How bad is Sinotec actually?

Tim182 said:
Its an awesome TV. Enjoy it. I love my lb46d550 to bits. Didnt regret my purchase for one second :-)
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It's an awesome TV for certain tasks (5 Series always has been). It's not awesome for DVDs/SD though. Well, it's not bad at those, but plasma is simply better. Not to mention 50" plasma goes for less than what you paid for your 46".

By the way, what are the differences between 5 Series C and D?
 
PostmanPot said:
Well, it's not bad at those, but plasma is simply better.
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As usual, a pretty meaningless statement without circumstantial detail.

If were talking about an el cheapo R400 DVD player connected via analogue RCA cables, I would agree (just). A HD Ready Plasma will be slightly better at hiding the imperfections/distrortion of a low grade signal with plenty of conversions (digital to analogue to digital w/scaling).

On the other hand with a high quality source & signal path e.g. a DVD upscaling supremo like the PS3 outputting 1080p via HDMI to a 1080p display running in 1:1 pixel mapping mode, its a different story. From my experience you have to get really knit picky to percieve the minor difference in display quality/performance of a R5/6K budget LCD vs. a R10/15K Plasma (or LED).
 
Roman4604 said:
As usual, a pretty meaningless statement without circumstantial detail.

If were talking about an el cheapo R400 DVD player connected via analogue RCA cables, I would agree (just). A HD Ready Plasma will be slightly better at hiding the imperfections/distrortion of a low grade signal with plenty of conversions (digital to analogue to digital w/scaling).

On the other hand with a high quality source & signal path e.g. a DVD upscaling supremo like the PS3 outputting 1080p via HDMI to a 1080p display running in 1:1 pixel mapping mode, its a different story. From my experience you have to get really knit picky to percieve the minor difference in display quality/performance of a R5/6K budget LCD vs. a R10/15K Plasma (or LED).
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Your TV is nothing without your PS3. :D

(At certain tasks ;)).
 
PostmanPot said:
Your TV is nothing without your PS3
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The trick to achieving the best visual fidelity for one's budget is about paying equal attention to source & display devices. Focusing solely on the display device means you're missing half the quality equation.

The PS3 is an extreme (expensive) example, but you should be able to achieve similar results with a more modest name-brand DVD/BD player that can output a quality 1080p signal over HDMI.
 
Yeah a few years ago (like 3) Sinotec was a great deal, and was really comparable to other manufacturers - sometimes even better
(My Sinotec had 2 hdmi while others only had 1, and mine also had the ability to play movies from a flash drive, which others didn't)

...but now, id say the savings isn't worth it - it's not half the price anymore, but only maybe a grand or two less...

plus the new ones aren't as good as the old ones
 
So I got home late last night and set up the 40inch Samsung.
Its nice and even my SD content looks good (which is great since I have a lot of said material!!).
BUT I think I have gone into serious overkill on the size side. I know "big is better" but I am having serious thoughts about returning it and going for something smaller like the 32" Samsung.
Obviously I can go back to Game and exchange it but I thought I'd make this offer: IF someone reading these posts missed the special and wants to take this one off my hands PM me before Friday. Randburg area....
 
divv said:
So I got home late last night and set up the 40inch Samsung.
Its nice and even my SD content looks good (which is great since I have a lot of said material!!).
BUT I think I have gone into serious overkill on the size side. I know "big is better" but I am having serious thoughts about returning it and going for something smaller like the 32" Samsung.
Obviously I can go back to Game and exchange it but I thought I'd make this offer: IF someone reading these posts missed the special and wants to take this one off my hands PM me before Friday. Randburg area....
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Pity, what's your viewing distance? No 37"ers yet AFAIK, so perhaps 32" is your only option. Of course, SD will look better on 32" as well (happy with my LA32C550 which I use for PC screen, SD and HD media). :)

Nice offer since the special is over. I wonder if the LA32D550 is still on special for R3,999?
 
