HDTVs?

[drfsupercenter]

What are your thoughts on HDTVs? I might be getting one sometime, and we were looking at them earlier.

The guy at Best Buy says LCDs are better than DLP... anyone agree or disagree? I always thought plasma was the best since it isn't über pixelated like LCD, but their demos there were the same imagewise. And I thought the DLPs looked the best.

So what would you reccomend? What's the "best" kind to get?

[BR7]

I just got a 32" Olevia LCD/HDTV and I am very pleased with it.I got a PS3 today(finally) and I was able to see what the TV could do.

[ulTRAX]

What are your thoughts on HDTVs?

I assume we're past the point where some sets were just monitors without tuners.

Just be wary that not all sets that are called HDTV are truly the highest definition. Many are enhanced definition at 1024x768 instead of 1080x1920. So unless it says it supports 1080p (p stands progressive scan) then it's not true HDTV. I'll leave it to others to cover other specs.

[admin]

Some TV buying Tips:

http://www.digital-digest.com/blog/DVDGuy/2007/09/12/new-blog-some-tv-buying-tips/

The age old LCD vs Plasma debate:

http://www.digital-digest.com/blog/DVDGuy/2007/05/23/the-age-old-question-lcd-or-plasma/

If you want larger screen (42" or above), and price is not a factor, then Sony Bravia LCDs and Pioneer plasmas are the ones you should look for. The new Pioneer 720p plasma actually outperforms many 1080p sets.

If you want a slightly smaller screen, then there are lots to choose from and going to the store and comparing the panels is probably the best way to see which one looks best.

Once you narrow it down to a few models, you can do some research online to see what kind of reviews it gets and specifications. For me, because I want to connect my computer to the TV, I will look at the TV's list of accepted VGA resolutions (the first link above covers this point). Also, HDMI connections are a must and the more the better, although you can get a HDMI switch if you need more.

Like BR7, I just recently got the PS3 and Blu-ray plus upscaled DVD playback on my 3 year old 720p TV is superb. I was already using a 2 year old DVD upscaler (with DVI -> HDMI cable), but the PS3's colors, digital noise and sharpness is a lot better, and that's just for DVDs. I'm so glad that I opted to buy a TV with HDMI 3 years ago, because most TVs back then didn't have them.

Of course, if you want to go full home theatre, then don't forget about the sound. If you already have a good 5.1 system, then it's probably not worth upgrading at the moment, but if you are just relying on the TV's speakers, then you are missing out on a lot. A good 5.1 system isn't too expensive these days, 7.1 is even better as that would make you future proof (but I think the time is still not right for 7.1 just yet, since you will need a receiver with HDMI input and decoding capabilities for the advanced Blu-ray/HD DVD audio codecs like DTS-MA, and these are too expensive or not available right now).

[drfsupercenter]

The TV I would be getting would be at least 52"... so that factors out the small screen stuff.

Is it normal that all the top-line HDTVs at Best Buy had really crappy picture? Like maybe it's their source?

[admin]

Most stores don't know anything about how to properly set up and display their TVs, and even when they do, the harsh store lightings don't help.

[drfsupercenter]

Well, the guy told me it was "true HD" and broadcasting in 1080p. It was some demo of all the HD DVD titles available.
He showed me that same channel in normal definition, and it looked even worse. Please tell me there's a way to make normal TV channels look better? The only channels my cable provider gives in HD are broadcast-level (ABC, NBC, etc.)... and not the good ones.

They also said that up-sampling DVD players only go to 1080i, not 1080p. What is the difference? Isn't progressive just non-interlaced? And if so, can't the TV deinterlace it?
I'm not buying Blu-Ray or HD DVD because the discs are far too expensive... and a good half of the HD titles available I own on normal DVD! (not to mention, most of the stuff I own isn't available in HD format anyway)

And is it also true that that darned motion blur can be fixed by changing your settings? The had a soccer game on when I was looking, and every time someone was running it was horribly blurry. And if you walked up close, it was even more pixelated around their bodies.

