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* Official Black Friday TV / HDTV Thread *

ozziebandit

By ozziebandit
in 2005

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wallet

wallet

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I'm curious about this too. Also, how are plasma screen TVs, I hate the idea of dropping $1000+ on a TV that will burn out in 3 years.

A decent (not great, not junk, but decent) current plasma should have AT LEAST a 30,000 hour half life; most have 40K hour half lives; many have 50k or 60k half lives (like the Panny).

 

The key is for the first 100-200 hours: turn the contrast and brightness WAAAAY down low, fill the WHOLE screen with non-static images (no network bugs, no black bars, no top or bottom news tickers), and just run the TV. You can even run it while you are out or at work. This is done to 'condition' the phosphors in the panel. The reason plasmas can look dull and washed out after a few years is due to the first few hundred hours having the C and B settings way too high; keep them low early on and it'll add years to your plasma's life.

 

There's a lot written about it over at AVSforum.com; check out the LCD/flat-panel forum. There's even a DVD/CDr 'conditioning' disc tha you can download and burn that just fills the screen with one color at a time for like three seconds each; it runs on a loop, so you just hit play and let it fly....

 

Link to 'conditioning/break-in' disk download

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wallet

wallet

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No time to type full deatails, but Amazon has some great prices on Syntax LCD TVs right now. Big rebates, and you get stuck paying shipping, but the prices were pretty good. They had a 32" that's $699 AR plus shipping that seemed like the best deal......
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k1ckazz

k1ckazz

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I have a question for those that bought that 32 inch WESTINGHOUSE LCD AT BEST BUY!. I just received my order today and when i connected it to my comcast HDTV box, the picture was not even clear at all. The HDTV Channels look clear and alot better and I connected using component cable. Can someone help me out and explain to me why the pictures on the local channels/non hdtv channels are not clear at all? Could it be the signal thats coming from comcast? it shouldn't be the lcd b/c when i play dvds it looks perfect. does anyone has any suggestions? I tried connecting it through DVI and it still dont look any better. The best buy said its either the box or the cable. can someone who has bought this item, please help me out!!!! I also have a sony trintron i bought several years ago and the cable going through that tv looks fine and pictures are clear. please help
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KhakiBoy

KhakiBoy

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I bought the 32" Westy, but can't really help you out since I don't have an HD box. I will say that I hooked up my regular Dish receiver through coax just to quickly look at the picture and it's not good at all. The picture is quite fuzzy. I have the S-video out running from my Dish receiver into my TV tuner in my Media Center PC. When watching tv through the computer (connected either VGA or DVI) it looks much better. What component cables are you using? If they're just generic, like the ones that come with the TV it could be the cables. I have noticed a difference in quality with higher end cables like Monster.
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phatferd

phatferd

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I have a question for those that bought that 32 inch WESTINGHOUSE LCD AT BEST BUY!. I just received my order today and when i connected it to my comcast HDTV box, the picture was not even clear at all. The HDTV Channels look clear and alot better and I connected using component cable. Can someone help me out and explain to me why the pictures on the local channels/non hdtv channels are not clear at all? Could it be the signal thats coming from comcast? it shouldn't be the lcd b/c when i play dvds it looks perfect. does anyone has any suggestions? I tried connecting it through DVI and it still dont look any better. The best buy said its either the box or the cable. can someone who has bought this item, please help me out!!!! I also have a sony trintron i bought several years ago and the cable going through that tv looks fine and pictures are clear. please help

Standard Definition channels won't look better on an HDTV. They are compressed and have to be upconverted by the TV so it doesn't look good. It's the sad reality of HD and the current state of HD channels being offered. This is why there is a debate between EDTV and HDTV. EDTV doesn't look as good on HD channels, but it makes standard definition channels look really good.

 

You will have to live with it until most channels switch to HD.

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k1ckazz

k1ckazz

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I am using MONSTER THX component cable with connects the comcast hdtv box to the lcd. Is there anyway to make the non-hd channels look clear like they do on my sony trintron tv or is it just something that i'm gonna have to live with. This is not good because I wasn't expecting the channels to be fuzzy looking. What bout the HD plasma tvs? do they look like this too and only clear on HD channels?
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blackdaniel

blackdaniel

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This is a very common complaint with lcd tv's, especially entry level lcd's. Plasma's look more like the tv that you are used to seeing, because of the sheet of glass on the front of the plasma. I worked for a retailer and the biggest complaint with lcds would always be "My 10 year old tv at home looked better than this." I made it a practice to always show the customer what regular cable would look like on these sets, and it's like you said, very unimpressive. It has nothing to do with the cable box, or the cable at your house, and a set of thx certified cables should be great. The reason the regular cable looks so bad is because it is made up a certain number of lines of resolution which is matched up great with your old tv. Now the lcd that you have is capable of displaying something much better but is limited by the quality of regular cable which if I remember right is in the neighborhood of 300 lines of resolution. I'm sorry that I don't have a great explanation as to exactly why regular cable doesn't look good, but it is a very common complaint. I'm sure somebody here that knows more about it can give you a more technical explanation. There are a lot of advantages to lcd technology but making regular cable look great is not one of them. I hope this helps a little at least.
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phatferd

phatferd

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I am using MONSTER THX component cable with connects the comcast hdtv box to the lcd. Is there anyway to make the non-hd channels look clear like they do on my sony trintron tv or is it just something that i'm gonna have to live with. This is not good because I wasn't expecting the channels to be fuzzy looking. What bout the HD plasma tvs? do they look like this too and only clear on HD channels?

An HD plasma wouldn't make a difference. If you have any HD tv be it plasma, LCD, DLP it will make Standard Definition TV look worse. These tv's are built for resolution that is a lot higher than that of Standard Definition.

 

No offense, but you should have done some research before buying the TV, if you did this would be one of the first things you discovered. I found this out when I was in the market for an HDTV. You are basically going to have to watch only HD channels, tolerate the quality of the SD channels on your new tv, or just wait until all channels are broadcast in HD (may be awhile, some say a year or two others say 5+).

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daveyd

daveyd

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An HD plasma wouldn't make a difference. If you have any HD tv be it plasma, LCD, DLP it will make Standard Definition TV look worse. These tv's are built for resolution that is a lot higher than that of Standard Definition.

 

No offense, but you should have done some research before buying the TV, if you did this would be one of the first things you discovered. I found this out when I was in the market for an HDTV. You are basically going to have to watch only HD channels, tolerate the quality of the SD channels on your new tv, or just wait until all channels are broadcast in HD (may be awhile, some say a year or two others say 5+).

 

Thats where EDTV is more beneficial. I have a 42" EDTV Plasma hooked up to my Direct TV. It makes all the channels look better and it is especially great on DVDs where DVDs play at 480p which is the EDTVs native resolution.

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labellavita

labellavita

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FYI - the Philips 51" HDTV that Circuit City advertised in their BF ad, and is currently listed online, as having PIP (picture in picture) does NOT have that feature. Their corporate office says they are working to correct the error on their website, but it has been over 2 days since they have been made aware of their "misprint" - and it is still there. If, like me, you purchased one of these beauties, CC's corporate office says "sorry - honest mistake on our part" and offers no compensation since the price was already reduced for BF?? You can, however, repackage the TV and return it to the store within 30 days (oh, yeah, I really see that happening!).
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