TV Plasma/LCD/LED advice

[GearSlave]

Always thought PS/PN and LA/LN was just regional models?

Well if you going to be arrogant enough to diss my tv you gonna have to get your facts straight, you hear?

Ps:

[Dolby]

I'm sure there is some good stuff in that review, somewhere

hehe

[kamikazi]

Hehe, if you have PN model here you have to watch your TV upside down!

[hylt]

+1 plasma
+1 Samsung

Some interesting reading regarding the different technologies

http://reviews.cnet.com/lcd-tvs-plasma-tvs/?tag=rb_content;contentNav

Personally I think the marketing hype is over and Plasma is making a comeback.

[MazdaFan]

So, I took the plunge and bought the 51 inch HD ready version from FotoDiscount world, the series 4 D490, set it up last night, and WOW !

The picture quality compared to my brothers  47inch LG LED tv is awesome, no pixellation on normal TV channels off DSTV, and the HD channels are just awesome !

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and input, I'm very happy with my purchase right now. Now to change the crap Sinotec DVD recorder to something with HD, possibly even a PS3 as I don't really need the DVD recorder seeing that I have a PVR decoder for recording from TV. I'll keep it just in case I need to burn something to DVD though.

[Daniel Weston]

So why didn't you go full HD?

[gifs]

So why didn't you go full HD?

On a 50 inch TV, you need to sit closer than 3m from the screen to notice the difference. The difference is between SD and 720p is quite significant, but going from 720p to 1080p, not so much. Most people still view mostly SD content (DSTV+DVD), so this was quite a sensible option to go for.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/09/1080p-charted-viewing-distance-to-screen-size/

[kamikazi]

I kind of agree with that to a point. I viewed the Samsung D450 and D550 from some distance away and initially the differences aren't that obvious, but they are definitely there when viewing high def content. I love my FHD LED TV with blu-ray content and it looks razer sharp and subtle details jump out at you. Unless you really need 3D you could have saved another few couple of hundred bucks by going with the D450 in stead of the D490. The D490 only adds 3D to the spec sheet I think. I think there are a few D450s floating around for R6k which is a real bargain for the screen estate on offer. SD content also looks a touch more blocky on a FHD TV but I can easily live with it.

[MazdaFan]

I paid R6549 for the D490 from FotoDiscount world, which was pretty much the cheapest anywhere I could find it in Johannesburg or Pretoria.

The D450 was pretty much the same price if not more at most places, so I figured why not get the higher model for the same spend, know what I mean ?

Either way, I'm happy with my purchase, for now. But as my luck usually has it, the same TV will be advertised for like a grand less in a week or 2, which seems to be a norm for me :lol:

[kamikazi]

No, you paid a good price for that TV, I remember them selling around R8k over x-mas so there was quite a gap to the D450 so I doubt you will see a lower price than that any time soon! My LED TV on the other hand has already dropped by R1k...

If I'm not mistaken the 51" Sammys have a 1365x768 resolution so it actually has a few more pixels than would be required for true 720p HD right? Does anyone know whether this gives you slightly better image quality? I remember the 42" being 1024x768 and dunno whether that is actually lower than HD resolution?

[perfectionist]

The only time you should notice a difference between 1080p and 720p is when you watch blu ray and even this is barely noticeable.
Naughty has had both of these resolution in plasma panels so he could give you a little more insight

[naughty]

The only time you should notice a difference between 1080p and 720p is when you watch blu ray and even this is barely noticeable.
Naughty has had both of these resolution in plasma panels so he could give you a little more insight

yep - i had the older C450 (HD ready) plasma and its been replaced by a C550 (1080p) plasma

the HD ready plasma has a way better picture quality for actual TV viewing - HD DSTV is topnotch and if you watch a lot of TV then i say stick to the HD ready - if you watch a lot of blu-ray in 1080p and far less TV then the 1080p is marginally better but just about noticeably so ..... it isnt a chalk and cheese difference but you will definitely say that its slightly better but only at 1080p

for actual TV viewing the 1080p version is actually worse ie when it needs to upscale low resolution then the HD ready handles it a lot better since it does not need to upscale as much so its less blocky and pixellated and way smoother so your TV viewing is marginally better

so for me the choice depends on what your source is going to be ..... my 720p was replaced for a 1080p at no charge hence why i kept it but if i had to chose after living with both for a while because of the sport i watch on TV i would actually chose the HD ready as easier to live with all round with the provision that a proper 1080p TV would give me 3% to 4% better picture with Blu-ray at the distance I sit

either way on the HD ready TV you still would have it scaling to 1366x768 anyway but somehow for TV that res works and gives you a picture thats close to CRT in terms of smoothness

[MazdaFan]

I know I mentioned earlier in the thread that I might be going the BluRay route eventually, but looking at the utilisation of my current DVD player, even on the old CRT TV, I doubt that this is going to happen anytime soon.

We use the TV probably 90% of the time watching MNET, (and now that'll be MNET HD), and the other 10% is split between the Kiddie channels and DVD's.

So, my next question : Will upgrading the regular DVD player to a HDMI DVD player make a massive difference in terms of the picture quality ?

[naughty]

So, my next question : Will upgrading the regular DVD player to a HDMI DVD player make a massive difference in terms of the picture quality ?

why do that? just get the blu-ray player player one time - look at makro for a sony BDP-S380 - it features decent upscaling of dvd as well as SACD playback - its also generally around a grand ...... or thereabouts - so i cant see why you would want a dvd player when you an get a decent blu-ray player for a wee bit more

yes its been proven that the player has some technical issues - but it does fine as a budget player (what would you get for a grand that plays blu-ray, DVD, CD, SACD and then also has a USB port which allows playback of a large number of video and audio formats) ie it will allow you to play MKV files as well as avi and divx amongst others) so for the price it can be forgiven the few small color issues it has which 99% of users wont notice or know about

[MazdaFan]

why do that? just get the blu-ray player player one time - look at makro for a sony BDP-S380 - it features decent upscaling of dvd as well as SACD playback - its also generally around a grand ...... or thereabouts - so i cant see why you would want a dvd player when you an get a decent blu-ray player for a wee bit more

yes its been proven that the player has some technical issues - but it does fine as a budget player (what would you get for a grand that plays blu-ray, DVD, CD, SACD and then also has a USB port which allows playback of a large number of video and audio formats) ie it will allow you to play MKV files as well as avi and divx amongst others) so for the price it can be forgiven the few small color issues it has which 99% of users wont notice or know about

Makes sense.

And 3D players ? Cost-wise, they go for around R2k + right ?