HDTV recommendation for my HTPC

A

asmielia

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 10, 2003
Messages
337
Hi,
I've just set up my first HTPC. It's a P4 2.4 ghz, 512mb ram, ATI 9700 pro powering a 26" Samsung CRT that's about 5-10 years old. I'm looking to make the plunge to HD soon but the more I read on the subject, the less sure I am of any decision. The TV will be used almost exclusively for TV and movie watching. At this point I very much doubt that much/any game playing will be done on the TV. I have my Dell 2405 for my main computer and if I were to get an Xbox360/PS3, it would most likely be connected to that so as not to tie up the main TV. Ideally, I would not be spending more than $3000 Canadian on this TV after taxes. Another consideration is that the TV will be placed in the living room, with a large window about 5 feet to its side, putting it in a high ambient light situation for most of the day and the blinds will block the direct sunlight but won't cut down on the ambient light very much.

Here are some of my questions:

1. Which TV technology is best suited for my needs? DLPs are the most attractive as far as price/size/performance go, there's no doubt about that. I'm just really worried about the ambient light levels. Anytime I've seen a DLP in store (same goes for LCD rear projection), I've been pretty unimpressed with its brightness and angle viewing when there was a lot of lights around. In the darker back rooms, they look fantastic, but this worries me. LCDs look awesome to me but everyone keeps saying that Plasmas are still king for home theatre. Not saying that Plasmas look bad they're just ridiculously expensive still, more than twice the price of DLP.

2. I'm going to be sitting about 8' from the TV. I've been looking at 37"-45" LCDs, 42" Plasmas and 50" DLPs. How bad is SD gonna look on 50" from that distance? And at the opposite end, would I even notice the difference between 1080p and 720p on a 37" from that distance?

3. How important is 1080p considering my needs? Ideally, my set would have it, but I'm thinking for TV and movies, it probably won't make a huge difference, especially given the lack of 1080p programming for the next few years. What about de-interlacing of 1080i signals?

That's pretty much it for now. Not sure if this is the best place to post these questions but I've been looking around on avsforum.com and it seems like most of the people there are on their 8th HDTV already, so it's hard to get a good description for a noob like me.

Thanks,
Adrian
 
I was just in this same boat a while ago. I chose to get a 42 inch panasonic plasma (model th42px50). It was $3K US. I liked some of the DLP's so i would think about those. I did not like the LCD's cause like you said unless your at a 90 degree angle and at the right level they dont look good.
 
If this is going to be used as a computer screen, i.e. there will be a static image on there quite often, then an LCD may be best as I believe it is the only type of display that does not have burn-in.

And to correct one of your points, LCDs are actually much more expensive than Plasmas if you are looking at an inch/$ ratio. However LCDs usually have higher resolution to make up for the lack of size.
 
Yeah I don't know about that. LCDs explode in price once you pass 40", but before that there are some good deals to be had. It's pretty easy to find good 37" LCDs for just over $2000 CDN. Plasmas start expensive at 42" ($4000 CDN for an HD Panny) and just keep on climbing after that.

I've decided that I can deal without a proper HDTV for a while though. Tonight, I picked up an HD Set top box from my cable company, hooked it up to my Dell 2405 FPW and my jaw just dropped. This thing is amazing. Upscales 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i to 1080p and it's just drop dead gorgeous at 720p and above. I can't believe I didn't do this before. It's really incredible. My only complaint is the lack of high definition content. Even with about 30 HD channels, very few broadcast HD at any one time.

Saw my first NHL hockey game in HD tonight...WOW! Lost in 720p was also pretty spectacular.

Anyway, I still want an HDTV, but I think I'll wait a bit for 1080p sets to come into the market and mature a bit more.
 
I've heard the subjective difference between 1080i/1080p is difficult to see by most.
Also, DLP's don't burn-in either.
 
Although I won't be making a purchase until March sometime, I'm almost in the same boat. I've decided to go with DLP or Plasma, if I can find a good/great deal on a plasma bigger than 42". Samsung makes excellent DLPs, and Panasonic Makes Nice Plasmas and pretty good DLPs too.

At anything around 50" or less you'll be hard pressed to see much if any difference between 1080p and 720p on any DLP set. With the cost difference between 1080p and 720p being in the neighborhood of $1000, I can't see enough difference to justify it. Also if you do go with a 1080p set, makesure the HMDI and/or DVI inputs will accept a 1080p source. For example the Samsung 1080p DLP sets only accpet a 1080p source from the internal tuner, and the VGA port. The HMDI ports are limited to 1080i and below. That maybe the case on other sets aswell I haven't had a chance to look into other sets in enough detail yet.

I'm strongly leaning towards DLP. I can't see the "Rainbows" that people talk about on DLPs, but I can see the Screen Door Effect and "Black Crush" on LCDs. RP-CRTs, Plasmas both have Burn-in as a possiblity, remote if adjusted properly.

A good rule of thumb for determining acceptable screen size is to take your viewing distance in Inches and divide by 2. So for you 8' X 12 = 96" then 96" / 2 = 48". Of course, take that with a grain of salt. Anything much bigger will probably be too big, forcing your eyes to scan to see the left/right edge of the picture. While anything significantly smaller might seem too small (usually "too small" is less of a problem than "too big").

I didn't directly answer your questions but most of this stuff comes down to personal preference, and situation.
 
Picture quality in ideal light is a major factor, but another major factor is which TVs are suited for my living room. This is the single biggest reason I'm hesitant on a DLP. They always seem really dark to me.

Anyone have any hands on experience with a DLP in a room with a lot of natural light? How are they?

Adrian
 
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ Pretty much the end all message board for all things related to home theaters including HTPC's.

It would be helpful to know your price range, that said:

1: Personally I would say go Plasma, DLP or rear projection LCD (looks like a DLP in size but a different display technology).

2: No. At that distance and that size you are not going to notice a difference in 720 and 1080p. Now if you were moving into the 60+ inch range of television you might start to see a difference. I sold my 1080i 40" and upgraded to a 720 HLR-5667W Samsung, made a big difference with 720p content (see football).

General rule of thumb on size is 1.5 or 2x the size of your tv. so a 60" tv is optimally viewed at 90-120". Some people find this to be much larger than they expected and scale down the size of their TV.

3: IMO 1080p is great once you get to a 60+" size, until then there is no content and if you search the AVS forums alot of the 1080p sets available today can not even accept a 1080p signal if one existed.

Do yourself a favor and spend some time on the AVS forums, it is a priceless source of information.

As for viewing my DLP in bright natural light, I have no issues to report. The picture is bright and vibrant, I did spend some time with video essentials calibrating my television.
 
Nice I really don't even have to chime in here anymore, good responses by all, and the few mistakes were already corrected.
 
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