Ok I am still watching a 32 inch sony tube.

I have looked at all the BIG screens from plazma to lcd and dlp and I have had one thing that eats at me every time I want to get a big screen.
Not money, I guess I will shop before buying.

Its the material I watch...right now I have directv and dvd.
I am sure in the future I will be getting into HD but right now there is just not enough of it to do me any good, for the type of things I enjoy watching.

But its still if I only had a big screen...ahhhhhhh

ok 80%+ is std tv I guess I can get an upconvert dvd and see them in all the screen.
How much screen to view a std feed at something bigger than the 32 I have now.
I know that I am going to have bars down both sides most of the time, is this worth it? Go 50" to get a 32 viewable with bars ?

Man every time I look at the big screens this is all I can think of and drop my head and walk off.

am I right or wrong???

ps is a dlp really something you do NOT use a computer with? Some had said that the latency on it is terrible and a computer game would have to be on a plasma or lcd.

Ok I am still watching a 32 inch sony tube.

I have looked at all the BIG screens from plazma to lcd and dlp and I have had one thing that eats at me every time I want to get a big screen.
Not money, I guess I will shop before buying.

Its the material I watch...right now I have directv and dvd.
I am sure in the future I will be getting into HD but right now there is just not enough of it to do me any good, for the type of things I enjoy watching.

But its still if I only had a big screen...ahhhhhhh

ok 80%+ is std tv I guess I can get an upconvert dvd and see them in all the screen.
How much screen to view a std feed at something bigger than the 32 I have now.
I know that I am going to have bars down both sides most of the time, is this worth it? Go 50" to get a 32 viewable with bars ?

Man every time I look at the big screens this is all I can think of and drop my head and walk off.

am I right or wrong???

ps is a dlp really something you do NOT use a computer with? Some had said that the latency on it is terrible and a computer game would have to be on a plasma or lcd.

I'd say the opposite was the case on DLP and LCD for games(I can't speak for plasma, but I was told that games can shorten the life of a plasma by driving it too hard. I have no idea if this is true or not). My son uses his PS3 on our DLP all the time and there is no noticeable latency whatsoever. As for SD vs HD material--you'd be surprised how good SD material can look on a good, large HD display. I have an HD A2/PS3 feeding both a 106 inch front PJ model and a 50 inch DLP. Yes, HD material is better, but the A2 does such a nice job with upconverting that there are times it's hard to tell that the material is not HD, especially from a normal viewing distance.

Best

Brian
,

Ok I am still watching a 32 inch sony tube.

I have looked at all the BIG screens from plazma to lcd and dlp and I have had one thing that eats at me every time I want to get a big screen.
Not money, I guess I will shop before buying.

Its the material I watch...right now I have directv and dvd.
I am sure in the future I will be getting into HD but right now there is just not enough of it to do me any good, for the type of things I enjoy watching.

But its still if I only had a big screen...ahhhhhhh

ok 80%+ is std tv I guess I can get an upconvert dvd and see them in all the screen.
How much screen to view a std feed at something bigger than the 32 I have now.
I know that I am going to have bars down both sides most of the time, is this worth it? Go 50" to get a 32 viewable with bars ?

Man every time I look at the big screens this is all I can think of and drop my head and walk off.

am I right or wrong???

ps is a dlp really something you do NOT use a computer with? Some had said that the latency on it is terrible and a computer game would have to be on a plasma or lcd.

Ok, you do not watch prime time TV or Sports, which I guess is now 90% HD all the time? And of course using OverTheAir instead of Direct TV could save you a fortune AND yield a vastly superior pictures (at least in the top 300 cities in the US). Even plain ole DVD's with today's $90 players look fantastic on an HDTV? The automatic up-converts for DVD's in Samsung, Sony, Mit's, Panasonic do an excellent job in taking crummy 480iDVD all the way to that sets native format (720 or 1080)

Rats. I thought someone had figured out what I needed ... but you're asking for some other "idiot". ;)

I just replaced a 36" SD CRT with a 50" HD DLP (Samsung LED based). As long as the SD source isn't total crap, the image looks very good. Sure if I switch between an SD and HD feed of the same broadcast, the SD version certainly looks softer. But at least this DLP sure looks a lot better in SD than most I've seen in the past. I'm quite happy with it.

Also, as HoustonPerson writes, if you get a new TV that has an OTA ATSC tuner, you can get an inexpensive Terk set top antenna and get your local network channels in HD for "free" (you DO have to buy an antenna, mine cost $40). Then you can get that HD for free and upgrade your DirectTV only larer when you're ready.

I can't speak to the issue of using it as a PC display yet, but I've read numerous postings from people raving about it.

Good luck,

Thanks guys I have another question.

IF I am getting Dtv std feed and I have a widescreen movie can I see if full screen or in a letterbox/letterbox on the screen....since std feeds have bars on the left and right will a leterbox have bars all the way around?

