NTB Drops for HD DISPLAY

by **ntbullock** » November 1st, 2006, 3:50 pm

So, after an ordeal I've ended up with a new HD television. I spent more than I wanted to, but I've ended up with what I wanted.

I first picked up a 42" Samsung Plasma screen in Hattiesburg, which is about an hour from me [never try to shop for a good tv in McComb]. I get the Samsung home and I'm greatly disturbed by the ghosting and black levels.

I take it back the next day and end up with a 40" SONY LCD with 1080p. It's beautiful. It's got a great contrast ratio as compared to other LCDs. I spent more, but actually got the size I wanted. The 42" was a tad big for the room.

I did a good bit of research and asking around before I landed on the SONY, and I feel good about it so far. Shopping for a high-end tele can be exhausting. The good thing about the SONY is I can use it as a computer monitor, too.

[relieved]

by **Martian** » November 2nd, 2006, 4:43 am

Hey NT, Great TV, that is the one I wanted for xmas. Anyway, where was your address again and when would you be visiting someone a long way away? Also, do you own a big dog and is he friendly?

Where would you recommend someone leave a spare key to their place?

Don't worry, I'm sure McComb is probably a very safe community and you don't have anything to worry about (as long as you have a big angry dog and good insurance).

by **Martian** » November 2nd, 2006, 4:53 am

Seriously, all you need now is a Playstation 3 to take advantage of all the 1080P goodness. Hope that is on your xmas list.
Can you show off your new tv in an NTBblog?

by **willekers** » November 2nd, 2006, 6:08 am

Hey Martian when you get that info you requested from NT, I.M me i want in :D, im sure NT has some things in his dwelling that i have on my xmas list too :P

by **Martian** » November 2nd, 2006, 6:39 am

You are in luck Will, NT has supplied a picture of the things that will be under the tree come xmas. I see an Apple notebook computer, Xbox 360, amplifier, DVD player (maybe a DVD recorder), some nice looking speakers with stands, stereo, playstation 2 and (best of all) the new SP DVD with "Back 2 Happiness," "Death By Luxury," and "Di-Fi".
Everything will be nicely wrapped under the tree and everyone will have a merry chrismas. Best chrismas ever!!! Ho ho ho:D

Should we hold out for the Playstation 3 or get our gifts early?

Next NT does a video blog of himself getting money out of an ATM with his PIN for us to see. Unfortunately, there's not much in there after the tv purchase.

p.s. we joke because we love.

by **ntbullock** » November 2nd, 2006, 10:28 am

Wow. Everything is planned out already. Coo'.

I think I'm going to skip on the PS3 for quite awhile. I do want to see one, though. I'm pretty pleased with the 360 thus far. I just started running my xbox at 720p instead of 1080i to see if I can tell a difference.

Funny how the 360 just updated to 1080p on the day I get my 1080p, and I can't use it in 1080p. My LCD only uses 1080p with the HDMI port and the 360 doesn't have one. I've also been trying out my 360 as my DVD player because it converts it to 480p.

What's crazy is that I want to get a new G5, MacBook Pro, and upgrade my video camera by January. Lofty goals...

by **Rigby** » November 2nd, 2006, 6:46 pm

G5 or mac pro?

by **Hat** » November 2nd, 2006, 7:45 pm

Rigby wrote:G5 or mac pro?

lol I saw that and was wondering too. I also see the PS2 has been shunned into the corner.
Anyway, nice purchase. You definately don't want a plasma, they're gd awful for gaming. Like you said, ghosting etc. Is it a Bravia?
Now I envy one more thing of yours, nice going. Oh but you're selling your HD camera right? Or did you sell it already?

by **ntbullock** » November 2nd, 2006, 8:22 pm

Yeah, it's a Bravia KDL-40V2500.

I'll be getting a Mac Pro, which is still technically a G5 until they coin G6 [or whatever]. I just need a new one to handle more HD sources.

Yes, I'll be selling my near-mint Z1U HDV cam sometime by year's end.

by **Martian** » November 3rd, 2006, 2:27 am

My suggestion for your next purchase is a mega home security system and ID tagging on everything.

by **willekers** » November 3rd, 2006, 7:12 am

Hahaha good call Martian, and maybe increased home and contents insurance.

