HDTVs for Console Play

[London Geezer]

Black and LCD has not gotten to the point where they can be stated in the same sentence...

Well it really depends on the set. Saying that blacks are great on LCD in general is not true. Blacks are good on some (very few) LCDs. Still not perfect black in completely dark rooms though. So far it seems that out of all the new technologies, only SXRD can produce a totally black black. Only at a very strict viewing angle though.

The perfect TV just doesn't exist yet. There is always a trade-off. Maybe SED will fix things, LED LCDs will probably fix things before though.

 

[22psi]

I am thinking about this bad boy here:

Linkage

I am positive it will be less than $2500 in a year.

 

[turkish a. punkass]

im gonna be moving into a smaller downtown apartment next year and am looking into a decent 32 inch. are my only options LCD?

 

[22psi]

im gonna be moving into a smaller downtown apartment next year and am looking into a decent 32 inch. are my only options LCD?

Plasmas start out at 37" so your best bet is LCD or a good CRT (which is a great deal cheaper). If you're near a Costco, I highly recommend checking them out there.

 

[SugarCoat]

Personally I haven't seen a LCD TV that doesn't look like it's glowing in very dim lighting.

I suppose it's just personal taste then. Some people rave over colours in one display over the other, but I never saw the big deal there. Inky blacks are something I really want. Many people drool over monitors that I would never replace my CRT with due to blacks.

Do you ever watch your screen with the lights off? All the recent popular Dell monitors, for example, are woefully inadequate to me for entertainment (TV, movies, gaming) in the dark. For regular work in normal lighting, however, they're fine. I haven't seen the Sony X-Black monitors in the dark, however. I'm pretty curious about what they look like.

Dell monitors strike me as cheaply built, which they are because they're mass produced for a huge OEM which basically gives the things away for free with their desktops. The larger wide screen ones arent any different in terms of component quality. If thats your benchmark then thats your problem. And i'd wager to say just a bit more then 60% of my entertainment (TV/Gaming) is done in a completely dark room. Believe me, if my blacks were glowing i'd notice it. You may be a videophile, in which case LCDs will problably never satisfy since color quality is high up there for people like that, but they have improved leaps and bounds over what they once were.

 

[Dizzy]

On the low end I just got this from Amazon for my bedroom:

http://promotions.amazon.com/gp/pro...e=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&n=172282&s=electronics

I got for $200.00 so I can complain about the price will see how it works. I normally play like 3 - 4 feet from the screen.

 

[Mintmaster]

Black and LCD has not gotten to the point where they can be stated in the same sentence...

Thank you. RP LCD is even worse. Can't believe how much Sony pushed 3LCD.

If thats your benchmark then thats your problem.

They aren't. Dell's are woefully inadequate, better ones are still inadequate, and the very best I haven't seen. Even the sharp aquos TV's don't look that hot to me. BTW, why don't you tell me which model you have? I'll keep an eye out for it along with the X-Blacks from Sony.

Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure that those I have seen are representative of 90% of LCD monitor/TV's sold. Until good blacks get to the mainstream, I don't think any of us are out of line in denigrating LCDs for this reason.

You may be a videophile, in which case LCDs will problably never satisfy since color quality is high up there for people like that, but they have improved leaps and bounds over what they once were.

Nah, like I said, I'm not that fussy about colour (unless it's oversaturated and looks stupid). It just really bothers me much more than others when black isn't black.

I do agree, though, that they've improved leaps and bounds. A professor I was talking to about OLEDS remarked how it's amazing what happens when an industry makes a solid push behind a rather crap display technology.

 

[Mintmaster]

Well it really depends on the set. Saying that blacks are great on LCD in general is not true. Blacks are good on some (very few) LCDs. Still not perfect black in completely dark rooms though. So far it seems that out of all the new technologies, only SXRD can produce a totally black black. Only at a very strict viewing angle though.

DLP is a pretty close second. The other thing is that while SXRD can do totally black when the entire screen is black, it's ANSI contrast could use some improvement. I think it's because Sony uses a dynamic iris.

DLP looks like the most promising for ANSI contrast, and when you couple it with a fast, bright light source (like LED or lasers) then it can take over in on/off contrast and also lose all the cons it has (esp. dithering & rainbows).

Here's a great article I googled up with good contrast ratio measurements:
http://www.hometheatermag.com/rearprojectiontvs/206faceoff/index.html (BTW the A2000 SXRD is about the same as the XBR1)
I want both to be high. 500:1 ANSI, 5000:1 on/off. DLP is close enough, but I see rainbows.

The perfect TV just doesn't exist yet. There is always a trade-off. Maybe SED will fix things, LED LCDs will probably fix things before though.

SED looks like it'll be many years before they get down in cost, and I bet OLED will be cheaper then. After numerous delays, it's still going to come out at a price of $10k in 2008.

 

[Citrous]

I use a Mitsubishi 65" DLP setup. It supports all the way up to 1080p. I've never seen a rainbow effect, and the viewing angle issue only becoms apparent at like a 80+ degree angle. I mean I have to be basically directly to the side of the thing to even notice a change, and at that point the image is totally distorted by the perspective in the first place.

I'm looking over my shoulder right now at what is by my estimation a 50-55 degree angle and the thing looks awesome.

When I plugged my computer into it to try some stuff out and watch some Heroes torrents, it performed admirably. One of my friends was claming BF2142 would suffer due to the refresh rate, he was sorely mistaken. BF2142 looked completely awesome, and the only reason I still dont play it on the screen is because I don't have a wireless keyboard and mouse, and playing while sitting on the floor is not that much fun. Very good to show off the picture quality though.

Happy Gaming!

 

[Ty]

DLPs don't have a horizontal viewing angle problem but a vertical one.