TV advice

I got my 32in plasma from dick smith for $650 I got a discount ..... and paid cash. It's ok it's HDMI thing so that's good. It has a good picture and I haven't seen one near the price I paid brand new.

The Samsung LCD I use at work has a beautiful picture and when I play blurays on it it's mint az. Samsung crystal is one I'd get like 50 inch if I had the cash really.

Nah, the way I worded it was the media center is using an HDMI?

Ok, was just curious because my TV doesn't have an HDMI input, its got HD but its one of those old coaxial type plugs

Anyway found an HDMI to DVI converter ($15) for the XBox but realised that wont do sound so I have to buy the VGA cable for the XBox ($60) to run it in HD.

Sorted?

Xbox 360's need seperate Audio outputs from the component output it has.. that would be a whole lot easier.

Was a mission hooking it up to a HD Projector.. had to use a few extensions to get the audio to the stereo.

Well this thread had me worried we'd bought a lemon... but I've found our receipt and model number.

We paid $2550 for a LA40N81BX/RAD. We also got a free FreeView decoder with it.

Here's the tech info http://www.samsung.com/nz/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=television&type=television&subtype=lcdtv&model_cd=LA40N81BX/RAD

Apparently this model is infact full HD and 1080p. So I was wrong, it wasn't < $2k. My apologies.

They should have these at JB Hifi Albany - personally I think they own over any other tv for picture quality.

I would recommend going to JB Hifi not just cause i work there but because they will be able to sort you out the best deal.

Sony aren't the only ones who do inbuilt freeview - pana and samsung do as well on particular models - i would recommend inbuilt freeview if you dont have sky cause its around $300 for a box at the mo

Overall if you cant get a pioneer I would recommend Panasonic over anything else, I have 37" HD LCD pana and its mean, not too big - the size of them next to massive tvs in the store can be misleading, 42 is a good size

Plasma is better for fast moving, sport & gaming, LCD better for movies and normal tv but these days there isnt really THAT much different, and not the much between HD and full HD - if you've got an HD tv with a bluray player the pic is pretty much the same as Full HD

bluray + HD tv + planet earth bluray disc = hours of fascination!

Bluray is good I have about 10 to rate on my desk annoying az.

What I don't get is the older movies: ie: die hard.. being re-released on bluray.. though I shouldn't say this.. the quality didn't appear to be all that great, though watching Horton hears a who on bluray was badass.. the difference between the dvd and bluray was really obvious.

money hungry studios rushing out shitty transfers quickly to cash in.

Well of course there is going to be a difference in die hard which was filmed in standard definition.. and horton hears a who which was probably made in HD?

Film (even ones like die hard and stuff made in the 80s) contains about 1550 lines which is still better than 1080p

The problem is that no one really seems to be converting this stuff properly.

If they are going straight from the film.. to HD then there isn't that many ways of doing it wrong, or in poor quality.. if they are doing it right? i mean i could do that whole process at work at the best quality you could make it.. so you'd imagine a big studio would be able to do the same.

i haven't actually seen any of the older movies which have been converted to Blue Ray yet.

you took the words out of my mouth!

They need to restore the film first. Some of this stuff has been sitting in cans for a while :/

So maybe this is what they aren't doing correctly.

sure, they COULD do it properly. or, they could just throw a few interns in a suite and set them to it, and just release whatever they come up with, because people will buy it anyway.

although I was told today that you have to have the tv on in order to record from it, which is why some prefer the setbox

Yeah.. hard to believe they would be so slack. It's actually quiet a easy process..

Except for the restoring of the film part.. i don't know much about that.

that's another thing there is quite a bit of now. Plenty of add-ons in deals.

I got a 21" LCD with my 42" tv.

Lots of good specials going on all over retail for the last couple of months..

Um partner says wait a month as the new series of Sony, Samsung and Panasonics are being released November (or sooner). So you could either capitalise on high reductions on older models, or go for the next model up.

They also deliberately don't release a lot of information about the new models to the general public until closer to the release date as news of new models tend to cannibalise the existing models.

cool I'll wait until boxing day/new year specials come along

Also the next gen of Freeview HD decoders come out soon.

PVR....

Ok I had a look in Bond and Bond yesterday..
And I can get this:

http://www.bondandbond.co.nz/audiotv/tv/plasma-screen-tvs/panasonic-th42py800az-42-full-hd-viera-plasma-tv/prod95392.html

For $2830

And it comes with a free Freeview box (worth $549 apparently). Which is pretty sweet. The same one at JB HI-FI goes for $2998 and afaik I don't get the free gift.

take that offer to harvey norman and see if they will better it

my friend got that same one I think a couple of months ago and they threw in digi sat receiver and hidef hd recorder in package.

