What HD TV?

[Whistler]

Just purchased Sony 40x3500, ps3 and $ky HD, after much research. Really pleased. (So far )

[Lee B]

Originally Posted by Whistler

Just purchased Sony 40x3500, ps3 and $ky HD, after much research. Really pleased. (So far )

Probably the best set up on the market today. I was going for the Sony X3500 but ended up with the W3000 instead but wished I had the money for the X3500. Superb.

Try this site for all the best independant reviews. HDTV Reviews – LCD TV & Plasma Television Display Rating

Go to the TV selector, put in your budget and it will come out with the best TV in your budget range. Very well tested reviews to those in the know.

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by aclivity

Unless you want a blu ray player, I'd wait. The general TV industry view is that physical formats (i.e. discs) is a dying delivery method. Digital delivery and streaming is the way to go.

In that case, go for a 1080i capable video streamer, some cat5 or cat6 home cabling (you don't want to stream HD wirelessly unless it's a very short distance), and a media server.

Unless you're like me and a fair percentage of the population (I'd say about 10-20% judging by the maps off Samknows) and live in an area that's too far from the exchange to get anything above 1.5Mbits/s even on ADSL Max, and although Virgin have cabled York, haven't bothered to cable my area, so unless BT-Openreach rip out the copper and put in fibre (not likely for the next 10 years judging by their 10 year plan), you won't get much better than 1.5Mb as most of the newer 'faster' LLU technologies actually have an even shorter reach than ADSL Max.

From my perspective, it may be actually 3.5G or 4G that will provide me with faster broadband than wired (I can get about 5Mb on HSDPA vs 1.5Mb on Broadband, but it costs megabucks.)

So with that in mind, how else do I get my HD video without waiting 24-48 hours for the files to download? I can't justify the £10 a month that Sky want to charge for Sky HD as the channels I want to watch (BBC HD, Channel 4 HD) are available on Freesat as free channels now anyway.

IMHO, if you're buying a HD-TV now, make sure you future proof it by getting one of the new generation TV's with a DVB-T HD Freeview decoder in it - many of the new Sony TV's have this for example - as the BBC are going to start broadcasting HD over Terrestrial in the next couple of years to some fairly large areas as was announced in the last week or so.

[Polyphemus]

5. If you want the latest spec (my Sony TV and the PS3 both do it) go for 1080p/24. 24 refers to 24hertz - the native frequency used when film makers make the films. Players/tvs that dont support it have to do nifty tricks to synch it to 50/60Hz depending if you are in the UK/US.....have a look online (wikipedia or the like) for a description if you want to find out more

The 24 referrers to frame rate, the 50hz is refresh rate. in the uk we use 25 frames a second, because we have a 50z power supply.(double the frame rate) which helps the technology capture at a 25 frames a second.
the us use 24p.

full HD in the uk is 1920 x 1080 resolution, and 25P. so 25 frames a second, and Progressive scan. This is the resolution you would see a new full HD film in the Odeon at Leicester Square.

It is all designed so you can get HD to the same resolution and look as film.
so if you want full HD, you need to go with 1080 25P.

it looks damn good in a HD cinema.

[Mick F]

We've just bought a Samsung LE40A656 & it's bloody amazing! The picture is superb, especially with a blueray disc from the PS3.

[scuba steve irl]

personally i wouldnt go for the plasma . LCD have come along way in the last few years .

i have put many flat screens up since they came out and have had to replace a good few of the plasma . ( mostly pubs and office blocks where they are on most of the day ) but the lcds tend to last longer .

if your going to buy 1 spend the money. as you will get the better one .

when they arrive out you WILL have to play with the setting as they dont come set for personal use in YOUR home

IMHO would recommend a sony or philips
but i am not an expert . I only hang them and watch them

[MartinJ]

Originally Posted by Polyphemus

The 24 referrers to frame rate, the 50hz is refresh rate. in the uk we use 25 frames a second, because we have a 50z power supply.(double the frame rate) which helps the technology capture at a 25 frames a second.
the us use 24p.

full HD in the uk is 1920 x 1080 resolution, and 25P. so 25 frames a second, and Progressive scan. This is the resolution you would see a new full HD film in the Odeon at Leicester Square.

It is all designed so you can get HD to the same resolution and look as film.
so if you want full HD, you need to go with 1080 25P.

it looks damn good in a HD cinema.

Not true! The film-making industry has adopted 24 frames per second as a standard. Therefore any TV supporting 1080p/24 will show the film as it were made. Things have to be done to make this work in the UK or US with 50/60Hz systems. In the US to get 24fps to 60Hz they use 3:2 pulldown. In the UK they would simply show the film using 2:2 pulldown and effectively showing a 24fps film at 25fps. Hence the film would show slightly faster than it was intended. 3:2 pulldown can cause slight juddering effects sometimes and 2:2 pulldown can cause slight problems with the audio. Most higher end HD TVs now offer 1080p/24 which solves all problems. In reality it was probably never noticed in the UK because slightly speeding up the film means it still runs smoothly.

There are numerous references to this on the web especially on the AV forums and there is a good article here

Filmmaking-Careers: 24/P HDTV and the decline of film-based movies

Martin

[Lee B]

Originally Posted by Polyphemus

The 24 referrers to frame rate, the 50hz is refresh rate. in the uk we use 25 frames a second, because we have a 50z power supply.(double the frame rate) which helps the technology capture at a 25 frames a second.
the us use 24p.

full HD in the uk is 1920 x 1080 resolution, and 25P. so 25 frames a second, and Progressive scan. This is the resolution you would see a new full HD film in the Odeon at Leicester Square.

It is all designed so you can get HD to the same resolution and look as film.
so if you want full HD, you need to go with 1080 25P.

it looks damn good in a HD cinema.

Hi Polyphemus. This is not how the technology works. As in the previous post. In a few years do not be surprised to see 1080P at 50Hz and 60Hz frame rates too. Many Professional Broadcast equipment is already moving to these higher rates, moving HD from 1.5gigs a second to 3Gigs.

[MartinJ]

Originally Posted by Lee B

Hi Polyphemus. This is not how the technology works. As in the previous post. In a few years do not be surprised to see 1080P at 50Hz and 60Hz frame rates too. Many Professional Broadcast equipment is already moving to these higher rates, moving HD from 1.5gigs a second to 3Gigs.

Of course...they have to think of more TVs to sell us once we all have our future proof HD ready TVs!

Me cynical? Noooooo never

[Nick Kay]

Saw the 6-series Samsung yesterday and fell in love with us (sad aren't I?)

I thought the 5-series was good, but...

Also, found a couple of places that are selling it for quite a bit under list price - and certainly a lot cheaper than at Comet, etc

So, its a 40" series 6 with upscaling dvd and 5.1 for me

Ummm - haven't told SWMBO that the price excludes tilt wall mount and cables

Or, that I'mm gonna have to upgrade Sky to HD & Multi-room

I figure that slipping it past her in smaller amounts might be the way to go (ooh err missus)