Hi-tech-tv.com: Television technology news & answers

Question: I have a chance to get a 46 sony bravia or 52 olivia LCD.. same price approx: $1100 … any good/bad reviews?

Answer 1: I have a 37 in. Olivia LCD and have no complaints. I’m not an electronics expert, but the picture and sound seem great to us. My wife often turns the volume as high as it will go and there are no pops or crackles or anything like that.

Only negative is we’ve never been able to get it to work with a universal remote (ie: comcast remote, one4All remote). Apparently they are secretive with their remote codes.

Answer 2: The remote thing is a huge pain in the ass, otherwise, I love ours.

Answer 3: Love my Olevia and did a lot of research on them before I bought it a cpl yrs ago. There was an interesting piece in the TIMES where they explained that Olevia and LG for example had their chassis and other parts built by Synatx Brillan etc. Consumer Reports rated Olevia the best for the $ at the time as well. Of course like most HD the sound basically sucks so you need to get a cpl external speakers and a woofer for the floor. I use the JBL creature speakers made for computers and NOT as $ as these $$$ systems they push in the Audio stores. The sound is great.

Answer 4: I have a 37″ LCD. Love it. Has a better picture than most of my family friends’ higher priced, more name brand TV’s. They all say it when they come over for games etc. I have had it for 2 years and really can’t recommend it enough.

Answer 5: Are you comparing a low end Sony to a high end Olevia? Comparing brands is useless, without knowing which models. Every brand has their ‘entry level, good, better, and best”. So those with an Olevia who say there’s blows away their neighbors brand name TV, there could be your explanation.

Food for thought though, I believe Olevia went bankrupt a while ago? If so, understand your warranty may be worth the paper it is written on.

Question: Should I buy LCD or Plasma HDTV? What’s the difference?

Answer #1: I think that plasma is better in low light viewing ares and will provide deeper, sharper blacks. LCD is better in lighted viewing areas. One of the factors in play is that the plasma has a glass screen like a regular TV and is more susceptible to glare. The LCD has a sort of matte finish which cuts glare. I’m also told that the issue of limited screen life for plasmas is no longer applicable. They last something like 40,000 hours which is something like 27 years if you watch it four hours a day 365 days a year. I have been shopping for a 42 inch set lately and haven’t settled on one, but the Samsungs look the best to me for picture quality.

Answer 2: I should just record this stock answer since it comes up so often!

I’ve got both – one 37″ LCD and one 50″ plasma. Both HD, both manufactured around the same time. Here’s how I break them down:

- Size – both slim, the plasma is much heavier than the LCD
- Brightness – the plasma is brighter (by far), but the glass screen is reflective, whereas the LCD is not
- Response time – LCDs are a bit less responsive than plasma displays, only really a problem if you’re going to watch things with constant movement (didn’t notice it so much in sporting events, but a problem with some video games)
- Color depth – Plasma had better color depth (better black levels) than the LCD
- Viewing angle – you get almost 180 degrees out of the plasma, considerably less with the LCD
- Burn-in/longevity – Plasmas are greatly improved over what they were, and you can be sure that either will outlast it’s technology usefulness (or break before they had a chance to die from use LCD here if you plan on watching something with very static images (like all-day stock ticker, or closed-captioning)

For my money, I like the plasma better, but LCDs have been creeping up. I don’t think you can go wrong with either unless weight, ambient lighting, or burn-in are serious considerations to you. Whatever you do, avoid the DLP or other projection sets (due to replacing bulbs and bulb costs) unless you need more than a 50″ display.

Answer 3: I Have Both 56″ JVC LCOS (LCD) and a 42″ Vizio plasma. Both have advantages and disadvantages. My JVC is a great TV.very highly regarded. The Vizio is for the back room, and it’s nice for the price ($1,200). Anyway, do look at them, shop around, read some review, but ultimately, make your own choice. The only piece of advice I’ll give you is, when in doubt, go with the bigger size.

