LCD TV shopping
08-03-2008, 01:47 PM
#21
Registered User
dude, i play the guitar. i dont know bout them for video, but for audio they are the best. i swear by them, my dad and his band swears by them, and my old band swears by them. monster is the only cable ill use when i play
08-03-2008, 05:14 PM
#24
Contributing Member
My dad and I did a ton of research on this topic. After seeing several TV's and reading the specs, etc, the Samsung units were usually the best. We have a 37" Samsung LCD TV and it is awesome HD. All my buddies and his buddies come over and watch football and baseball on it.
08-04-2008, 01:22 AM
#26
Contributing Member
Samsung hands down...Our 47" 1080p samsung LCD is much nicer than the 47" sony XBR2 we have.
anything that is a samsung with 1080p and has 120hz you will REALLY enjoy. Don't forget to pick up an HD cable box with HDMI out.
HDMI is a digital connector...Don't buy the cheapest cable since they have really junky connectors, but a middle of the line cable will be more than enough. a $15 and a $2000 HDMI cable will have the same picture quality...digital is digital.......
Monster cables are a rip off.... they are nice to use in pro audio because of the lifetime warranty. in home they are a waste of money.
anything that is a samsung with 1080p and has 120hz you will REALLY enjoy. Don't forget to pick up an HD cable box with HDMI out.
HDMI is a digital connector...Don't buy the cheapest cable since they have really junky connectors, but a middle of the line cable will be more than enough. a $15 and a $2000 HDMI cable will have the same picture quality...digital is digital.......
Monster cables are a rip off.... they are nice to use in pro audio because of the lifetime warranty. in home they are a waste of money.
08-04-2008, 01:38 AM
#27
Don't forget to pick up an HD cable box with HDMI out.
HDMI is a digital connector...Don't buy the cheapest cable since they have really junky connectors, but a middle of the line cable will be more than enough. a $15 and a $2000 HDMI cable will have the same picture quality...digital is digital.......
Monster cables are a rip off.... they are nice to use in pro audio because of the lifetime warranty. in home they are a waste of money.
HDMI is a digital connector...Don't buy the cheapest cable since they have really junky connectors, but a middle of the line cable will be more than enough. a $15 and a $2000 HDMI cable will have the same picture quality...digital is digital.......
Monster cables are a rip off.... they are nice to use in pro audio because of the lifetime warranty. in home they are a waste of money.
I thought some TVs had the HD tuner built into them, an no extra box was needed?
Also on the cables, I have one now now that has the four colors on it that go to my DVD player and the Toshiba 27" TV.
I forget what you call them, but it is to make the colors much better from the DVD to the TV instead of using the old RCA style.
And the HDMI I read about, that is to hook your PC to it?
Right now my spare PC in the other room records all of my TV shows via two TV tuner cards in it, and I play the recording back on the TV via cable that goes to the front aux ports the same as you would plug in a gaming console.
08-04-2008, 02:26 AM
#28
Contributing Member
I do not own a box now, I have expanded basic cable and Internet here with Comcast.
I thought some TVs had the HD tuner built into them, an no extra box was needed?
Also on the cables, I have one now now that has the four colors on it that go to my DVD player and the Toshiba 27" TV.
I forget what you call them, but it is to make the colors much better from the DVD to the TV instead of using the old RCA style.
And the HDMI I read about, that is to hook your PC to it?
Right now my spare PC in the other room records all of my TV shows via two TV tuner cards in it, and I play the recording back on the TV via cable that goes to the front aux ports the same as you would plug in a gaming console.
I thought some TVs had the HD tuner built into them, an no extra box was needed?
Also on the cables, I have one now now that has the four colors on it that go to my DVD player and the Toshiba 27" TV.
I forget what you call them, but it is to make the colors much better from the DVD to the TV instead of using the old RCA style.
And the HDMI I read about, that is to hook your PC to it?
Right now my spare PC in the other room records all of my TV shows via two TV tuner cards in it, and I play the recording back on the TV via cable that goes to the front aux ports the same as you would plug in a gaming console.
Component cables are ok, but HDMI is much better. component goes digital-analog-digital..you will lose some picture quality with them.
HDMI is the standard for HDTV connectivity. It is used for pretty much every source that puts out a high resolution signal (cable, sat, video games, blu ray, etc.) The recordings from your tv tuner cars will look like GARBAGE on your new tv. Old 240 line resolution really looks crappy on a high res screen. If you connect a regular coax to the back of your tv it is going to look like crap. end of story.
you can hook up your pc with a DVI->HDMI cable. it will look great.
08-04-2008, 04:48 AM
#29
OK, so that cable I am using now on the old PC that is an S video connection that goes to the vid card.
That vid card does have tow PC connectors on the back of it next to the S video port.
One is a DVI which goes to my old Dell 20.1" LCD monitor, and the other connector I believe is an analog port for a CRT monitor.
They make a DVI adapter for it which I am sure I have extras laying around.
Will taking the analog signal to the DVI adapter, then to the HDMI cable look OK on the 37" TV?
Now my new PC both ports on the back of that video card are both DVI, but I will not be using that PC as a PVR unit.
That vid card does have tow PC connectors on the back of it next to the S video port.
One is a DVI which goes to my old Dell 20.1" LCD monitor, and the other connector I believe is an analog port for a CRT monitor.
They make a DVI adapter for it which I am sure I have extras laying around.
