That's an amazing TV. The 120hz LCDs produce really smooth motion for action scenes. Some people prefer the more natural-looking motion of plasma (like me ), but as far as LCD goes, that's the best of the best. Those are really great in bright rooms, and fantastic for games since they have no image retention issues.
Joe Biden … putting the Dem in dementia since (at least) 2020.
We have a Samsung 46" (Touch of Color) 120Hz LCD. We love it. One thing about the 120Hz feature, though - we had to recalibrate the lag in our RockBand game so players could hit the beat.
I didn't think anything about this until my good friend - who happens to be hearing impaired - told me about a delay between when people's lips move and when the sound plays over the speakers (he wears hearing aids but also reads lips). He tells me this only happens with 120Hz HDTVs.
Though I have tried and tried, for the life of me I cannot detect this tiny delay - so obviously it it isn't a problem for me.
That's an amazing TV. The 120hz LCDs produce really smooth motion for action scenes. Some people prefer the more natural-looking motion of plasma (like me ), but as far as LCD goes, that's the best of the best. Those are really great in bright rooms, and fantastic for games since they have no image retention issues.
My living room, where this tv will go, has large windows and also a door leading out onto the deck, so there's alot of ambient light - thus, my decision for an LCD. Sony is making an LCD with 240hz rates, for nearly $7000.
I'm going to end up getting a new receiver so I can enjoy the correct sound of Blu-Ray.
That's a really nice TV DLB. I just can't get past the jerkiness of LCD though, so I'm still stuck on plasma.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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Cail, have you seen the 120Hz LCDs? I definitely wouldn't describe them as "jerky." "Unnaturally smooth" has been the phrase I've seen tossed around by the video purists. I actually think the look is nice, depending on the material you're watching. But some think it makes film look like video, or makes everything look like CGI. If I understand it correctly, the TV creates artificial frames based on the information contained in the previous and next frame, so that it adds visual content not included in the source material. It does this to increase the number of frames during fast movement, so that there is no loss of resolution during action scenes. That's the main problem with 60Hz LCDs: their detail drops really low during fast movement.
I think plasma produces the most natural look, but the new LCDs are a huge improvement over the older models, and look better than plasma in bright rooms.
I've not seen the 120Hz TVs, but every LCD set I've demoed has gotten blocky during high-contrast, fast-motion scenes (think the roof of Nakatomi Tower blowing up in Die Hard, or Cyberdyne blowing up in Terminator 2).
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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Check out the 120Hz TVs sometime, I think you'll be impressed.
This weekend I ran my speaker wire and mounted my rear speakers, and also got the worst of the renovation done. Now I'm just waiting for sheetrock mud to dry. I should have painting done by Wednesday night, my TV mounted on the wall by Thursday night, and my HD receiver from Dish Network installed Friday morning.
My $.02. Get your HDMI cables from monoprice.com. Cheaper than Wal-Mart. Far cheaper than anything in Best Buy or other retail.
My setup is a Samsung 61 inch LED DLP that I bought over a year ago. Beautiful picture. Excellent for sports, I catch my Lakers on HD home or away. Have an upscaling DVD player, have not bought a BD player yet, am waiting for prices to be more reasonable.
I have not done anything regarding audio, but my brother gave me a set of Sony floor standing speakers that he bought new in the 90's. Have to figure out what I can do with that.
One more: go to avsforums.com for more than you can handle...
A government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take everything you have.
That's a good forum with a wealth of information, especially if you want very detailed information about your own specific model. Seriously, there are thousands of posts on my TV (for instance). If you have a question, it most certainly has already been asked and answered many times.
Unfortunately, it has almost too much info. I like hometheaterforum.com.
Joe Biden … putting the Dem in dementia since (at least) 2020.
An interesting bit of trivia on plasmas, which I learned from the AVS forums: if you move them, transport them upright. If you have it delivered, make sure it wasn't flat on its back or face during transit--otherwise it could have permanent problems with the picture, like dead pixels or worse.
Joe Biden … putting the Dem in dementia since (at least) 2020.
Good advise. I was taught way back when that you never should lay a CRT down, nor point a video camera straight down. Followed that ever since, didn't realize it applied to Plasmas as well.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
I just got a Samsung 1080i 120hz 40 inch and it is almost too smooth... the HD looks amazing too and I dont have the HDMI outputs on my cable box to see the true quality of the TV yet but even with the Component Video the football and good quality HD stations look amazing...the colors are unbelievable too.. cant wait to get the PS3 and see how good blueray looks using the HDMI.
