Time To Upgrade My TV, But I'm Clueless!
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Okay, I bought a blu-ray/dvd player last night. The reason was a bit vague, but it works out that, since I've been trying to get my lady to watch the Harry Potter movies, but she won't watch them until we have all of them, and we've only got a few, and Walmart had a sale on double feature versions that each have two of the ones we're missing on them, but they're blu-ray only disks, it sorta made sense to buy a player while I was out. Yes, I'm a sucker. And I do happen to love her rather a lot. Anyway, I got home with a Sony Blu-Ray/DVD player BDP-S390 and, upon reading the so-called manual, I find that I haven't any idea what it says. That's not entirely because the manual was produced in a country where English isn't even a second language. A lot of it is due to the fact that I don't watch TV much, having 500 channels of absolutely nothing worth watching available to me, and I've stopped keeping up with the terminology and technology. In short, I haven't a clue how to set this thing up, and don't even know if my TV can show its products. The little box supports BD_Live, gracenote, dlna, VCHD, HDMI, something written in dots but looking a lot like an L-shaped real estate sign, Compact Disc Digital Audio, DVD Video, Super Audio CD, PhotoTV HD, Bravia Sync, and Java, plus it's wireless. What the hell does all that mean? I've got a TV with red, white and yellow RCA jacks on the back, and a coax jack for the cable. There's no HDMI, no DMI... That's why I think I may need to upgrade to view anything that wasn't filmed in black and white. I'm looking at TVs tonight, and utterly baffled. We got plasma, LCD, and LED TVs; there's even one no name brand at Walmart that advertises that it's a LED LCD TV! WTF? They're two unrelated and incompatible technologies! But the price is great... I note that all of the Christmas Special Priced units are no name brands, or "simulated HD", and all have 60 Hz refresh rates; Full HD and 120 Hz rates still have a premium attached. Should I care? Some units advertise a 240 Hz refresh rate; should I lust for one of these? I want to watch Harry Potter, not command a starship in real-time. I've pretty much figured out that plasma is a has-been technology, and my own experience with LCD technology hasn't impressed me as a viable approach, so I'm guessing that LED is the way to go, at least for the next few years. I just want to make this little box work properly, and hopefully to its full potential. I opted for the unit in this product family that stops short of supporting 3D, si
There is effectively no such thing as an LED TV - those advertised as LEDs are actually LCD TVs but they use LEDs as the backlight - that's all. Can give a more even luminance, but it's still just an LCD. Plasma isn't really outdated - still being developed and manufactured - and many folk prefer the look. Personally I'd go for a full HD tv (just because you may as well support the resolution of your blu ray))of the cheapest you can get - given your perceived lack of use. There's a lot of expensive TVs out there with bunches of features you probably don't need. One thing I find quite useful is a TV that supports recording to USB - so I can record stuff (If I ever find anything good on!) (I sometimes record English football which tends to be on live at some silly early hour of the morning - and being able to slam in a USB stick and record to it is quite nice. I have a good Sony and a cheap-as non-name Chinese LCD - both the same resolution, and except for the fact that the cheap one looks a little cheaper (plasticy plastic) there's really little enough difference that a $2000 price difference could never be justified!
