buying an LCD tv.......some noob questions

[efiste2]

I have narrowed my choice down to 2 LCD tvs, the SONY 40" lcd and the SAMSUMG equivalent both are 1080p HD, we do a mixture of gaming and watching TV and a lot of that TV is football. so i have a few quetsions

1. We dont have an HD soucre yet, just normal SKY (UK sattelite TV), so as the new TV not be fed with an HD source will the create a poor picture.
2. We have a PS3/XBOX360/and a WII so hence the 1080 decision, but am i right in thinking i should be getting the 1080p TV, for a good mix of bith TV and gaming
3. Ive chosen 40" for a big picture experience, the position of the veiwer is roughly 3M away, will a 40" set look a more pixelated picture ie will we be sat too near and should i look at a lower screen size such as the 37"

Sorry if these are noob questions but i dont want to go into the store and have to rely on the bloke who is trying to make a sale, so thats why im asking the people who really know the facts........................you chaps!!!!

[jg0001]

I have recently acquired the Samsung LN-T4065F (US model, as I live there).

If you do choose one of those brands consider this:
Sony's XBR 4 & XBR 5 lines should be out in the U.S. very very soon (if not already), pushing down the price of the 2 & 3s.
I cannot recommend anything but Samsung's LN-T lineup (all 1080p)... don't go for the older line (LN-S) or any of the 720p crap. Samsung has a new LN-?xx71 and LN-?xx81 lineup due out in the U.S. any day now (maybe mid Sept) that has all new features and should push down the prices on the LN-T4061 (matte screen) and LN-T4065 (glossy screen).

If you check it out on AVS forums, you'll see it is well regarded for use in all the ways you intend to use it.

I have mine connected to:
1) PC at 1920x1080p (8800GTX video card), using a DVI to HDMI cable
2) XBOX360Elite & PS3 via HDMI (I switch which console is connected as needed)
3) HD Cable box via HDMI

It looks awesome as a PC monitor and the playing video consoles with it is excellent as well (as is HD-DVD and BluRay). For comparison, I happen to have a Sony 70" XBR2 in the same room (SXRD, 1920x1080p) as well as a Dell 2405 monitor (1920x1200). Previously, I owned a Sharp 32" Aquos 32GP1U which I found to be not nearly as good as its replacement, the Samsung.

[snadge]

Hi
the perfect seating distance is TWICE the TV size... so if your buying a 42" TV then Ideally you should be about 84" away
from it... if closer then your shooting yourself in the foot getting the bigger screen... if your going to be 3 metres
away (whichs 3x36" = 108") then 42" TV will be fine, if sitting 3meters away you could get upto 54"
Yes 1080p (prograssive) is better than 1080i (interlaced) Ignore the last guys comment about 720p crap as theres nothing wrong with 720p ifyou have 32" HDTV or smaller...thats what its for.. I dont think they make 42" HDTV in 720p as that would defeat the object... 720/1080 is the smaller of the 2 pixels sizes on the TV...

We have 32" HDTV with normal SKY and let me tell you that UNLESS you are going to get HD-SKY or HD-DVD player / Xbox360 etc...anything HD then you will be wasting your time with HD-TV.. the standard picture from SKY will be same on a 42" HD-TV as it will on a 42" (non-HD) LCD TV (A lot cheaper).... However, if you get HD-TV at least you will be ready for when you fo get HD content....

I find the best things to look out for for picture quality ARE:-

1. If your getting 42" or bigger, try and get SKY HD and HD-DVD player so you can actually enjoy the massive screen...otherwise your just going to watch Standard Def. being stretched to fit a 42" 1080x1900 screen thus lowering the quality (unless you sit far away from TV)

2. Get a Decent Brand with extra Insurance/Warranty... a TV engineer told me that every 2 in 10 HD-TVs that are made, work..they have a very high breakdown rate, ours had a line appear down the screen after 5 months...luckily we had warranty...having a decent brand will (I assume) make sure the TV has decently made (branded) components inside and will be less likeley to fail/break....

