HD TV for watcher of old shows

[victoriabears]

I am carefully transferring my big vhs collection to DVD, mainly Pal uk tv shows/documentaries etc.
I have an Oppo 981 and it cupconverts.

Any advice on a HDTV of 40 inch range, say up to 42 inch, that would be more sympathetic to this type of material.

The Oppo does pal to NTSC conversion as well

Thanks everyone.

[jman98]

Yes, I have some advice for you. I have a 42 inch Samsung LCD HDTV and it is fantastic. It does 1080p and everything looks good on it. The model I have is a year old and they don't make it now, so that's why I didn't give you the model number. Whatever you do, please make sure that you use ONLY high quality video connections to connect ALL devices, including any cable boxes, to your TV.

High quality video connections are:
DVI
HDMI
component

High quality video connections are NOT:
S-video
composite
old style coax like used in the USA (and probably Canada) for cable TV

Finally, please be sure to watch standard definition TV and 4:3 DVDs in 4:3 on the TV and do NOT just be lazy and set the TV to play everything back in 16:9. Standard definition looks like crap when stretched to 16:9. Your TV should have a remote control that easily lets you switch between 4:3 and 16:9. Only watch high def TV and widescreen DVDs in 16:9.

Note that when someone complains about how much standard definition TV sucks on their HDTV, I can guarantee you that are using low quality video connections and probably stretching everything they watch to 16:9.

[edDV]

I'd agree with recent model Sony or Samsung for LCD or Panasonic for plasma. I haven't seen the new Sharp models hence am neutral.

The Oppo is handling the bulk of the conversion load.

[Kayembee]

jman98 wrote:
>Note that when someone complains about how much standard definition TV
>sucks on their HDTV, I can guarantee you that are using low quality
>video connections and probably stretching everything they watch to 16:9.

I don't disagree, but it calls to mind a related thought.

We took the plunge to big screen TV a couple months ago. Got a
Mitsu WD-C657 at Costco, a 65" DLP that's 1080p. Great TV, and my wife's
idea - hey, how often does one get a cool toy like that without doing a
bit of spousal persuasion?

Anyway, SD does not suck on it, but I do think there's a couple
of SD-related issues.

The TV-related issue is due to the screen size. There's a
certain softness to SD when it's blown up that large (typical viewing
distance for us is ~8 feet, BTW). If that's the TV's "fault", it's only
in the sense that 480i was never meant to be displayed at that size.

More subtle, but more interesting to me, is what I would guess
is a psychological issue. While there's certainly not _enough_ HD we can
get, there's enough between OTA and DirecTV that we're watching HD at
least 25% of the time. As a result, HD is rapidly becoming my new
mental standard for video. Instead of HD being the new-and-cool, and SD
just the normal, HD becomes TV-looking-right, and SD starts looking
primitive, almost quaint.

I should probably add that the one form of SD that still looks
good to my eyes, is standard DVDs. No, they don't look as good as
HD, but my appreciation for 'em hasn't suffered like my appreciation for
broadcast SD has.

It's almost annoying to have had my brain shift gears this
quickly - couldn't it have waited till most TV was in HD? Anyway, am I
weird, or have others noticed this same thing?