Samsung 56" Dlp Hdtv = Super Nice

[Alien7]

So today I came home to this! It's realllyyy reallyyy nice! Wow what a difference, I tell ya!

Here it is, enjoy...I know I am!

[MBJ]

Wow, that looks pretty sweet. I'm still stuck with my vintage 2000 JVC 32" tube TV (with S-Video input!!! ).

One of these days...

Anyway, congrats on the new set.

[Guest 420]

I'm jealous

[RangerXXX]

Looks nice i've been thinking about getting a dlp for my bedroom. Is it 1080p?

[Alien7]

Looks nice i've been thinking about getting a dlp for my bedroom. Is it 1080p?

We got 1080i

[Gnash]

That's extremely nice

[MBJ]

Just out of curiosity, what's the most visually impressive thing you have tried out on your new TV so far? I'll bet that the 360 looks good on it.

Are you planning to be an HD-DVD/Bluray early adopter?

I'm hesitant to get such a nice big TV myself as I am worried that it will magnify all of the flaws in my video. It's an ignorance is bliss policy. I like to call it "what I can't see won't bug me".

[RangerXXX]

Just out of curiosity, what's the most visually impressive thing you have tried out on your new TV so far? I'll bet that the 360 looks good on it.

Are you planning to be an HD-DVD/Bluray early adopter?

I'm hesitant to get such a nice big TV myself as I am worried that it will magnify all of the flaws in my video. It's an ignorance is bliss policy. I like to call it "what I can't see won't bug me".

I have a theatre in my basement using a front projector that scales everything to 720p on a 96" screen and I think it looks really good for dvds.

[Guest 420]

I'm hesitant to get such a nice big TV myself as I am worried that it will magnify all of the flaws in my video. It's an ignorance is bliss policy. I like to call it "what I can't see won't bug me".

I have 100's of VCDs and I also have adopted the ignorance is bliss policy

[Alien7]

The XBox 360 looks really nice on it, the dvd's are cool too! Except the shows/dvds that are made for HDTV, I can definitely see a lot of flaws in people's faces. I didn't know how much makeup the Desperate Housewives really wore until now. LOL

We are thinking about the HD-DVD/Blueray when it comes out.

[MBJ]

I got an HD set of my own last weekend. It's a 52 inch Mitsubishi LCD projection set. I got the HD cable box and am in the process of upgrading some of my cables. DVDs look lovely on it. As far as HD-DVD/Bluray, however, I'm going to do my best to wait out the format war or wait until some company releases a combo player.

[jeffjenx]

How much was that bad boy?

[MBJ]

I picked mine up at a Memorial Day sale at CompUSA for $2000 (before tax) with 36 months no interest financing.

[EggmanEEA]

Nice choice of DLP's, Samsung has definitely upped their quality over the last 4-5 years and finally are producing quality stuff that is eating away at the higher-end consumer stuff like Sony, Pioneer, LG and Panasonic. (Yes, LG & Panny makes some damn fine stuff now)

I worked for a retail a/v shop for a few years and I'll tell you one thing if you're shopping for a big screen TV....WAIT FOR A SALE! TV's here in Canada up to 32" have less than 5% profit in the sale, they try to beef up the sale with high Gross Margin (GM) products like cleaners, cables, stands and accessories. A $50 cable could only cost the company $6, and they make up nicely for the low profit on the TV sale.

Over 32" is another ballpark, the profit in those bad boys can be as high as 40% (average is about 20%).

As a salesman I used to check the cost vs. sale price on stuff during "good sales" (usually xmas, boxing day, major holidays, back to school etc) and the stuff in flyers is just candy to get the people in the door, cause it doesn't make them a damn cent. They either hope to beef up the sale with accessories, or sell you something higher-end that might not be on sale but could be better in terms of quality, sound, or might even be better for your situation of what you're going to do with the TV.

If I can say one thing since you already bought the tv, do NOT be cheap on the cables, don't buy crappy cables and think your TV will make up for the crummy signal. Buy the middle-class cables, the highest quality ones just have more shielding and will only help if you're running more than 12' (doubtful).

If you have any questions please me know, this is one of the other areas of my expertise I can help out with

[EggmanEEA]

Hmm....had another look at your picture and just had to inquire...

Where is your 5.1 surround?

Please, PLEASE don't tell me you intend on watching movies on that bad boy and think you can get away with the 15 watt 2.1 system inside.....

If so, I will personally courier up a trout so you can smack your own self.

[MBJ]

If you have any questions please me know, this is one of the other areas of my expertise I can help out with

Eggman, Can you recommend a good HD upscaling DVD player? I am considering upgrading since my current player can't even do progressive scan. Also, how much of a difference is there between a component and an HDMI connection? I currently use an S-video cable to watch downloaded content on my set but since better connections are now possible with my new TV I am considering upgrading my connection. I have a pretty good video card (BFG GeForce 6600 GT OC) so I can either use component video or get a DVI to HDMI cable. The DVI option may be problematic since I need to run the cable about 25 feet and I have heard that there can be signal degradation in digital cables that are that long.

Any advice would be appreciated.

