[WeeJavaDude]

Well I thought I would through a few words in after a week of viewing. I have the 60" version and I am waiting for my HD receiver to arrive. I got a Yamaha DVD-P920 and have watched a total of one DVD and a lot of shots from Lord of the Rings and Braveheart. Have not Avia tuned it since i am waiting for my replacement (I am the guy with the red blotch).


DVD quality: Very film like. My wife commented that it was like watching a real movie. This was in mild mode and we did have all the lights off. You can sure see the black not black in this environement. The DVD quality was great!. I am not sure about progressive vs. noprogressive. Though there is a difference, it is in the details and some might not find it a big deal. I am glad I went progressive, but I am not sure everyone would feel that way.. Component is a must for DVD.



Dish Picture: Not great at 60". Some channels better than other and locals where I am are horriable. I have a HD Receiver on its way.


I am happy with the viewing angles and how it handles the glare in my room..


Remote: Thought nice looking really lacks in support. Seems to support ever VCR in the planet and only about 5 DVD players. Gotta ask the question, how many people are going to be watching VHS tapes on this bad boy? There is no support from what I can tell for the Dish receiver so for a TV of this caliber and a remote as cool as this I am disappointed that it will not be the remote of choice in the house and will be most likely put in the door and only used on special occassions.


Viewing Modes: I am still trying to figure this out. I know there are a lot of wide screen formats floating around but I am confused why on some DVDs I cant get it to fill the screen unless I use Zoom mode. Why when I tun it to NOrmal the picture gets small? this does not make a lot of sense to me.. Anybody got any explanation of why when I got wide zoom on with a wide screen format DVD I still have bars on top? Not a big deal but it filling the whole screen up helps hide that haze.


Haze: It is there and you can see it rather easily in a dark room. Maybe I can minimize when I tune using Avia, but I doubt it. It does not bother me too much and I feel over time it will be something I am use to.


Conclusion: I am happy with the purchase and have a feeling that by the end of the year I will have everythign tuned up and be really happy.


Final Note: I am going to be getting a cabinet built for it as soon as I can find a place that will do it without asking for kings ransome. I will take pictures then and maybe a few now to show the funky stand I have. LOL.... All I have left know is to find an inwall home theater system that will fit my requirments. That has been harder to do than the TV.


Hopefully in a week or so I will have a selection down.


Cheers.

 

[eweiss]

Make sure your DVD player is set to 16:9 output, not letterbox or Pan and Scan.


For DVDs, if the DVD is "anamorphic" or "Enhanced for 16:9 TVs" (2 terms for the same thing), the amount of black bar space at the top and bottom will depend on the movie. If the movie was shot at 1.78:1 or 1.85:1, it will fill the screen. If it was shot at a wider aspect, e.g., 2.20:1 (Lawrence Of Arabia) or 2.35:1 (many movies these days: The Matrix, Time Machine, Lord of the Rings), you will have black space both top and bottom, because the movie image was shot narrower than your TV, which is 16:9 = 1.78:1.


If the DVD is a plain widescreen (non-anamorphic -- sometimes called "letterbox"), then use ZOOM to get it to fill the screen AS IF it was an anamorphic DVD. In other words, if it's 1.85:1 letterbox, it will fill the screen on Zoom. If it's 2.35:1 letterbox (The Abyss, e.g., I believe), it will have black bars/space top and bottom.


You can of course use Wide Zoom to fill the screen with some distortion, or Full with more distortion, when viewing non-anamorphic DVDs.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

WeeJavaDude, you are making the same assumtion many mistakenly do about widescreen sets. Not all movies have the same width, so some will be WIDER than your set and therefore, will have black bars top and bottom. Your TV is perfect for this, because it cannot be damaged by showing fixed images.

 

[WeeJavaDude]

Well it is now all making sense. Thanks for the fill in. I knew about the different formats but I thought maybe wide zoome would handle both the 4:3 format and other widescreen formats to fit the screen. I know understand why when you go to normal on a wide screen DVD it gets really small. Though it looks odd I guess that is the nature of the beast..


Thanks guys.

 

[motjes2]

I just got my 60" XBR. I am feeding the following signals to it.


Dish Network through a 721 PVR (S-Video)

HS2 panasonic DVD Recorder through S-Video only (I need to go and buy component cable to see how the progressive DVD looks like).