Now, I'm super-picky about pixelation... I won't even watch movies encoded to AVI because it simply can't compare to the original DVD. Now, given the digital format of HDTVs, are any of them perfect? Or do they all have pixelation? Basically, there's a principal here that I like to call "Anything looks good if you sit far back"... and if that's the case then what's the point of buying a really huge TV if you have to sit far away to make it look good?

I realize my thoughts may be in a random order, but I just want to get some questions cleared up before I start seriously looking at HDTVs. It will probably be around a year before we get one anyway, but I want to start doing research now so I can tell my parents exactly what to get.

--EDIT--

Oh, and that article didn't cover DLP. I used to think DLP was just hi-tech LCD, but the guy at Best Buy said it was totally different. However, he said that he personally likes LCD better (as do most people), but when I looked at their screens, the DLP was far less pixelated and blurry than the LCDs. Again, this could have to do with setup.

[admin]

Well, the guy told me it was "true HD" and broadcasting in 1080p. It was some demo of all the HD DVD titles available.
He showed me that same channel in normal definition, and it looked even worse. Please tell me there's a way to make normal TV channels look better? The only channels my cable provider gives in HD are broadcast-level (ABC, NBC, etc.)... and not the good ones.

There's not much you can do about poor input sources, such as SD or worse, analog input (try viewing video tapes on a plasma!!). The problem is not that they look worse on a HDTV compared to a normal TV, it's just that on HDTVs, the problems that you couldn't tell on a SDTV is much more apparent and obvious. Especially true if you are going from a small screen to a large screen. It all depend on how these stores have set up these TVs - might be worth it go to and visit a specialist store, rather than a department store, and see their setup in action.

They also said that up-sampling DVD players only go to 1080i, not 1080p. What is the difference? Isn't progressive just non-interlaced? And if so, can't the TV deinterlace it?
I'm not buying Blu-Ray or HD DVD because the discs are far too expensive... and a good half of the HD titles available I own on normal DVD! (not to mention, most of the stuff I own isn't available in HD format anyway)

The PS3 upscales to 1080p, so do the Toshiba HD DVD players, so the salesman is wrong. It all depends on the upscaling DVD player, and whether it supports 1080p upscaling. But you are right that it doesn't really matter, since most likely, what you see on screen will be the same - explanation here. A upscaled DVD will look quite decent, but compared to Blu-ray or HD DVD, there is a big difference (sharpness, and the fact that BD/HD uses much more bitrate so there is practically zero digital artifacts, whereas on a large screen, you start to really notice every little compression artifact).

And is it also true that that darned motion blur can be fixed by changing your settings? The had a soccer game on when I was looking, and every time someone was running it was horribly blurry. And if you walked up close, it was even more pixelated around their bodies.

Now, I'm super-picky about pixelation... I won't even watch movies encoded to AVI because it simply can't compare to the original DVD. Now, given the digital format of HDTVs, are any of them perfect? Or do they all have pixelation? Basically, there's a principal here that I like to call "Anything looks good if you sit far back"... and if that's the case then what's the point of buying a really huge TV if you have to sit far away to make it look good?

I realize my thoughts may be in a random order, but I just want to get some questions cleared up before I start seriously looking at HDTVs. It will probably be around a year before we get one anyway, but I want to start doing research now so I can tell my parents exactly what to get.

Motion bluring depends a lot on the source and also the TV in question. Some TVs are good at handling high motion, some are not. That's why it's always a great idea to test the TV picture with a sports program like football/soccer. I watch soccer all the time on my plasma, through our pay TV provider (digital, but not high definition). I don't notice any problems with blurring.

Oh, and that article didn't cover DLP. I used to think DLP was just hi-tech LCD, but the guy at Best Buy said it was totally different. However, he said that he personally likes LCD better (as do most people), but when I looked at their screens, the DLP was far less pixelated and blurry than the LCDs. Again, this could have to do with setup.

DLP is a form of rear projection. The principles are similar to LCD based rear projection (which is not the same as LCD panels), basically a tiny panel and then using light and mirrors to project an image. As with any rear projection, viewing angle is a problem (go to the sides and see if the picture/brightness is distorted or not). LCDs and plasmas are best for large screen action, although DLP will be much cheaper.

