HD is just hype...

[pimpassdaddy]

Lol... Guys, sorry if I offended anyone... I was merely voicing an opinion...

What I merely meant is that, when I paid R22k for my old TV 8 or so years ago, it was considered an outlandish purchase, but I managed to buy a TV that didn't need a home theatre system with it, as it came with a Sub-Woofer, SRS Surround sound. Picture in Picture, 4x Inputs + 1 Componet Video etc. I was merely buying a future proof TV (to some degree), and even today, the picture quality on Super Sport, I could easily compare it to a LCD/Plasma TV today... In fact, I'd argue it looks better than an LCD TV, when watching an SD channel... Plus it's 84cm, so it's not small either.

That's why I spent a bit on this TV, as I don't expect to buy any other TV in the near future. This was the last TV purchase. I don't see myself needing any new TV for a long long long time. Looking back, an LCD would have been just fine. I can't even tell the difference between LED vs LCD.

For those that love their HD's, I respect your opinions, and value the input you've put across. I'm going to try and enjoy the TV a little more, I promise!!

The Mede8er though, is out of this world... I can't imagine anything better. Now that, I love love love!

 

[Broadcom]

Exactly. You're switching from a damn good HD CRT to LCD technology. Even with fancy bravia engines and LED sidelighting, its still an LCD and inferior to a good CRT in terms of picture quality. HD might make an LCD or plasma look rosier and fool your mind that the rest of the picture is not cr*p, but it is.
Wait for OLED or even FED which they say might even surpass the CRT.

 

[the graduate]

The flaw in your logic is that for the foreseeable future, you can live happily with the television technology you currently have without being forced to upgrade to HD.
You buy a new PC because if it's not already too outdated to play the latest games, it will be soon. If you want to continue playing every new game that comes out, you have no choice but to upgrade.
Likewise, new cellphones come out with new technology that would make your life difficult to live without. An example will be 4G.
CRT displays have faded out because more recent graphic cards no longer have the connectors for CRT, thereby forcing you to replace it.
However, I think it's more than safe to assume that regardless of the viewing technology you own, it's going to be MANY years before you suddenly find out that you cannot watch anything because you're forced to have HD.

Hmmm....This is typical South African mentality...and I blame the VW for this.....keeping the Citi-Golf in production for so long has kept us in the dark....

As much as you say there's a flaw in his argument, I will but rmind you of the quick transition from VHS to DVD.....it seemed as if it happened overnight...As soon a syou were able to buy a DVD player for R500, you were forced to upgrade the TV because there is NO RF-out on a DVD player....

Give it a year, then HD-ready LCDs will be in the R2-R3k bracket.....that's why I did not go big on the expense. I'm getting a 46'' Sony soon, just waiting for it to tip under the R9k mark.....LCD....will happen soon...

 

[pimpassdaddy]

Exactly. You're switching from a damn good HD CRT to LCD technology. Even with fancy bravia engines and LED sidelighting, its still an LCD and inferior to a good CRT in terms of picture quality. HD might make an LCD or plasma look rosier and fool your mind that the rest of the picture is not cr*p, but it is.
Wait for OLED or even FED which they say might even surpass the CRT.

Broadcom... after all this, you're the one guy that's made me feel better about my purchase.

I wasn't aware of the things you've just stated. Thank You. I feel much better, and don't then regret the purchase.

Thanx

 

[the graduate]

Actually, you think completely wrong.

The fact is that these days many of the older movies are subject to studio upscaling and re-releasing in blu-ray format. You can go out and buy just about anything in blu-ray now, I myself have Predator and Aliens. They are great movies, but the fact remains that they were not shot in digital 1080p or 4k cameras, or even imax cameras like some of the new movies. These movies on a nice screen compares with a good digitally upscaled dvd, say something like Gladiator run through the Reon scaler of one of the nicer Onkyo AVR's.

However, when you go plonk a proper blu-ray into a proper drive, like Avatar or Up, into a nice oppo BDP with the full DTS-HD MA soundtrack on a decent pair of 5.1 speakers (not your crappy R5000.00 sony's) on a proper 1080p 50" + screen, then suddenly you get it. there is a MASSIVE difference.

uhm.....no....not really..., but you are right to a certain degree....
blue-ray PS3 into a PrimaLuna Prologue 2 driving a pair of Dynaudio Focus 140s.....in stereo....you will look and look for the sub, surround speaker and center speaker but not find any....

the drawback is that it takes forever to set up the 2 channels stereo to focus properly.....but yeh, when its in the zone, its in the zone...!

EDIT: Ok, I am a bit of a "must be in stereo" freak...

 

[PeterCH]

I have everything (TV, Blu-ray player, receiver, speakers) except a HD-PVR. So i don't really use most of the stuff to its full potential, but i watched the super 14 final in HD, and it was very impressive. So i dont think its hype at all.

Maybe you need to watch some more HD content to appreciate.

Put it another way. Would you prefer to watch Aussie Rules football - Melbourne vs Sydney in HD or Super 14 Final in SD?

At the end of the day what counts the most is the content itself. If something is interesting - making it HD adds a little bit of value but the problem is that studios now think they can make any junk in HD and expect people to love it because - the explosions look cool.

 

[PeterCH]

Lol... Guys, sorry if I offended anyone... I was merely voicing an opinion...

What I merely meant is that, when I paid R22k for my old TV 8 or so years ago, it was considered an outlandish purchase, but I managed to buy a TV that didn't need a home theatre system with it, as it came with a Sub-Woofer, SRS Surround sound. Picture in Picture, 4x Inputs + 1 Componet Video etc. I was merely buying a future proof TV (to some degree), and even today, the picture quality on Super Sport, I could easily compare it to a LCD/Plasma TV today... In fact, I'd argue it looks better than an LCD TV, when watching an SD channel... Plus it's 84cm, so it's not small either.

That's why I spent a bit on this TV, as I don't expect to buy any other TV in the near future. This was the last TV purchase. I don't see myself needing any new TV for a long long long time. Looking back, an LCD would have been just fine. I can't even tell the difference between LED vs LCD.

For those that love their HD's, I respect your opinions, and value the input you've put across. I'm going to try and enjoy the TV a little more, I promise!!

The Mede8er though, is out of this world... I can't imagine anything better. Now that, I love love love!

Why are you apologising for hurting fanboys' opinions? I see a lot of people loving HD because it looks better - and it does - but you need a huge screen like 50inch minimum. A full HD projector still costs R27K and up and a decent FULL HD Plasma from Pany will set you back R30K. Then you need a good sound system and ideally you should have a dedicated room with soundproofing/sound modeling, good temperature (inverter airconditioner control - quiet too) and great seats. That all costs money if you really want 'full' benefits of HD.

Content, content, content. At present Criterion Collection mostly makes DVDs - the films you see in that collection are good even in 320x200 - because unlike cheap gimmicky Hollywood/Bollywood/Euro junk
they don't rely on gimmicks in lieu of cinematography, script and screenplay.

 

[Kheiron]

Hmmm....This is typical South African mentality...and I blame the VW for this.....keeping the Citi-Golf in production for so long has kept us in the dark....

As much as you say there's a flaw in his argument, I will but rmind you of the quick transition from VHS to DVD.....it seemed as if it happened overnight...As soon a syou were able to buy a DVD player for R500, you were forced to upgrade the TV because there is NO RF-out on a DVD player....

Give it a year, then HD-ready LCDs will be in the R2-R3k bracket.....that's why I did not go big on the expense. I'm getting a 46'' Sony soon, just waiting for it to tip under the R9k mark.....LCD....will happen soon...

That's actually a really fair argument and I agree that it's something I didn't consider.