....and he's just confirmed 5 year warranty as well. All for 2800 but that was through family connection. Still, you can see there's scope for negotiaition.

Try for same pokerface.

Not a bad deal Yaksha. I'd definitely try to play one store off against the other, you may score a few hundred off the price or something else thrown in, like LCD wipes/cleaner

Why don't you wait until the labour day sales, most stores will have some pretty good buys, that are a whole lot better than what theya re now

Actually, i'll go and check our labour day sales TVC's we have made.. see if there is anything in the line of TV's.

As I said in the other thread, my Sony Bravia X Series is amazing. Still stoked with it months later, when you see the Planet Earth series played on it with a PS3 you appreciate how good it is. And I got it for $3500.

My research went like this:

Ask 5 AV geeks which one they'd buy if they had all the money in the world.

Ignore their facts, figures and manufacturer sponsored reviews because if its the one they would get, they've probably selected one that has great contrast, life, inputs, lineage.

Go and see those 5 somewhere that doesnt pump the contrast up to make it "eye catching" in store, choose the one I liked the picture of best.

It was the Bravia and I got it within budget.

If you want a Pioneer PDP428, I can sell you one for $2499 if you want. They have an RRP of $4999 so it is half price. See here for details. http://www.pioneernz.co.nz/default.asp?ObjectID=286&StockCode=PDP428XG

You can PM me if you are keen and I will ship it to you. I am not on commission, I will just help a brother out. I can include a stand for free if you want also.

If you have a look on the net, you should find that the Pioneer is widely regarded as the best TV on the market at the 40-42 size.

It comes with World of Warcraft included? :o

Do you sell other Pioneer ones Oldboy? Or just this model? Howcome this one is so expensive when the resolution and contrast ratio are both less than the panasonic one I posted for example?

We are one the biggest Pioneer dealers in the country.
There is no industry standard for measuring contrast so pay no attention to that. The Pioneer is the blackest panel on the market so the contrast is actually far better than the Panasonic.

In regards to the resolution, size isn't everything. According to SMPTE(society of motion picture and television engineers) and ISF(imaging science foundation), the top 3 key elements to a good picture are contrast level(dynamic range), colour saturation(depth of colour)and colourimetry(lifelike colour). Resoltuion comes way down the scale. The human eye can only see so much detail and if you are further than about 2.5 metres from the screen, you will not se any difference between 1080 and 720. The only full HD content at the moment is Blu ray. Everything else will have to up scaled to fit a 1080 panel. The video scalers in the Pioneer are far superior to that Panasonic and the Pioneer are one of the only ISF calibration capable panels available.

The Pioneer will eat the Panasonic everytime for picture quality. Don't beleive what the brochure says.

Would resolution come into it if he is going to plug a computer into like in the original post?

Hmm.. So will I notice a difference between 1080p and 720p if I'm watching a blu-ray thing?

Are you in aucks? Or have a branch here for whatever company you work for where I can check out what this one looks like? Certainly appreciate your offer

Depends whether it's being used as a monitor or merely for managing media.

I'm not sure what media portal or MCE, etc, look like at 1024x768?

Man, Pioneer sets are pricey! The one above is only HD Ready also. For $5k you can get a bad ass Sony Bravia, bigger than 42" and Full HD...

Depends if you're a bat or not The difference is blaringly obvious to me.

Depends on the computer. If you plug in via a VGA, the Pioneer is a perfect match as VGA resolution is 1024 x 768.

With the Bluray, you can set the players to output 720p. I have seen the Pioneer Full HD 50 next to the 1368 x 768 50" with a bluray playing on both and I could not tell the difference form over 1m away.

I am in Christchurch but if you go to any harvey's, they should have the panel on show (don't expect it to be hooked up properly!). If you see the TV and like it and can't get the same deal I am offering, just PM me. I work for Strawberry Sound, we are the biggest AV company in the south.

MCE is a pain in the arse at lower resolutions because you don't see so many things on screen with the way is displays folders.

I have been using XBMC with the Aeon skin lately and it looks amazing at 1920*1080. Just browsing through media is awesome.

fairly stupid point seeing as in VGA connection can drive higher resolutions than 1024x768.

And every modern graphics card uses DVI out, add a $2 HDMI converter and it's a moot point

Right I would've thought so. Just getting a lot of conflicting info heh. So hard to tease apart the fanboy aspects of each of these specs and figure out what they really mean

Go to a specialist to do your research first. Go to Soundline in Newmarket and talk to the guys there. You don't have to buy there, but it will give you a good start to make your decision.

Have a look at this site. http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/selector.php
It asks how important things like gaming etc are and comes up with a TV for you.

