f13.net

I am stupid for this.

And my big expenditures/house repairs bank account is 2 grand smaller.  (I also got a moveable air conditioner and a 4 year Best Buy protection jobber.  10000 BTU on the AC.  It looks like a baby Dalek almost.  I want to glue a plunger to it!)

Sharp 32" LCD Aquos 1080p, 6ms response time, 3HDMI inputs, 2 standard component HD inputs, 10K to 1 contrast ratio, DVI terminal, Svideo, and analog cable input.  Basically 7 different inputs on this thing, plus audio as well.  Might pop my old 5.1 Creative PC speaker setup to it, even if I just put the subwoofer on.  (37" was my aimed for number, but 32" was fine.  Anything smaller is too small.  Anything bigger is overkill for a dork like me to primarily play videogames on it.)

Its very impressive, though SDTV on it is ehh, but ive seen WAAAY worse out on HDS.

The Wii looks nicer but not mindblowing, though its actually usable for websurfing now.  Tried out a Genesis and TG16 game on it and the Genny looks like its running on an emulator, and the TG16 looks like its got a low end pixel scaler running.  (Probably the reason many people have accused it of not looking as good.  Its actually using a scaler.  I kinda like scalers!) I should try out an actual Wii game to see how it looks. 

The 360 looks FANTASTIC, and that Live Arcade Pinball has so much detail I hadnt seen before I am amazed. 
Dead Rising looked good, and my arena championship sword in Oblivion has a ton of detail I didn't ever notice. 

I am so far impressed, and can comfortably know my set is pretty much futureproof.  Its got it all.  Twice what a 37 incher 720p woulda cost at Wal Mart, but hell, it does everything I want in a TV plus itll fit on the L Desk I am getting shipped from Staples.  Mac on one side, in the middle, printer and Transformers Alternators collection on the other.

I could add in an HDDVD player to the 360, but I saw a whopping 1 movie I might like for it and Blu Ray seems to be winning even though the PS3 is giving UK Resistance big chubbies in its failure.
I guess I can wait to see The Thing in HD.

Anything you long time early adopter HDTV folks think I should know?  Recomendations for a PS2 component cable that isn't stupidly expensive?  Stuff like that..

Ive finally joined yall, though I still think I should have waited a year or two since my TV costs as much as my iMac did which is kinda insane if you think about it...

I'm not saying you got ripped off, not by a long shot, because 1080p and LCD costs....  But damn, if I were throwing down $1500 I'd want a lot more size than 32".

Is your living room fairly small so you're up close to the TV all the time?

Yeah.  Im usually around 2-3 feet away from the thing.  Honestly 32 is a tad large for me, but I can afford it right now.  I usually watch TV by myself, and as like I said, ill be playing games on it as much as watching TV if not moreso.  Most of the time I watch my DVDs on a 17" iMac screen and am fine so a 32 really is a bit larger than I actually need.  But Apple is slow with the next gen iMacs and i got sick of waiting to hope for HD inputs on the next 24" model.

Honestly the 40" and aboves were entirely too big.  A friend is waiting for 1080p 50-60" which is INSANELY HUGE to me.  But again, its mostly personal viewing.

My Creative 5.1 speakers didn't have any cables (that I can still find anyhow) to connect to the TV, but maybe tomorrow or next week I will go look for a set.  Won't buy a full 5.1 set if there isn't though.  Im not a big audiophile and the built in surround isn't too shabby for the built in speakers.  Got some nice effects in Doom when I played a bit of it.  Still, I wouldn't mind getting the Subwoofer in on the action for some extra boost...

My old TV was a 27" mid 90s set so this one is a size increase for me actually.

Ill have to figure out how to make the remote work with my Dish Network DVR system though.  id like to just use one remote and the book doesn't list my DVR's remote manufacturer.  It was annoying having to use 2 when I had some game systems passing through the VCR.  Sure on TV viewing its gonna be turn on via TV remote then DVR remote for everything else, but its still irritating.  Plus to do a quick switch to one of the game systems its then back to the TV remote.  A tad irritating!  Maybe ill call Dish tomorrow and ask or check Sharp's website.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat.  I've got 4 remotes I have to juggle.  Sometimes I think I'd like a bandoleer to keep 'em all handy.  I tried one of the Logitech programmable remotes, but the one I bought was absolute trash.  It hooks up via USB to your computer for programming, and the simple web app it uses took up 100% of my CPU and moved at a snail's pace.  It also couldn't recognize my 2 year old Hitachi HDTV.  Needless to say, it went right back to Radio Shack.

For sound, I'd recommend going with some relatively cheap unit.  I've got a Sony 5.1 setup that only ran me a little over $100.  It's not Klipsch or Bose or anything, but it more than meets my purpose.