How about upconverting the DTV feed can it be done or should I add a HD box on one TV ....I guess I am just an old AHOLE all I can see advertised in HD is sports and don't care. And when I checked pay TV I saw one thing that blew my mind. PPV movie $3.99 PPV HD movies $6.99 WTHECK IS THIS CRAP


NO one can decide on HD movies and I am not paying $1000 to SONY I wish that company would fall off the earth and burn in hell. Please excuse my wording but I HATE them to no end and I hope they loose the format wars, of course who ever I cheer for will loose LOL

They told me to install HD on the tv in the den, 10 feet from the dish, would require a new antenna, splitter and receiver.
BUT I will give them credit they told me total cost of everything would be $79 since they love me so much... ;)
now if they would just go HD TIVO....that will never happen.

etrin, Guess I am having a little trouble still understanding what you are saying....I'm just an old dumb toot. I guess a lot of this has to do with where you live.......I know that most of the 300 top markets are about the same. (Your not in Pecos County Texas are you?)

Anyway, in Houston tonight there are 17 full screen HD shows on from 7PM to 10PM, all free of course (like most areas, except Pecos County). In most areas around here, you can get all those stations with a non-powered rabbit ear - $5. Fry's has a great Mit's 720p 52" close out for $998, and you can get the 1080p set for $1299. If you wanted even the 62" with TVGuide Diamond Series and the HD recorder Built it (much better than Tivo will ever be)......it's only $1999. That is a great set and just 14 months ago was $5,000. Most people dont even know it was on the market.

Now if you have to watch "American's Top Model" tonight which is only SD, then just hit the button on the remote and make it full screen (no black bars). And even if you watch it at 4:3 in its orginal format it will not damage the DLP or LCD set.

Lot's of choices I know. I know that the Sat and Cable companies are very frustrating and out rageously expensive, which is why I do not use them.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/shhhh-be-vewry-verwy-quiet-i-hunting-hdtv

etrin,

Most widescreen TV's offer you multiple ways of viewing 4:3 SD material, I'm very happy with the "WIDE <> FIT" option on my new Samsung.

As for other HD content ... using a cheap OTA antenna on a TV that has an ATSC tuner I'm able to pull in CBS, NBS, ABC, PBS and several other local channels and almost all of them are showing nothing but HD content during the evening hours. PBS shows HD content most of the day, not just during "prime time". Heck, NBC Nightly News is now being broadcast in HD (not that Brian Williams in HD is worth watching, but still ... it's certainly not a sporting event! :) ).

Well I want to get one of the new samsung 50 or 56 in dlp sets.

These questions stemmed from me going to places and seeing HD NEVER have I had the chance to mess with one first hand till last night. When you mention you want to see a NON HD recorded feed and see the real world I get told the same things

WHOOOOOOOAH there bud you can't mess with that.
WHY would you want to see non HD on that set, are you crazy.

I finally got a guy at CC to let me see it in non HD and I even got to play with the remote, the pic was amazing in HD ....in non HD, like I said I was not familiar with the unit, black bars and the pic looked ok....resized to "FIT" the screen, well I was NOT impressed. Maybe the unit was not set up or I did something wrong but I stood there trying to figure out a word to describe it. Flat, or Dull or ??? I don't know but it was just not a good thing to look at. Yes it was big and all that but it was like someone turned down the contrast or something. I Did NOT notice any stretching but I had nothing there to compare to either.

who what where how do I find someone to setup and adjust the set when I get it? How do they look out of the box..do all DLP's have to be setup?

etrin,

If you're interested in one of the new Samsung LED based DLPs, checkout the Owners thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10457517). I have the HL-T5087S and am very happy with it after two weeks. Note, it replaced a 36" CRT SDTV, but I already had two other HDTV's in the house ... a 5yo 65" Mitsu HD CRT based RPTV in the basement theater and a 1yo 26" CRT HDTV Samsung in the bedroom. Both of those only do up to 1080i.

After 2 weeks of use, SD source material looks better to me on the new Samsung than either of the other HDTV's in the house. If I compare the SD and HD feeds of the same show (for example CSI in HD on CBS OTA vs CSI in SD on CBS over CATV), the SD material is much fuzzier, flatter and less enjoyable. But ... for shows on History Channel, Science Channel, SciFi Channel, etc were there is no HD offering available ... the material is quite watchable. It's just not as good as HD.

As for professional calibration, here's an AVS thread for finding ISF callibrators (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=586330).

Do you need to have a new TV professionally calibrated? Of course not. It's definitely a personal call if it's worth the cost to you. Can you do something yourself? Yep. Purchase either of the self-calibration DVD's "Digital Video Essentials" (usually abbreviated "DVE")or "Avia". If you buy an HD DVD player, there's a new HD version of "DVE" available. if you buy one of the new LED based Samsung DLP's, you can even avoid the cost of those DVD's if you really want since several of us who have used those DVD's have posted our initial calibration settings to the Owners thread 1) to compare with each other and get an idea as to how common such settings are and 2) to get new owners a starting point for their own calibrations.

Lastly, for OTB vs my self-calibration ... OTB was a little too bright and harsh (was set for "Dynamic" picture mode) to my eyes. Post calibration (now set for "Movie" mode), I find it far easier on the eyes and more enjoyable to watch.

Just my two cents,