Oh and by the way, most TV's from Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony and Samsung are fuckin awesome these days so whatever you buy, I guarantee you will be stoked with what you get!

Exactly, every fanboi loves the first brand they purchased, or the one they work for, or the one they get the biggest bonus on, or the one that works with their surround sound.

Further to my point up above a bit, 3 of the 5 geeks (and I went to a few different "independent" places), recommended the Sony LCD. And my own eyes agreed.

I personally think Pioneer + Panasonic were good at Plasma and have been left behind in the LCD world. Even in high-speed action movies.

Hell isnt Panasonic pulling out of NZ? I saw a brand new one last week and it was fucken horrible compared to mine. I was quite happy :p

Personally, why did you prefer LCD over Plasma, Andrew?

1. It looked better when i compared them, that is realism, colour, contrast
2. I wanted something under 50" if you want > 50" (I think thats still the figure) you have to go plasma
3. I think plasma being better at high speed movies etc. is a moot point now. The technology in the Bravia is epic at sorting that out. There's also the no burn in thing, not that I watch TV

handiest technical advice in the whole thread

The bigger your tv, the bigger the difference between 1080p and 720p will be :p

I would put money on JB doing a 10% off sale from thur - mon of labour day weekend


Panasonic's HD LCD is just as good as their plasma and cheaper (loves my own tv)

Personally think panasonics look better than most of the other tvs (not being biased either, the new LG's look faaarking gay & the red tinged samsungs make me want to puke if you've seen them)

Do they still make you want to puke if I haven't seen them?

did you buy one yet?

hehe not yet. I'm usually terrible at waiting for things. If something gets in my mind I have to hold myself back from buying it the next day.

But I'm gunna go check out Harvey Norman on the weekend and see what they can offer, also gunna check out The Appliance Shed as apparently they have pretty mad deals.

I think I'll narrow my choices though to either the Panasonic PY series 42" Plasma or the Sony Bravia W series 42" LCD though. From what I can see those look pretty sweet choices. The Pioneer one does look cool but I really think not having full HD will be an issue for me, since I really wanna get the full effect of blu-ray etc.

BTW I told a lie. They were apparently going to delay the release of the new Sony's / Samsungs but they are in the new Bond's flyer

Ahhhh it was philips thats no longer going to sell in NZ, go look at those two side by side yak they're probably both great!

Definitely go full HD I reckon. Otherwise you'll be doing this all over again in a few years time, and out another ~$3k at that time too.

What? Are you dreaming? You seem to have your facts back to front! All though that is your opinion and you are entitled to it but the rest of the world thinks plasma has better motion/response time.

Saw an ad for a big Sale on LCD and Plasma tvs at Harvey Norman this weekend, should get a good deal fo sure.

But you think VGA resolution is only 1024x768. So how can we trust your sources of information as well?

Well, if you want to get picky, native VGA resolution is 640 x 480 so what's your point? Do you want me to write an essay on it for you?

My understanding is the "native resolution" is dependant on the panel itself. The output from the source can variable. Old school VGA adapters in computers could only output up to 640*480. These days much higher. I don't know what the theoretical limit of the connector can do but it's pretty damn high.

Yeah it goes up to WQXGA i think which is like 2k 4k almost or just a bit less.

Stupid mega mega resolutions.

I have a beautiful 42" HD LCD Samsung Tulip

Highly highly recommend it!

It is hard though as there are SO many to choose from - but this TV is fantastic!

I saw that too. Looks like there's some good deals going. Definitely a good time to buy.... unless, they're just clearing the old for the new!

Ended up getting a Panasonic PZ850 plasma today

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/learn/televisions/whats-hot-pz850.jsp

42", Full HD, comes with built-in freeview|HD

Got a real awesome deal from Appliance Shed, the TV was $2966 - and it's like $3999 in bond and bond Also bought a Bluray player and a sweet cabinet.

FUCK it is awesome.
Still working through all the settings but DAMN.

From 32" CRT to this is pretty intense.

Anyone i've talked to recently thinks its negligible, a year ago it was different.

Beware the OLED's now ay?

Good to hear you got sorted. Although there is a real good deal on at Noel Leeming for Labour weekend (Cant say till its published). None of this Smoke and Mirrors 4 day TV sale that harveys run every second week which is no better than walking in on any other day.

$2999 for this at p. money


seen it with bluray (dark night) and compares well to their full hd 60"

Thats good buying. Pioneer are/were easily the best Plasma's available. Pity they are no more.
Those black levels make me go weak at the knees

I assume we just have to guess what model that is from the picture huh...

Pioneer Kuro PDP-508XG 50" Plasma Screen with stand and speaker $2999