.\\axxx
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Okay, I bought a blu-ray/dvd player last night. The reason was a bit vague, but it works out that, since I've been trying to get my lady to watch the Harry Potter movies, but she won't watch them until we have all of them, and we've only got a few, and Walmart had a sale on double feature versions that each have two of the ones we're missing on them, but they're blu-ray only disks, it sorta made sense to buy a player while I was out. Yes, I'm a sucker. And I do happen to love her rather a lot. Anyway, I got home with a Sony Blu-Ray/DVD player BDP-S390 and, upon reading the so-called manual, I find that I haven't any idea what it says. That's not entirely because the manual was produced in a country where English isn't even a second language. A lot of it is due to the fact that I don't watch TV much, having 500 channels of absolutely nothing worth watching available to me, and I've stopped keeping up with the terminology and technology. In short, I haven't a clue how to set this thing up, and don't even know if my TV can show its products. The little box supports BD_Live, gracenote, dlna, VCHD, HDMI, something written in dots but looking a lot like an L-shaped real estate sign, Compact Disc Digital Audio, DVD Video, Super Audio CD, PhotoTV HD, Bravia Sync, and Java, plus it's wireless. What the hell does all that mean? I've got a TV with red, white and yellow RCA jacks on the back, and a coax jack for the cable. There's no HDMI, no DMI... That's why I think I may need to upgrade to view anything that wasn't filmed in black and white. I'm looking at TVs tonight, and utterly baffled. We got plasma, LCD, and LED TVs; there's even one no name brand at Walmart that advertises that it's a LED LCD TV! WTF? They're two unrelated and incompatible technologies! But the price is great... I note that all of the Christmas Special Priced units are no name brands, or "simulated HD", and all have 60 Hz refresh rates; Full HD and 120 Hz rates still have a premium attached. Should I care? Some units advertise a 240 Hz refresh rate; should I lust for one of these? I want to watch Harry Potter, not command a starship in real-time. I've pretty much figured out that plasma is a has-been technology, and my own experience with LCD technology hasn't impressed me as a viable approach, so I'm guessing that LED is the way to go, at least for the next few years. I just want to make this little box work properly, and hopefully to its full potential. I opted for the unit in this product family that stops short of supporting 3D, si
I was in the same boat last year but driven by other parameters... 1. Only get HD TV over satellite (not Full HD) 2. Already wear specs so didn't want 3D and have to wear even more glasses (apart from added $) 3. Budget. Wife said no more than $1,000. 4. Permission granted Friday morning, Rugby World Cup started Friday evening. Had to be up and running by then. Harry Potter not a factor. I settled for a 51" Panasonic Plasma. No complaints. Does everything except 3D and Full HD. Buy the biggest for what you're prepared to spend. Nothing like the big screen. But not so big that you can't comfortably see the whole screen from where you sit/sprawl.
If your neighbours don't listen to The Ramones, turn it up real loud so they can. “We didn't have a positive song until we wrote 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue!'” ― Dee Dee Ramone "The Democrats want my guns and the Republicans want my porno mags and I ain't giving up either" - Joey Ramone
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There is effectively no such thing as an LED TV - those advertised as LEDs are actually LCD TVs but they use LEDs as the backlight - that's all. Can give a more even luminance, but it's still just an LCD. Plasma isn't really outdated - still being developed and manufactured - and many folk prefer the look. Personally I'd go for a full HD tv (just because you may as well support the resolution of your blu ray))of the cheapest you can get - given your perceived lack of use. There's a lot of expensive TVs out there with bunches of features you probably don't need. One thing I find quite useful is a TV that supports recording to USB - so I can record stuff (If I ever find anything good on!) (I sometimes record English football which tends to be on live at some silly early hour of the morning - and being able to slam in a USB stick and record to it is quite nice. I have a good Sony and a cheap-as non-name Chinese LCD - both the same resolution, and except for the fact that the cheap one looks a little cheaper (plasticy plastic) there's really little enough difference that a $2000 price difference could never be justified!
.\\axxx
Good info - Thanks! :-D How do I determine if recording to USB is supported? They all have USB ports, but I assumed that is for viewing content, not recording. None I've seen mention saving content to a USB storage device.
Will Rogers never met me.
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I was in the same boat last year but driven by other parameters... 1. Only get HD TV over satellite (not Full HD) 2. Already wear specs so didn't want 3D and have to wear even more glasses (apart from added $) 3. Budget. Wife said no more than $1,000. 4. Permission granted Friday morning, Rugby World Cup started Friday evening. Had to be up and running by then. Harry Potter not a factor. I settled for a 51" Panasonic Plasma. No complaints. Does everything except 3D and Full HD. Buy the biggest for what you're prepared to spend. Nothing like the big screen. But not so big that you can't comfortably see the whole screen from where you sit/sprawl.
If your neighbours don't listen to The Ramones, turn it up real loud so they can. “We didn't have a positive song until we wrote 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue!'” ― Dee Dee Ramone "The Democrats want my guns and the Republicans want my porno mags and I ain't giving up either" - Joey Ramone
Excellent points, Mark, though your requirements are a bit different. I have cable, and full HD is available, but they charge extra for that, and still have nothing I want to watch. Even so, the movies I rent and occasionally buy are worth watching in their full glory, so long as it doesn't involve wearing another pair of glasses - I won't do 3D in the near future. I'm looking at the 40" - 50" class, as my place is small, and won't be getting bigger until I win the lottery. :sigh:
Will Rogers never met me.