My viewing distance is about 2.5m. Since my old TV was 74cm (and I wasn't unhappy with the size) I think the 81cm (32") should be big enough..
 
divv said:
My viewing distance is about 2.5m. Since my old TV was 74cm (and I wasn't unhappy with the size) I think the 81cm (32") should be big enough..
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Eish, 32" is way too small for 2.5m IMO. 50" is just right for 2.5m. :D

Keep the 40"!
 
just caught this thread. loved the nazi grammar taking umbrage at being called up on his grammar.
 
PostmanPot said:
It's an awesome TV for certain tasks (5 Series always has been). It's not awesome for DVDs/SD though. Well, it's not bad at those, but plasma is simply better. Not to mention 50" plasma goes for less than what you paid for your 46".

By the way, what are the differences between 5 Series C and D?
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50" Plasma Series 4 which is 720p goes for less than 46" Series 5 LCD. Series 5 Plasma which is 1080p is R2k more. I needed a FHD TV so PS 4 Series was out of the question. I don't think there are many FHD TVs in that size which can beat the LN46D550 in value for money at the moment. I don't use much SD/DVD quality stuff but when I do I really can't complain. The TV handles those sources extremely well.

Not sure about technical differences between C and D. For some reason D Series are a little cheaper. I also compared them next to each other in the store using the same source and settings and the D series looked quite a bit better (blacks, colours, contrast).
 
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Jonno2343 said:
As an aside, my Atom home server and part-'HTPC' with its 'Max output resolution of 1366x768' (according to all Intel specs) is now outputting in Full HD glory onto the screen. Took me a few minutes to get over that :).
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Jonno2343 - how are you connecting to your network - did you buy a wireless adaptor or are you using an ethernet cable or a USB connection? Also is this how you did you firmware update?
Thanks
 
divv said:
So I got home late last night and set up the 40inch Samsung.
Its nice and even my SD content looks good (which is great since I have a lot of said material!!).
BUT I think I have gone into serious overkill on the size side. I know "big is better" but I am having serious thoughts about returning it and going for something smaller like the 32" Samsung.
Obviously I can go back to Game and exchange it but I thought I'd make this offer: IF someone reading these posts missed the special and wants to take this one off my hands PM me before Friday. Randburg area....
Click to expand...
Keep the 40". You get used to it very quickly.
 
I just think (a) I was used to 74cm anyway; (b) the 32" will be better for my SD content (as pointed out by PP) and (c) the 32" is better value for money.
[Incidentally I'm actually a "she" not a "he" but I appreciate the input anyway... ;-) ]
 
divv said:
I just think (a) I was used to 74cm anyway; (b) the 32" will be better for my SD content (as pointed out by PP) and (c) the 32" is better value for money.
[Incidentally I'm actually a "she" not a "he" but I appreciate the input anyway... ;-) ]
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I'd also stick with the 40. You will get used to it so quickly.

The 40" is R1500 or 43% more expensive than the 32".
Diagonally the 40" is only 25% larger than the 32" but what you should be looking at is the area of the screen. The 40" has a screen of 684 sqin while the 32" only has 438 sqin. That makes the 40" 56.25% bigger than the 32" while only costing 43% more!

Thus technically, the 40" actually is much better value for money :D

SD content won't be better either. Its just that you won't be able to tell the bad quality as much because the screen is smaller.
 
divv said:
I just think (a) I was used to 74cm anyway; (b) the 32" will be better for my SD content (as pointed out by PP) and (c) the 32" is better value for money.
[Incidentally I'm actually a "she" not a "he" but I appreciate the input anyway... ;-) ]
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:(

32" is way too small... 32" is PC screen size. ;)

Well what ever you do, check out 42" plasma as well.
 
Tim182 said:
Diagonally the 40" is only 25% larger than the 32" but what you should be looking at is the area of the screen. The 40" has a screen of 684 sqin while the 32" only has 438 sqin. That makes the 40" 56.25% bigger than the 32" while only costing 43% more!

Thus technically, the 40" actually is much better value for money :D
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I'll take the bait and ask where you got these figures? EDIT: never mind I Googled it thanks.
My calculation is based on R3500/32 = R109.38/inch and R5000/40 = R125/inch.. :-)
 
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