No HD signal right now. DVD is real good. Very theater like. The Dish Network SD signal is bad... I have used dbburns, Ed Van Belkou, umr, & maccur settings. These settings were proposed through out various threads. I am right now using these settings and tweaking a little bit more since most of these settings were designed for the 50". The modes that have used are mild, standard and pro. So far, I have opted pro for SD. I got the signal to look acceptable to my eye only if are able to watch further than 10 feet. Closer than 10 feet, I did not like. I will post my settings as soon as I am satisfied with it. One observation I must make is that some SD channels look acceptable with the settings but others do not. The worse so far has been ESPNEWS. The set looks incredible and I really like it. Kids are watching a movie right now, will let you know later.

 

[jdmcdonald]

I saw a 50" GWII at the CC last night, showing HDNet.


At first I was highly impressed. It clearly was sharper than any other

TV they had at the CC except the Panasonic PT40LC12. It looked

quite wonderful.


But after about three minutes, standing at about 9 feet from it,

a major disappointment. I started seeing terrible interlace artifacts.

If I moved my eye up or down the image broke up into alternating

dark and light lines ... just like a regular interlaced CRT TV.


How can this be on an LCD TV which is what, 768 pixels high?

I did not see this effect anywhere near as badly on any nearby

rear projection CRT TV. On most it simply was not there (too fuzzy

to see it?) I could not compare to the Panny LCD

because that set was only connected to a DVD player.


Doug McDonald

 

[umr]

jdmcdonald,


I have watched quite a bit of HD, DVD & SD material on my 50" now and have not seen the effect you saw. Do you think the sharpness was too high? My set looks very grainy if you boost the sharpness on HD material.

 

[jdmcdonald]

I didn't play with any settings on the GWII at CC. It certainly

did not have an "edge enhancement" look to it.


I should add that I have always been very sensitive to interlace

artifacts.



Doug McDonald

 

[lrc]

JD,


Be careful of what you see in the showroom. I've seen some good setups and I've seen some awful where they are feeding multiple sets the same garbage signal. The final CC I visited where I bought my set had an awful setup. But a prior CC had a good setup. All the difference in the world.


Also, remember these showrooms often set the picture up in "vivid" mode instead of "pro" which is 6500 Kelvin. Check the picture settings on the Sony.


I own a GWII and believe me the picture is awesome.


I have the Sony DirecTV SAT HD 200 and looking at HBO HD ch 509, there's a vast difference between it and the normal non-HD SAT channels.


Also, because I live in Atlanta, the OTA signals are pretty good here. I am running an attic antenna that I used for my prior analog TV's and it works well with HD. I'm quite impressed with the OTA signals.


Went from regular DVD to progressive and saw a big difference in my movies.


You will struggle setting up colors on this set with an NTSC signal but if you get your HD signal, it'll be easy.

 

[WeeJavaDude]

I am having the same experience as Irc. DVD Wonderful, HD great, Dish Signal Ouch!. Also not happy with regular signal over HD. Like i mentioned in a previous thread. It is blurry and most noticable when it is not a closeup of someone. I am using a Dish 6000

 

[ted08721]

Seen GW2 50" today with anolog cable (COMCAST) Was told set was not tweaked. Cable was split off between a few sets about 1/2 dozen or so not sure will have to go back for recount. No cable box fed straight into set.No amplication/signal booster.A few stations were pretty good/some were good /some were fair only one or two seemed unwatchable. CBS and ABC had college football games on it wasn't pretty,but commercials were not that bad. YES NETWORK which carries Yankees and Nets basketball was questionable but they were showing old tape game which of Yankees was not that hot but then again some of these tapes of older games don't look great on my 32" set. Will have to get back to see a live Nets game which look excellent on my 32" set. to do fair comparison. Pro mode was very dark/ standard was vey grainny/ vivid and mild looked the best. Did not check out any of the streched etc. modes just reg 4:3 don't really care for those modes on any 4:3 pic. When I first came in they had INDEPENDANCE DAY playing on that digital vhs tape did not have that wow feeling again this unit was not tweaked. Have seen dvd at other stores that did have that wow feeling. Even if these d-tapes had the wow feeling the price on machine playing tape was $999. no thank you I will keep my dvd player. Plus I can not see going back to vhs tape even if u gave me the player for free it would be like going back to 8 track tapes for music. I think UMR/ed/Eweiss etc. May have mentioned about tweaks for anolog signal not sure maybe they can restate if tweaks do help anolog signals from cable etc.

