Got my GWII 60". It's amazing!!! Thank you all!

Dracos2:


Congrats on the new set! Sounds great. I did have a few questions for you:


1. How far do you sit from the screen?


2. Did you have to do much tweaking with either the user settings (picture, brightness, etc.) or the DRC to get your SD cable to look decent? What about DVD? What "mode" are you using (Std, Pro, etc.)


3. How did you come to notice the dead pixels? Did you have to specifically look for them in order to see them?


4. How do those blacks look during "pitch black night viewing"? (Given your "orgasmic" description, I'm guessing not too bad... )


-- Mark

Mvita:


1. I sit between 8 and 10 feet from the screen. At 10, everything blends perfectly. That is the perfect distance IMO.


2. I haven't done much tweaking yet, so it can only get better. I was playing with standard alot last night for DVD and games and it was great but a little dark. I started playing with vivid for my non-progressive games. After taking the picture and sharpness down it looked pretty damn good. I was using standard for SD. Cartoon Network looked really good after playing with the DRC. Smallville didn't fair as well but still not bad. There is so much to tweak. I go on vacation for 5 weeks in 2 days so I will post my optimal settings this weekend.


3. I had to get right on the set and look for the pixels on an input with no picture. I only have 3. Take one step back or put a picture on the screen and you absolutely cannot see them. Don't even worry about it.


4. Night viewing is great. The blacks are still dark grey. If you can handle this then there are no worries. Of course brightness affects this directly.


More to come later. And I will try those Pro settings later jmv.

I finally received my HD receiver (Samsung T165) and got my locals tuned in. I have the 50" GWXBR. All I can say is WOW! Granted, this is my first HDTV, and while I've seen HD on some TVs in stores, it just doesn't compare to having it in your own home. Since I had no previous in-home HD experience, I guess you can take all of this with a grain of salt.


Even watching non-hd shows on this thing rocks. The OTA digital SD broadcast of Amazing Race 3 on CBS last night looked really good. Not quite HD, but it blows away what I get through satellite. It really makes me hate the over-compression that those satellite providers have to do to give you all those useless extra channels. I don't know what cameras they use for Amazing Race (digital would be my guess), but most of the time it was razor sharp.


Then I switched to FOX to see what their enhanced definition widescreen programming was like. They were showing Fast Lane. I'd never watched the show before. All I can say is, results were mixed. Being 480p, some shots were soft, while others looked good. They really pump up the colors on this show. The greens and blues and reds were simply gorgeous. I wish it had been true HD. Maybe someday FOX will learn.


After that, I swithced to NBC for some Law and Order in true HD. It looked pretty good, but a little flat. At the fifteen-minute commercial break, I switched over to PBS, and they were showing a nature show called Sahara. It was stunning. This show even caught my cat's eye. He had been sleeping on the chair, but when he saw this, he woke up completely and sat there for a few minutes, eyes wide open. Then he hopped off of the chair and sat right in front of the TV. They were showing desert mice and cats and snakes. He propped his front paws on the top shelf of the TV stand to get a closer look at the picture. He craned his neck to try to see the side of the TV to see where these animals were coming from (or to figure out how to get in there himself). It was pretty funny.


After that, PBS was showing a Newport Jazz Festival. This looked really great as well. Very sharp and 3D-like with great colors. Nice shots of the performers and boats on the water and of the crowd. I had to force myself to turn off the TV, as it was 11:20, and I otherwise would have watched the thing until midnight (or whenever it ended).


Needless to say, I am very happy with my purchases (TV and HD receiver). I'm looking forward to catching CSI tonight. Another show I've never watched, but if it's as good (both PQ and content-wise) as people say, I'm sure I'll be a new regular.


Thanks to all the people on this forum who steered me towards this TV and to ftlee and mchilli for helping me get a great deal on this set.


Dave


BTW, I switched the output on the HD receiver between 1080i and 720p, and I saw no discernible difference. I also flipped through the different Picture modes and settled on Standard, though even Vivid looked good with HD material.

Quote:
CSI looked quite nice. I noticed no artifacting at all. I did notice some graininess, but I think that was in the source, as a lot of other HD material I've seen has been clean and smooth. The graininess in some scenes in the show that followed (Without a Trace, I believe) was horrid. I guess these shows are film-based.


I'd never seen CSI before. It's very Fincher-esque. The lighting (or lack there-of) and shots taking you into the human body to show a broken bone heal and inside a film projector would make David Fincher proud. Somewhat unrealistic, though. Like a forensics facility would really have such dark lighting. It's all about style, I guess. Cool show. I think I'll watch it more often.