Best budget solution for Digital and Analog.

311

Hello ,I've been bitten by the quality of HD ,now I want some of my own:).

I was up viewing sets in a retailer yesterday and I was disgusted at the quality of standard analog on the HD televisions.

A couple of sets though ,actually looked very good at outputting analog and they were both plasmas. Was this just me or coincidence.
Is there a good halfway set that will give fair results for both analog and digital? I'm seriously considering a panasonic plasma for myself?.

byte

Yeah, I have noticed that some plasma sets do reproduce analogue signals better. LCD's can be as good though, but generally not at the bottom end of the market.

Personally, I reckon you can't go far wrong with a Panasonic, they tend to be well made, and usually get good reviews.

There was this Panasonic plasma on Richer Sounds for €1,199 which sounds OK. This set is not 1080p, although it can handle a 1080 source (then downscales)

311

byte wrote: »

Yeah, I have noticed that some plasma sets do reproduce analogue signals better. LCD's can be as good though, but generally not at the bottom end of the market.

Personally, I reckon you can't go far wrong with a Panasonic, they tend to be well made, and usually get good reviews.

There was this Panasonic plasma on Richer Sounds for €1,199 which sounds OK. This set is not 1080p, although it can handle a 1080 source (then downscales)

Thanks for that ,it's something similar to what I was looking at on alliance electric (Thanks to a link from another thread here). I don't mind paying up to 1600 to be honest.
I'm doing my best to stay at or below a 40" ,as I dont want to turn into a gold fish when I'm looking at it . I don't really have the room for it.

I'll be playing the PS3 on it a bit ,using it with windows media centre (TV) and occasionally browsing with it on explorer.

I'm not sure if I'm looking for the right TV yet,I don't mind some trails in games on the PS3 as long as it doesn't interfere with game play.
But if you think that an LCD is capable of handling analogue as good as ,let me know which model please:)

I was in a shop as I said ,yesterday. And out of about 30 LCD HDTV's ,I don't think any of them where un noticable at displaying trails on analogue.
I found it really annoying ,but I suppose it's better to see what you are really getting .
Which made me think ,maybe the plasma I thought was good at analogue is actually pish at digital:rolleyes:

mathias

Panasonics are very good , likewise Toshiba ( a truly mouth watering set I was looking at yesterday in DID lucan ) , Samsungs , Pioneers ( very expensive though ) and some Philips sets are OK but not quite my cup of tea as I dont like the ambilight thing.

I would recommend Panasonic ,

One thing you should keep in mind is the analog signal thats split between most of the TV's in shops is very bad quality and doesnt show the TV off to the best of its ability , although I would have thought that Alliance did a better job than most.

I have a Panasonic which I bought last year and it has no problem with trails.
It has been excellent with every source I have tried on it.
That includes PS3 , DVD , SkyHD etc.

The way you connect can dramatically affect picture quality , everything I have connected to the TV is either HDMI or Component , I stay away from scart as the quality of the cables varies too much.

If you are going to be using a computer and a console on the TV a lot , then I would go LCD , Blacks are better on Plasmas but you have the burn in issue to contend with and Computers and Consoles can play havoc with Plasma sets.

Most of the latest Panasonics can be had for less than 1600 , by the way all the ( major brand ) sets are brilliant at digital , and I would say all the Panasonics are good at analog as well , but as I said , try to stick to component as opposed to Scart , its easier to get a better picture that way.

And Stick with the Major brands , the budget ones can be appalling , Ive posted this many times but cant stress it enough , Flat panel technology has not reached the stage yet where all have a good base standard , the budget models have some brutal performance issues.

311

Thanks mathias ,thats clear enough .

I was looking for a toshiba today and couldn't find a Full Hd one anywhere ,I might pop over and have a look in lucan.

Theres just one thing that I'm not clear about ,with regards to plasma.
If a plasma has a resolution of 1024 x 768 and the screen is 37" .
How would it compare with a 37" full HD LCD ,when they are both fed say a blu ray disc.

The main television I've in mind is TH37PV70EY


I've noticed with a lot of lcds I've seen,when they are playing dvd's ,there is visible blocks in certain colours (mostly philips).

The samsungs that I've viewed seem to have a lot of banding going on.

Of the toshibas I seen today ,they were HD Ready and had no banding or any issues I could see.

I was also looking at sony ,but I've read a lot of backlight bleeding is occuring with them .It seems to be a very common problem with the sets.

Cheers.

mathias

Theres just one thing that I'm not clear about ,with regards to plasma.
If a plasma has a resolution of 1024 x 768 and the screen is 37" .
How would it compare with a 37" full HD LCD ,when they are both fed say a blu ray disc.

I'll keep this simple for you ,

Only buy a set that has a native resolution in 16 : 9 ratio ,

1024 x 768 is a 4 : 3 ratio and will never handle a HD signal as well as a set that has a native 16:9 ratio.

Full HD is 1920 x 1080 native resolution , thats a 16:9 ratio

1366 x 768 is the other 16:9 ratio and gives an excellent HD picture as well.

The set you pick must have one of the two native resolutions above , dont go near anything else , they are more trouble than they are worth.

If you want a more technical explanation I have posted it before , a search using my username ( in the shiny new search menu ) should bring it up.

311

I ended up getting the PV70 ,I didn't realise the resolution rule was for plasma aswell:( ,I had it bought before the previous post was up.

The tv is quite good at everything I've thrown at it so far ,the speakers on the tv are crap though. But I'd always intended on putting it through my stereo anyway.

Definetly glad I went with panasonic ,haven't noticed any hidden problems at all. Which is the norm for me when I take a tv home.

Cheers

Ghost Train

i wouldn't worry to much about the resolution, picture quality is what is important, and the resolution is just one small factor that contributes to the overall picture quality.
1024x768 uses rectangular pixels instead of square to give you native 16:9

1280x720 is resolution of 720p video
1024x768 tv scales down in horizontal resolution
1366x768 tv scales up in horizontal resolution
both tvs 16:9, both tv's scaling to the panel resolution

311

Thanks Eohlc ,have to say I was little dissapointed when I read about the resolution. But the quality is just brilliant ,the colours are brilliant.

I viewed photos through the PS3 card reader and the image quality is just pure brilliant. The photos actually look alive:)