3. Get a HD-TV with very-fast response time... This is the speed it can update the image on the screen, if the TV has a slow response time then when the camera pans around fast it will blur...or when objects move across the screen fast the will blur...a good way to test this is watch football and when the ball is blasted down field or towards goal etc it will blur..use the 'freeze' button most HDTVs have and a good HDTV with fast response wont display the ball blurred.

4. Higher contrast ratio the better... Contrast Ratio is the amount of shades of black the TV has...so a 1200:1 TV will have 1200 shades of black giving it more colors and also helping make the images sharper... its this factor that makes standard definition TV feed look brighter and more sharper than on a normal TV

5. If using PC/Xbox/PS3 ask the dealer if the TV is compatible and make sure your PC's graphics card is also HDMI or DVI compatible, we have a PC Compatible HDTV however the image clarity is poor and resolution cant be set correctly... so If its purposley for gaming, make sure the dealer checks it is...he my just say YES to sell it..remember your buying an expensive piece if kit, he is obliged to even try it out in-store to be sure...if its the TV u want tell him you will BUY it if it works with Xbox...he will whip one out in a second and try it i can guarantee that....

Hope that was good enough for you...

[edDV]

While I generally agree with snadge's recommendations, I differ on the 1080p/720p analysis.

First there are no game consoles that are higher than 720p native game resolution. Most games are authored at or below 720p resolution to play faster. 1080i and 1080p outputs are hardware upscaled in the player. The TV then needs to deinterlace 1080i to 1080p for display. Until games are natively authored at above 1280x720p resolution, there is no real advantage to 1080p display for game play. The only true 1080p sources are HD/BD DVD players and some computer display cards.

LCD 720p at ~40" size is very viable for game play and if sitting back more than 5 feet few will see a resolution difference for even HD/BD DVD source. HDTV broadcast source is mostly 576p, 720p or upscaled 1440x1080i.

Picture quality difference is more about the electronic processing than the panel resolution. Deinterlacer quality and black level processing are more important than resolution. Sony Bravia and Sansumg LN series are among the better processing engines. For the OP's stated requirement a 720p display from Sony or Samsung may meet his requirements at much lower cost than the 1080p models. 1080p may have more use in the future but you will want greater than a 40" screen to see the benefits.


PS: I agree with jg0001's recommendations if you have that kind of budget. I recently helped a friend buy and install a 46" Samsung LN-T4665 and chose that set over the current generation Sony XBR 2 and 3. Next month's XBR 4&5 or W series may be another story. If you are going for that level of quality, I'd recommend a screen size at least 46". A good 720p 40" will cost less than half as much.

[lacywest]

good info ... thanks

[efiste2]

top invaluable,unbiased opinions. thanks for your help!!!

[jman98]

efiste2 - Note that whatever you buy, the quality of the picture you get depends on the quality of your connections to it. I am getting excellent results from a 42" Samsung LCD TV that can do 1080p. I have a really cheap Philips DVP-642 hooked up to it and it looks terrific. Despite all the people who cry and moan that "standard def TV sucks on an HD TV!" I am also getting excellent results from plain old SD cable. Why? Because my connections are all high quality to the TV.

High quality connections include:
component video
HDMI
DVI

High quality connections do NOT include:
composite video
S-Video
old style coax cable

Also, and this is absolutely critical, you MUST be willing to change the resolution of your TV between 4:3 and 16:9 depending on your source. I watch SD cable in 4:3. I watch HD in 16:9. It makes a HUGE difference. SD looks like crap if you have the TV stretch it to 16:9. You'll see all the flaws in the source that way. The complaints about how much SD TV sucks on an HD TV is from people who either watch everything in 16:9 and/or used a low quality video connection to the TV from their SD TV source.

[Richard_G]

You might also consider the 42" Panasonic plasma. The Sony LCD TVs are extremely good, but the picture quality from the Pana is superb and plasma generally has a higher contrast ratio. I don't think there's a lot to choose in price either.