How did you find the 360 as a dvd player NT?? I was using mine as my dvd player but i stopped and reverted back to my old dvd player because i found that the sound didn't seem to be proper 5.1 (well 6.1 in my case). The video filled the screen more but it didn't seem to be as good a quality. That is just me though, im interested to hear how other people have experienced it.

by **ntbullock** » November 3rd, 2006, 10:50 am

I use optical audio on both, so they pretty much sound the same. I'll try to pay more attention. At the moment I can't tell a huge difference.

by **willekers** » November 5th, 2006, 9:37 am

Yeah i use optical too. I didn't notice a huge difference, but when i use my actual dvd player it uses dts decoding or something like that, which it wasn't doing with my xbox. Im not sure exactly about the texhnical side of it all, but there was just a few select movies i thought it just didn't sound quite as good on.

by **willekers** » December 11th, 2006, 3:12 am

So its been a little while now NT, how are you finding your LCD. Still as good? Does it have any annoying little things you would change etc.

How good is it for gaming? It doesn't ghost or blur or anything? Whats its response time?

by **ntbullock** » December 11th, 2006, 1:00 pm

I'm loving the tv. It's beautiful. It makes my regular DVDs look a little lacking because it's such a clear screen. I'm SO ready for HD DVDs. I've got the HD add-on player for XBOX and I'm starting to purchase movies. There's a big difference.

Ghosting is only a real problem for plasma - to my understanding. It's great for games on the "vibrant" setting. I'm totally pleased. I also just upgraded my 5.1 surround with another SONY setup. I jumped from 550 total watts to 900 watts. My subwoofer was a little lacking for my "needs" with only 50w. My new one has 200w. I'm snobbin' it up over here!

by **sjones** » December 11th, 2006, 8:48 pm

There really shouldn't be a difference between how the Xbox or a dedicated DVD player sends the digital audio track to your receiver. It will be the same information, so your receiver will process it exactly the same.

by **ntbullock** » December 11th, 2006, 8:53 pm

What exactly are you referencing sjones?

by **sjones** » December 12th, 2006, 9:15 pm

Sorry, I thought I read that you were pulling the audio via optical, so I was saying that a dedicated DVD player and the Xbox should produce the same quality audio when feed to your 5.1 (or better) receiver via optical.

I probably didn't read the discussion properly.

by **ntbullock** » December 12th, 2006, 9:18 pm

Ah. ;]

Actually, I've got my reciever hooked up both optically and through coax [that looks like rca] from my DVD player. I recently read that the coax was a little better. I think it defaults to that.

by **sjones** » December 13th, 2006, 1:53 am

Gotcha, I'm using coaxial and optical as well, but for different pieces of equipment. Maybe its that the coaxial cable is physically more reliable than an optical cable. I think that the digital data would be read and delivered the same way, so the receiver should render it the same way. The DVD player I have has HDMI out so video/audio is all on a single cable. On the LD, its a completely different story. On most LDs you get 2 channels of analogue audio and one track of 44.1kHz PCM stereo. More recent LDs have 5.1, DTS (The Matrix, South Park) and extremely rare cases, 6.1 (Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me) which is stored as a modulated signal on one of the analogue channels. The player outputs it via coaxial as RF and then goes into the receiver directly to have the channels broken out. In my case my receiver is too new to have an RF demodulator built in, so I have to run the coaxial from the LD to a demodulator (a little yamaha 'black box') and then from that via optical to the receiver.