[drfsupercenter]

The PS3 upscales to 1080p, so do the Toshiba HD DVD players, so the salesman is wrong.

What about the XBOX 360? My friend has one, and a brand new LCD TV, and while the picture looked GOOD, I think it could have been better. We tried it with both DVDs, and Halo 3. Now, I noticed that he's using Component since he doesn't have HDMI... does it look better on HDMI? And what does the 360 upscale to, 1080p or i?

There's not much you can do about poor input sources, such as SD or worse, analog input (try viewing video tapes on a plasma!!).

Well, I still use my VCR occasionally... for those times when the library doesn't have a movie on DVD but it does on VHS. One thing I'm curious to try, however... I recorded some of my VHS collection to DVD using my Panasonic DVD recorder. What would happen if I stuck that DVD in my friend's 360? Would it look better than just plugging a VCR into his TV? If so, why? And can you make the VCR do that without the added step?

And the thing about HD is that I don't think they offer that many channels in it. Cartoon Network has been one of my long-time favorites, and I await the day that they make a CN-HD. Also things like Nickelodeon, GSN, etc... none of those are offered in HD. The only channel I'd probably watch in HD, for that matter, is TNT... as I don't watch news channels. (And I'm not the sports type, though my dad may make use of that)

Motion bluring depends a lot on the source and also the TV in question. Some TVs are good at handling high motion, some are not. That's why it's always a great idea to test the TV picture with a sports program like football/soccer. I watch soccer all the time on my plasma, through our pay TV provider (digital, but not high definition). I don't notice any problems with blurring.

While the people at Best Buy may not have the best setup, I don't think they're stupid either... that's probably why they had soccer showing. More than half their TVs had horrible blurring, and I don't want one that does that.
But also, as I said, it was blurry around the objects such as peoples' bodies. Probably an extreme form of pixelation. I don't think I saw a single TV that didn't have the pixelation problem... is that just their source? (Given that the Plasmas were also pixelated, and last time I checked, plasma TVs didn't even use pixels!)

DLP is a form of rear projection. The principles are similar to LCD based rear projection (which is not the same as LCD panels), basically a tiny panel and then using light and mirrors to project an image. As with any rear projection, viewing angle is a problem (go to the sides and see if the picture/brightness is distorted or not). LCDs and plasmas are best for large screen action, although DLP will be much cheaper.

Really? I would have thought DLP would cost more. Do you think LCD is better than DLP? Angle issue aside, does DLP offer a clearer picture... or is it going to be the same as LCD or plasma? Personally, I thought the DLPs looked clearer at Best Buy. But both the sales rep and you said that LCD and plasma are better for watching things on; is that solely based on angle? Or do LCD and plasma have just as good image quality as DLP?


I'm sorry for asking so many questions, I just know nothing about the subject and don't want to get an inferior product when there are better ones out there.

Additionally, currently I don't own a PS3 or XBOX 360. I only have a Wii. The guy at Best Buy told me that the Wii was only capable of 480p, is that the component output? (Currently I'm using RCA as my CRT TV doesn't even have component!) And does the Wii look any good on LCD TVs? I don't want to be stuck with a console that looks bad. (And I'm itching to try watching YouTube videos on a HDTV using the Wii, just to see how bad they'll look, LOL)
And things that don't offer Component output... like my GameCube and N64... will they look bad? Like a SD broadcast? Or will they look "decent" but just not as good?

[rago88]

Consumer reports here in the US has rated the Panasonic 50" Plasma as the best HD picture they ever tested.
[there's words, not mine]..

For the Past 4 yrs,
Pansonic 50" and 42" have been the number 1 and 2 best rated HD tv's..
Plasma burn is pretty much a thing of the past as it was a problem in the early develoment days.
[ salesman like to use burn in as a pitch to sell LCD and DLP.]
of course, if you leave it on pause for week or more, good luck!
As said before,
1080p is the new buzz word but unless you plan on getting 55" or high, your not going to see any better a picture than someone with a smaller 42" or lower top of the line 1080i set..
think of 1080p as a pixel boost to compensate for larger size and longer viewing distance from the set..
btw:
DLP and many LCD models are called direct view for a reason.
viewing from the sides can tend to fade the colors on many LCD's or actually leave the screen looking black on DLP's.
Plasma's looks the same even if your standing on your head in a far corner of your living room..

