Finished Pictures
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/boomam/TV_Log/Right.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/boomam/TV_Log/RearRight.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/boomam/TV_Log/RearLeft.jpg
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/boomam/TV_Log/AV.jpg
Usage with DVDs
Source: Yamada DVX6600.
Input Type: S-Video.
Theres a lot of dot crawl, but i dont think thats the fault of the telly, as im using a 5m S-Video cable, and when playing DVDs through my PC on it, the dot crawl isnt there. At distance however, it cant be seen.
Problem Solved
S-Video is a interlaced source. A LCD is progressive. This is what is causing the problem. Or so ive been told. I trust the source though. (Mr Latte).
The colours, are very vibrent, and well defined however.
More than watchable. I'd imagine that with a DVD player connected via DSUB, HDMI or Component, that the quality would only be limited by the quality of the source material.
In regards to each DVD:
'Hero', with its constantly changing colour schemes looked very good. 'DodgeBall', not really a good test of the screen, but it looked good (i thought i'd give it a 2nd watch, as i didnt like it the first time around and my mates keep raving about it).
'Layer Cake' looked stunning on TV. Really amazing. The slight colour tints that the film has was portrayed through the telly as if i was back at the cinema watching it.
The three concerts, 'Snow Patrol' and 2x 'Jean Michel Jarrè' looked good as well. The former, with its dim lighting, came across quite well, with far more detail than my old CRT telly could put across. The latter two, the light shows that were at the events came across as if i was there, they were crystal clear. It really was a sight to behold.
Usage with 'Videos'
Source: PC.
Input Type: DSUB.
I hooked up the TV to my PC to play around, and viewed both some 1080 content that i got from the MS website, and some HQ music videos that i had. The quality is amazing. From the very colourful views of the MS Dolphin Demo, to the 'coldness' of the SnowPatrol-Chocolate video, the display performed very well. Very sharp. Limited only by the quality of the file i was playing on it.
Usage with PC Games
Source: PC.
Input Type: DSUB.
I had a quick go on GTA:SA with it, at the TVs native resolution, with 2xAA/16xAF. It looked good to be honest. Very clear. But the colours in the game seemed a little odd. That might be because im used to the colour output of my 172X's though.
Usage with PAL GameCube Games
Source: Nintendo GameCube PAL / Various Games.
Input Type: RGB over Component.
Despite warnings that the display would look awful with PAL games, it actually looks pretty good. The only noticable difference is that the edges of objects are clearly aliased more, but thats because normal CRT tellys 'blur' anyway.
Metroid Prime 1 & 2, both look very good, more than playable, with the game looking very good. I also notice that 'Echos' seems to use some form of Anti-Aliasing. As when playing 'Prime', it was noted by me and my mate that the edges of the visor was the most noticable form of aliasing seen, where as in 'Echos', the alaising was barely noticable.
The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker, with its bright colours, excellent animation & distinctive look, looked, stunning. The aliasing was noticable in some areas, like when your out on the boat (on the boat itself), but otherwise, it's the best ive seen the game running.
Mario Sunshine & 1080*, both looked good as well, as did THPS3. Both RogueLeader games looked very good. Mario Kart looked very crisp as well.
F-Zero GX looks suprisingly good.
Put short, it handles PAL GC games fine, with the only difference being that the clarity of a LCD panel working against it, meaning that aliasing is more aparent than on a CRT display.
Usage with NTSC GameCube Games
Source: Nintendo GameCube PAL / Freeloader.
Input Type: Progressive Scan Component (720x480@60Hz)
Got the stuff through this morning. This is based upon about an hours playtime. I'll add more if i feel i notice anything different.
First thing i confirmed, is that my AV Reciever does do Progressive Scan, which im pleased about. Anyway, onto the game.
I held 'B' on startup, enabled Progressive Scan. Went into the game.
To be honest. The difference isnt as big as i thought it would be. Dont get me wrong, it looks good. Theres almost no aliasing at all, but i guess i was expecting some huge IQ boost, when imo, it doesnt look
that much better. Prehaps its a case of the Progressive Scan being overhyped.
Ive noticed that in the menus for Pikmin2, you can set the graphics to sharp or blurry, each with their advantages. Theres a preview screen next to the selections, but flipping between them doesnt yield any difference. Prehaps its only really 'useable' on RGB/Composite/RF connections.
Anyway. Summed up. The only noticable difference from what i can see is that aliasing in the game is almost non existant when using Progressive Scan.
Update:
Ive got two more NTSC games, RogueLeader2 & Resident Evil 4:
Rogue Leader 2 doesnt really look all that different to be honest. Probably the least difference out of all the games ive tryed thus far.
Resident Evil 4, like Pikmin 2, has minor quality differences, the colours seem a little better, but theres still a lot of alaising.
Future Changes
I plan to buy all my GC games in future, as NTSC games, so i'll get a nice IQ boost in future title i suppose.
Im thinking of buying a new DVD player that'll output over component, to eliminate the dot crawl.
Im also gonna look into the possibility of getting the LCD TV running as a 3rd monitor on my main PC.
Conclusion
Overall, im very pleased with how its turned out. I would have liked to have the LCD TV set as a 3rd display, but either through limitations of Windows or the ATI drivers, its impossible to have videos playing through more than one video card.
Credits
Mr Latte.
Everyone who helped in this thread.
The members at AVF who kept plugging away at Samsung to get the tearing problem fixed.
Question?
Any questions you all want to ask about any aspect, or requests on testing certain things, just ask, and i'll see what i can do.
-------------UPDATE-------------
Usage with DVDs
Source: Samsung HD-850
Input Type: HDMI to TV & Optical to 540R.
Bought this upscaling HDMI DVD Player in a closing down sale for £45!
Ive watched a good selection of DVDs on it upto now, including: Snow Patrol - Eyes Open DVD, Paolo Maldini: Il Film, Ricky Gervais: Animals, Mean Girls, Pulp Fiction, Hero & Simpsons Season 6.
The picture is noticably sharper, more vibrant & natural looking compared to my DivX player. A good addition to my setup i think.
Layout Change
I bought a nice big, comfy, chair from Ikea the other day, and so ive rearranged my setup accordingly. Now i find that everything is perfect.
It was good before, but using the telly was sometimes annoying because of its positioning (height). Now, with the chair, the telly is the perfect height without having to move my head at all to watch it comfortably. The sound positioning is perfect as well.
Heres some pics of the changed setup:
TV/Reciever/CD/DVD/GC:
New Seat (Uber Comfy):
A Perspective Shot:
) and replace it with a long cabinet piece of furniture that the part of the AV setup, like the CD Player, Receiver, DVD Player & Consoles would sit on or in.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