I really hope I'm not impressing anyone with this esoteric setup .. because HD DVD + HDMI kicks LD's arse ;-) I'm not sure where I stand on DRM .. probably not so much opposed to it as some people seem to be.

by **ntbullock** » December 13th, 2006, 4:04 am

My LCD does 1080p, but only through HDMI. My DVD and HD player don't have HDMI. Ug. Component for me.

by **sjones** » December 13th, 2006, 1:54 pm

I've noticed a huge difference switching from component to HDMI (or DVI for that matter). Do you have cable or satelite? Non-HD channels look really bad on an HDTV especially via component, but you can gain better quality by going with the DVI out. This is completely noticable when using the built in menus in the cable box. I think you can get 1080i/p out of component (the medium itself) but some devices will only do 480 or 720p via component and then 1080i/p exclusively via the HDMI. The rumour was that it had to do something with DRM due to it being a higher resolution.

by **ntbullock** » December 13th, 2006, 2:35 pm

I haven't heard anyone saying that the difference between component and HDMI is HUGE - noticeable, but not "HUGE." Here again I havent seen it for myself because my HD player doesn't have HDMI output. I've got throughput on my new reciever but it doesn't convert from component, which may be a little pointless other that being able to have it progressive 1080. I'm running my HD player at 720p instead of 1080i. Motion seems to be a little better, but what's your experience with it?

I used to have satellite with HD channels and they looked great over component - again though with no direct comparison to DVI or HDMI. I haven't had cable in over a year. I don't watch much tv.

I was under the impression that HDMI isn't necessarily a higher resolution, but just a cleaner digital signal that didn't need processing to fit the screen. Component is resolution independent in the same way that s-video and rca just carry the signal differently - not a different res. That's my understanding, but I only scratch the surface on these things.

by **tyrel68** » December 13th, 2006, 3:10 pm

I upgraded an HDtv from component to DVI(which is the same as HDBI except you need audio cables) and noticed a HUGE differance. I just think it looks smoother.

by **sjones** » December 14th, 2006, 1:44 pm

My experience with it was basically watching the 2004 Summer Olympics on INHD (broadcast 24/7 with no commercials). While using component from the cable box was mind blowing, going with DVI produced a sharper picture and less pixelation. After I got my upscaler I had to switch the cable box back to component and noticed that there was definitely a loss in quality. Pixelation isn't really as big of an issue with HD cable as it is with SD (but still digital) cable. You've probably seen it where someone runs across the screen and their body and surrounding area just turns to squares? (thats overly exaggerated, but .. you know).
Its hard to quantify this, because I don't have gauge, just an experience... But I think if you were able to try it out for yourself at some point you could say there is a noticable difference. That being said, if component is what you are using you're still going to get better than what most people see.

by **ntbullock** » December 14th, 2006, 2:41 pm

I wish my XBOX or DVD player had HDMI or DVI outputs, but they don't. I know there's no component to HDMI converter. I wonder if there's a component to DVI converter. I don't know if it would still have the same quality issues or be even the slightest bit better. I shouldn't complain. My picture looks great as is.

by **tyrel68** » December 14th, 2006, 4:40 pm

There is no point in having component to DVI/HDBI since it's not possible to cleanly convert analog to digital. You would only get the same picture anyway.

FYI HDBI is simply DVI with audio included.

by **Boom Headshot Productions** » January 9th, 2007, 8:02 pm

ntbullock wrote:Wow. Everything is planned out already. Coo'.

I think I'm going to skip on the PS3 for quite awhile. I do want to see one, though. I'm pretty pleased with the 360 thus far. I just started running my xbox at 720p instead of 1080i to see if I can tell a difference.

Funny how the 360 just updated to 1080p on the day I get my 1080p, and I can't use it in 1080p. My LCD only uses 1080p with the HDMI port and the 360 doesn't have one. I've also been trying out my 360 as my DVD player because it converts it to 480p.

What's crazy is that I want to get a new G5, MacBook Pro, and upgrade my video camera by January. Lofty goals...

wow you wanna upgrade your camera? youve already got the hdv z1u, what would you upgrade too?

by **ntbullock** » January 9th, 2007, 8:41 pm

I'm holding off on upgrading my camera. We're going to try and shoot a feature this summer. I'm going to hold off as long as I can. The Z1U doesn't do 24p and I'd rather have a better samping rate than 4:2:0.

by **Boom Headshot Productions** » January 9th, 2007, 9:21 pm

i see, so are you looking at a panasonic dvx100b? i know that has 24p, or are you gonna try and stay HD?

NTB Drops for HD DISPLAY

NTB Drops for HD DISPLAY

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