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scott91575
Resident hater
Brewtus;971057; said:
FYI...with 50" it will depend on your seating distance. The rule of thumb by CNET is you will not notice a difference at a seating distance 1.5x the screen size. So for 50", 75" (or about 6 feet). Some people claim they can tell at 8 feet. After that it's beyond human sight capability. Others claim they see it at 10 feet, but every example I have heard is they setup their 3+ year old tv vs. the new one. The differences are the newer set with better tech, not resolution.
If you are mostly a tv viewer, it's not worth the extra money. 1080p does do a good job with 1080i, but unless you sit close there is not need for 1080p.
Even then, if you have a 1080p source you will not be able to tell a difference at 8-10 ft plus with a 50" screen.
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scott91575
Resident hater
BTW...I just went through the hole big screen buying thing. I would say I spent over 100 hours looking at multiple tv's at every store I could find with multiple input sources, and even brought a few home with some returns.
Do not buy LCD if you watch sports. There is still motion blur even on the best tv's. I got a Sony LCD at one point, and the motion blur drove me crazy. It also looked terrible in low lighting.
I looked at rear projection, but I plan on putting the tv in my basement eventually. My viewing angles in the basement are more severe, and I cannot stand the change of picture depending on viewing angle. No where near what they used to be, but vertical is still bad. I work out in my basement, and my vertical viewing changes often while I am working out. Although the Sony SXRD LCos's are rather nice if rear projection does not bother you.
That left me with plasma, and I spent the most time with this type of television. After some time, there were really only 2 options in my price class...Panasonic or Pioneer. Pioneer are pretty high end, but there are some even more expensive I will not go into. The only other even close option is the Samsung, but I did not like them.
Anyway, Panasonics are the best value for the picture out there. Yet the Pioneers are so much better at picture quality. I really believe the lower res Pioneers are better than the higher res Panasonics. I won't go into all the reasons, but I felt the much better contrast, blacks, processing, inputs, etc. were worth the money.
To each their own. That is my 2 cents.
Do not buy LCD if you watch sports. There is still motion blur even on the best tv's. I got a Sony LCD at one point, and the motion blur drove me crazy. It also looked terrible in low lighting.
I looked at rear projection, but I plan on putting the tv in my basement eventually. My viewing angles in the basement are more severe, and I cannot stand the change of picture depending on viewing angle. No where near what they used to be, but vertical is still bad. I work out in my basement, and my vertical viewing changes often while I am working out. Although the Sony SXRD LCos's are rather nice if rear projection does not bother you.
That left me with plasma, and I spent the most time with this type of television. After some time, there were really only 2 options in my price class...Panasonic or Pioneer. Pioneer are pretty high end, but there are some even more expensive I will not go into. The only other even close option is the Samsung, but I did not like them.
Anyway, Panasonics are the best value for the picture out there. Yet the Pioneers are so much better at picture quality. I really believe the lower res Pioneers are better than the higher res Panasonics. I won't go into all the reasons, but I felt the much better contrast, blacks, processing, inputs, etc. were worth the money.
To each their own. That is my 2 cents.
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Brewtus
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I guess it comes down to personal preference and what will fit in your budget, but if you're already willing to spend $1,400 or so why not spend a little bit more and get a 1080 set? The whole 1080i vs. 1080p thing is a different discussion, but I'm on my 3rd HDTV now and have found that I've wanted to upgrade every few years as technology and picture quality has gotten better. I went with 1080p on my last set primarily since that's the only thing offered on the TV's that I liked and hopefully this set will last me more than a few years. But that's just me, if someone is used to watching SD on a tube TV any 50" screen will look dramatically better.scott91575;971130; said:
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scott91575
Resident hater
Brewtus;971155; said:
The reason I think the difference is worth it is contrast, blacks, and color saturation are noticeable at all times, no matter what the distance. To me, it's worth the extra $1000 for the Pioneer. Yet the extra resolution was not worth it, especially since I normally sit 10 feet away. Why pay for something you will not ever see? On top of that, the Pio's have 4 HDMI inputs, while the Panasonics have 2 (another thing is the component video on Panny's is only 720p, and I have an old xbox without HDMI, so no benefit with 1080p the xbox where I normally sit closer). I think the big thing is I am a huge CRT guy due to color and blacks, and the Pio's are the only ones that even touch CRTs in that aspect.
I am not shooting down anyone that paid extra for the resolution. If you think it is worth it, go for it. Yet don't pay the extra just because it sounds better.
To me, it was the Panny 700U or the Pio 5080HD. Better res or better overall picture. I went Pio. I think many others need to do the same in their price class. If you are in the $1800 price range, do not ignore the Panny plasmas due to lower res. The pictures on the Panny's are really nice. I didn't do the comparison in that price class. Yet don't shoot down a tv on resolution alone. It's is no where near as important as contrast, processing, color saturation, color accuracy, etc. In the end, get the one you think looks better no matter what the resolution, and do comparisons from your normal seating distance.
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Folanator
Brawndo's got electrolytes...
Thanks, that particular Panasonic TH-50 I am looking at has technology that is supposed to make the blacks much darker than the normal plasma. Honestly, I do not have the extra $1000 lying around so for $1400 I can get a good 50" plasma, sounds good to me.
I am used to watching on mostly sports shit sets, I have a 24 inch lo-def flat screen I watch games on now. I will have a chubby just becasue of the 50" and the HD. I do not watch many movies indoors. I go outside and watch with a stogie.
When I am rich and famous I will upgrade.
I am used to watching on mostly sports shit sets, I have a 24 inch lo-def flat screen I watch games on now. I will have a chubby just becasue of the 50" and the HD. I do not watch many movies indoors. I go outside and watch with a stogie.
When I am rich and famous I will upgrade.
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Brewtus
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I agree entirely with what you wrote about contrast, black levels and color saturation and would rank these as more important than resolution. When I was doing my research I found it useless to compare HDTV's in an audio/video store as they had the brightness and contrast cranked up on all their sets. Nearly every HDTV looks good with a bright picture showing a daylight scene. But where I found a vast difference between sets was in dark scenes where very subtle shades of blacks either looked very natural or smudged and jagged. That was the primary determining factor in my purchase but the set also happened to be 1080p.scott91575;971163; said:
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scott91575
Resident hater
Folanator;971197; said:
That is the way to go unless you sit less than 8 feet close to the tv. The Panny's are good, and compared to a 24" standard def you will be blown away. I became a snob since it's not my first hi def tv, and the Pio blacks are AWESOME (Hence the name Kuro...Japanese for black). Yet I would bet once I got a Panny home I would be happy too. Panasonics are the 2nd best plasma screens on the market next to the Pio's, and the Pio's have a premium markup. As a matter of fact, the Fujitsu plasmas are considered a rival to the Pio's (I still think Pios are better since no matter what the processing you cannot process blacks). What do they use for their panel...Panasonics panels. Fujitsus just have awesome processors.
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scott91575
Resident hater
Brewtus;971205; said:
I agree, that is why the Magnolia stores at BB are nice. Low lighting.
BTW...if you are as anal as me, you can actually get remotes and they even lower lighting if you annoy them enough. Most places will do anything to make a sale.
Although I have noticed more and more stores put their tv's in lower lighted areas. Lower lighting is where the blacks and general contrast really stand out, and it makes LCD's look like crap. Hence why I see LCD's normally set up in bright lighting.
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Ronald Reagan
Banned
So what is the best type to get if 32" is all I can put in a certain room, and what a good tv with HD so everyone in the family will be able to watch HD when different shows are on.
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