Nintendo wii

[Sabot]

HD is a minefield, not helped by the misinformed and sometimes deliberately misleading "advisors" in High Street Stores.

One of the main drawbacks to an HDTV, is the fact, that even if you have one of the HD Services (SKY or NTL/Telewest), the majority of what you watch, will be SD (Standard Definition).

The problem with that, is that there are around 4 or 5 times the amount of pixels, on an HDTV, compared to the SD signal you are feeding it with...so the TV has to fill in the gaps.

If the TV isn't very good at this **cough** (Sony Bravia) **Cough**, at times...then the image you get will be ****e..combine that with a crap scart lead, and the screen that looked so fantastic in the store...now seems somewhat worse, than the TV you replaced.

More misdirection...is that Joe Public, will buy something, like a DVD recorder and believe that it is HD-DVD Player, because it has HDD in the title...when of course what they are buying, just has a Hard Disk Drive.

Or...they may be sold a DVD player, for between £40 and £1500, that "upscales", an SD DVD, to "HD Quality"...not true.

A cheap Upscaling player, will maybe produce a crisper, smoother image by adding content that isn't there on the disc, where it thinks it should, in either 720p or 1080i (HD resolutions)...and expensive upscaler...with expensive processors, will do a better job...but neither...will be anything like a true HD image..

True HD...what is that then?

Is HD, only TRUE...when it is displayed at 1920x1080 lines?
Well..maybe, as this is what will give you a proper 16:9 image...however...nobody produces films, in this resolution...nobody records programmes in this resolution...and there is nothing in "the rules", which says anybody has to.

So going out and buying a 50inch plus, 1920x1080 flat-screen...is a bit like buying a Ferrari, to drive around a farm in...yeah, its better than your last car..yeah it looks great and yeah, your mates are gonna be impressed....until they realise, that the only time you can actually use it, sort of properly is on the 100m tarmac road on your farm...the rest of the time, all it does is spray mud every where and looks ****e...because you have all that power, but nothing to let it loose with.

LCD or Plasma? Hmm...well....LCD is the latest technology and Plasma is older technology.

Plasma, can "burn" LCD wont.
Plasmas only last 60,000 hours...that's not long is it...or is it...actually its around 25 years with moderate viewing...or around 15 to 20 if you use it lots...and LCD are the same.

LCD's, cant display fast moving objects as well as a Plasma....that's because they have a refresh rate...like LCD PC Screens....so, watching footie, or racing or action films...means you get blur behind objects, like mouse trails...not good!

Also...LCD's look very bright and vivid...that's because they have a real bright bulb, always on, behind the screen...but it cant be dimmed...and you cant fully close an LCD pixel...which means...you don't get full, rich, deep blacks...not a good thing.

However...if you want to play Games on your big TV..LCD are great...because they don't suffer from Image Retention...sometimes called screen burn...these two things are actually different....an image can be retained on a plasma, for a while, if a static image has been on there for some time...but after a while, it will fade....only if the static image, is displayed, for a real long time...will it be burnt on...although...this isn't burn, or even a defect...it is just uneven degradation of the plasma gas in the pixels...usually its bright images that burn.
If you have 6 hours a day to play games on a big screen...you don't deserve to have a decent "movie" screen, so LCD is your best bet....

If you like to watch films, as they are meant to be...Plasma is King...and a 103inch Projection Screen and digital HD projector (about £9k) is God.

Here endeth the lesson....

how long did it take you to type that

 

[Revolt]

tbh skeet it thought all the hdtv's even in the shop looked utter **** quality ;/

 

[J@mes]

wow my eyes ache after reading that...

well the guys house i was at has more money than sense (stupidly well paid job).. he's 19, drives a brand new Astra Sxi, has everything he would ever need.. so he went out and bought a 50 inch tele (think its LCD, but could be wrong) and a PS3... if he has to replace the tele two years down the road he will

watching a proper HD movie on this massive tv (with a monster sorround sound system) blow me away..

Now just to ge the mother to fork out for a HDTV

-james

 

[Cook$]

People arent buying tele's for that reason, there are no plan's for a switch over to All HD tramsmissions, there are Plans that in 2012 there is going to be a switch over to digital TV, not HD, there are only a few company's who offer a HD service, which you have to pay for.

As for HD gaming........ if you had two room's, one with a Super Mario Kart on the snes, and the other with PS3 and need for speed carbon, and you where to get a class full of children (or even a office full of adults).... which room do you think they would pick?

-james

Firstly, people aren't buying HD TV's purely because Need for Speed carbom will look better on it, there is no point buying a TV that is not HD ready nowadays, just as there is no point buying a plasma (imo), when there is better technology available...
Secondly, in the school I teach at we have both Need for Speed (albeit NFS most wanted) on my 360, and SuperMarioKart on my SNES. You may be surprised, but MarioKart comes out on top because Hell, it's a lot more fun.
Thirdly, words ending in "s" don't always need apostrophes.
Cook$.

 

[Skeet]

how long did it take you to type that

Not long...about 10 mins...I type quick and knew what I wanted to say...I tend to write teh odd essay now and then!

Dude...your right...lots of the TV's in shops, will be being fed an SD signal...generally from a multiple output...so teh signal will be crap and tehy arent setup properly...you will see a few (usually Sony LCD's and LG's) that may have an HD Demo feed, running from a PC...which will look good.

They like to put Coral Reefs, on LCD's in HD...so they look like Finding Nemo...thing is...most people dont have a Coral Reef to hand, to compare the lifelikeness (to coin a word) of it...so they are impressed...if it was a scene from Corry, where evrerything looked like a Beneton advert...they would see the illusion, as they know its Grim Up North, so how could that possibly be lifelike

The only way to really choose...is to go to a proper AV outlet, and see a well set up TV, where you can see how it looks with different feeds etc.

 

[Skeet]

just as there is no point buying a plasma (imo), when there is better technology available...

Cook$.

I assume you are referring to HD Projectors...rather than LCD displays?

If you are referring to LCD displays...would you mind telling me which one you are referring to...out of curiosity? And in what context it is "better"?

 

[Cook$]

as long as you have a monster cable plugged in to the back of it......

And Skeet, I was referring in general to not only the quality, but the longevity of LCD over plasma. Just a generalisation really, I mean, why buy tapes when you can buy DVD's?

 

[Skeet]

as long as you have a monster cable plugged in to the back of it......

A what??!

 

[J@mes]

Firstly, people aren't buying HD TV's purely because Need for Speed carbom will look better on it

where did i say that?...... i didn't, i said poeple are buying them for better graphics..

well...... i can see this arguement is going nowhere.. as there will always be people that like oldschool, and there will always be people that have to buy the newest thing.

so lets agree to dis-agree?

and about the "'s" its late, and i'm tired

-james

 

[Cook$]

A what??!

Ah, if you buy a TV these days, you have to spend 10% of the cost of your TV in cables again to get it running at full tilt. Or so my Mrs says. And all I ever watch is Hollyoaks......

And J@mes, I think the argument is a lil off topic. I'm just saying that awesome graphics and what not does not make for a more playable game, it's not just old school, hell, I loved Dead Rising because I thought it was really really playable, not because of the graphics.
stay safe,
C