He did what I've comtemplating doing which is getting this thing as a computer/gaming monitor:

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=9623.0

That thing is expensive but it's packed with features and there's also a cheaper version without as many inputs and the special gaming stuff (which may or may not do anything useful). You are also paying more because there are no other 32" displays that are 1080P so there's literally no competition at that size and resolution (other than that other Sharp model).

I'm assuming you got one of the newer Sharps with 10k:1 contrast..? Yeah, those are nice. $1500 is not a ripoff. To my eyes, they look as good as plasmas (not the newer Elites though).

Almost got one myself, but I already have a 32" Panny to hold me off. It's OK. Instead, I bought another, smaller set for the bedroom and second monitoring (a Sammy with 4k:1 ... Which still looks better than most stuff out there).

 

I understand that after dropping $1500, you'll be pretty loath to spend more, but I highly recommend the Logitech Harmony series of remotes for getting rid of the remote clutter.  Initial setup is a bit of a PitA, but once you set it up properly, it's the only remote you'll need.

Currently, the X360-themed Harmony (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880100716) is a steal at $80 over at the Egg.  Programmable via USB (I haven't had Gulp's issues with the software, but they'd been through a few revisions before I got mine) and has a 'learning' function for unidentified devices (point the remote at the Harmony and it'll pick up the commands).

Will you be using the 32" with your computer?  If so, how far will you be sitting from it?

I can tell you from experience, that if it's sitting 2-3 feet away from you, you will probably hate it.  I'd get a headache within about 15 minutes because it was so big, so close, and so damn bright.  Your results may vary, of course.

Also, be on the look out for text bleed/ghosting, particularly with blue and red text - it looks absolutely shitty.  Now, it may very well have been the 27" inch display that was causing problems, as further research into it revealed every manner of 27 inch LCD HDTV widescreens had this problem.  There was no fix for it.  I tried all manner of resolution, refresh rate, different driver versions, different cables, different inputs.  Pretty much everything possible. I even had EVGA trying to help to no avail.  It's something inherent in 27 inchers trying to display 2d text.  It's fully possible that 32 inchers won't have this problem.  I know in convo with Sky that he had no such issues with his 42 inch HDTV. 

The xbox360 looks phenomenal on my 27", and has all the features I need.  The more hardcore may desire more, of course.

If you're dead set on a 32 inch LCD HDTV for gaming and/or computer monitor, I would highly suggest this one (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/OLEVIA-32-2-Series-LCD-HDTV-232V/sem/rpsm/oid/163702/catOid/-12869/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do).  You can find a full line of Olevia TV's on newegg.com here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=olevia).  Great TVs, especially for the price.  I've never heard/read a bad thing about them.

I'm using a 26" for monitoring (1366 x 768). Also, a regular 24" monitor (1920x1080). I'm running both Windows and OS X (which has better 2D and text capabilities), but both look fine. I couldn't tell you why my experience is different though (I don't know what exactly determines good text and 2d quality). Superficially speaking, that small TV set costs almost twice as much as bigger sets made by budget brands (like those Olevias you linked to), and has better features in every category. And the 32" inch version of this Samsung, similar to Jain's Sharp, blows those out of the water completely. Relatively speaking, side by side, those Olevias don't even look that great for TV channels at 8 feet away. So I wonder how much worse they are at other things.

Basically, my point is, perhaps it's just a simple matter of getting what you pay for.

The problem I had was blue text turned greenish/blackish/purplish, and the red was just...hazy.  Hard to explain, unless you see it.  Unfortunately, a screenshot would look 'normal'.

Yeah, you do get what you pay for, and for the money, I couldnt't tell a 2 or 3 or 4 times improvement over other models.  They looked fine to me, and nearly all reviews agree with me.

Most reviews judge things in a vacuum -- or review relatively to models in the same range -- Or worse, relative to SD.

But you will see a difference between a 1000:1 Olevia/Westinghouse/Vizio to a 1080p/8000-10000:1 equipped Sharp/Samsung/Sony. It isn't in the same category at all. Like I said above, some of these LCD's are nearing Plasma quality, except with all the LCD perks.

Considering I have a 42inch plasma Panny sitting in my living room, I see both everyday.  And I can't see that much of a difference.

Agree to disagree, I suppose.

Cool enough. I'll agree to disagree. But now that you mention the plasma, that you see all the time, then it makes it all the more strange to me that you couldn't see a difference.

Sure there is/are a difference(s), small ones, aside from the obvious (screen size).  When I was researching / looking at them side by side in Circuit City and Best Buy, I couldn't see enough of a difference to justify the 2x or 3x difference in price, for what I was going to be using it for (which I suppose is a point I should have made early, therefore making the discussion pretty much pointless), which is gaming and computer use.  To someone else, the difference is probably enough to justify it.  The improvement in picture or features (90 percent of which I'll never use 90 percent of the time) just wasn't great enough to justify the cost.  In my opinion.