 

[mmereos]

Feel free to read my post about the GWII 60XBR800 on this thread.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=195650


I too was disappointed in this TV after spending a full day at several retail stores with it and my Ultimate TV and for the money do not think it's worth it.

 

[lrc]

And below, a slightly different view:


As the owner of a GWII 60", I can agree with some of what mmerios said. Other points, especially about DVD artifacts puzzle me.


When I took delivery of the GWII, I immediately fired the set up to my OTA NTSC analog signal. Most showrooms don't show you that kind of picture. Keep in mind, I also owned a 53" Sony XBR 4:3 set. This GWII replaces that unit.


The NTSC signal did not look as good as it did on my old Sony. I can't explain why. Blame it on the LCD technolgy? Over the next few days I was constantly adjusting and experimenting with the GW settings, using mostly live broadcasts to get the optimum. In those first couple of days the only signal input I had was OTA analog from a broadcast perspective. I was a bit disappointed with the PQ.


In parallel with that, I proceeded to watch several DVD movies. This is where I disagree with mmerios. I have yet to see a DVD movie on this set with artifacts. Every movie I have watched through my Sony Progressive Scan player has been awesome.


I then proceeded to hook up my Sony DirecTV SAT-HD200. It's still on the old round dish from my previous set up. DirecTV Sat channels looked comparable to how they looked on my old set. Tuned to HBO HD ch 509 and that picture was gorgeous!


Next I hooked up my attic antenna to the SAT-HD200, which had been used previously to view analog on the old XBR. I then took my first look at OTA HD local channels (there is a good selection here in Atlanta). These pictures are also gorgeous. Watch Jay Leno live and you get to see what real HD TV should look like.


Occasionally I get pixelation on windy days (trees interfere) with the digital OTA signal. Now comparing OTA analog to OTA HD; you don't ever want to watch NTSC analog again!


By the way, another move I made this week: I removed my VCR. It's going to Goodwill. I haven't recorded anything in years and sadly, my VHS video library will probably be given away. 240 lines of video is no longer acceptable. In fact, it's painful to watch on any set.


Bottom line, OTA analog channels don't look as good on this LCD set as my old XBR rear projector. This set begs for an HD input, which is what you see in the showrooms. Most sets can't compare on a side by side viewing with a quality input signal.


The light output from this set is extrodinary for a rear projector. I used to have to shut down the blinds in the family room to view in day time. Not anymore!


If the only OTA signal you've got is analog, there are probably other rear projectors that will manage to look significantly better. If you're moving beyond that to HD or even regular Satellite, then this set is the one to buy.

There are no bad DVD's movies for this set. If you experience DVD artifacts, check your player. Maybe that's what's not managing the signal properly.


In short, the GWII is a jump between CRT rear projector and plasma. Just don't try to view OTA analog. Garbage in, garbage out!

 

[motjes2]

I am also an owner of the 60" XBR with a Dish network 721. Some channels are watchable and others, like the locals, look worse. In my experience, so far, the watching distance is best at 10' or more. Also, pro mode or mild mode with the tweaks that umr did (in previous threads) is best. Before this screen I owned a 32" TV and I had to bring the colors down to watch Dish network because of compression.


I have no HD yet. So I can't comment on it. I have a Sony DVP-NS300 and a Panasonic HS2 DVD recorder (Which is a progressive DVD player). I have seen movies from both of these players and the Panasonic does a better job, of course. Again, the picture quality is very good with the DVD. I can not complaint. I am moving in getting HD OTA. See umr comments before and you can see what this unit is capable of. Again everybody is entitled to their opionion.


I am not happy with the dish signal but it's not the TV fault that Dish compresses its signal so much.

 

[ted08721]

Will be going back today to store where I can view 50"gw2 with sd cable signal any suggestions for pq? I did scan thru alot of posting and there are alot I might have missed some most do not deal with sd pic.