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Good info - Thanks! :-D How do I determine if recording to USB is supported? They all have USB ports, but I assumed that is for viewing content, not recording. None I've seen mention saving content to a USB storage device.
Will Rogers never met me.
It is strange, as it isn't really pushed by the manufacturers (I think maybe so they don't get berated if it's crap!) - my el cheapo tv supports it - and it wasn't even mentioned in the store where I bought it - there was just a pic on the box that said 'USB Record' or something - didn't mention that you could pause live tv etc - which I would have thought was a pretty good selling point. I guess you'd have to look at each one and google the specs to be sure.
.\\axxx
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Excellent points, Mark, though your requirements are a bit different. I have cable, and full HD is available, but they charge extra for that, and still have nothing I want to watch. Even so, the movies I rent and occasionally buy are worth watching in their full glory, so long as it doesn't involve wearing another pair of glasses - I won't do 3D in the near future. I'm looking at the 40" - 50" class, as my place is small, and won't be getting bigger until I win the lottery. :sigh:
Will Rogers never met me.
From what I have seen, the trend seems to be toward 55" being the new 42" (i.e. they're pushing that size) which means a 42" could be better value for money if the size suits you (your market may be different, of course) I agree with Mark, though, bigger is probably better - although I still gripe about the fact that I can see rendering artefacts on HD if I sit close/ have a bigger screen. I personally don't notice the difference much between full HD and regular digital TV - except with movies and the very occasional program that takes advantage - but I figured there's much less work for the TV to do showing a 1080p movie on a 1080p screen than there would be having to downgrade it to 720p, for example.
.\\axxx
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Okay, I bought a blu-ray/dvd player last night. The reason was a bit vague, but it works out that, since I've been trying to get my lady to watch the Harry Potter movies, but she won't watch them until we have all of them, and we've only got a few, and Walmart had a sale on double feature versions that each have two of the ones we're missing on them, but they're blu-ray only disks, it sorta made sense to buy a player while I was out. Yes, I'm a sucker. And I do happen to love her rather a lot. Anyway, I got home with a Sony Blu-Ray/DVD player BDP-S390 and, upon reading the so-called manual, I find that I haven't any idea what it says. That's not entirely because the manual was produced in a country where English isn't even a second language. A lot of it is due to the fact that I don't watch TV much, having 500 channels of absolutely nothing worth watching available to me, and I've stopped keeping up with the terminology and technology. In short, I haven't a clue how to set this thing up, and don't even know if my TV can show its products. The little box supports BD_Live, gracenote, dlna, VCHD, HDMI, something written in dots but looking a lot like an L-shaped real estate sign, Compact Disc Digital Audio, DVD Video, Super Audio CD, PhotoTV HD, Bravia Sync, and Java, plus it's wireless. What the hell does all that mean? I've got a TV with red, white and yellow RCA jacks on the back, and a coax jack for the cable. There's no HDMI, no DMI... That's why I think I may need to upgrade to view anything that wasn't filmed in black and white. I'm looking at TVs tonight, and utterly baffled. We got plasma, LCD, and LED TVs; there's even one no name brand at Walmart that advertises that it's a LED LCD TV! WTF? They're two unrelated and incompatible technologies! But the price is great... I note that all of the Christmas Special Priced units are no name brands, or "simulated HD", and all have 60 Hz refresh rates; Full HD and 120 Hz rates still have a premium attached. Should I care? Some units advertise a 240 Hz refresh rate; should I lust for one of these? I want to watch Harry Potter, not command a starship in real-time. I've pretty much figured out that plasma is a has-been technology, and my own experience with LCD technology hasn't impressed me as a viable approach, so I'm guessing that LED is the way to go, at least for the next few years. I just want to make this little box work properly, and hopefully to its full potential. I opted for the unit in this product family that stops short of supporting 3D, si
I'd suggest plasma over LCD anytime. The black levels are much better. If your room is dimly lit, you'll see the back-lights (tube or LED's) bleeding through on a LCD. Not so with Plasma. Panasonic makes very nice plasma TV's these days. LCD TV's are cheap as dirt to make, but you gets what you pays for. Some higher end LED backlit LCD TV's try to intelligently drive the LED's to reduce the problem of bleed through, but they still look pretty bad in my opinion. They are just polishing a t*rd. -- Ian