Question: I have heard of people buying hdmi cables for really cheap online just wondering where people have bought theres and for how much. And if these are just as good as the $100 ones at best buy ect.?

Answer 1: You can get them for under 10 bucks i think. go to monoprice.com. the cable business is the biggest scam out there. monoprice.com. use it for everything cable related:)

Answer 2: Note sure if you’ve bought the TV yet, but my new Panasonic HDTV came with the cables.

Answer 3: You can’t really beat monoprice.com and yes, they’re every bit as good as overpriced Monster cables. Certainly the answer. Great products. Great service. Great shipping times. I ordered 2 optical cables for a new CD player and I got them in 2 days. I have gotten optical, coaxial, and HDMI cables from there. All great quality without crappy prices.

Answer 4: I did the stupid Circuit City Monsters for $90. Hey, who’s more stupid than me?

Answer 5: Yes you can get cables for less, and I have checked out monosite, but if you scan through it you will notice even they have a large array of prices from 6.00 to 131.00. the prices are affected by many things…is it realistic to pay 100.00 for Monster cables? You can find them online for much cheaper than in the retail store but i sell all types of HDMI and Monster is by far the best quality i have used…read the description on their website monstercable.com….cheaper isnt always the way to go…just research the lower prices of monster…its worth it.

Answer 6: Monster is an f’n ripoff and the only reason I have a few monster cables is because I bought them on Amazon for like 85% off.

Answer 7: It’s insane how much of a scam the cable industry is. sickening. i work in the gaming industry, where that sort of stuff is important. i don’t think i’ve ever seen a monster cable anywhere.

Answer 8: Anyone who thinks monster isnt worth it, has either never done side by side comparisson or has no clue. I am not going to type a 10 page letter on why they are better… 30-40$$ is worth it for a monster HDMI…plus they offer lifetime warranty as long as you keep the package. it it ever fails, it is replaced for free

Answer 9: One more for monoprice… It has been said before and I will say it again…HDMI is digital. On or Off. One or Zero. There is no signal degrading. It either works or it doesn’t, I redid my entertainment room and hid all the equipment in the closet this past January…everything is running on 10-30ft monoprice cables from wherever it is in the room to the special away-from-the-eye spot. All the speakers, the receiver, the flatscreen,the dvd, the directv,the cd player, everything….all monoprice. Trust me on the quality.

Answer 10: There are different grades of cable, yes all will work, but sheilding and internal filling are a factor

Answer 11: I have some experience with RF and microwave transmission and can tell you this about cables: With an analog signal, quality is very important. Get the better stuff and you will notice a difference. Digital signals are just binary digits (usually ranging 0-5vdc) sent thru a cable and yes, they either make it or do not. If they are making it thru the cable there is no way to improve the quality “through the cable”. The only thing left is for superior DSP, which hi quality (and cost) cables have NOTHING to do with.

Question: Can anyone give me some insight on the good and bad of mounting a plasma/LCD over a fireplace? My sister just purchased her first home, its a nice little town home but the family room is small so the base case scenario is mounting the TV over the fireplace….we have not yet purchased the unit so if there is a benefit to LCD over plasma or the other way around, that arrangement can be made. So yeah, if anyone has done this, or has any research on the topic, let me know if its ok to have the TV mounted with the fireplace on, how high above it it could/should be, etc. Thank in advance for all your help.

Answer 1: It can definitely be done. I think the issue is the heat. Use a thermometer to make sure where the TV will go never gets above 90 degrees F or the Plasma TV works harder to cool itself, thus shortening the overall lifespan. That’s only if the TV is on and only if it’s on for longer than a few minutes.

Answer 2: They did it on “This Old House” once.. they built a nice cabinet above the fireplace so the unit would be hidden when not used. it was really nice

Answer 3: I built a new mantle to put my LCD on. We only use our fireplace once in a while, so heat isn’t an issue.