[admin]

What about the XBOX 360? My friend has one, and a brand new LCD TV, and while the picture looked GOOD, I think it could have been better. We tried it with both DVDs, and Halo 3. Now, I noticed that he's using Component since he doesn't have HDMI... does it look better on HDMI? And what does the 360 upscale to, 1080p or i?

The 360 does not upscale DVD over component (it does upscale games). That's due to copyright regulation (CSS licensing), which prevents analog upscaling. In order to get DVD upscaling on the 360, you need to use the VGA cable (assuming your friend's TV supports the proper VGA inputs) or even better, HDMI, which can upscale to 1080p. Component connections, unless you are using $200 cable with gold plated connectors, will have interference and noise, and the colors won't look as fresh as compared to HDMI (pure digital path to the TV, so no noise at all).

Well, I still use my VCR occasionally... for those times when the library doesn't have a movie on DVD but it does on VHS. One thing I'm curious to try, however... I recorded some of my VHS collection to DVD using my Panasonic DVD recorder. What would happen if I stuck that DVD in my friend's 360? Would it look better than just plugging a VCR into his TV? If so, why? And can you make the VCR do that without the added step?

Technically it won't be better since the quality will not be better than the source (video tape). However, due to various digital noise reduction techniques, the output might look acceptable. I had my VCR connected to my plasma during the first few months of usage since I had many video tapes. I haven't used it in about 2 years now, only for the occasional viewing (which looks alright, but really shows how much better digital video is).

And the thing about HD is that I don't think they offer that many channels in it. Cartoon Network has been one of my long-time favorites, and I await the day that they make a CN-HD. Also things like Nickelodeon, GSN, etc... none of those are offered in HD. The only channel I'd probably watch in HD, for that matter, is TNT... as I don't watch news channels. (And I'm not the sports type, though my dad may make use of that)

In Australia, we only have 5 free-to-air HD channels, and some of them are fake HD (576p - same as progressive scan DVD) or use very low bitrates (lots of compression artifacts). There's some good content, but I mainly rely on pay/satellite television, which is not even SD (quality is much worse than 576i). It's not great, but it's acceptable. However, to really show off a HDTV, you need a proper HD source, and that comes from HD gaming or Blu-ray/HD DVD. I didn't include upscaled DVD because while it looks great, it's not really demonstrating the full capabilities of the TV.

While the people at Best Buy may not have the best setup, I don't think they're stupid either... that's probably why they had soccer showing. More than half their TVs had horrible blurring, and I don't want one that does that.
But also, as I said, it was blurry around the objects such as peoples' bodies. Probably an extreme form of pixelation. I don't think I saw a single TV that didn't have the pixelation problem... is that just their source? (Given that the Plasmas were also pixelated, and last time I checked, plasma TVs didn't even use pixels!)

If they had all the TVs showing the same thing, then it means they've used some kind of switch device, and unless it's one of those really high quality ones, the overall quality will suffer. Also, each TV needs to be calibrated (using a calibration DVD/HD disc, like the Digital Video Essential range) - some people even hire experts to tune their TV when they get it at home, so I doubt stores have the time and resource to do this. And if they really wanted to show off the TVs, they would have used Blu-ray/HD DVD animation, since animation will always make the TV look better than it actually is - an old TV store trick (my parents used to run a electronics store). Even though it is a trick, it's not malicious since TVs will always always look better in your home viewing conditions away from the harsh lighting. As I said, try to find a specialist home theatre store and see their setup, these stores know what they are doing and use the correct (but expensive) cables and properly calibrated screens. And all digital displays, LCDs, plasmas and even DLP, are pixels based.