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Okay, I bought a blu-ray/dvd player last night. The reason was a bit vague, but it works out that, since I've been trying to get my lady to watch the Harry Potter movies, but she won't watch them until we have all of them, and we've only got a few, and Walmart had a sale on double feature versions that each have two of the ones we're missing on them, but they're blu-ray only disks, it sorta made sense to buy a player while I was out. Yes, I'm a sucker. And I do happen to love her rather a lot. Anyway, I got home with a Sony Blu-Ray/DVD player BDP-S390 and, upon reading the so-called manual, I find that I haven't any idea what it says. That's not entirely because the manual was produced in a country where English isn't even a second language. A lot of it is due to the fact that I don't watch TV much, having 500 channels of absolutely nothing worth watching available to me, and I've stopped keeping up with the terminology and technology. In short, I haven't a clue how to set this thing up, and don't even know if my TV can show its products. The little box supports BD_Live, gracenote, dlna, VCHD, HDMI, something written in dots but looking a lot like an L-shaped real estate sign, Compact Disc Digital Audio, DVD Video, Super Audio CD, PhotoTV HD, Bravia Sync, and Java, plus it's wireless. What the hell does all that mean? I've got a TV with red, white and yellow RCA jacks on the back, and a coax jack for the cable. There's no HDMI, no DMI... That's why I think I may need to upgrade to view anything that wasn't filmed in black and white. I'm looking at TVs tonight, and utterly baffled. We got plasma, LCD, and LED TVs; there's even one no name brand at Walmart that advertises that it's a LED LCD TV! WTF? They're two unrelated and incompatible technologies! But the price is great... I note that all of the Christmas Special Priced units are no name brands, or "simulated HD", and all have 60 Hz refresh rates; Full HD and 120 Hz rates still have a premium attached. Should I care? Some units advertise a 240 Hz refresh rate; should I lust for one of these? I want to watch Harry Potter, not command a starship in real-time. I've pretty much figured out that plasma is a has-been technology, and my own experience with LCD technology hasn't impressed me as a viable approach, so I'm guessing that LED is the way to go, at least for the next few years. I just want to make this little box work properly, and hopefully to its full potential. I opted for the unit in this product family that stops short of supporting 3D, si
You wanted to watch Harry Potter and end up buying the discs, a Blu-ray player, and a new TV? :omg:
I love go-o-o-o-ld!
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You wanted to watch Harry Potter and end up buying the discs, a Blu-ray player, and a new TV? :omg:
I love go-o-o-o-ld!
Cheaper than seeing them at the movies with a large popcorn :)
.\\axxx
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Okay, I bought a blu-ray/dvd player last night. The reason was a bit vague, but it works out that, since I've been trying to get my lady to watch the Harry Potter movies, but she won't watch them until we have all of them, and we've only got a few, and Walmart had a sale on double feature versions that each have two of the ones we're missing on them, but they're blu-ray only disks, it sorta made sense to buy a player while I was out. Yes, I'm a sucker. And I do happen to love her rather a lot. Anyway, I got home with a Sony Blu-Ray/DVD player BDP-S390 and, upon reading the so-called manual, I find that I haven't any idea what it says. That's not entirely because the manual was produced in a country where English isn't even a second language. A lot of it is due to the fact that I don't watch TV much, having 500 channels of absolutely nothing worth watching available to me, and I've stopped keeping up with the terminology and technology. In short, I haven't a clue how to set this thing up, and don't even know if my TV can show its products. The little box supports BD_Live, gracenote, dlna, VCHD, HDMI, something written in dots but looking a lot like an L-shaped real estate sign, Compact Disc Digital Audio, DVD Video, Super Audio CD, PhotoTV HD, Bravia Sync, and Java, plus it's wireless. What the hell does all that mean? I've got a TV with red, white and yellow RCA jacks on the back, and a coax jack for the cable. There's no HDMI, no DMI... That's why I think I may need to upgrade to view anything that wasn't filmed in black and white. I'm looking at TVs tonight, and utterly baffled. We got plasma, LCD, and LED TVs; there's even one no name brand at Walmart that advertises that it's a LED LCD TV! WTF? They're two unrelated and incompatible technologies! But the price is great... I note that all of the Christmas Special Priced units are no name brands, or "simulated HD", and all have 60 Hz refresh rates; Full HD and 120 Hz rates still have a premium attached. Should I care? Some units advertise a 240 Hz refresh rate; should I lust for one of these? I want to watch Harry Potter, not command a starship in real-time. I've pretty much figured out that plasma is a has-been technology, and my own experience with LCD technology hasn't impressed me as a viable approach, so I'm guessing that LED is the way to go, at least for the next few years. I just want to make this little box work properly, and hopefully to its full potential. I opted for the unit in this product family that stops short of supporting 3D, si
If you're buying in-store or getting a look at the units in a store before buying online, make sure you play around with the picture settings of the one within your budget to see if the picture looks okay. Retailers like to push the products with the greatest margin and thus are known to change the picture settings of the lower priced models to look dull and washed out. Even unknown brands usually use panels from one of the major manufacturers and only the electronics are different.
