Just bought a 50" HDTV.. (Scart/HDMI?)

[Starburn]

Just bought a 50" HDTV (bit OTT for my flat, but I couldn't resist, wanted the 42" model originally but the 50" was only about £90-£110 more).

Anyway, I'm just starting to get slightly worried that the quality over scart from my NTL box & DVD player won't be that good , does anyone have experience of using scart with such a large screen? - Is it worth me investing in a DVD player that has upscaling and a HDMI out (such as the Sony DVPNS76H)?
Or should I just wait for HD-DVD/BluRay players?

Will be a bit of a shame if I have to switch DVD players because I'll loose my 5.1 speaker kit (all connect with seperate 'normal' speaker wire at the moment to my panasonic subwoofer/dvd player kit).

Cheers for any advice.

[Nick F]

I have a 40" LCD and I use SCART from my DVD player. The quality is okay but of course it could be better.

If I was you I would wait a bit to get a HD DVD player and use HDMI. I sold all my DVD's last year beacuse I knew that they would be rubbish with the new range of high definition screens.

[Starburn]

Cheers for the advice, I was thinking that might be the best option.

Just worried as we're not that far away from the screen so if it's really upsized we might be able to clearly see the lower quality.

I'll be gutted to loose my 5.1 though when I do buy a HD DVD player - I'm assuming they'll probably be backwards compatable with DVDs though?

[5lab]

i would wait. the next-gen dvd players will almost certainly all do upscaling - the difference is (imo) visable, but not really noticable. get some nicer-than-stock scart leads and stick with that for now

[Nick F]

HD DVD players will be compatable with DVD's for sure.

How far are you away from the screen. For a 50" screen you should be a good 4/5 metres away so you don't see as many blocks. You will notice these when you watch standard broadcasts.

Regarding the 5.1 why not pick up a cheap Amp like this one with a speaker set. It's cheap and is great. Don't forget all HD content will be broadcast in 5.1 so it would be a good investment.

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/conten...N-HTSS1000.htm

I asume you are going to get TVDrive or Sky HD?

[Starburn]

Don't know what TVDrive is, and we can't afford SkyHD - NTL is the best deal for us.

hehe don't have 4/5 metres of space sofa is about 2 metres away.

I did want a smaller tv, though after seeing the price of this one.. ended up ordering it. Will look good once we move into a bigger place (in a few years ). Do keep thinking it's just too big though, and verging on cancelling the order; but we sat about the same distance away (as it would be in the flat) from the screen in a Currys store and it seemed ok.

edit: According to Comets FAQ: "Under distance selling legislation, any opened products purchased via our web site or telephone are also subject to a 7-day exchange or refund.", so if it is too big/blocky I guess I can just get it collected.

edit edit: Just looked up TVDrive, I'm not in a Telewest area

[Syd]

I used to sell plasmas/tvs and stereos for a living, and IMO you will not like the blockiness/artifacts that you see on a screen of that size at that distance, and if it were me
I woild look at a 37 or MAX 42"

[Steve B]

if they're going to come and collect it from you if you dont like it, you might as well purchase it then make up some stupid-assed excuse, like "my dog ate my homework" and get them to replace it with a smaller model. Personally, im rather inclined to support the idea of the larger screen, as the marginal cost of upgrading to a 50 is so small. If the cost of upgrading the size had been several hundreds of pounds, then the choice between the 42" and the 50" would be easier to make. However, i'd stick with the 50 for now.

[Starburn]

As I said it was the 42" I was looking at originally; but its £800, the same model 50" is £890.. :|

It's being delivered Saturday; I may aswell see what it's like now considering I can cancel it within 7 days.

edit: Steve B: As far as I can tell I don't even need an excuse ;
(from the FAQ)

Question
My product works fine but it just doesn't suit my needs. Can I have a refund?
Answer
In addition to our repair policy you have a right (under the UK Distance Selling Regulations) to cancel your contract for any of the items you order within seven working days of the day we deliver them to you. This only applies to products bought via comet.co.uk or over the telephone, however, we regret that we cannot accept cancellations and return of pre- recorded videos, DVD, audio, video game or software products if the seal on the item has been broken.

[Steve B]

haha, thats neat, shoulda got a bigger one then!!

[5lab]

yeah 2m away is waaay to close to a 50" screen - that sort of distance you should be is twice the width of the screen - guessing the set in question is rear projection - i'd suggest you'd have better luck with a 32" lcd wall mounted. i can see artifacts from 3m away from my 36" tv - although it is very sharp which tends to highlight other flaws. its right on the limits of what you should do from a pure size point of view (30degrees), but thats only if the fidelity of the source can cope..

[Starburn]

yeah I'm gathering it's pretty close, but you never know I might re-arrange the room someday, or move flat.

Indeed its 3LCD rear projection, its the Sony Bravia.
32" Is too small, it's what I have at the moment

[Steve B]

is the old LCD for sale?

[Nick F]

Originally Posted by Starburn

Don't know what TVDrive is, and we can't afford SkyHD - NTL is the best deal for us.

TVDrive is the system that NTL use

[Starburn]

According to Google it's Telewest's..

Couldn't find HDTV stuff on the NTL site..

edit: Just also discovered NTL merged with Telewest; though Telewest say I can't get it in my area.. even though I already have NTL - still no mention of TVDrive/HDTV on NTLs site though?

[Steve B]

NTL and Telewest merged