Really? I would have thought DLP would cost more. Do you think LCD is better than DLP? Angle issue aside, does DLP offer a clearer picture... or is it going to be the same as LCD or plasma? Personally, I thought the DLPs looked clearer at Best Buy. But both the sales rep and you said that LCD and plasma are better for watching things on; is that solely based on angle? Or do LCD and plasma have just as good image quality as DLP?

DLP and generally rear projection were popular back when plasmas and particularly direct view LCDs were too expensive. They are being phased out though, since there will be new rear projection based technologies like Laser TV (but you probably won't see these in stores until late 2008). Right now, off the top of my hat, I would recommend Pioneer or Panasonic plasmas, and Sony Bravia LCDs - they are all a bit more expensive than other brands (around $3000 for the 50" model), but it's worth it since you will be using the TVs for quite a few years. The Bravia LCD might be better value since it's 1080p, and so you won't even need to upgrade since that's the top of the line at the moment. There is 1440p for the future, but it's hard to see it being used extensively since most shows are only shot in 1080p anyway.

Additionally, currently I don't own a PS3 or XBOX 360. I only have a Wii. The guy at Best Buy told me that the Wii was only capable of 480p, is that the component output? (Currently I'm using RCA as my CRT TV doesn't even have component!) And does the Wii look any good on LCD TVs? I don't want to be stuck with a console that looks bad. (And I'm itching to try watching YouTube videos on a HDTV using the Wii, just to see how bad they'll look, LOL)
And things that don't offer Component output... like my GameCube and N64... will they look bad? Like a SD broadcast? Or will they look "decent" but just not as good?

The salesman is right. The Wii only outputs 480p through component, which is the same resolution as progressive scan DVD. Through the composite/RCA connection, it's more closer to a VCR's resolution than anything. If you use the component cable, I don't think you will be too disappointed, since Wii games are not about graphics. But as I mentioned before, you will start to notice the flaws that you couldn't see before on an analog/small screen TV - not because they were there, it's because the old TV wasn't sharp enough to show these flaws.

To be honest, compared to the 360 or PS3, the Wii's graphics looks quite poor - no definition/sharpness, and colors are subdued. It's all relative though - if you don't have something like the 360/PS3 to compare the Wii to, then it looks decent, but once you start enjoying HD content, you won't want to go back.

And what I said about sound is important - 360/PS3 games are all in Dolby Digital 5.1, and obviously DVDs and Blu-ray/HD DVD will at least be in DD/DTS 5.1, so you will want to invest in a good sound system if you don't have one already. It's not uncommon to spend $2000 or more on the sound system (half for the receiver, half for the speakers) if you are serious about a home theatre setup. But this is probably a topic for another thread, since due to Blu-ray/HD DVD, many home theatre receivers are no longer good enough (eg. if they do not supports PCM 5.1 input through HDMI, or support the decoding of advanced codecs like Dolby Digital+, AAC, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, DTS-MA ...)

[drfsupercenter]

The 360 does not upscale DVD over component (it does upscale games). That's due to copyright regulation (CSS licensing), which prevents analog upscaling. In order to get DVD upscaling on the 360, you need to use the VGA cable (assuming your friend's TV supports the proper VGA inputs) or even better, HDMI, which can upscale to 1080p.

Wow, that's really interesting. His normal DVD player is hooked up with RCA, and there's a MAJOR difference in picture quality. I'll have to tell him that what looks like upscaling is really not... I seriously did not know that!
But it did have the blurriness problem on Halo 3... is that just because component is analog? And how much do HDMI cables usually cost, out of curiosity?
And the funny thing is, I took over some of my DVD backups that were done with certain unmentionable transcoders, and it looked just as good as the original. Maybe that's because they are both using the inferior component hookup?

However, to really show off a HDTV, you need a proper HD source, and that comes from HD gaming or Blu-ray/HD DVD. I didn't include upscaled DVD because while it looks great, it's not really demonstrating the full capabilities of the TV.

I do watch movies quite a lot, but I really don't want to get a HD player and have to spend all that much more money on discs. The thing is that I'm also a regular TV watcher as well, I watch TV twice as much as movies. So the whole HD channel thing is an important factor here, I'll have to call my cable company and see what they offer. But as far as I know it's nowhere near all the ones that are out there - only about 8 or so.

