Samsung 32" LCD owners (R74's specifically)

BruceLee · 3 Jul 2006 at 14:36

Am planning on getting this LCD tv in the next 2-3 weeks and had a look instore today at some with the GF, didnt have the 32" version but did have the 26" and some others to compare with.

Now, the picture they were playing on all the tvs wasnt that great, most likely a poor source etc, but am fairly dubious as to the quality of the standard analogue picture on the LCD.

Can owners comment on the picture quality through analogue for me? Unfortunately Im stuck with analogue in this area for the next few years (dont really want to get NTL/Sky etc) as they apparently arent upgrading til 2008+ :rolleyes:

here.

Anyway, please put my mind at rest about this, the analogue signal we get here is pretty good, so that should help.

Oh, and I've read a bit about 1:1 pixel mapping, still confused, if I use either the vga or DVI port on my gfx card to the TV will it work 1:1 or am I missing something?

Cheers guys

pinkaardvark · 3 Jul 2006 at 15:13

all the samsungs have 1:1 via the vga so no worries there.

Freeview and sky+ are atrocious. But this isn't limited to the samsung, it's across the board for LCD tv's i'm afraid. The bigger the TV and the worse it will look. Largely due to SD not being designed for above 32" and providers like SKY are over compressing the signals. Plug an SD DVD player in and watch a movie and you'll see what SKY/Freeview could look like if the bandwidth was there.

If it's picture quality your after the Plasmas look better as they have a softer/blurrier look to them.

Voy06 · 3 Jul 2006 at 15:14

You'll get 1:1 pixel mapping through vga. As for the analogue signal I have the Samsung LE26R41BD, presumably the model before yours and the quality is not that good, watchable but not that good.

I'm more than happy with the freeview quality I get through the Sammy but I wouldn't recommend an LCD TV purely for analogue signals. Your better with a CRT.

BruceLee · 3 Jul 2006 at 15:22

Thanks for the replies

You are worrying me now, really would like to buy it within the month and dont want to go for a CRT tv, mainly due to the size of it and the fact that LCDs are probably a better investment at the moment.

As I mentioned, no freeview in the area unless I want to go with NTL (maybe but Ive had them before and CS sucks) or Sky dish etc.

Glad about the 1:1 Q, Im not worried if I hook it up via DVI/HDMI or VGA, whichever gives more options etc.

Am I right that the pictures "in store" on all the tvs are most likely not an optimum signal, and could be better on a dedicated cable like you would normally do at home?

I will be using it as a media centre once Ive built the HTPC bit, but obviously still concerned on the analogue signal side of things.

Bah, it looks so nice in the flesh, just this one thing that may break the deal...

Mud · 3 Jul 2006 at 15:33

Its a shame you can't use the integrated digital as that can look suprisingly good...the analogue is best described as 'gritty'.

Raikiri · 3 Jul 2006 at 15:35

It wont be much better than in the store I am afraid, SD TV sucks badly

The image will be low res and fairly pixelated but will vary from channel to channel, imo it is still worth it for use as a PC monitor/games consoles/DVDs. You're just going to have to wait for HD freeview like me

BruceLee · 3 Jul 2006 at 15:39

Bah

Well, £750 could be spent elsewhere, but our CRT tv is getting unreliable these days.

Just thinking, if the signal was to go through a tv card on a HTPC would I be able to clean/post process the signal at all?

If thats an option then it may still be worth getting.

Really hate the fact we cant get freeview in this area, I cant really see why not, hardly a mountainous area....

pinkaardvark · 3 Jul 2006 at 15:50

BruceLee said:
Bah

Well, £750 could be spent elsewhere, but our CRT tv is getting unreliable these days.

Just thinking, if the signal was to go through a tv card on a HTPC would I be able to clean/post process the signal at all?

If thats an option then it may still be worth getting.

Really hate the fact we cant get freeview in this area, I cant really see why not, hardly a mountainous area....

No there's not a lot you can do to clean up such a poor feed. But before you make your decision go into a proper AV store and ask for some advice and see some proper demos.

BruceLee · 3 Jul 2006 at 15:53

Cheers, thats probably a good idea, theres one good one round here I can go into, just need to find the time to do it, maybe some point this week, hopefully they will have one in.

Shame about the post processing..