[Discuss] Totally off topic - TVs

[Brij Charan]

2.  HD TV boxes from Shaw went up in price.  Not sure why, maybe the demand,
i got mine for 250, now they're around 400.
As for tv's, you're still gonna have to go widescreen, but you can get tv's
that allow you a few options for non-widescreen content.
- Either watch it in its standard 4:3 which gives spacinng(black/grey/white)
to the left/right of the picture
- Stretch the image (which you don't want)
- non proportionately scaling the image wide, this is what I use.

Basically it takes a picture, and it scales it this sort of weird way, that
has less of that 'stretched', 'fat-people' look.
Basically, from the center of the picture, outword, it stays 1-to-1 with the
original scale, then as it moves to the left/right, it starts to scale a bit
more, but not 100%
What this does is cause the center of the picture (what you most normally
look at) to appear to be normal, where the ends on the left/right are scaled
out, but its a subtle scale.
Most higher end tv's will possess this, and its often branded as 'Theater
Wide - #1', there will also be 2 & 3.

3.  I wouldn't go for a 'local' retailer, as much as do your homework and go
pick out the tv.  Some staff are smart, but sometimes biased, some staff are
just down right idiotic (futureshop), but can give you a better deal.  Do
all your shopping online, compare, read reviews, etc.  Check futureshops and
Bestbuys websites, along with other major companies, you'll often find the
major models there, and if you're really insistent on going local, just take
that price to a local store, or just go into futureshop and say 'I want THAT
tv, nothing else'.

Ok now this part is very important when shopping for an HDTV.
Almost every hd tv says it can do 480p/720p/1080i/1080p.
The problem however is that they just take that signal and 'downscale' it.
So what you want to look for is the 'Native Resolution' of the tv.
To get true hd, you need 720p or higher, here's the resolutions.

720p = 1280x720 (last height is res)
1080i/p = 1920x1080 (full hd)

If you want 'full-hd', you'll need to get a 1920x1080 native resolution tv,
these aren't very cheap either, especially if you want to go lcd/plasma.
(lcd projection is cheaper, and yields very good picture quality, and more
bang for the size/cost ratio)

most projectors don't do full hd, and most lcd monitors don't do full hd
either, you'll see a lot of them max out at 720p, or some weird 1600x10??

Also Check to see what the dead-pixel guarantee is if its an lcd tv, a lot
of them get dead pixels.  Most aren't super great guarantee's, but its good
to have anyways.

As for lcd vs plasma, go research this yourself, google is your friend.
There are huge coke/pepsi like wars on this, but basically every few months
each technology makes a stride to improve picture quality/performance.

If you're just gonna watch dvd's, you'll only need a 480p tv, but if you
want hd, then you gotta bump up that native resolution.

Hope thats enough info Derek.





On 6/28/07, Deryk Barker <dbarker at camosun.bc.ca> wrote:
>
> As this list is a hotbed of technophiles, I thought I'd see what advice
> I can glean...
>
> My wife and I are in the market for a new tv - probably 26-32". We don't
> want another CRT - our 20" is quite big enough.
>
> Clearly the only plasma and/or lcd sets this size are a) widescreen and
> b) mostly HDTV.
>
> So, here come the questions (and yes I have done some research on the
> web):
>
>     1. Does anyone have a set they particularly recommend and why?
>
>     2. We have no intention of going either digital or HD for some time
> (you can guild a turd but it's still a turd)                  which
> means that for the foreseeable future we'll be either watching cable or
> DVDs. Anyone any insight                   into which is a good tv for
> 'letterboxing' 4:3 content - we do NOT want it stretched and frankly
> can't                        understand  how anyone can watch that.
>
>     3. Does anyone have a local retailer they'd particularly recommend -
> i.e. knowledgeable staff, good selection                and  reasonable
> prices (don't want much do I?)
>
>
> I think that's it for now.
>
> thanks.
>
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>



-- 
Brij Charan
Software Developer, Specializing in UI Development.