Any HDTV that minimizes banding...

[EAO]

Any better than the other?

That's the one thing about digital that really drives me wacko.

Given an equivalent input source are there differences between HDTV brands, etc?

[Krispy Kritter]

Most issues regarding picture quality are often the result of the input and not the TV itself.

[sdlehman]

Could also be the source that is driving the display (garbage in, garbage out). Cheap cables could also be a problem. At least basic calibration is necessary in order to get anything resembling a decent picture. At a certain point you get what you pay for. You don't necessarly have to buy the most expensive display to get nice results, but buying the cheapest will almost certainly assure that you get poor results. Can't hardly go wrong with Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony.

Good Luck

Stace

[painkiller]

1080p

[edDV]

1080p

480i/480p/576i/576p720p/1080i/1080p are all 8 bits 219 active levels of gray (235-16) in the home. Same goes for HD/BD DVD.

You need to calibrate those 219 levels. Not much room for error there.

10-16bit still only available to Pros.

[painkiller]

Granted.

But not many folk/laypeople/non-techies understand that many (or all) of the hdtv sets need to be properly set up once in the home. They may not be able to do it correctly themselves, either.

From various video magazines and other sources, as well as personally critiquing different hdtv sets in a number of stores - the only way to convince some folk (who think they know why the picture is so lousy with banding and rainbow effects - never mind the fact they have yet to encounter a truly good picture) is to get them to see the thing first hand.

A number of (so called video magazine) experts seem to think that 1080p actually improves the visual perception and picture quality over a 1080i or 720p picture.

DOn't know how they come to that conclusion myself - as, just like hearing, not many folk have the same level of perfect vision.