LCD HDTVs, is it me or is normal TV on them really bad?

steinooo

steinooo

steinooo

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Hi all,

I've got £470 to spend at an electrical appliances shop and I'm in a toss up between a nice new laptop or an LCD tvs up to about 32" to modernise the lounge a bit.

I had a look at some last night, and my main impression of all the tvs I saw that were showing an SD feed was how bad it looked. I understand the technology behind why it looks bad on a higher res screen, but wondered how far people agree with me, and to guage opinion on why people are buying these screens, when HD TV broadcasts aren't the mainstream. i.e. do people buy them for mainly games, or specifically for Sky HD?

I'm still torn between a laptop and an LCD TV, depending on what I read tonight I will buy one or the other on my way home!

Thoughts appreciated.
 
well I think even a sd tv looks poor running sd signal in a store, the signals split too many times to get a good viewing.

Generally speaking, HD res SD is going to be upscaled so its always going to seem blocky compared with a SD tv. Also the quality of the tv itself will play a part in how good SD tv looks.

I'm buying a HD tv in the near future (waiting for the loft conversion to be done) and the reason is 2 fold, 1 its space constraints and 2 I want to wall mount it, not keen on wall mounting a 32/37" crt :)
 
cheers, you have a point about the signal being poor in a store. Its a shame I can't go and see a HD tv playing SD broadcasts in the quality that it would be at home.

What I can't understand is why people are left right and centre snapping up HDtvs to play SD on, which looks way worse than on their SD set?!
 
To be perfectly honest SD broadcasts on LCS are generally poor, some cope better than others. If you want a big screen with good SD support you will need to spend a bit more and look at plasma.
 
I recently bought a 37" samsung LCD and im quite dissapointed in the SD PQ , i was expecting a lot more and kinda regreat spending so much money on it, i think now if anyone i know is about to buy a new large tv id advise them to get plasma is possible

but i must admit , my xbox 360 looks amazing on the tv :)
 
That's always been the case. It's mainly the resolution, but with a good quality feed and the right viewing distance it shouldn't look too bad. Plasma TV's will give better SD if you are really worried about that.

If i was in your position i would snap up a Samsung 32" R87/8. <£500 isn't going to get you a nice laptop is it ?
 
this is why i bought a plasma earlier this year just couldnt find a lcd i liked the look of sky on , got a pana 37px60 and the 360 looks great too . more than you wanted to spend tho...............
 
its a strange one this. i have what most people would say is one of the poorer performing 40" screens with sd material (sony kdl-40w2000) but even still, i find it to be perfectly decent with a decent sd feed. no problems on sd dvd's or decent bitrate channels on virgin and freeview. it definitely depends on the screen though. my friend had a 32" samsung model and honestly its was an absolute shambles with SD stuff.
 
I've just bought myself a 37" 1080p Samsung LCD, and I was expecting the worse when it came to Sky through RGB.

To be honest, I'm pleasantly surprised by how well it looks now that I've fiddled with the picture settings. It took me a few days (it looked rubbish out of the box) and I was initially disappointed, but now I'm really happy with it - even when watching fast moving football broadcasts. It's also worth nothing that I sit only 6 feet away from the screen too.

My Dad has just bought the 32" R87 Samsung (it's in your price range), and it's great too. I used pretty much the same settings as on mine, and freeview looks fantastic at times when watching the higher bitrate channels.
 
I bought a Samsung LE40M87 a week ago expecting bad SD picture after all the comments you read from people about LCD......yet mine looks great.

Yes, if i sit 2 feet from screen its very blotchy but over about 5 feet it just looks brilliant, i would say its just as good as my old CRT and i really didnt expect it, had no problems with quality at all and the colours on this set are just unbelievable. Not noticed any motion blur either.
 
yeah it is pretty poor, even through freeview but theres only so much a scaler can do.

LG sets seem to have the best SD scaling from what i saw in store, but i bought my tv for gaming and movies so sd was a afterthought really as i run movies off a media pc
 
davejm said:
I've just bought myself a 37" 1080p Samsung LCD, and I was expecting the worse when it came to Sky through RGB.

To be honest, I'm pleasantly surprised by how well it looks now that I've fiddled with the picture settings. It took me a few days (it looked rubbish out of the box) and I was initially disappointed, but now I'm really happy with it - even when watching fast moving football broadcasts. It's also worth nothing that I sit only 6 feet away from the screen too.

My Dad has just bought the 32" R87 Samsung (it's in your price range), and it's great too. I used pretty much the same settings as on mine, and freeview looks fantastic at times when watching the higher bitrate channels.
Click to expand...

Ive recently bought the 37" R87 , id be interested to know what settings you use on your dads tv for SD broadcasts as i cant seem to find a setup i like atm :(

I know its a hassle but any chance u can post all the the settings u use for DTV plz ? :)
 
CSA said:
Ive recently bought the 37" R87 , id be interested to know what settings you use on your dads tv for SD broadcasts as i cant seem to find a setup i like atm :(

I know its a hassle but any chance u can post all the the settings u use for DTV plz ? :)
Click to expand...

for my sammy 40" m86

Blackbolt said:
Picture Mode: Standard
Contrast: 85
Brightness: 53
Sharpness: 25
Colour: 45
Tint: 50/50 (Greyed Out)
Colour Tone: Cool1

Detailed Settings:
Black Adjust: High
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Gamma: 0
Edge Enhancement: On

White Balance:
R-Offset: 17
G-Offset: 15
B-Offset: 11
R-Gain: 7
G-Gain: 14
B-Gain: 30

Backlight: 10
Digital NR (Noise Reduction): Auto
Active Colour: Off (Greyed Out)
DNIe: On
Movie Plus: On

Sound Mode: Music
SRS TX XT: On

Game Mode: Off
Energy Saving: Off
Click to expand...
 
tweaked them tonight and came up with this
Picture
Mode: Movie
Contrast: 70
Brightness: 44
Sharpness: 26
Colour: 52
Colour Tone: Normal
Backlight: 4
Size: 16:9
Digital NR: Off
Movie Plus: Off

Detailed Settings
Black Adjust: Off
Dynamic Contrast: Off
Gamma: 0
Edge Enhancement: Off
Colour Space: Wide
White Balance:
R-Offset: 17
G-Offset: 15
B-Offset: 10
R-Gain: 4
G-Gain: 10
B-Gain: 30
Click to expand...
 
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