So I'm about to buy a HDTV

jp · Post by jp » Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:04 am

And here is the one I'm going to go for:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Hitachi- ... tDetail.do

Opinions? Suggestions? Etc.? I'm pretty sure most you know why I'm going with Hitachi on this (aside from the fact that they just make great products), so... yeah. New TV. Yay!

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:28 am

If you're planning on playing your old consoles with them, make sure you test any HDTV ahead of time with an SD signal, and also actually play a game on it with one of your older consoles. Such a hands-on method is the only sure way to test the resulting picture quality of its SD->HD scaler chip, and whether there is any game-breaking signal conversion lag.

jp · Post by jp » Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:57 am

I will not be playing my old consoles with it. They will go into my room along with my 20 inch flat screen S-Video TV. So Saturn/PC-FX/PC-Engine Duo RX/SNES/Genesis gaming is safe.

I might use the VGA on it though with the Dreamcast...

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:11 am

jp wrote:I will not be playing my old consoles with it. They will go into my room along with my 20 inch flat screen S-Video TV. So Saturn/PC-FX/PC-Engine Duo RX/SNES/Genesis gaming is safe.

I might use the VGA on it though with the Dreamcast...

That's what I was about to ask about; but, in any case, that one looks great-you've obviously got the money and the space for it, so go for it!

Man, I can't imagine what it would be like to play games on a 50 inch TV screen!

Would you get the stand with it, or not?

stoneroses · Post by **stoneroses** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:18 am

I pulled up the link to the set you are considering and it looks pretty good. We have a 34" tube based widescreen set. (I wanted a good quality set without a huge price and didn't need a very large set which is why I went my route.)

If you have a 360 or are planning on getting into the next-gen, this set or most HD sets would really do it justice. With componet cables, currnet gen systems should also look good. The newest Consumer Reports has some ratings on the quality of the screen images. I just checked and the Hitachi 50VS710 (closest to yours) as did most of the rear projection models had Very good HD image quality, regular stuff was rated fair.

From my experience, HD prgramming, DVD (especially upconverted, but at least progressive scan) will be impressive, and some digital cable content and video on demand all look good.

Standard programming, non digital, and VHS all look like ass. Especially when you use the stretch settings. You get used to it, but things like the score in a baseball or hockey game or a sports ticker might get cut off.

Any gaming made for 4:3 is always going to have some compromise and sometimes you just won't want to. Who wants to play a streched out version of a game you know like the back of your hand. Hopefully the set you are considering will permit the flexiblilty to have an occasional use of side letterboxing without burn in. I try not to do this to keep the screen from getting fuct up but no problems so far after 2 years. The LCD does not do this I think, but I am not sure if that is purely LCD or LCD projected types.

Anyways, if I had to buy an HD mainly for gaming and everything else second, I would most likely go the LCD route for these reasons. Also, the refresh rates are much improved now. I am not sure what the native resolution is (I couldn't find it on the Circuit City site). I am a huge 1080i whore for programming and also for screen resolution. I have not experienced 1080p but I am sure it is that much better. In any case, this should be a good set and please follow up so we know how it worked out once you get it home and had some time to play around with it.

Edit- I just read that you have your other set for your Saturn and stuff. Well, I still like this set for what you want to do with it. My impression is that you are getting a lot of bang for the buck with the set you are looking at. As in, 50 inch Plasmas are a lot more, etc.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:30 am

One other thing is to check whether it is natively compatible with 1080p for PS3 gaming later this year.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:55 am

It'll be a bitch to Tate.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:23 am

Blade wrote:It'll be a bitch to Tate.

Just Tate yourself

(e.g. lie down sideways on a couch)

Post by **system11** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:25 am

Thunder Force wrote:One other thing is to check whether it is natively compatible with 1080p for PS3 gaming later this year.

Thing is, the 360 is native 720 - so I guess he has to pick which console matters most before paying for HDTV - that or get a HDTV CRT. Wish we could get those in Europe, but they're unheard of. Everyone is suckered by flat panels.

Also if buying a new TV, make sure it supports HDMI connections, and HDCP if you want to play shitty movies from the content ogres, as they're lacing as much DRM-per-bit as they possibly can into new DVD standards. Best connection for the 360 at least is VGA, so having one of those too would be wise.

