind you are still able to watch HD material on a SD screen (it will simply downscale it).

[Nick F]

Picking a HDTV set is a hard choice at the present time, I'm waiting until the middle of next to pick up a good deal. Check out my website (see sig) for some guides on choosing a good HDTV set

[Rave]

Disclaimer: here follows one of my regular "DON'T BUY NOW! WAIT AND SEE!" posts. Everyone else seems to have said the same. It's also true that if you're always waiting for whats's around the corner, you'll never buy anything.

That said though, the time to buy a display for an XBOX 360 is when you have an XBOX 360 to play it on. I reckon loads of people bought FX5800s for Doom 3 / 9800XTs for HL2 on the basis that "they're designed for them!!!1!11!" only to find that by the time the games actually arrived the next gen cards were about to arrive and were loads better.

The important thing is that it's very likely that most/all HD video sources available to us in the UK will require an HDCP compliant display- and AFAIK none of the displays currently on sale can guarantee that they'll be able to comply. I'm not 100% up to date with what video outputs the 360 will have when it ships- but I have some idea that it won't even have any digital video output when it arrives. I really don't know if standard analogue component outputs can cope with resolutions higher than standard 576p (does anyone?- please LMK if you do).

I intend to be (if I can afford it) one of the HDTV early adopters, because from what I've seen it looks stunningly good. Right now though, I have a very nice 29" Sony 4:3 screen I bought in 1999 which still does me fine. If I was really hurting for a new screen I'd lay out £400 for a 32" CRT in the knowledge that it's fine for now, and over the next year or so it can't really depreciate by more than £150-200 in resale value. Someone who buys a £1200 plasma or a £2000 DLP rear projector is taking the risk that it will end up incompatible with the new standards and they stand to lose serious money (like £500-1000) if they need to sell up and buy something new in a year's time.

As a final wildcard, discussions have recently started about the standard that will replace DVI. As HDMI is DVI with added sound and Content Protection that might go soon too.

Wait and see. Wait and see.

[Muttley69]

I think that's what I was trying to say - Rave just put it a lot better than I did Wait to we have some mainstream HD material before you invest. Standard Definition (SD) material will generally not look any different on a HD display, and by the time our HD material arrives no doubt the next generation of HD displays will have arrived too.

[TiG]

Originally Posted by Rave

Disclaimer: here follows one of my regular "DON'T BUY NOW! WAIT AND SEE!" posts. Everyone else seems to have said the same. It's also true that if you're always waiting for whats's around the corner, you'll never buy anything.

That said though, the time to buy a display for an XBOX 360 is when you have an XBOX 360 to play it on. I reckon loads of people bought FX5800s for Doom 3 / 9800XTs for HL2 on the basis that "they're designed for them!!!1!11!" only to find that by the time the games actually arrived the next gen cards were about to arrive and were loads better.

The important thing is that it's very likely that most/all HD video sources available to us in the UK will require an HDCP compliant display- and AFAIK none of the displays currently on sale can guarantee that they'll be able to comply. I'm not 100% up to date with what video outputs the 360 will have when it ships- but I have some idea that it won't even have any digital video output when it arrives. I really don't know if standard analogue component outputs can cope with resolutions higher than standard 576p (does anyone?- please LMK if you do).

I intend to be (if I can afford it) one of the HDTV early adopters, because from what I've seen it looks stunningly good. Right now though, I have a very nice 29" Sony 4:3 screen I bought in 1999 which still does me fine. If I was really hurting for a new screen I'd lay out £400 for a 32" CRT in the knowledge that it's fine for now, and over the next year or so it can't really depreciate by more than £150-200 in resale value. Someone who buys a £1200 plasma or a £2000 DLP rear projector is taking the risk that it will end up incompatible with the new standards and they stand to lose serious money (like £500-1000) if they need to sell up and buy something new in a year's time.

As a final wildcard, discussions have recently started about the standard that will replace DVI. As HDMI is DVI with added sound and Content Protection that might go soon too.

Wait and see. Wait and see.

I've read and seen all the responses, what I have to admit is that the information about HDTV is certainly nothing like standardised. Different web sites have got different opinions.

What i'm doing is trying to understand the market and make an informed buyers choice, I don't mind paying extra to get something that will last and be standards led.

The other thing i've noted is there are only 3(LCD) screens out there that truely comply with the HD 1080i or 1080p standards. There are no plasmas that support this below the £10k+ ones 60" etc.

I'm not buying a screen before christmas for sure, anyway this is my way of looking at what is out there in terms of screens, assessing their abilities, reading the reviews, seeing who makes the good screens etc and then lying in wait for what is going to fit my requirements.

Cheers for the info tho guys

TiG

[autopilot]

Could someone please have a look at this for £590. My mum wants a new LCD TV for under £600 and this looks like a decent one. HD-TV ready too. She does not what anything too fancy an her CRT widescreen had blown up and she needs on ASAP.

Any other recommendations?

http://www.247electrical.co.uk/epage...&source=KELKOO

Also, will sky charge extra for HDTV content? Anyone know anything about it and what they will offer?

[5lab]

xtr has that telly, i remember him being fairly impressed.

even when sky brings out hdtv, it will only be on a couple of shows to start with

[autopilot]

Originally Posted by 5lab

xtr has that telly, i remember him being fairly impressed.

even when sky brings out hdtv, it will only be on a couple of shows to start with

Sorry, you mean the one i posted or the one in the original post?

[BubbySoup]

Originally Posted by TiG

But is LCD or Plasma the way forward, am i going to be disappointed with a 32 or 36" LCD's ability to show standard TV pictures compared to a 37" plasma.... such as this panasonic one.... (which seemed to review well)

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/plasma-tv...0wal/index.htm

Any thoughts people?.

Cheers
TiG

I have an LG 32LX2R 32" LCD HD screen. I decided a while back to go LCD over plasma, because for me, they offered a better picture quality. I have my HTPC connected to it DVI-DVI and HD video is nothing short of stunning on it.

As for standard stuff, I have my NTL box plugged into it and the picture is what I expected - pretty good - but this is mostly down to NTL's poor signal quality more than the TV.

[5lab]

xtr has the samsung, look on this forum for a review..

[shaithis]

Why buy a HDTV when Sky can't even give a date as to when its going to release a HD service? PS3 will probably be the first non-PC HD source.

If you buy a nice Panasonic plasma now, you will get AT LEAST a years use out of it before you need HD. And even when HD is out, you will still be able to scale it down to your screen and it will still look REALLY NICE.

Can get the 42" Panasonic PWD7s for under a grand now and they have VGA in which the XBox360 will plug strait into

[BubbySoup]

Originally Posted by shaithis

Why buy a HDTV when Sky can't even give a date as to when its going to release a HD service? PS3 will probably be the first non-PC HD source.

If you buy a nice Panasonic plasma now, you will get AT LEAST a years use out of it before you need HD. And even when HD is out, you will still be able to scale it down to your screen and it will still look REALLY NICE.

Can get the 42" Panasonic PWD7s for under a grand now and they have VGA in which the XBox360 will plug strait into

There are plenty of places to source HD material other than waiting for Sky.