Blackhawk wrote:...even with the Component Video the football and good quality HD stations look amazing...the colors are unbelievable too..
I was also struck by HD's color fidelity. That, along with its resolution, makes hi-def such a joy to watch that I've lost (nearly) all interest in my regular DVDs now.
My unit is the Sony BDP-S350. It's also very fine - if bare bones - as a CD player: to my ears, it brings out more detail in music, especially classical, than my old machine could. (Not that I have any high-end dedicated CD player to compare with.)
I'm very pleased with my Sony LCD, the picture is outstanding, especially the HD channels from Dish Network.
The surround sound could be much better, but I think the problem is the acoustics in my high ceiling living room, and not the equipment.
My Samsung blu-ray player is a little weird. For instance, I bought Casino Royale on blu-ray, but no matter how I adjust the settings, it plays in letterbox format. WTF? The image looks so small on the TV screen. Then, I rented Quantum of Solace from Blockbuster, and it wouldn't play at all. I exchanged the discs at the store, but the 2nd disc would play either. I could load the menu, but the movie would not start, not from the beginning or from any scene. Other blu-ray discs (like Planet Earth) play just fine, and all of my standard DVDs play great. The up-conversion process is remarkable, old standard DVDs look fantastic.
My major gripe with the samsung player is the requirement to bookmark all DVDs when stopping play; without that, if power saver kicks in and the player turns off, when you try to restart play the DVD starts over from the very beginnning. Are all blu-ray players like that?
dlbpharmd wrote:I'm very pleased with my Sony LCD, the picture is outstanding, especially the HD channels from Dish Network.
The surround sound could be much better, but I think the problem is the acoustics in my high ceiling living room, and not the equipment.
My Samsung blu-ray player is a little weird. For instance, I bought Casino Royale on blu-ray, but no matter how I adjust the settings, it plays in letterbox format. WTF? The image looks so small on the TV screen. Then, I rented Quantum of Solace from Blockbuster, and it wouldn't play at all. I exchanged the discs at the store, but the 2nd disc would play either. I could load the menu, but the movie would not start, not from the beginning or from any scene. Other blu-ray discs (like Planet Earth) play just fine, and all of my standard DVDs play great. The up-conversion process is remarkable, old standard DVDs look fantastic.
My major gripe with the samsung player is the requirement to bookmark all DVDs when stopping play; without that, if power saver kicks in and the player turns off, when you try to restart play the DVD starts over from the very beginnning. Are all blu-ray players like that?
not sure about blu ray, but with my dvd player.(no blu ray yet) I have everything set to 16x9 on the television & DVD player so everything plays as large as it can get without stretching vertically to fill the screen. if you have the TV set to standard or 4:3 instead of 16:9 in the Display prefs it might play a letter box sized movie in the space that a standard TV station would take up so you get a small letterbox that is centered on the screen with black border not only on top and bottom but on the sides as well.
I would turn off the power saver feature, no need for a bluray player to be powered up unless its being used.
I hear they have new DVD players that will enhance the DVD to look as it did on a standard TV ..(no pixelation) but it sounds like it also is part of the Blu ray players ability.
dlbpharmd wrote:
My major gripe with the samsung player is the requirement to bookmark all DVDs when stopping play; without that, if power saver kicks in and the player turns off, when you try to restart play the DVD starts over from the very beginnning. Are all blu-ray players like that?
Happens with mine, too. It does seem a silly limitation for such a next gen machine. Though it's not as bothersome to me because I normally watch a movie all the way through without stopping. I'm kind of a film "purist" in that way.
Holy shit, I made the mistake of going into a SonyStyle store last night... They had this beast playing Transformers on Blu-Ray.... Oh my God.
I have a 1080i 50" Pani which I love, but it's a steaming pile compared to the Sony. I hereby retract everything I've said about LCD tech, as this was hands-down the most beautiful, lifelike picture I've ever seen on a television. The depth it created was stunning.
I can't even begin to justify $3200 for a new TV, but I can certainly see where the money's going.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
), but as far as LCD goes, that's the best of the best. Those are really great in bright rooms, and fantastic for games since they have no image retention issues.
That's my TV Cail, glad you approve. Thankfully, I didn't pay anywhere near $3200 for it.