Answer 4: I did it last year. Have a 60″ Pioneer Plasma, 145 lbs, mounted in the recessed area of the fireplace. Installed the mounting bracket into the studs behind the surface area. The bracket has an adjustable tilt so viewing is directly into the room. Mine is set for about 15 degrees down. Closest chair is 7 feet from the screen and the sofa is 10 to 12 feet away. .
The fireplace is gas so heat is not an issue in the Plasma area. Plasma does put off a fair amount of heat but not enough to be concerned with. Those CSI city views are absoutely breathtaking in HD.

Answer 5: You’re not supposed to put it over a live fire place as soot will be your enemy, but a gas one you can, as long as you determine heat isn’t an issue.

Question: Just picked up an LG LCD television. When you are on a non-high definition channel and you see the pillar bars on either side of the picture, do you have to worry about burn-in? I worry that from watching a channel with pillar bars for hours might leave some image retention
Any other advice? So far I’m really digging the TV.

Answer 1: You don’t have to worry – LCD doesn’t have burn in. But there is a way to change the grey into black. I know when I changed the pillars from grey to black it made TV watching (on regular channels) a whole lot better and easier.

Answer 2: It’s very rare that burn in would occur on an LCD. I have Cablevision, and you can program the box to automatically switch to the optimal resolution depending on the channel you are watching (480i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p). Doing so will get rid of those pillar bars on the side when you watch a non-HD channel, without having to manually “stretch” the picture.

Answer 3: I know what they say about newer plasmas not having burn-in, but I still prefer LCD. I have seen new plasmas that still suffer from image retention. LCD will never give you a problem.

Answer 4: My Samsung plasma has anti burn in technology the eliminates it. Should be no problem with the set you got. LCD’s do not have burn in, to my knowledge – only LCD projections would. I wouldn’t worry about it. I play alot of videogames on my LCD, and I also have left the DirectTV menu on the screen for long stretches inadvertently. I’ve never seen any sign of burn-in.

Answer 5: I just purchased my second Panasonic plasma and the picture quality is amazing. I think HDMI cables also help. My other Panasonic is 3 years old and I don’t have any burn in effect. Just an FYI since you asked about LCD, but they should both be free from burn-in.

Answer 6: With the box I have from Cablevision (Scientific Atlanta), when the cable box is off, you press the Info and Guide buttons on the box simultaneously. This takes you to the HDTV setup wizard. Try that first, if it doesn’t work your user guide should have similar information.

Answer 7: LCD won’t burn but please don’t stretch a standard def picture. Not for any technical resaon, it just looks bad and it will annoy any vidiots who might be watching.

Question: What is the difference between dlp and lcd other than price?

Answer #1: One thing I love about my LCD is there is no glare, ever. I have a room with lots of outside light pouring in, but because LCDs don’t have a glass screne like the plasmas there is never any glare.

Answer #2: I don’t know why people won’t consider DLP — if you are hanging tv on wall the it is LCD vs Plasma but if it is going in place of old tv then DLP is way to go == it is less expensive and the picture absolutely rocks.

Answer #3: DLP is fine, but doesn’t have the wide viewing angle. DLP is a great technology, especially for the mega-huge sets (60″), but it still fails to match LCD or Plasma in terms of brightness or viewing angle. One of my favorite things about my LCD is that I can see it clearly and brightly, even from extreme angles. Makes it great for having a bunch of people over to watch a game.

Answer #4: I shoot HD and prefer DLP. Unless you want to hang it on a wall, DLP is the way to go. I have a 61-inch Samsung thats 3 years old and this viewing angle is not a horizontal issue – its a verticle issue. In my room the seating spans about 100 degrees and the picture is no worse at either end. However, if you stand up the quality dips a touch.
Who watches TV standing up?

Buy the largest TV you can afford or have room for. If you pass up on a 56-61 inch DLP for a 42 inch Plasma or LCD, and room or preference to hang it on a wall isn’t an issue, you’re making a mistake…in my opinion.