If they had all the TVs showing the same thing, then it means they've used some kind of switch device, and unless it's one of those really high quality ones, the overall quality will suffer. Also, each TV needs to be calibrated (using a calibration DVD/HD disc, like the Digital Video Essential range) - some people even hire experts to tune their TV when they get it at home, so I doubt stores have the time and resource to do this.

You think if we pay for the Best Buy people to install it they'll calibrate it right?

And if they really wanted to show off the TVs, they would have used Blu-ray/HD DVD animation, since animation will always make the TV look better than it actually is - an old TV store trick (my parents used to run a electronics store).

They did have a few TVs with that famous "This is normal TV. Now this is what HD looks like" where the screen is split in two and you see the same video in each source. To be honest, the HD was only a bit better... it was still grainy as heck and didn't impress me at all. But yes, I'm sure they have a splitter as there were like 50 TVs in the store... so it's not always gonna look like that?

To be honest, compared to the 360 or PS3, the Wii's graphics looks quite poor - no definition/sharpness, and colors are subdued. It's all relative though - if you don't have something like the 360/PS3 to compare the Wii to, then it looks decent, but once you start enjoying HD content, you won't want to go back.

I don't see myself getting a PS3, just because most games made now are still for PS2... and it's way too expensive for me. I may consider getting a 360 down the road, but it would be for the graphics and not the games. I like the Wii's games better - I've always been a Nintendo fanboy, whereas Microsoft's games are all M-rated first-person shooters that emphasize how great the graphics look when you have blood splattered all over.

And what I said about sound is important - 360/PS3 games are all in Dolby Digital 5.1, and obviously DVDs and Blu-ray/HD DVD will at least be in DD/DTS 5.1, so you will want to invest in a good sound system if you don't have one already. It's not uncommon to spend $2000 or more on the sound system (half for the receiver, half for the speakers) if you are serious about a home theatre setup.

I was actually wondering about the whole reciever thing too. I have two friends who have a surround setup, one with the LCD TV and one with an older big-screen that might be an early plasma. Both of them have external speakers, and from what I remember, always had the TV volume turned off. Is there a way to do surround so that the volume of the TV affects the other speakers? I hate having to use one remote on sound and one on video. But I'm sure I'll get used to it if that's the only way.

[admin]

All this quoting and question answer looks pretty weird when it goes on for a couple of threads

Wow, that's really interesting. His normal DVD player is hooked up with RCA, and there's a MAJOR difference in picture quality. I'll have to tell him that what looks like upscaling is really not... I seriously did not know that!
But it did have the blurriness problem on Halo 3... is that just because component is analog? And how much do HDMI cables usually cost, out of curiosity?
And the funny thing is, I took over some of my DVD backups that were done with certain unmentionable transcoders, and it looked just as good as the original. Maybe that's because they are both using the inferior component hookup?

RCA is the worst connection you can have in terms of quality. It will be blurry, full of interference artifacts and the colors will not be that great. The next best thing is S-Video. Then component. And finally, HDMI.

And even within these categories, you have the difference in quality of cables. For example, a crappy component cable (basically using the three RCA ones for video and l/r audio) will probably be worse than S-Video. Even with a digital cable like HDMI, there's quality differences, although it's not as obvious (and also, there are no "cheap" HDMI cables). The cables I got, just 2m ones, cost $US 30 - but that's because things are expensive over here. Does your friend's 360 have a HDMI output? It must be a recent one, since the one I have does not have HDMI (I'm really tempted to swap it for one that does, since I use it to play HD DVD).

I do watch movies quite a lot, but I really don't want to get a HD player and have to spend all that much more money on discs. The thing is that I'm also a regular TV watcher as well, I watch TV twice as much as movies. So the whole HD channel thing is an important factor here, I'll have to call my cable company and see what they offer. But as far as I know it's nowhere near all the ones that are out there - only about 8 or so.