BTW, Here's what my new set looks like and I DO have a 5.1 surround setup.

[EggmanEEA]

Eggman, Can you recommend a good HD upscaling DVD player? I am considering upgrading since my current player can't even do progressive scan.

If I had to replace my Pioneer deck, i'd run out and try the following:

Sony DVP-NS70H (only one minor inconvenience of a 2-pixel wide bar at the very top of the screen in full-screen mode)

or,

Philips DVP5960/37

I say "try", since most retailers have a return policy of 7-14 days and should give you enough time to test it out to make sure you enjoy it. Remember, all upscaling really does is make the image look a bit sharper in higher resolution, its still a low-grade DVD with the annoyances of compression and jaggies.

Also, how much of a difference is there between a component and an HDMI connection?

Component is the best analog signal available, and having the best component cables will give you the best analog output if you're not using HDMI. I use it on my DVD player to my TV and the playback is incredible on my Pioneer 578a deck.

If you want to do upscaling with your hdmi-upscaling dvd player, you'll need to have an HDMI connection anyway. HDMI is better since its pure digital, and makes the biggest improvement on colour output and a rock-solid stable image on the screen. If you're moving up from s-video, its like night and day.

I currently use an S-video cable to watch downloaded content on my set but since better connections are now possible with my new TV I am considering upgrading my connection. I have a pretty good video card (BFG GeForce 6600 GT OC) so I can either use component video or get a DVI to HDMI cable. The DVI option may be problematic since I need to run the cable about 25 feet and I have heard that there can be signal degradation in digital cables that are that long.

Not at all. 20-25 feet is a typical "long" cable length and HDMI and DVI can both go that long without loss of signal (glitches). There are cables that can even go up to 50 feet but you'll pay a lot more for them and they can be harder to find (since they aren't usually needed by most consumers). The only thing I can say is buy quality cables from a good "certified" HDMI manufacturer (there's only a few that are certified: Monster, Sony, JAE, Audio Technica and a few others). IF you have to pay retail price for a 20-25' cable, expect to pay probably up to $200 for the best, and around $125 for the mid-line.

Be sure you know the difference between DVI-A (analog) and DVI-D (digital), and check which one is on your video card before buying a cable to match. Buying the wrong one (the pin-outs look almost identical) will result in no output.

Remember, in the end it all depends on the original source material as to how good it looks on the tv. If you have quality connections between all source and output, it'll make anything look as good as its supposed to. Its not going to make a 30 minute 50mb AVI look stellar! I assume you're downloading Hi-Def digital content (probably from a 1080i source such as hi-def tv episode captures).

[EggmanEEA]

Ah yes, I will show my unit as well, but forgive the crummy resolution, I don't have a digital camera so I had to use my dvd camcorder's snapshot mode to take it. It's a 36" Sony Wega Hi-Scan Trinitron FD (KV36HS510).

As you can see, the picture's very bright even for the cruddy snapshot I took. The only reason I went with this is that it was the best CRT on the market, its perfect for console gaming, and price was right too, got it for a hella discount on clearance.

Here's an actual "official" pic of it (although small, and not even on Sony's website anymore):

**addon** Ah yes, I also forgot to mention that it weighs in at a measly 236 LBS. Trust me, moving it off a moving truck, into the house, down a flight of stairs and across a 20' room is NOT fun. That's when you really appreciate how much a rear-projection or lcd/plasma weighs.

[MBJ]

Thanks for the advice. I may upgrade my player one of these days. THe models that you mentioned are very reasonably priced (especially compared to my first player which I bought for $400 in the summer of 1998 which had no component out, progressive scan, or DTS output).

It's nice to know that I don't have to worry about 25 foot digital cables. My video card has dual DVI-I which, if I am correct, can output either DVI-A or DVI-D.

Most of my downloaded content isn't Hi-Def (350 MB AVI files for 45 minute shows and 175 MB AVIs for 25 minute shows) so I don't know how much of a difference I'd see with those files by upgrading my connection from S-Video to Component or HDMI. I have a couple of HD downloads (700 MB for a 45 minute show) but I am having trouble getting the sound to play. I think it's because they have AC3 audio. For some reason the center channel is cut out so I get all of the surround effect and music with no dialogue. It's probably just a local setting I need to change. Maybe once I get that issue worked out I would get more benefit from an improved connection.

Finally, as far as "low-grade DVD with the annoyances of compression and jaggies" goes, I have a very hard time thinking along those lines as I am a DVD addict and have a collection of around 1700 discs. I need to continue thinking that standard DVDs are awesome for quite a while longer in order to maintain my sanity.

[EggmanEEA]

Considering myself a rather avid A/V junkie, even I won't be buying into the BD/HD war that's brewing already. I have about the same number of movies you do and I have a lot of watching still to do!

I'll only be interested when one of the formats is available for the PC in the higher capacity range (~50gb per disc) and has dropped in price. 25gb discs just doesnt cut it for me, regardless of price. I would love to take my archive and squeeze it down to 10% of its original size rather than 20%.

Although probably by the time I get around to doing that, you'll be able to find 500gb hard drives in boxes of Cracker Jacks.