 

[lrc]

Ted,


Make sure the Picture is set to Pro or no higher than mild. A lot of showrooms set this up to vivid for strong color, mostly to impress the un-informed consumer.


Back the Picture, brightness, color and hue down somewhere below mid-range. Set Color temperature to neutral. Try to watch a sports game or other live program to evaluate this set's true potential.


Don't compare with an HD signal or you'll be disappointed.

 

[kelliot]

I've got an FP but am thinking of the GWII for the bedroom.


Is there a published on/off contrast ratio?


Also, for most viewing I one should keep a viewing ratio of at least 1.5:1. I suspect that the PQ is suffering because SDTV looks very soft. Also, I suspect that the de-interlacer/scalar could be improved.


Is the PJ lens assembly accessible and how are the controls? I bet a filter and some tweaking could improve the PQ.


Also, will it work with an HTPC?


How long does it take to turn on and warm up?

 

[lrc]

Ken,


Can't answer all your questions but the warm up on this set is about a minute to 90 seconds. Seems a little longer than my old CRT XBR. Could be a slow warm up to save the projector lamp which is consumer replaceable. I think it's a 200W lamp. Retails for $200 and has a 6000-8000 hour advertised life.


It would be extremely interesting to see what a good ISF person could do with this set if they were knowledgeable about this fairly new LCD technology.

 

[jdmcdonald]

Given the flack I took about my negative comments on the 50" GWII, I went back to CC and looked some more, this time with proper glasses, more time, a verified 1080i signal from HDNet, and a direct comparison with a Panasonic PT40LC12 (one of which I own).


My previous comments remain. There was only one other set

in the store (*), other than the GWII, that showed 1080i interlace artifacts.

I asked the salesman (who got my commission for the PT40LC12)

"what is the best CRT RPTV in the store" amd he pointed to a

Hitachi of some sort. And this set was the only one out of a couple of

dozen CRT RPTVs that showed interlace artifacts ... and it was also the

only one that was truly properly converged and was clearly the sharpest

of the CRT bunch.


(*) I did not look at plasmas


The GWII, if I scanned my eyes up and down, as one does of course

looking at sports, showed a breakup into fields. That is, it was

clearly producing, after the post-processing in my brain, 540

horizontal lines of brightness interleaved with 540 lines of black.

The is the "first order" of interlace artifacts. I very clearly

saw the black.


A first order interlace artifact in a set of this sort is, in the immortal

words of Consumer Reports, "unacceptable". And it is unnecessary.

I watched the exact same material on the Panny they had. The picture

was just as clear and sharp. But it simply had no interlace artifacts.

I could see none of any order on that set with the 1080i material

they were showing.


What progressive conversion chip does the Sony use? Perhaps

that is the difference .... perhaps the Panny does proper deinterlacing

of the 1080i into a 1080p signal before conversion to 720p and the

Sony does not.


I have not yet seen the Sammy DLP sets, but, given this experience,

I am very glad indeed that I did not wait for the GWII before buying

a Panny.


I know, I know, Rogo thinks the Panny is "unacceptable" because

of the admittedly somewhat gray blacks. But in my opinion that

is nowhere near as infuriating as the Sony's serious interlace

problem.


I should add that I have no idea how the GWII was set up. But I

know that with my Panny, no matter how I set it up I don't see

this effect. There was no other obvious sort of artifact on the

GWII ... there was no edge enhancement or other sort of egregious

stuff that I noticed. It was simply stunningly good except for this

one problem. I saw nothing except native 1080i video today on either set.


Doug McDonald

 

[ted08721]

Quote:

Originally posted by lrc Ted, Make sure the Picture is set to Pro or no higher than mild. A lot of showrooms set this up to vivid for strong color, mostly to impress the un-informed consumer. Back the Picture, brightness, color and hue down somewhere below mid-range. Set Color temperature to neutral. Try to watch a sports game or other live program to evaluate this set's true potential. Don't compare with an HD signal or you'll be disappointed.

I left for store before your post will try your adjustments next time I go back. But I did play with different modes as far as pro,mild etc. I do have to say today pq. of anolog stations looked alot better than yesterday. Perhaps yesterday cable was having a bad day ? or someone had made adjustments to set today? or maybe my eyes and brain had been malfunctioning?Anyway I left store today feeling way more positive about this set.