If you have lots of DVDs, then I think it will also benefit from being played back on a big screen (after being upscaled). HD movie prices are a bit too much at the moment, although with discounts, I can actually buy them from the US (any HD DVDs and the region-free Blu-ray ones) and get them to me at about $AUD 20 per disc, which is not too bad since new release DVDs here sell for $AUD 29.95 and the 6 month discount price is still $19.95. So instead of buying 6 months old budget titles, I can get new release HD DVD/Blu-ray ones (when there's a discount of course) for about the same price. But then again, DVDs in the US are also much cheaper too.

You think if we pay for the Best Buy people to install it they'll calibrate it right?

I would just but the DVE discs and then calibrate it yourself. The instructions are fairly easy to follow, and you don't need specialist equipment, other than your own set of eyes. Even using the THX optimizer thing on DVDs (eg. the Star Wars DVDs all have them) will help to improve your contrast/brightness settings.

They did have a few TVs with that famous "This is normal TV. Now this is what HD looks like" where the screen is split in two and you see the same video in each source. To be honest, the HD was only a bit better... it was still grainy as heck and didn't impress me at all. But yes, I'm sure they have a splitter as there were like 50 TVs in the store... so it's not always gonna look like that?

It all depends on what the source was designed to look like. For example, a lot of people complained about the 300 Blu-ray/HD DVD for having too much noise, but that's what the filmmakers intended (the film was made digitally, so without the grain, it looks "unnatural" and not like film). With HD, you start to see more grain and what appears to be "noise" than before, but it's all intentional. That's why setting up a TV display using animation (eg. Ratatouille or Shrek) looks better since animation does not have as much grain as film.

I don't see myself getting a PS3, just because most games made now are still for PS2... and it's way too expensive for me. I may consider getting a 360 down the road, but it would be for the graphics and not the games. I like the Wii's games better - I've always been a Nintendo fanboy, whereas Microsoft's games are all M-rated first-person shooters that emphasize how great the graphics look when you have blood splattered all over.

A lot of people are buying the 360 for games, and treating the PS3 (for now) as a movie player. With the 360, you can also just get the HD DVD add-on drive and add HD DVD movie playback too. Newly manufactured 360s will eventually have better cooling and lower noise (and not suffer from the overheating that causes the RROD problem), and with HDMI output, they make quite good HD DVD players (although HD DVD players are so cheap now, the 360 is still an expensive HD DVD player if you don't use it for games - the PS3, on the other hand, is probably the best Blu-ray player around and quite cheap compared to other standalone players).

I was actually wondering about the whole reciever thing too. I have two friends who have a surround setup, one with the LCD TV and one with an older big-screen that might be an early plasma. Both of them have external speakers, and from what I remember, always had the TV volume turned off. Is there a way to do surround so that the volume of the TV affects the other speakers? I hate having to use one remote on sound and one on video. But I'm sure I'll get used to it if that's the only way.

When I watch normal TV, I use the speakers on the TV. I only use my receiver when watching movies or sometimes for playing games. I find that the set of speakers on my TV are actually quite good, and there's no need to have surround sound when watching things like old Cheers episodes.

In any case, building your own home theatre setup is a very expensive process, which could easily go up above $10,000. Just the cables, sometimes, costs several thousand dollars.

I think for most people, a 32" to 40" screen, with a simple 5.1/7.1 system (the ones with small speakers, not those floor standing ones) will be good enough. The next bracket would 50" to 65" + AV receiver and 5.1/7.1 set of high quality home theatre speakers/subwoofer. Then you have people using front projection and massive screens, in a dedicated home theatre room (complete with proper seating, and blackened windows).

[admin]

This is the Pioneer plasma I was talking about, which reviewers have hailed the best in the world:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/reviews/is-this-the-best-tv-money-can-buy/2007/11/27/1196036899861.html

[BR7]

You think if we pay for the Best Buy people to install it they'll calibrate it right?

I just seen something about this on the news today or yesterday Best Buys geek squad will calibrate it for $300 they also claim that after doing this it will use less electricity and will extend your TVs life up to 30% longer.It had something to do with the stores making the TVs bright and colorful as can be to attract customers they said by doing this it will use more power and shorten the TVs life span