Which widescreen TV to get?

[KvHagedorn]

I agree that pretty much anything RCA has done in the past 20 years in the television field has been crap. Even their high-end brand, ProScan, is highly overrated. For CRTs, I like Sony or JVC (if price is an issue). We sell the Mitsubishi widescreens and I have set up probably 30-40 of them. They are really awesome for a rear projection television, especially the xx857 and xx907 series (the difference between the two is primarily in the cabinet finish.) The scan doubling gives the picture a softer look, which a lot of people are not used to, but if you ever actually go to the movies and then look at these TVs, you will see why I think it is the most filmlike picture I've seen in a boxed television. As much as I like the Mitsubishis, though, the 34" Sony widescreen HDTV crt is the best TV picture I have seen, period.

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Kind Regards,

KvH

[windigo]

was just passing by and saw the the rca reference and had to join in
RCA bought the dalmation listening logo from HMV (His Masters Voice) so it doesnt surprise me that they would shove off to Mexico to take advantage of other peoples hard work
cliff claven moment over
burn-in that still happens nowadays?

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[xortam]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by windigo:
... burn-in that still happens nowadays?</font>

Thanks Cliffy ... yes burn-in is still a real problem. Have you heard of any technology to conquer it?

[KvHagedorn]

BTW, a good way to prevent screen burn in (it's actually the phosphors on the CRTs themselves that get permanently overexcited) is to set the contrast (white level) lower. For the best picture, you should start with a darkened room, and then do your setup. Many THX DVDs have a test pattern you can use. Set the contrast so that it is as high as possible while you can still see perfect definition in the smallest part of the black-and-white lines of the pattern. This gives you the brightest possible picture without distortion. It is this distorted overabundance of white level that creates the burn-in, just as speakers can be destroyed by a distorted overabundance of volume. Some test discs have what is called a "pluge" pattern, which is a pure white signal. Do not leave this on the screen for more than about 20 seconds. If you are an experienced technician, you can adjust the red, green, and blue guns individually to get a perfect color balance. This involves using a test pattern too, but a good quality old black and white movie on DVD will do. Freeze a frame and adjust the pots on the guns themselves until no color dominates the others and you get only shades of gray on the screen. Okay, I'm rambling.. If you want to set up your TV properly, you should get the "Video Essentials" DVD. It gives a good overview.

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Kind Regards,

KvH

[xortam]

Thanks KvHagedorn ... that's lowering contrast, not brightness like I had previously misstated.

[KvHagedorn]

Oh, even if you have the white levels lower, it's a good idea to choose a format which fills the screen fully for at least the first 3 months or so of use. This will allow the guns to get broken in and become less prone to burn-in. Mitsubishi themselves tell you not to watch the TV in letterbox format for more than 15% of the time.

[Liquid Snake]

Damn this thread! Now I want to go out and get a widescreen TV too!!

[DentyCracker]

LOL at LS

[Helevitia]

wow! All this great info about burn-in. Thanks, now I'm gonna be paranoid

btw-I just got the TV in last night, man it is so fricken beautiful! I got the Pronto remote this morning. I have a lot of work to do now. I'm thinking i'll go buy Crouching Tig...HD for my first TRUE Home Theater experience

Dave

[Helevitia]

I found a seriously great site that goes into enough detail to mke your eyeballs hurt. Check out this page for great tips!

http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/usefu...eous_tips.html

Dave

[SteveC]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Helevitia:
I found a seriously great site that goes into enough detail to mke your eyeballs hurt. Check out this page for great tips!

http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/usefu...eous_tips.html

Dave</font>

Cool site!

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[xortam]

I've been reading through that site tonight. Very good info ... thanks.

[dZeus]

ok, today it finally was the day to buy me a widescreen TV set.

I went out and bought a Sony KV-28FX65 28" 100Hz wega widerscreen set. When I was in the shop I compared it to the philips, sharp, panasonic and JVC offerings. The Sharp had very vrappy picture, the Panasonic was worse than the Philips, which wasn't very sharp in the first place. The Sony and the JVC came close... the Sony had slightly better colour/contrast, so I chose it over the JVC.

At home I'm a bit disappointed with the image quality of the regular cable channels, but that's more due to the very crappy coaxial signal I get in my room rather than the TV. When I hook it up to my G400 throug s-vhs input, the picture quality is really stunning!!! And I really love the zooming features for 4:3 video on the Sony.. very, VERY sweet!

The only minusses are the price (ouch) and the fact that there are very small and very slight colour abnomalies near the left border of the screen, which can be seen when the TV is outputting a bright white background.. it's not really perceivable without specifically looking for it, but they're there none the less... I'll ring up Sony on monday to see what they have to say about them.

[Helevitia]

dZeus, the abnomolies are probably due to lack of calibration. If I were you I'd call up an ISF certified tech and have them come out and calibrate your TV after about 100 hours of burn-in. The tech will cost around ~300 but you already spent probably over 2000-3000 so whats another 300 bucks to make your TV look outstanding. personally, I dont have the cash to get the tech out here right now but as soon as I have the money, I will do it. Congrats on your new TV purchase

Dave

[omegaRED]

Congrats Frank ... many people envy you. MANY people. You get my point?