My 61-inch set now looks a lot smaller than it did when I bought it. Always get the biggest screen you can afford and if you have to move to DLP to get it, because you’ll spend a lot more for a plasma thats really big.

I just recently puchased a Samsund 1080 46″ LCD. I have seen a lot of good posts on HDTV’s. The question I have is, what is the best way to setup the picture ie contrast, sharpness, brightness, and tint. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer #1: I have Samsung 40″ LCD 1080p. I haven’t felt the need to adjust. Usually the manufactured pre-settings are perfect. But not alwats. Typically the manufacturer settings are geared towards in-store demos and may or may not be appropriate for your viewing area.

Answer #2: I use the Sound & Vision Home Theater Set-Up DVD.

Answer #3: Factory setting are rarely corect for your house. Buy a Spyder and redo the covergence on the set. Anyone who thinks their picture is perfect hasn’t had the convergence done. It’s worth every penny. Perhaps calibration is a better choice of words.

Answer #4: Convergence on an LCD set? Was his rear projection or direct display? Won’t be any convergence issues if it’s direct display. I’ll second buying something like Avia for setting the contrast and brightness to your room and liking. But convergence is way overkill for a home theater setup. If you were a photoshop guy who needed color correction so that his prints came out right, I could see it – but spending that when a $30 DVD can do just about the same is a waste of money (and likely time, since you’re going to need a PC in the same room, and software setup.)

You can buy Avia at Amazon where the used marketplace has them available for $20. It’s not a must-have, but if you want to optimize the set it’s a far better purchase than some of the accessory crap (Monster cables) that some people pay for.

I don’t know why people won’t consider DLP - if you are hanging the TV on wall the it is LCD vs Plasma but if it is going in place of old tv then DLP is way to go becuase it is less expensive and picture absolutely rocks. Don’t you agree?

Answer #1: DLP is fine, but doesn’t have the wide viewing angle. DLP is a great technology, especially for the mega-huge sets (60″), but it still fails to match LCD or Plasma in terms of brightness or viewing angle. One of my favorite things about my LCD is that I can see it clearly and brightly, even from extreme angles. Makes it great for having a bunch of people over to watch a game.

Answer #2: I agree: I shoot HD and prefer DLP. Unless you want to hang it on a wall, DLP is the way to go. I have a 61-inch Samsung thats 3 years old and this viewing angle is not a horizontal issue…its a verticle issue. In my room the seating spans about 100 degrees and the picture is no worse at either end. However, if you stand up the quality dips a touch.
Who watches TV standing up?

Buy the largest TV you can afford or have room for. If you pass up on a 56-61 inch DLP for a 42 inch Plasma or LCD, and room or preference to hang it on a wall isn’t an issue, you’re making a mistake in my opinion.

My 61-inch set now looks a lot smaller than it did when I bought it. Always get the biggest screen you can afford and if you have to move to DLP to get it, because you’ll spend a lot more for a plasma thats really big, make the move. You won’t be sorry.

Answer #3: I asked this question a while ago and my buddy ended up getting a rear projection LCD 61 inch floor model that was retured at Best Buy. He bought it for 1900 and got a 500 dollar best buy card also – Can’t beat that deal. That TV is beautiful. You really can’t go wrong.

Answer #4: I went to buy the Panasonic 50″ plasma the other day and changed my mind when I saw the Samsung 46″ LCD. Sharper, brighter picture IMO. Best Buy was asking $2995, but I found it online for $1950 delivered and no tax. I also asked several people in the TV department what they thought had the best picture and they said the Sony or Samsung LCD. (same screen and the Samsung was much less expensive) I called Directv and asked them what it would cost me to get HD from them and they said $99 for the receiver rental and $10 a month. I asked if they could give me the receiver for free, and they said they would.