I hate new TV technology, it's a total clusterfuck, and a very expensive one at that.

bigbadboaz · Post by **bigbadboaz** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:47 pm

May I ask why you're going with LCD projection? I have gotten the impression that DLP is preferable at this point - "screen-door effect" being the first LCD flaw that comes to mind. There should be DLP sets available in comparable pricing.

Post by **system11** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:42 pm

bigbadboaz wrote:May I ask why you're going with LCD projection? I have gotten the impression that DLP is preferable at this point - "screen-door effect" being the first LCD flaw that comes to mind. There should be DLP sets available in comparable pricing.

Only DLP sets I've personally seen so far suffered motion blur. Also unless you get a (very expensive) triple colour wheel one, some people see a very bothersome rainbow effect.

Personally I think all current TV tech is a crock of shit. LCD is the least shit. I'm waiting for SES to appear.

Post by **undamned** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:09 pm

bloodflowers wrote:Only DLP sets I've personally seen so far suffered motion blur. Also unless you get a (very expensive) triple colour wheel one, some people see a very bothersome rainbow effect.

Personally I think all current TV tech is a crock of shit. LCD is the least shit.

Then you need to check out Samsung's DLP line. Both Jon and my roomate have 50" sets and they are absolutely dreamy in VGA. I don't subscribe to a HD TV broadcast, but I do play my DC and GC regularly on it and have no complaints. Running things in S-Video looks great, too. And trust me, I'm not one of those guys that is pleased with a screen just because it's big. I have friends w/ "big screen" TV's that look like crap. Samsung's line is excellent, in my experience.
-ud

jp · Post by jp » Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:25 pm

Heheh, for next-gen I'm 100% behind Microsoft's Xbox360. I may get a Revolution as a supplement, but I'm not touching Sony's drivel.

The TV goes up to 1080p... so... yeah!

As for why I'm getting rear projection LCD:
Because... its the first thing I found by Hitachi.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:44 pm

I'm actually probably going to end up spending my tax return on a Viewsonic N3250w 32" LCD TV. Not quite as nice as the one you're looking at, but I don't have the budget for something like that right now, and I also have the space constraints of an apartment to deal with as well. The price on this one ($800 after a $200 off coupon at Costco Home next week) is also by far the cheapest I've seen for a non off-brand 32" LCD. To be honest, I'm still trying to decide if that's what I want to get (since there are some projectors in that price range as well) but it sounds like it should work quite well for what I intend to use it for.

bigbadboaz · Post by **bigbadboaz** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:18 pm

OK, I'll bite: why the fixation on Hitachi?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:38 pm

Because they made the Saturn and the DC's main processor?

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:05 pm

Hitachi doesn't make the best HDTVs. They're not even among the best. I understand brand loyalty and all, but if you're going to spend thousands of dollars on something that'll get a lot of use, shouldn't other things come first?

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:05 pm

bloodflowers wrote:
bigbadboaz wrote:May I ask why you're going with LCD projection? I have gotten the impression that DLP is preferable at this point - "screen-door effect" being the first LCD flaw that comes to mind. There should be DLP sets available in comparable pricing.
Only DLP sets I've personally seen so far suffered motion blur. Also unless you get a (very expensive) triple colour wheel one, some people see a very bothersome rainbow effect.

Personally I think all current TV tech is a crock of shit. LCD is the least shit. I'm waiting for SES to appear.

Early this year, I was over at a friend from church's house and he and his wife had a HUGE HDTV. It wasn't Samsung, and it was pretty blurry-I was actually shocked by how bad the picture was for as much as the thing probably cost.

At this point, I would really go with Samsung. Not that 360's don't work on anything else, but every one I've ever seen, I've seen running on a Samsung.

I may eventually go with a 360, but right now, I'm satisfied with my XBOX that I traded in the Piss-S..t-Poortable for recently. (Yes, I just slammed a Sony system.) Until I have more money, there are more 360 exclusive games (and more 360's!), I won't be getting one. Revolution? Not interested in the retro downloads, so the games will have to be pretty good. PS3? Not interested in the least in watching DVD's on any gaming system, or paying extra for Blue-Ray games.

So, the 360 looks like the best of the lot-for now, at least.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:12 pm

dave4shmups wrote:Yeah, early this year, I was over at a friend from church's house and he and his wife had a HUGE HDTV. It wasn't Samsung, and it was pretty blurry-I was actually shocked by how bad the picture was for as much as the thing probably cost.

A couple things here:

First, if it was standard definition TV, then of course it looked blurry. SD resolution on a huge screen is going to look like crap no matter how wonderful your TV is. That's why things are switching over to HD.