SG Aham Brahmasmi!
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Okay, I bought a blu-ray/dvd player last night. The reason was a bit vague, but it works out that, since I've been trying to get my lady to watch the Harry Potter movies, but she won't watch them until we have all of them, and we've only got a few, and Walmart had a sale on double feature versions that each have two of the ones we're missing on them, but they're blu-ray only disks, it sorta made sense to buy a player while I was out. Yes, I'm a sucker. And I do happen to love her rather a lot. Anyway, I got home with a Sony Blu-Ray/DVD player BDP-S390 and, upon reading the so-called manual, I find that I haven't any idea what it says. That's not entirely because the manual was produced in a country where English isn't even a second language. A lot of it is due to the fact that I don't watch TV much, having 500 channels of absolutely nothing worth watching available to me, and I've stopped keeping up with the terminology and technology. In short, I haven't a clue how to set this thing up, and don't even know if my TV can show its products. The little box supports BD_Live, gracenote, dlna, VCHD, HDMI, something written in dots but looking a lot like an L-shaped real estate sign, Compact Disc Digital Audio, DVD Video, Super Audio CD, PhotoTV HD, Bravia Sync, and Java, plus it's wireless. What the hell does all that mean? I've got a TV with red, white and yellow RCA jacks on the back, and a coax jack for the cable. There's no HDMI, no DMI... That's why I think I may need to upgrade to view anything that wasn't filmed in black and white. I'm looking at TVs tonight, and utterly baffled. We got plasma, LCD, and LED TVs; there's even one no name brand at Walmart that advertises that it's a LED LCD TV! WTF? They're two unrelated and incompatible technologies! But the price is great... I note that all of the Christmas Special Priced units are no name brands, or "simulated HD", and all have 60 Hz refresh rates; Full HD and 120 Hz rates still have a premium attached. Should I care? Some units advertise a 240 Hz refresh rate; should I lust for one of these? I want to watch Harry Potter, not command a starship in real-time. I've pretty much figured out that plasma is a has-been technology, and my own experience with LCD technology hasn't impressed me as a viable approach, so I'm guessing that LED is the way to go, at least for the next few years. I just want to make this little box work properly, and hopefully to its full potential. I opted for the unit in this product family that stops short of supporting 3D, si
As to the refresh rates, if you don't want 3D (and you said you didn't) anything above 120Hz isn't needed. I personally always buy samsung tv's (bought a few different one's in the past and they always sucked) but those might be a bit pricy. As to size of the tv there was a rule for that, something like take the distance you'll be sitting from the tv and divide by 4 and you have the max ". Not sure about the 4 tho. Other than that just make sure it has hdmi and you should be fine I think (at least regarding the blu-ray player)
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Excellent points, Mark, though your requirements are a bit different. I have cable, and full HD is available, but they charge extra for that, and still have nothing I want to watch. Even so, the movies I rent and occasionally buy are worth watching in their full glory, so long as it doesn't involve wearing another pair of glasses - I won't do 3D in the near future. I'm looking at the 40" - 50" class, as my place is small, and won't be getting bigger until I win the lottery. :sigh:
Will Rogers never met me.
I must admit that Full HD would have been nice, but would have broken the budget. Our lounge is 10m x 7m with the TV in one corner, but seating 4-6m from it and the 51" is a nice fit. It seemed HUGE after the old 29" CRT job but now doesn't. The room could easily take one of the newer 65's but right now I've got better/more important things to spend my $ on (like a new roof!). If/when looking at the TV's in the shop to try to compare the picture, get the ones around the one you're looking at turned off.
If your neighbours don't listen to The Ramones, turn it up real loud so they can. “We didn't have a positive song until we wrote 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue!'” ― Dee Dee Ramone "The Democrats want my guns and the Republicans want my porno mags and I ain't giving up either" - Joey Ramone