Best Buy...BS or Not

This is the projector forum man. Sorry!

While you are in the wrong forum, what the guy told you is pretty much the truth. Some stores are better than others, but for a while, a local Best Buy to me was literally running a split co-axiel cable to all their HDTV's.

Because nothing gets people into high-def like snowy, 4:3 SD video stretched out to 16:9 and split across 100 displays using a series of radio shack cable splitters.

To answer your second question, no, the logos don't generally 'pixel out', but fast motion does generally create artifacts in the image, especially in broadcast or cable HD channels as they are generally delivered in MPEG2 at lower bit rates (to increase the total number of channels available).

There are forum areas for specific types of tvs. That would be the place to start.

Use whatever forum best fits the product you're looking for. There's LCD, Plasma, Rear Projection as well as this Projector forum. In addition there are dozens of forums for other products and aspects of the audio/video universe. AVSforum is an amazingly good source for information, but you do have to ask and look in the correct threads to get the most out of it. But you're certainly on the right track, because you made it to AVS in the first place. Good luck and enjoy!

Jim

If you have to ask the guy at Best Buy, you are not ready to buy a tv, PJ, or other item. They are the last ones you want to ask.

Although I think this guy was at least honest about their signal!

I disagree. You've got to get your information somewhere and a big box retail salesman is one source. Certainly not anywhere near the best, but a source none the less. Additionally, this guy gave the correct answer; you can't ask for anything more than that.

Combine info you glean from this site with info salespeople tell you and a person should be able to make an informed decision. No source is perfect. certainly there's bad information being offered on this site all the time; I've probably given some of it myself. Information never hurts, just the misuse of it.

Jim

Jim,

I'm just speaking from my experience with big box stores and all the people I have resuced from being sold something they did not want and being told things that were outright wrong. I could write a book...

The newbie who has not learned what all the terms mean and does not understand what each technology has to offer is just asking for trouble and expense if they HAVE to ask a big box saelsperson to explain it to them.

This is not meant to insult the newbies and is not an indictment against all big box employees, there are some who are honest and knowledgeable. However, at the big box store it is just you and the salesperson. Here on the forum and other forums, it is you and many others who will make sure you get the best information and try to make sure it is correct. Has bad info gone out in this forum? Sure, but it has usually been corrected by others and hard data linked to in order to show why the correction is good info.

I stand by my statement and recommend that you learn first and then go with your mind ready to not be swayed by marketspeak and ignorance IF you are going to buy from a big box store. Learning does not have to take days or weeks, you can get up to speed usually the same day you ask a question.

Yeah, Besty Buy is crazy, they run crap to all the 70-100" displays and hook the 40" Bravia up to the Blu-Ray player...which doesn't really show off either.

Yeah, Best Buy is crazy, they run crap to all the 70-100" displays and hook the 40" Bravia up to the Blu-Ray player...which doesn't really show off either.

Splitting the signal is only part of the problem. They are most likely getting satellite (probably DirecTV). Sat and DirecTV in particular is just about the worst HD source around. They reduce the resolution of their signals and over compress them. The name of the artifact you saw is macroblocking. Even my Verizon FiOS which retransmits the signal at the source data rate will still have this on fast motion. 19.2 Mbps is the max data rate of HD broadcast (most sources are less than this--the good ones being between 17 and 18 usually). This datarate is not high enough for an MPEG2 stream to capture all the data in fast motion and will always have macroblocking (this is why DTheater, Blu-ray, and HD DVD all have higher data rates and are beginning to use more sophisticated compression schemes [MPEG4 and VC1).

Dave

Dish Network uses MPEG4 as well.

caliskier, you may have hit the jackpot by stumbling into this forum. I was planning on upgrading from my super awesome 27" crt to a 40"+ LCD, but when I stumbled on here I quickly changed my mind (I'm ordering my HD1000U today from Projector People ).

Why settle for a 40-60" LCD when you can get a 100+" screen with a PJ (projector) for as little as half the price of the LCD? And from what I've been reading (and seeing) the picture quality is nearly (as?) good.