High Res TV's.. Are They worth it?

[johnnymk]

Around here, HDTV accounts for 10-15% of cable programming. And I don't know if DVD's add anything to the quality of the picture. Any thoughts?

[ArkiStan]

Personally for me, It's not worth it yet. I wouldn't be going out getting loans to buy one of them. I say if you don't have the dough, wait a couple years. It'll become mainstream, there will be better technology and they'll be cheaper. Why not get a nice, big flat screen regular TV?

[Mpowered]

I agree with ArkiStan unless you are already in the market for a tv and have the money. A friend of mine has one of those Elite models. I dont know if its a Pioneer or Panasonic but the picture is pretty sweet. There are about 7 over the air HD channels and I dont know how many cable ones. Also movies on DVD's are just awesome. The picture is a lot smoother and more detailed because of the progressive scan. I have another friend who has a 36" Sony WEGA and it gets annoying to see the lines when watching DVD's because it only has 480i resolution.

[ribitch]

my parents have a 60 inch toshiba HDTV. I think the things awesome. In my opinion normal TV signals are somewhat clearer, and HDTV signals are amazingly clear. They bought it as a floormodel(it never saw the outside of the box though) so they got it dirt cheap.

If you need a TV, then get one, if not wait till prices drop. Why buy a new TV with old technology if you already know its time is limited.

[Apex]

A good HDTV will make DVD's look better, as most widescreen DVD's are 848x480 resolution, higher than most standard TV's can resolve despite their "700 lines of resolution" specs.

The reason you get annoying lines on a 36" WEGA with DVD is because of Sony's sub-par line doubler.

[Mpowered]

Apex, my friends WEGA is one of the older ones. It's not an XBR model and it only has 480i resolutions. I'm thinking about one of those new 40" WEGA XBR's. I don't have a room big enough for a 60" projection TV and I like the viewing angle of a CRT. You seem to know alot about home theater stuffs, what do you think about that model.
Thanks in advance

[Apex]

Well, the KV-40XBR700 is definitely a nice TV overall. It's hard to argue with a 40" frontview CRT. At $2350 though, it better be pretty nice, eh?

Overall, the XBR700 is bright and seems to have very accurate colors. It seems Sony has addressed some of the corner convergence issues that made the Tau's a better buy than the XBR400's.

I guess it matters what you're expecting to get. The Sony will give you a crisp, bright picture with excellent colors and a wide viewing angle. Will it match a 38" Loewe Aconda? No, definitely not. But for the price, we cannot expect it to.

BTW, what's the viewing distance between your seating position and your TV?

[Mpowered]

I've only seen one Loewe set in person and for some reason it did'nt impress me. The picture was very sharp but it seemed a little dull to me. Also it was curved, not flat, and a widescreen so the curve seemed even more pronounced. I don't remember what the model name was.

The viewing distance in my living room is about 12-14 feet. The room is actually big enough for a big screen, but when our house was built, the enclosure for the tv was only so big. I guess there weren't too many 60 inchers out 35 years ago. Unfortunately there really isn't enough room anywhere else for a TV. We've thought about getting a projection, but the evening sun is way too bright to see anything. Actually it's too hard to see stuff on a CRT in the evening. Maybe if I could afford that projector with the Xenon bulbs I might be able to see something .

[Apex]

All the Loewe screens are curved, which I personally do not like. However, for color fidelity and picture quality, it's hard to match. It also has a great scaler/doubler. I personally wouldn't spend $5k on one though.

At a viewing distance of 14", your ideal display is at least 106" wide, that is 122" diagonal with a 16:9 screen or 132" diagonal with a 4:3 screen.

At a viewing distance of 12", your ideal display is at least 91" wide, that is 104" diagonal with a 16:9 screen or 114" diagonal with a 4:3 screen.

If you have high ambient lighting, there's no way you can do a front projection unit. With only a shallow enclosure, mounting a projector for rear projection would be difficult too. Perhaps a plasma screen?

[Mpowered]

Plasma screens will probably cost way too much for even a 40". Especially for something decent. I guess the best bet is the 40" XBR.
BTW, how do you figure out the optimal display size?

[Apex]

THX Minimum Specification Criteria

The optimum audience viewing angle for the Cinemascope image (2.39:1) from the screen to the farthest seat in the auditorium is 36 degrees with 26 degress as the aceptable minimum. (Applying Dolby's recommended viewing angle using the screen to farthest seat measurement results in a viewing angle of approximately 31 degrees.)

Here's a convenient calculator:

THX and SMPTE calculator

[Mpowered]

Thanks for all the info Apex

[johnnymk]

So, with DVD's a high resolution TV will be clearer?
BTW, I have a 10-12 year old SONY 32" XBR TV. I remember the salesman telling me about the number of lines back then, but didn't pay any attention to him. All I know is that the clarity was the best for it's time. Anyone have any idea what the resolution is?

[Apex]

Well, there's definitely a benefit going from a normal TV which can do 480i to a HDTV compatible TV which can accept 480p.

In terms of the actual resolution of your WEGA, it's hard to say.