Quote:
Originally Posted by
MrVizio 
Sorry to hear that also. To each his own.
I would prefer a nice big plasma any day over an LCD, but my environment doesn't allow it. However, having said that, I have gotten the picture on my 60LD550 pretty darn good. When I first brought it home and turned it on, I thought NO WAY. I've had a plasma and an LED and the blacks on this LG LCD simply weren't acceptable. But after much fiddling (much credit to Phase as well) I've gotten the blacks to a very acceptable level. My first LCD years ago couldn't do much better than VERY dark grays. So I feel that LCDs have come a long way. At least this one has.
I was in the theater the other night (Piranha 3D) and spent the entire time analyzing things. Motion handling. Brightness. Black levels, etc. And I realized that my LG was just as good in almost every area, and better in some. Now if only I could get that same magnitude of sound and bass in my house
It's so easy to get caught up in perfection with our home Cinemas that we often don't realize how far things have come, and how the real cinema really only has two benefits: Amazing all-encompassing sound and a GIANT screen. If somebody would have shown me this LG LCD 10 years ago, properly calibrated, I would have thought it was the most amazing display in the history of viewing experiences!
Best to you.
I had to comment on your observations, which, are one of the most well balanced views on video entertainment technology that I've read lately. With as good as video technology has become and the articles we all read and drool over touting the latest video achievements; it's easy to to get lost in all the nuances of the images we now get to see on our TV screens. As you have said, it is amazing how good picture quality has gotten. If any of us have ever seen what color TV first looked like in the 1950's, or purchased a rear projection TV (constant convergence errors, uneven color shift right to left, blooming, etc) from in the 1980's; indeed TV has come along way.
I also analyze my viewing experience at the movie theater and, if we are honest, if we use film as a standard, we find there is a lot of vertical jitter (watch the title scroll at the end), there is loads of motion blur, and if it wasn't completely dark in the theater how good would brightness, contrast, and color be? And if we watch sports, the picture quality is astounding, not just because of the TV we have, but also the production technology that networks have. The closer we come to perfection (whatever that is) in a video image, of course the more we will notice artifacts, anomalies, black levels, etc.
I agree, off axis viewing in some TVs could be better, but that can be optimized in most viewing environments. And black level may be unsatisfactory, but it too can be dealt with unless really poor. All these things are much better than the glossy, bulbous CRT TVs we had not too many years ago and at 480i no less!
Oh, and if you want the big sound that goes with a theaters experience there is plenty of help here on AVS for that. I would suggest a good PAIR of 10" or 12" sub woofers, and a matched set of R,L Center & rear speakers, B&W are one favorite of mine. The biggest secret I have found for home (living room) theater speakers is that the front R&L main speaker cabinets should be about 33" -36" high and contain at least two 6.5"- 8" main drivers and maybe a woofer of the same size. And get an AV receiver of at least 100 honest watts per channel (Yamaha, Onkyo, etc).
So let's not get jaded and just enjoy! After all...
"It's only TV, but what a great picture"
I would certainly appreciate it, especially because I'm also using an ATI-based HTPC. Which color space are you using in Catalyst? I've been using YCbCr 4:4:4 for the longest time now, but I'm just not sure if that is really the best option.