For instance, I buy SnapOn or MAC tools exclusively, despite their 2x-4x price difference over the 'inferior' tools you can buy at AutoZone or even Sears (though Craftsman are very good) for much much less.  Or in your case, since I know you're a musician, you can tell the difference between a run a mill set of strings, versus a much more expensive higher quality set; both in feel and sound.  Me?  Heh.  Couldn't tell you one way or another. 

Hehe. Actually, I buy shitty strings. Wound with nickel, like the old stuff. None of that space age shit. Expensive strings are snake oil, man!  :-P

Purist FTW.

I buy strings.  Whatever is cheap and on sale at the time.

/derail

Advice?

Go buy this (http://reviews.cnet.com/OPPO_DV_981HD_DVD_player/4505-6463_7-32327927.html?tag=prod.txt.2).

OOoooh.  Shiny!

Wait - it doesn't play HD-DVD's or Blu-Ray.

XViD playback is pretty nifty though.

People change their guitar strings? I leave 'em on forever. Oddly, with as hard as I play and as much as I bend, they don't break much. I put new strings on my SG when I bought it...oh, wait. No, I don't think I did. Still has the strings I bought on it. Heh.

I don't break mine often, but I replace 'em every couple of weeks or so. I don't know if it's due to smoking or something else, but my hands suck the tonal life out of guitar strings (not to say I like them super brand new bright sounding, because I don't. I just wear them down beyond what's personally acceptable).


Anyways, to try to keep on the subject: Are there any DVD players like the one above, but that can handle even more video formats?

Home Theater PC.

It really is the ultimate way to go.

Basically what I'm already doing. But I was looking for something more portable to bring to friends' houses. Sometimes, if I grab a show off the net, my best option is to rip a movie file into MP4 format and put it on my PS3's hard drive. Then bring the PS3 to their house. It does the job well, but encoding some things (especially high res, hd quality stuff) can take a while. If there was a portable movie player out there that could handle OGM, MSK, DivX, XviD, MP4, and AVC/264, I'd be on it.

Yeah it's called a notebook.

Unfortunately, the notebook I have sucks and is old. It'll barely play Windows, let alone big movies well. :P

Besides, I'm looking for something cheaper than that.

A portable device that can do 640 x 480, support a wide variety of formats, and output to a TV is not going to be cheap. If you don't care that the resolution is crap for TV output you can get something like a Zen Vision W (no Ogg, though). If you don't care that the device itself doesn't have a display you can get something like an Apple TV (limited format support, though) or one of its competitors.

Thanks Trippy.

I was almost going to agree with you on both of those falling short, but I just glanced over this article (http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2007/03/27/upgrading-apple-tvs-hard-drive.html?page=last) that shows how to hack AppleTV for software installations. Including apps like VLC. That's pretty fucking sweet --- I might get one after all.

When we got an HDTV, it was just the beginning.  Then we had to get HD cable.  And then an HD TiVo (which is awesome because there are two tuners in it).  And for some reason, upgraded service on that too.

I don't know about cables and geegaws and doodads.

I feel your pain.  I got a used HDTV cheep (would not fit up the stairs at his new place), but then spent twice as much for the upgraded S3 Tivo (+2 cable cards) and a second 360.  Totally worth it.

Can we retire my grief title now?  :-P

Ironically I basically said just that when I put my TV into a friend's SUV!

And I am pretty happy with the TV so far, but I have been kinda busy and haven't had a lot of time to mess with it.  (And I spent most of yesterday playing WoW.  Ill stop for 6-9 months, then play it 2-6 hours 3-4 times a week for 2 months then the cycle will repeat.)

I am a Mac user so I won't be plugging a computer into it anyhow.  At my previously mentioned distance for viewing it looks quite nice.  Regular TV of course looks a bit downgraded from normal TV viewing, but compared to some HD TVs ive seen showing regular TV its not too bad at all.  (Pay EXTRA for HD Dish Network? I SAY THEE NAY.  Besides, pretty soon everything goes HD anyhow.  Once my 2 year contract with Dish runs out in August I might see how much the company that took over from my old horrible cable company charges for a lot of channels and maybe DVR service.  Provided they have BBC America.  I NEED my Robin Hood.  Mmm.. Marion in HD...  Already still have cable for Internet anyhow.)

It does have that 10K:1 ratio and it sure is pretty.  Plus I am a bit nearsighted so its like built in filters, though not anywhere near the level the N64 had.  But now I can actually READ the text in Dead Rising without wearing my driving glasses.

