question Larger TVs

[LunarMist]

Why can't you use the TV's speakers? Or the audio output from the TV?

Mainly the audio often has too much dynamic range so I like to compress it quite a bit. Otherwise the louder sounds are crazy and then the dialog is sometimes illegible against the background noise, HVAC, computers etc. without making the audio annoyingly loud overall. It is especially bad at night and if I fall asleep on the sofa there will be an awakening blast for sure.

The second reason is that the built-in audio is kind of crappy on the LCDs. I want to take the audio output of the TV, run it through the compressor, and then to amplified speakers. A problem is that the audio outputs are full volume. On the old analog LCD TV I could use both internal and external speakers in a kind of balance, but there is an echo with the HDMI LCD. I never thought the SD to HD replacements would all be so damned complicated, but I cannot stop now. ale:

 

[snowhiker]

You'll note there are several subdomains in each subpixel that are independently controlled.

How could it know that some are defective? I assumed the sub-domains per color pixel are for quicker response times and/or finer control of brightness levels.

How would it know though? The subdomains are how they have better control over brightness and get 10 bit color (or better) and improve the viewing angle.

That makes sense of course.

I was just wondering that if each subdomain is independently controlled, the vender could identify a dead subdomain during their quality control checks and compensate for that by altering the behavior of the other functional subdomain(s) in that subpixel.

Obviously I know crap about TVs.

 

[Pradeep]

Mainly the audio often has too much dynamic range so I like to compress it quite a bit. Otherwise the louder sounds are crazy and then the dialog is sometimes illegible against the background noise, HVAC, computers etc. without making the audio annoyingly loud overall. It is especially bad at night and if I fall asleep on the sofa there will be an awakening blast for sure.

The second reason is that the built-in audio is kind of crappy on the LCDs. I want to take the audio output of the TV, run it through the compressor, and then to amplified speakers. A problem is that the audio outputs are full volume. On the old analog LCD TV I could use both internal and external speakers in a kind of balance, but there is an echo with the HDMI LCD. I never thought the SD to HD replacements would all be so damned complicated, but I cannot stop now. ale:

The modern day receivers have a "midnight mode" / dynamic audio compression which brings up the quiet vocals and compresses the dynamic explosions and ultra loud TV ad switchovers.

 

[Pradeep]

Do note that Plasma screens can suffer from burn-in, dim significantly over time, and are likely to have a significantly shorter lifespan than LCD's. Manufacturer's counter the shorter lifespan saying that they have improved them significantly, from when they were first released, which is true but they are still much shorter than LCD's. When LCD's fail, it is commonly because the florescent light-bulbs have burnt out which is much. cheaper to repair than the plasma screen itself

My in-laws Sony V4100 failed just out of the 12 month warranty. Motherboard replacement was quoted at $800 (bought initially for $699 on Best Buy special). And of course I'd recommended that they not get the extended warranty

Sony ended up paying for it after a bit of bullshit, but a current day TV is a purchase where I would definitely spend the cash on an extended warranty. Their next one is going to be a Panasonic plasma.

 

[Stereodude]

Sony ended up paying for it after a bit of bullshit, but a current day TV is a purchase where I would definitely spend the cash on an extended warranty. Their next one is going to be a Panasonic plasma.

I wouldn't. Especially not at the prices most stores try to sell them at. If you really want one get a Squaretrade or similar one when they're on sale for a fraction of what the store wants.

Typically you automatically get 1 extra year through your credit card company anyhow.

 

[LunarMist]

Do the credit card warranties do on site service? I need some kind of extra warranty, because a 46" TV is too large to deal with, even if it fails in the warranty period.

 

[Stereodude]

Do the credit card warranties do on site service? I need some kind of extra warranty, because a 46" TV is too large to deal with, even if it fails in the warranty period.

I don't know. I'd look into the cost of a Squaretrade / MACK warranty and benchmark that price against what Best Buy (or whoever is pushing their in store warranty). There are also sometimes coupons for discounts on the Squaretrade warranties too.

 

[LunarMist]

Well, it's all over now. We shall see how it turns out. :shaking:

 

[Handruin]

You could get a decent 2.1 set of computer speakers, Lunar.

And plasma sucks because of the possibility of burn in.

LCDs will burn in, too, if you leave the same image on the screen for a month. Plasmas can burn in under an hour.

I disagree, they don't suck. I've had mine for almost 4 years and it's never burnt in an image and I haven't noticed any fading yet. I love the picture quality and response time.

 

[Stereodude]

Well, it's all over now. We shall see how it turns out. :shaking:

You're not even going to tell us what you bought? :nono:

 

[Mercutio]

I disagree, they don't suck. I've had mine for almost 4 years and it's never burnt in an image and I haven't noticed any fading yet. I love the picture quality and response time.

You're not going to notice the fading because it's gradual. It certainly does happen though.

 

[Handruin]

I know it happens. I would notice at some point when I can no longer turn up the brightness and the TV is too dim. So far it's fine. I typically leave it between 70-80% brightness. I don't care for how the new 120Hz LCD TVs (and higher) make everything look like a cheap soap opera. I prefer the film-like quality like Pradeep mentioned.

