LCD and Plasma Bargains and Discussions thread

[PostmanPot]

IMHO FULL HD LCD should be compared to FULL HD Plasma. But because of FULL HD Plasma still being expensive, I agree that HD Ready plasma is still an option.

Yeah when it comes to price and resolution only, you can only compare 46" LCD to 51" plasma. But this is the thing... 40" FHD LCD vs 51" HDR plasma.

Do you think resolution is important when sitting further away? If you sat further away, what do you think would add to your experience more: A smaller FHD 40" LCD, or a huge 51" HD Ready plasma that will give better overall picture quality under the right conditions?

(For Roman: Except when viewing up close and judging only on resolution, which is not the case in this scenario!)

[BlackWasp]

Sure. But if you are a bit strapped, watch mainly SD when you bother watching at all, then HD ready plasma will give you an excellent PQ.

Also, not everyone wants to go down the full HD (tv,blu-ray, pvr etc) route even if they can afford it, because not everyone places such great importance on their tv. To many watching tv is an occasional activity and spending a bundle on it is pointless.

I have to agree with you. I comes down to "What do you want to use the TV for", much like someone buying a notebook, first question I ask is "What do you want to use the notebook for". It's no use buying a top of the range R30,000 DELL, if all you are going to do is update a spreadsheet, type a letter now and then, and read your e-mails. Then a R3000 Gigabyte notebook will be just fine. Of course there are always exceptions like people who insist having the best, or a certain brand, etc.

That being said, I agree with also with Roman in that your 5-6 HD channels on HDPVR covers most of my viewing. And I am glad I bought a FULL HD LCD instead of a HD Ready Plasma. Yes sure, I watch Frasier and Fresh prince on SONY channel, and my kids watch 301-305, but thats fine. Most of our movies I can record in Full HD on MM1HD or rent something on Boxoffice in HD or watch a blueray movie.

Thats not to say there is no place for HR Ready plasma, as you said, if you mainly watch SD content.

For an average user like myself, I will always suggest to others to rather buy a FULL HD set for 5-6K like the LA46d550, 47lk530 etc because I can talk from experience. But by all means, if you have the R80,000 to spend on a top of the range set, fee free. Again, each person have different budget and requirements.

I can just talk from personal experience, and I must say, being able to watch content in Full HD, opens up a new world.

[BlackWasp]

FHD 40" LCD, or a huge 51" HD Ready plasma

In that scenario I would go for the plasma, if equally priced.

[PostmanPot]

I can just talk from personal experience, and I must say, being able to watch content in Full HD, opens up a new world.

Have you compared on a 720p set?

[BlackWasp]

Have you compared on a 720p set?

No, but wish I had. I want to see if the difference is visible to my eyes. But hey, like most people if I had to choose between a dual core cpu notebook/smartphone or or a quadcore, I will rather go for the quadcore if the price is only fractionally more, even though I will not be able to physically see the difference.

[Chingha]

All this talk of the HD PVR, can someone confirm that the output of it IS 1080?

My understanding is that they only output in 720p, which if true, makes alot of this noise irrelevant...

[Roman4604]

All this talk of the HD PVR, can someone confirm that the output of it IS 1080?

My understanding is that they only output in 720p, which if true, makes alot of this noise irrelevant...

The HDPVR's output via HDMI is whatever you set it to. Default is 1080i though, which matches the 1080i DVB-S/MPEG2 stream which MC broadcasts for the HD channels.

[BlackWasp]

All this talk of the HD PVR, can someone confirm that the output of it IS 1080?

My understanding is that they only output in 720p, which if true, makes alot of this noise irrelevant...

1080i afaik, experts please confirm.

[Roman4604]

I can just talk from personal experience, and I must say, being able to watch content in Full HD, opens up a new world.

What I've been trying to convey all along.

Will try to restate my opinion/experience in a slightly different way using a common type scenario (mine a while ago) . Lets say you have a 29" CRT TV with a DSTV decoder (premium bouquet) and you want to upgrade, here are some choices based on reasonable spend range ...

1. Buy a 40/2" 1080p LCD/LED > Cost = T, Best visual experience diff vs. CRT = -1
2. Buy 42/3" HD-Ready Plasma > Cost = T, Best visual experience diff vs. CRT = +1
3. Buy 42/3" HD-Ready Plasma + HDPVR > Cost = T+H, Best visual experience diff vs. CRT = +2
4. Buy a 40/2" 1080p LCD/LED + HDPVR > Cost = T+H, Best visual experience diff vs. CRT = +5

So while option 4. is not the cheapest, in my opinion the radical shift in visual experience (obviously on the HD channels) is so vast compared to the others that in relative terms its the best value proposition. While option 2. & 3. provide increasingly nice upgrades neither can match the absolute wow factor that comes from 2MP 1080p watched natively.

You can argue its not percievable from incorrect distances, but this does not mean its not there. One just has to chose to want to experience it by sitting appropriately or if one can squezze a bit more, buy a larger size screen. In my opinion its so worth it.

[Badprop_za]

Roman, it almost felt that you were talking to me. CRT example is my current set-up!

I waited / saved a bit longer though to get a 46"+ tv.

[Chingha]

Turns out I was correct:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DStv#HD

How does this change all the chatter about how much better the HD channels look on non native resolution screens?

[Roman4604]

I waited / saved a bit longer though to get a 46"+ tv.

Hopefully you've kept a bit extra for the HDPVR. As I indicate above, driving a 1080p display with the analogue signal from a std DSTV decoder will seem like a step backwards.

[Roman4604]

Turns out I was correct:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DStv#HD

Shouldn't blindly believe everything you read on the net. DSTV forum moderators make it pretty clear MC broadcasts HD almost exclusively in 1080i ...


http://forum.dstv.com/showpost.php?p=98509&postcount=32
http://forum.dstv.com/showpost.php?p=93034&postcount=12
http://forum.dstv.com/showpost.php?p=68856&postcount=84
http://forum.dstv.com/showpost.php?p=91035&postcount=16

[PostmanPot]

What I've been trying to convey all along.

Not entirely so - he hasn't compared on a 720p TV. You don't know that 720p would have been equally world-opening. Easy using it to suit your argument.

So while option 4. is not the cheapest, in my opinion the radical shift in visual experience (obviously on the HD channels) is so vast compared to the others that in relative terms its the best value proposition. While option 2. & 3. provide increasingly nice upgrades neither can match the absolute wow factor that comes from 2MP 1080p watched natively.

You can argue its not percievable from incorrect distances, but this does not mean its not there. One just has to chose to want to experience it by sitting appropriately or if one can squezze a bit more, buy a larger size screen. In my opinion its so worth it.

Why eould that be your opinion? It's a fact. It's also a fact that the obvious superior viewing experience can only be noticed from closer viewing distances.

Once again, advising smaller FHD over larger HD Ready, just because it's there. Let alone whether the viewer would notice it, or whether they would benefit from larger size and better picture quality instead of resolution.

[captain_flush]

Hey guys

Bought this TV a while ago UA40D5500, for R6k from Dion Wired, was valued at R8k.

Long-story-short, TV has LED bleeding, finally getting a credit. Dion Wired have agreed to give me a discount on next purchase because the only reason I bought the TV was because of the special (which is nice of them), but now I don't know what to get.

-I see the new E series, any good?
-Keen to get a 46" if possible, maybe pay a little extra, but not impressed with Dion's prices, or am I wrong?
-Should I rather fight to get my cash back and rather buy something else from a different place, e.g Plasma?

Thanks very much for any input you may have.

Sean