Its also caused me to begin a major housecleaning and reorganization program which may include putting away my Dreamcast, Turbo Duo, SNES, X Box, N64, and Saturn since I hardly play them and I have entirely too many wires going all higgledy piggledy (Bloom County reference! WHOO) about.  The fact that my 3 active systems (Wii, PS2, 360) run most of what else I have (for a small downloadable fee..) doesn't hurt.  Im tired of my living room being the Birth Control Living Room quite so bad.  At least I can organize this stuff!

NO. Fuck it I remember debating DLP vs. LCD projection with you 3 years ago. You shall remain as is. We have spoken.

On the multiple remotes thing, Sony makes some very inexpensive learning remotes that are stocked at Best Buy. No funny screens, no programming languages, no $200 pricetags, no lag on the buttons, they're durable, and they have all the buttons.

It didn't have our ancient DirecTIVO as a code and it took me about five minutes to fully program the tivo stuff into it and set a macro so it would flip on/off all the gadgets and switch to the tivo for navigation.

Anyone have an opinion on this HDTV? (http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HL-S4266W-42-DLP-HDTV/dp/B000F2N7D0/ref=sr_1_3/002-8774055-3708053?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1180147117&sr=1-3)  I have a hard time keeping up on stuff like the pros and cons of Plasma/LCD/DLP, contrast ratios, and all that.  I'm looking into buying an HDTV sometime soon and $800 is around the price range I'm looking for.  Amazon has this one with free shipping (and of course no sales tax), and it's got a good sized screen (I play a lot of split-screen multiplayer games) and good customer reviews (not that I entirely trust the reviews of people I don't know, who may or may not know the difference between a good HDTV and a bad one).  Doesn't have 1080p, but beyond that it seems to be a decent TV for the price, but maybe there's something I'm missing.

Mostly looking for something to play games and watch movies on.  Almost never watch TV, and don't have cable or a dish or anything.  Don't care much about weight or the size of the TV either (at least not to the point of wanting to pay extra for a lighter TV).

Totally decent TV. Lacks the whiz bang features of the newer models and is "only" 720p but that's a great deal all in all - has all the inputs you'll need. Not a high end HDTV by todays standards but Sammy DLP's are pretty decent sets (Im biased, I have a 56" sammy DLP). Also the Samsung DNie stuff does actually work on some sources. I think you'd be happy with this set provided you aren't susceptible to DLP rainbows.

EDIT: DLP rainbows are hard to explain and very few people see them, it's essentially a visual artifact from the DLP system when a white or light coloured object moves across a black or dark background. Go look at a few DLP sets in store, if you don't see an issue your fine.

Did you look into that "black grass" problem?

Yeah, I just did a quick search and found a handful of threads on the avsforums and a couple other sites mentioning the problem.  Some people find it more noticeable than others.  I'll have to see if I can find one of these TV's at a nearby store that I can look at, just to see if it's something I'd find distracting.

Edit:  Looks like for a lot of people, it's not really noticeable or not an issue.  Some people who have had problems with it say that calibrating the TV can help, and others say that their problem has gone away over time.  Also, I notice that most complaints about the black grass are from last year.  Haven't seen anything that says one way or the other whether Samsung fixed the design flaw that causes it.  The main thing that worries me about buying one of these now is that I've seen a few people who have had some serious problems with their TV's, and Samsung seems to be a pain in the ass to deal with when it comes to trying to get repairs or replacements.  I guess the question is whether or not I feel like gambling or if there is anything comparable in the same price range.

By gaming do you mean console gaming? For pc gaming, I'm starting to find my 720p set a bit limiting. And at the size I have, 1080p would look much nicer (61").

If you're not pc gaming (and honestly, a pc to play 1920x1080 would be a beast), the 360 is 720p native. Samsung has great scalers, and at that size, 720p is just fine for most things. It's basically a smaller version of what I've been gaming on for the last 3 1/2 years.

I can find rainbows if I'm looking for them, the THC ring test or a dark hallways with a very bright torch, then quickly avert your eyes, you'll see the effect. But in 99.999% of my tv viewing, it's a total non-issue. The worst thing about the DMD is actually strobe lights during concerts, sometimes the mirrors can lag if the strobe is set to a certain timing. So like .001% of the time, as well.

I don't know what the black grass problem is? I didn't have mine calibrated, I did tweak it a slight bit to get some green out of it. I've heard good things about Samsung's replacements. Replacing my bulb was no big deal (and a warrantied replacement).

Samsung DLPs are nice sets. Thinking of maybe going for a 1080p version next year, with the LCD bulbs, because their image quality is better and their bulb life is WAY better. Weakest part of a DLP is bulb replacement imo, though after you replace it you basically have a new set again.