 

[Stereodude]

Which is why you can disable the 120Hz processing if you like and get a proper 5:5 pulldown (judder free) on 24Hz material.

 

[LunarMist]

You're not even going to tell us what you bought? :nono:

I'm embarrassed to say what happened and I'm not sure if it will be worthwhile. Let's see how it goes after delivery next week. :bleh:

 

[Pradeep]

I'm embarrassed to say what happened and I'm not sure if it will be worthwhile. Let's see how it goes after delivery next week. :bleh:

An incredibly hot sales chick talked you into a 65" plasma?

 

[LunarMist]

No, that would have to

 

[Stereodude]

Have to ???

I think you left off the end of your comment.

 

[LunarMist]

Someone distracted me for a couple of hours.

I bought a cheap 46' LCD. It will be sad to see the old TV go.

 

[Stereodude]

Someone distracted me for a couple of hours.

The incredibly hot sales chick? :drnk:

 

[LunarMist]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Well there was a lengthy phone call hot enough to melt the handset, but no sales chick was involved.

 

[ddrueding]

I bought a cheap 46' LCD. It will be sad to see the old TV go.

I don't think any of the 46-foot screens are particularly cheap at the moment. Delivery charges and all that

 

[LunarMist]

Same key.

 

[LunarMist]

Same key on the keyboard.

 

[LunarMist]

According to the instructions it is not a good idea to watch SD content for a length of time. WTF is that about? Are the blacks on the side supposed to burn in even on the LCD?

 

[Stereodude]

According to the instructions it is not a good idea to watch SD content for a length of time. WTF is that about? Are the blacks on the side supposed to burn in even on the LCD?

You could get image retention if you were to leave 4:3 content up there 24/7. However, the TV probably has a stretch mode which would get rid of the bars.

 

[LunarMist]

Stretch mode on the other TV makes the humans look very obese.
Have you ever seen the burn-in/out phenomenon?

 

[Stereodude]

On a LCD, yes. Ones in airports that show gate change information (yes I'm sure they were LCDs, not plasmas). We had a 15" LCD Dell monitor at a previous job that had the log in screen burned in on it.

 

[LunarMist]

I've seen that too from displaying the same info on industrial equipnet, but the Tv does not do that. I wonder if the edge line is burning in or if it is all the blacks. However, My 4+ year-old LCD ED TV does not burn in top/bottom blacks from the typical TV shows shown at SD. Edge is smooth in that case.

 

[LunarMist]

Should I buy the Blue-ray, maybe a Toshiba or Panasonic? Are they all pretty much the same?

 

[Stereodude]

Should I buy the Blue-ray, maybe a Toshiba or Panasonic? Are they all pretty much the same?

They'll probably have similar image quality playing blu-ray movies, so buy a brand you're comfortable with that has the features you want.

 

[LunarMist]

I am contemplating this one or maybe this one.

 

[Handruin]

I don't know either of those specific BR players, but if you have the ability to go play with them in person, you may like to test the speed of the menus and also how long the load times are when powering it on and also when loading a disc. Pick the one that is quickest to your liking.

 

[LunarMist]

I wish the DVD players/recorders could be used or upgraded somehow. I have a bunch of them around and of course they don't play the Blue-ray discs.

 

[LunarMist]

I don't know either of those specific BR players, but if you have the ability to go play with them in person, you may like to test the speed of the menus and also how long the load times are when powering it on and also when loading a disc. Pick the one that is quickest to your liking.

So which ones do you use?

 

[Handruin]

I have one, and it's a Samsung BD-P1600. I've had it for a little while now and it works ok. I have some nitpicks with it, one of which is that I feel the menu navigation is slow. There are also some picture quality concerns that I'm seeing now. I would try a different BR player if I was buying again in the $100-$200 range. I've not yet researched anything in that price range. If I were to buy a new BR player in the higher range, I might consider an Oppo BDP-93.

 

[LunarMist]

Interesting, but that is a bit much now for my modest TV to be. :eek3: Maybe I'll reconsider later if Blue-ray proves to be worthwhile. I suspect that DD has a half-dozen of those fancy ones.

 

[Handruin]

I never said anything was wrong with the two you linked to. What are the specs on your TV? Does your new TV support 720P/1080P content? Do you want the higher quality audio and video that comes with bluray movies? If you don't care about either, don't bother with a BR player.

 

[ddrueding]

The only non-computer-attached BR player I have is a PS3. From what I've heard, it loads movies faster than most players and isn't even particularly expensive. That it can also stream from Netflix/Pandora/local media files is a bonus. Oh, and you can even play games on it.

 

[LunarMist]

Thanks. I plan to use Blue-ray on the new 1080 TV that will be for the living reoom. The newish TV to the left of the computer is 720 as is the small TV in the bathroom, but the latter is only receiving the SD broadcast. I assume that it makes more sense to connect the Blue-ray to the larger TV with more pixels. The remaining two TVs are SD, so there is no point.

 

[ddrueding]

Yup. Zero point going BR on an SD TV.