Answer #5: I had it explained to me like this: that plasma is better in low light viewing ares and will provide deeper, sharper blacks. LCD is better in lighted viewing areas. One of the factors in play is that the plasma has a glass screen like a regular TV and is more susceptible to glare. The LCD has a sort of matte finish which cuts glare. I’m also told that the issue of limited screen life for plasmas is no longer applicable. They last something like 40,000 hours which is something like 27 years if you watch it four hours a day 365 days a year. I have been shopping for a 42 inch set lately and haven’t settled on one, but the Samsungs look the best to me for picture quality.

I should just record this stock answer since it comes up so often. I’ve got both – one 37″ LCD and one 50″ plasma. Both HD, both manufactured around the same time. Here’s how I break them down:

- Size – both slim, the plasma is much heavier than the LCD
- Brightness – the plasma is brighter (by far), but the glass screen is reflective, whereas the LCD is not
- Response time – LCDs are a bit less responsive than plasma displays, only really a problem if you’re going to watch things with constant movement (didn’t notice it so much in sporting events, but a problem with some video games)
- Color depth – Plasma had better color depth (better black levels) than the LCD
- Viewing angle – you get almost 180 degrees out of the plasma, considerably less with the LCD
- Burn-in/longevity – Plasmas are greatly improved over what they were, and you can be sure that either will outlast it’s technology usefulness (or break before they had a chance to die from use LCD here if you plan on watching something with very static images (like all-day stock ticker, or closed-captioning)

For my money, I like the plasma better, but LCDs have been creeping up. I don’t think you can go wrong with either unless weight, ambient lighting, or burn-in are serious considerations to you. Whatever you do, avoid the DLP or other projection sets (due to replacing bulbs and bulb costs) unless you need more than a 50″ display.

Answer #6: Please take a look at the new-gen Sony. The 60″ model number is KDS-R60xbr2, the 70″ is KDS-R70xbr2, they’re incredibly clear for extra large screens. I would suggest Sunday while there broadcasting a game in HD. Their LCD and crisp, plasma naturally has a slight edge on brightness, however these sets will blow your socks off. Prices on the 60″ run between $3200 and $4300 on-line. The 70″ runs over $5000 to $6500. There’s a large gap in price for 10″… I’m going to go with the 60″.

Answer #7: I shoot HD and prefer DLP. Unless you want to hang it on a wall, DLP is the way to go. I have a 61-inch Samsung thats 3 years old and this viewing angle is not a horizontal issue – it’s a verticle issue. In my room the seating spans about 100 degrees and the picture is no worse at either end. However, if you stand up the quality dips a touch.
Who watches TV standing up?

Buy the largest TV you can afford or have room for. If you pass up on a 56-61 inch DLP for a 42 inch Plasma or LCD, and room or preference to hang it on a wall isn’t an issue, you’re making a mistake in my opinion.

My 61-inch set now looks a lot smaller than it did when I bought it. Always get the biggest screen you can afford and it is OK if you have to move to DLP to get it, because you’ll spend a lot more for a plasma thats really big. Make the move to DLP – You won’t be sorry.

Question about widescreen TVs: I’m going to buy my 1st widescreen, a small 32″ LCD Samsung. I’ve seen quite a few widescreen TVs mostly in public places that seem to have the aspect ratio screwed up. Specifically, people appear way too short and wide. Is there an adjustment on these TV’s to correct for this?

Answer #1: Thats a 4:3 picture : FilmGiant : 3/4/07 12:21 AM
in STRETCH MODE made to fit a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. In other words, the store was not feeding the monitor an HD widescreen signal.
There are generally 3 modes. Wide, Stretch and ZOOM. Wide is normal for an HD signal but SD signals will appear with letterboxing on the left and right of the picture. To fill the screen, some people use the stretch mode. This stretches the SD signal (4:3) to fill the space, making people look short and fat.

The ZOOM mode will actually ZOOM into the 4:3 image, filling the screen but cutting off heads and feet slightly, as well as info crawls at the bottom of the screen.