Will taking the analog signal to the DVI adapter, then to the HDMI cable look OK on the 37" TV?
Now my new PC both ports on the back of that video card are both DVI, but I will not be using that PC as a PVR unit.
08-04-2008, 05:09 AM
#30
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I really like Samsung or LG LCDs and we've got a 37" LG in the living room and a 32" LG upstairs and neither have had issues and the picture is very good and comprable to the Samsung 37" my friend just bought.
08-04-2008, 05:24 AM
#31
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Unless you have a 50" + tv... 1080p will make no improvement over 720p, if you are looking for 1080i, I would prefer the 720p, the 720p is a progressive scan, and tends to handle abrupt movement better, say for like football, and action flix. The only way you will notice a difference between 1080p and 720p is if you have a tv larger than 50".
08-04-2008, 05:30 AM
#32
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OK, so that cable I am using now on the old PC that is an S video connection that goes to the vid card.
That vid card does have tow PC connectors on the back of it next to the S video port.
One is a DVI which goes to my old Dell 20.1" LCD monitor, and the other connector I believe is an analog port for a CRT monitor.
They make a DVI adapter for it which I am sure I have extras laying around.
Will taking the analog signal to the DVI adapter, then to the HDMI cable look OK on the 37" TV?
Now my new PC both ports on the back of that video card are both DVI, but I will not be using that PC as a PVR unit.
That vid card does have tow PC connectors on the back of it next to the S video port.
One is a DVI which goes to my old Dell 20.1" LCD monitor, and the other connector I believe is an analog port for a CRT monitor.
They make a DVI adapter for it which I am sure I have extras laying around.
Will taking the analog signal to the DVI adapter, then to the HDMI cable look OK on the 37" TV?
Now my new PC both ports on the back of that video card are both DVI, but I will not be using that PC as a PVR unit.
I would just go with the s-vga port... the analog... if you tv will support it, unless you plan to do movies and games... then go with the composite.. my vid car came with a breakout box, that allows rca, composite hd, and s-video, in addition to the s-vga, and dvi ports on the card itself. I have noticed that, if you want to read web pages on your hdtv, you want to go with the s-vga, if you want movies and such... go with composite... the only advantage to hdmi is that high quality sound is included in the signal, which wont matter coming from the vid card... I would save the costly hdmi for cable/sat box to tv... unless you have an aux surround system... then would just go with composite, and connect sound via fibre optics. My $.02
08-04-2008, 06:11 AM
#33
I have the Logitech Z680s hooked up to my TV right now.
Same set I have on my gaming PC too.
Will not watch DVDs from the old PC to the new 37" TV, will use the DVD player I currently have hooked upto the TV set.
The sound now is stereo out from the TV via RCA plugs to the controller for the Logitech 5.1 system, and remixed for all speakers to play.
However for the DVDs, I am using an optical cable that goes from the DVD player to the Logitech controller.
It has an optical input on it, and DVDs sound way better using the optical for 5.1 sound.
DVD movies sound unreal on my system.
Can not wait to get an LCD TV later on.
Same set I have on my gaming PC too.
Will not watch DVDs from the old PC to the new 37" TV, will use the DVD player I currently have hooked upto the TV set.
The sound now is stereo out from the TV via RCA plugs to the controller for the Logitech 5.1 system, and remixed for all speakers to play.
However for the DVDs, I am using an optical cable that goes from the DVD player to the Logitech controller.
It has an optical input on it, and DVDs sound way better using the optical for 5.1 sound.
DVD movies sound unreal on my system.
Can not wait to get an LCD TV later on.
08-04-2008, 09:48 AM
#34
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FYI- when purchasing HDMI cables expensive doesn't mean better and I got a set of 4 HDMIs (Phillips brand) for about $55 shipped on-line and it's really the best way to go. They normally sell for about $22 each at Target.
I've even seen them under $10 a cable.
I've even seen them under $10 a cable.
08-04-2008, 06:43 PM
#35
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And from everything I've heard, cheap is cheap. When buying HDMI cables, stick at least with the middle grade/cost. avsforum is a good place for a lot of information on home entertainment.
08-05-2008, 10:02 AM
#37
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I have a 43" Samsung downstairs and a 52" Sharp Aquos upstairs.
The Sharp blows my Samsung away. Granted the Samsung is two years old.
We purchased the Sharp at Costco. It worked out perfect for us. They had all the tv's near the front entrance where allot of sunlight was coming in through the door. The plasma tv's were out of the question due to the reflection. The Sharp had the best picture in the sunlight. Our room upstairs has allot of natural sunlight due too a large window.
The Sharp blows my Samsung away. Granted the Samsung is two years old.
We purchased the Sharp at Costco. It worked out perfect for us. They had all the tv's near the front entrance where allot of sunlight was coming in through the door. The plasma tv's were out of the question due to the reflection. The Sharp had the best picture in the sunlight. Our room upstairs has allot of natural sunlight due too a large window.
08-05-2008, 01:16 PM
#39
I guess I'm a little late, but I heard LCD TV's are supposed to go down a lot this fall because of the switch to digital broadcasting.
Also, about cable quality. HDMI is a digital signal, you either get the signal or you don't. So as long as the cable works, use it. No need for expensive cables like in analog applications.
Also, about cable quality. HDMI is a digital signal, you either get the signal or you don't. So as long as the cable works, use it. No need for expensive cables like in analog applications.
