johnnymk

That's what a friend told me last weekend. He said he was at his son's house in Texas for the week and spent some time watching his elaborate HD setup.

He doesn't like how the people appear to be planted into their surroundings instead of being part of it. And he said that if there are artificial props that they stand out like a sore thumb.

Well, my brother-in-law got a Sony 52" HDTV delivered and set up yesterday and I will have to admit after watching the Olympics for a few minutes that he is correct about the people thing. And you can see the zits and wrinkles that you don't normally see on regular TV.

Maybe he will get used to it. I know that I am not that impressed after watching his TV.

Cubsfan

So you're saying that you essentially want everything blurry and details washed out?

johnnymk

I had a 32" Sony XBR with a picture tube. I was constantly impressed with the quality of the picture with that old TV. Unfortunately, the power supply went and I decided not to pay the $200 to get it fixed.

I have mentioned before about the inferior picture that many LCDs have today. My mother's 27" tube TV has it all over many of them.

I am going to wait to see what will happen in the next couple of years until I make the plunge.

Prngr44

Yes to HDTV. No to HD porn.

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attgig

there's nothing to wait for. btw, buy a tv at costco, and if the manufacturer won't fix it, costco will replace it/refund you full cost if anything happens.

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mojo

lcd and plasma is definitely not inferior. if there are issues with the quality of the picture, then those show thru more readily. however, the issue is with the quality of the broadcast itself.

depending on what's sending the picture to the tv, you can sometimes adjust things like resolution. what you need it sounds like is an anti-aliasing.

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ArkiStan

Sometimes SD programming can look "soft" and fuzzy on an HDTV compared to when watched on a nice SD TV. As long as you have a good HD signal it should look amazing. But if you have a good signal and it is the literal definition and detail that's bothering you, there's no way anybody can help you. Get an old TV and enjoy it while it lasts.

Just curious. Does going to the theaters bother you as well? Film projection is extremely high definition.

ArkiStan

Also, sometimes more advanced and "superior" technologies can initially seem inferior if it is drastically different from what you are used to, especially for older people (no offense). I remember when I saved up a lot of money and gave my dad a very nice pair of high-end Grado Headphones for his birthday. While he has been a classical music fanatic all his life, he has never cared too much about looking for high end equipment. He was simply happy to be able to enjoy his CD collection on his old stereo and crappy $20 Sony headphones at night. I couldn't wait to blow him away with the expensive headphones. To my surprise, when he tried them out, he said they just didn't sound right. He perceived it as sounding "too harsh" when in fact it was simply that the new headphones's drivers had a much wider sonic spectrum, so he was hearing all the high-range musical details that he was missing with his old pair. And he had been accustomed to the muddled, washed out sound of the cheap headphones as being "warm" and "smooth." I could easily understand where he was coming from, and trying not to be like a snobby audiophile, I was happy to settle with whatever he decided to use and didn't try to convince him that mine was necessarily better. In the end, he would use the pair I bought him every once in a while because he felt bad for wasting an expensive birthday present, and in the process he slowly started realizing that he actually enjoyed what was hearing from the high-end headphones. The Sony headphones have since disappeared from his room.

Give it some time, johnnymk. When millions of people all over the world are obsessing about this new technology, chances are there's something great about it.

MrGreg

Can you even buy a non-HD tv now? You may have to resort to a thin layer of vasaline to get rid of the extra detail.

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Chgoman

Better recheck the return policy. About 2 years ago they changed it to a 90 day return policy on TV's, cameras, cell phones, and a few other things. People were abusing the policy by buying a TV and then 9 months later going back and buying the same TV for $500 less and returning it 5 minutes later with the old receipt and things like that. It's still where I'd buy as they are cheaper than just about anybody on what they carry, but just be aware the return policy isn't lifetime on TV's anymore.

faither

I really miss black and white TV but damned as I try, I can't find one anywhere?

Obviously kidding. There's nothing better than HD sports. Even normal programming is easier on the eyes.

renovation

call me what you want . but im not impressed with HD tv.
i also am not impressed with wide screen movies give me a full screen .not just the center of the tv screen playing the movie. this is not what i thought i was paying for when i bought that tv.

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ArkiStan

If your movies are only filling the center of the TV, you have the wrong kind of TV.

LPMiller

so you'd rather they cut off the sides of the movie? Seriously?

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mojo

movies that are broadcast or sold on dvd as "full screen" actually chop off the sides and don't give you what the director intended you to see.

imagine going to the movies and having curtains on the sides of the screen. i'd think that people would be pissed that the sides were obstructed.

of course when they crop it, they show you what they deem to be the "important parts" of the screen because they can't show you the whole thing. but you're missing the rest of it.

full screen movies will still show on your hdtv. you'll just have bars on either side of the picture. but it will still be a higher resolution.

but yeah, i'm as lost as LP

bachviet

But any electronic product sold at Costco still carries a 2-year warranty.

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DarkFury

BTW... Widescreen and "Letterbox" are not the same thing.

Movie Theaters are much wider than even most widescreen TVs, therefore you still get adjustments on the top and bottom with that format... however, if you get a big enough screen and sit close enough to it, you can still get a cinematic feel.

I just can't do the 4:3 aspect ratio anymore... fitting letterbox inside one of those makes the picture even smaller plus at fullscreen it just cuts off too much of what the original movies show.

Ah well.. to each his/her own.

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LPMiller

it's just...you aren't getting what you actually paid for when you watch in 4:3. You're getting an edited movie. That's the whole point of letterboxing, renovation.

A great example of this is in Star Trek: First contact.

In the normal widescreen version, Picard tells data to turn off his emotion chip, and you see Data do just that and the reactions of the other people around them.

At 4:3 - or in full mode, your preferred format - you see Picard telling data to turn off his chip, and you see Data's shoulder jerk - but you don't seen Data, just his shoulder. That's it. The rest of the scene is chopped off so the image fits the screen.

Now imagine every scene in every movie like that - chopped off.

Chgoman

I was watching a show the other day where they visualized the cropping of full screen format. It showed the full movie (widescreen) format and then overlayed the 4:3 full screen box to show what you actually see in fullscreen. I know there is cropping, but it was amazing how much of the sceen is cut out in full screen. They then showed how the editors have to choose which part of the sceen to show and did one sceen two different ways (focusing more on one character then more on another) and it was interesting to see how that part of the movie took on a completely different feel depending on how it was cut.