Sooooo….if you want to watch SD shows on and HD set, you’re either going to have short fat people, people with trimmed heads and feet, or black letterboxing on the right and left of picture.

Answer #2: Stretching depends on your set. A high end Sony which I have does a great job in stretch mode. You really can’t tell the difference most of the time as it looks like a good standard non HD set. HD signals aren’t in stretch mode; the native resolution is 720p,1080i,16×9,and that is in a full screen mode on your HD set.

Some sets only stretch a portion of the screen, usually the portion where the least action occurs on both sides of center. But when an image passes from right to left or vice versa across the entire screen there are always telltale signs in my experience.

Answer #3: I have the 3251D, which is one of the 32″ Samsungs. I love it. If you leave it in 16:9 mode, it detects whether or not the signal is HD/widescreen or not. It will add the “side” letterboxes like the picture shown above when the signal is in 4:3. I haven’t had any channels that I found it automatically stretches. In short, I love mine (have had it since Novemeber) and I have found absolutley nothing bad about it. the 51D has a 4000:1 contrast ratio and has tons of options/other inputs.

Answer #4: I have the 40″ Samsung LCD. It’s a great set. Went with LCD because it’s located right next to a large window and the reflection off a Plasma TV would be terrible. The one thing I don’t like about the Samsung LCD is the delay/distortion on fast moving images. Also if you put the volume fairly high you get distortion out of the speakers.

Answer #5: I have the Sammy 3251d also, with Cablevision’s HD DVR box. The box has a setup wizard where you can select resolutions to output. When you do this, none of the SD channels will have bars on the side, and the images do not appear distorted. When you switch to a HD channel, the box will change resolutions automatically. There will no longer be the need to use the stretch option on your TV.

Plasma or LCD? We’re in the process of buying a new TV. We want a wall mount in the 42 +/- inch range. I’m hearing conflicting stories on LCD and plasma TVs but the LCD appears to be the better choice. Opinions?

Answer #1: Check out CNET. They’ve always got good info on this kind of stuff. I’m obsessed with DLP.

Answer #2: LCD’s are really closing the gap. We have a Plasma, my brother has an LCD. Honestly, the difference isnt that huge, but the price difference is.

Answer #3: I just got a new Samsung 40″ LCD. A new model just came out so I got the “old” one for $1450. Perfect size for my living room. I love it. Plus its not a huge piece of equipment
I keep hearing about Plasma wearing out after long usage. Not sure if thats correct about new ones, but it seems the industry is leaning towards LCD now. DLP is great if you want a bigger set for less money.

Answer #4: I’m looking at a Sharp 37 in. LCD TV/Integrated HDTV, AQUOS® Liquid Crystal Television, Widescreen for $1530. Just remember to get the most out of your system, HDMI cables are needed. They run anywhere from 50-100 bucks for 3 feet. Not sure if cable/sat companies offer these with their HD packages.

Answer #5: I fell in love with the 60″ panasonic LCD at best buy…. I just don’t have $7000 to buy it.

Answer #6: You can purchase an inexpensive, good quality HDMI cable from monoprice or bluejeans. As far as LCD or plasma, I have a Samsung LCD and I love it. A friend of mine has a Pioneer plasma and I was disappointed by the picture, although I’m pretty sure it’s not properly calibrated.

Answer #7: I have LCD 42″ Sony Grand Wega…I paid $1700 earlier this year, you can pick up it for $1200 or less now. I love it.

Answer #8: I bought a flat panel Panasonic 42-inch plasma last week and had it installed on a swivel bracket on the wall. It is sweeeet. Very happy with it thus far.

Answer #9: It’s all about what type of room you are putting it in.
Plasma’s have a truer “black” than LCD’s, but I personally find the LCD screen to be much brighter. If you are buying it to put in a dark room, as a sort of movie room, Plasma might be a better bet. For us, we were putting it in our family room, which has a lot of windows and therefore a lot of glare, and the LCD screen’s brightness really helps minimize glare.