Also, it might not have been calibrated properly. A lot of people seem to think that their TV will look just perfect out of the box, but this generally isn't true.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:16 pm

sethsez wrote:
dave4shmups wrote:Yeah, early this year, I was over at a friend from church's house and he and his wife had a HUGE HDTV. It wasn't Samsung, and it was pretty blurry-I was actually shocked by how bad the picture was for as much as the thing probably cost.
A couple things here:

First, if it was standard definition TV, then of course it looked blurry. SD resolution on a huge screen is going to look like crap no matter how wonderful your TV is. That's why things are switching over to HD.

Also, it might not have been calibrated properly. A lot of people seem to think that their TV will look just perfect out of the box, but this generally isn't true.

No, it was an HDTV, I'm positive of that-that and the fact that it was not a Samsung. Whether or not it was calibrated properly; I don't know.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:27 pm

I know it was an HDTV. What I'm saying is that it might have been showing an SD signal. Channels that only broadcast SD signals don't quadruple their resolution on an HDTV and become sharper. It's like having a monitor that can display 1600x1200 and playing Doom at its native resolution of 320x240. It's not going to look better just because the monitor can do 1600x1200, because Doom (ie, the signal) can't. The image is only as strong as the weakest link, which might not have been the TV in that case.

jp · Post by jp » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:32 pm

sethsez wrote:Hitachi doesn't make the best HDTVs. They're not even among the best. I understand brand loyalty and all, but if you're going to spend thousands of dollars on something that'll get a lot of use, shouldn't other things come first?

I thought Hitachi was one of the best. I love Hitachi because they made the Navi Saturn.

Sethsez, who would you recommend I look into? And don't say Sony, that will NEVER happen.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:38 pm

Well, Sony is definitely one of the best across the board, but since you're so opposed to them, why don't you narrow down what technology you're looking at first? The best plasma might not be the best LCD might not be the best RP CRT might not be the best DLP and so on.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:59 pm

I recommend Toshiba and Texas Instruments. They invented the DLP, you know?

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:57 am

Specineff wrote:I recommend Toshiba and Texas Instruments. They invented the DLP, you know?

TI doesn't actually make any consumer products besides calculators. They just make the DLP chips.

OneEyedJack · Post by **OneEyedJack** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:34 am

Please stay away from RCA.

If you buy the Hitachi, it is unlikely that you wil be dissapointed.

Also look into the suggested DLP sets such as Samsung.
LCD also doesn't have any issues of burn in.

Most important, no kidding around, please don't make this mistake: Make sure you can take it back if it isn't for you. Ask how long the return window is.

Ask how much a replacement bulb is.

As you seem to be using it for a movie/TV box and maybe 360 gaming, make sure you have the best buy guy hook up a movie directly to it, and not via their 1000 TV network[assuming you are buying it in store].

jp, you probably won't go wrong with the Hitachi, but make sure that if you are not happy with it, you can get your money back to try again.

Also, make sure you aren't running any TV you buy in 'torch' mode, where the brightness is jacked high. You'll save money by prolonging the bulb.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:17 am

OneEyedJack wrote:Also, make sure you aren't running any TV you buy in 'torch' mode, where the brightness is jacked high. You'll save money by prolonging the bulb.

YES

Brightness and contrast go to halfway immediately, and then adjust things from there (with the help of a calibration disc such as Avia or Digital Video Essentials if possible).

Post by **undamned** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:44 pm

OneEyedJack wrote:LCD also doesn't have any issues of burn in.

Since when?
-ud

dark penguin · Post by **dark penguin** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:21 pm

My friend bought a Sony Bravia LCD, and Standard Def looks completely horrible on it. I was amazed at how wretched regular TV looked-- really muddy and washed out. I'm not sure if it was because he doesn't know how to calibrate it or what, but I certainly wasn't impressed.

Also, I've read that black levels on LCDs are not yet up to snuff. Apparently the upcoming SES displays will blow current technology out of the water, especially in terms of black levels.

Personally, I'm gonna stick with CRT for now.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:13 am

Vexorg wrote:
Specineff wrote:I recommend Toshiba and Texas Instruments. They invented the DLP, you know?
TI doesn't actually make any consumer products besides calculators. They just make the DLP chips.

Agreed. Yet, my brother's boss has a huge HDTV with the TI logo. Honest. I helped him haul it. Will post pics as soon as I can.