Who is buying a HiDef TV this year for gaming

[slackbladder]

There are some that say HDMI only exists because it allows for content protection in the form of HDCP or Image Constraint Token. They exist to stop piracy. Using good old analogue does not give the protection the movie studios want.
HDMI does give you full surround sound via your tv if it has 5.1 built in (plenty do now). But does HDMI produce a better picture than component? Some would argue no it does'nt.
Unfortunately I'll have to buy a component lead for the PS3 to see if it's a better/worse pic than HDMI unless my current PS2 lead will do. I'm hoping the HDMI v1.3 will make a difference, but probably won't.
Most stuff I've read about component/HDMI usually says try both. But as Blu-ray and HD-DVD will eventually use ICT HDMI will be needed in the end.

 

[Pebb]

I think I will wait to get my next PC, before saving up to upgrade to 1080p from 1080i?

 

[Max_DC]

I'll go with 1080p, I don't want that in-between stuff... so I guess I'll wait until next year when hopefully prizes for good one will be around 2000 $

 

[tha_con]

I'm eyeing a KDS-60A2000 SXRD. For those who don't know, that's the Sony 60" that is supposed to release on the 23rd of July in the US, and will retail for $3699. It has a native resolution is 1080p and it's HDMI inputs accept 1080p signal. And it's considerably less than most 60" 1080p sets.

 

[Poverty]

^^ Damn TV's are cheap in the US.

 

[tha_con]

^^ Damn TV's are cheap in the US.

Everything is relative to your cost of living.

 

[DuckRacer]

I'm eyeing a KDS-60A2000 SXRD. For those who don't know, that's the Sony 60" that is supposed to release on the 23rd of July in the US, and will retail for $3699. It has a native resolution is 1080p and it's HDMI inputs accept 1080p signal. And it's considerably less than most 60" 1080p sets.

If you don't want to spend that much, you should check out the 37" Sceptre at Costco. Supports 1080p, and it's $1700.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11135956&whse=&topnav=&browse=&s=1

 

[Pebb]

One thing us HDTV owners have to own, is a good HDTV stand with 2-4 shelves. But if you're willing to buy a good stand for over £150, then try here:

http://www.homecinemastands.co.uk/

Also this HDTV stand, would suit most HDTV's:

http://www.homecinemastands.co.uk/images/objects/huge/48.jpg

 

[Evolution.]

I'm eyeing a KDS-60A2000 SXRD. For those who don't know, that's the Sony 60" that is supposed to release on the 23rd of July in the US, and will retail for $3699. It has a native resolution is 1080p and it's HDMI inputs accept 1080p signal. And it's considerably less than most 60" 1080p sets.

I saw that at h.h Gregg a few days ago.

God. It was so lifelike.

Plus it was only $3399

 

[slackbladder]

Well as I'm only going to get a new HDTV in around 4 or 5 years time I hope that the price will come down on this beauty - www.stoneaudio.co.uk. I have seen it for around £5300-ish.
I'd want to add an extension to my house and turn it into a little cinema for that amazing piece of kit!

 

[BigJamesGTI]

I got my HDTV about 3/4 weeks ago and its awesome. 37" LCD LG. The colors are brighter in HD the angles are crisper in HD - I love it. I think its only the 720, but then again I dont actually know what 720 or 1080 are, and I dont care that I dont know because I'm happy with my TV.
Cost £900 from www.empiredirect.co.uk if you're interested.

 

[slackbladder]

What HD content have you seen on it? Sky or from your PC?
Until the PS3 is here the only true HD stuff I can see are my 360 games. I have no intention of getting Sky HD (too expensive) and my PC is far too old and crappy to download HD videos and trailers. Anyway, not long now. Just 4 months 'til November!

 

[LaBounti]

Well using them, as PC monitors they arent bad or great but I use my 23" as a pc monitor and it looks good. You all must remember how important pixel responce times are with LCD type TV's 25ms is awful, 16ms is not good for fast games, 8ms is great for everything. HDTV's plus PC gaming is good only if the game supports 16x9, Oblivion and Half-Life 2 do and they both look great at both 1080i or 720p.

 

[BigJamesGTI]

What HD content have you seen on it? Sky or from your PC?
Until the PS3 is here the only true HD stuff I can see are my 360 games. I have no intention of getting Sky HD (too expensive) and my PC is far too old and crappy to download HD videos and trailers. Anyway, not long now. Just 4 months 'til November!

I have only seen it in HD thru the 360 - We tried it with and without the HD switch and it looked way better in HD. I hope Im just as impressed when we get Sky HD!

 

[slackbladder]

I have only seen it in HD thru the 360 - We tried it with and without the HD switch and it looked way better in HD. I hope Im just as impressed when we get Sky HD!

Yeah. When I first got my 360 and got started I had'nt set the HD output so I was playing PGR3 in standard definition. When I changed the settings to HD...wow, the difference was immediate and significant.
I have seen HD stuff being displayed on TV's in shops. Really made me impatient for some more Hi Def stuff to view!

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

If you don't want to spend that much, you should check out the 37" Sceptre at Costco. Supports 1080p, and it's $1700.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11135956&whse=&topnav=&browse=&s=1

Honestly I don't trust costco TV's as far as I can throw, and I'd prefer a TV that I can purchase an extended warranty through someone reputable without having to go search 3rd party vendors.

Thanks for the reference though. Really, money isn't an issue right now for my HDTV funds, and I'm just personally more comfortable with something that's a bit more trust worthy in my eye's. Most Costco televisions are This years model internals stuffed into last years DLP cabinet...and I don't like that idea. And that's only a 37" TV. I'd prefer a 60", not to mention the Scepter does not feature the Sony chipset which, IMO, offers superior colors and contrast / brightness / black values compared to every other HDTV in it's market group.

You should look more into the A2000 if you are interested in HDTV's, they are a cost effective high performance HDTV with minimal lag issues, superior color quality, and 1080p suport (through HDMI as well, I am probably sure that the Scepter only recieves 1080i via it's HDMI port and then upscales internally to 1080p).

Also, the A2000 series has a bilstering response time, of 2.5ms, vs the extremely slower 8ms on the Sceptre HDTV.

I'm a performance nut, and I only go with the best, and as far as I've seen in the last year, SXRD 3 panel HDTV design > everything else out on the market.

 

[Pebb]

If anyone is looking to buy an EDTV, then don't buy one, because there not HDTV's.

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

Also I'd like to add that the 10,000:1 contrast ratio on Sony HDTV's is FAR superior to the 1,000:1 found ont he Sceptre.

Personally, the after having done research on all HDTV's, Sony is at the top of the food chain, after an EXTREMELY long drought where their TV's were eclipsed by Samsung and Panasonic.

 

[BigJamesGTI]

The advice I got when buying mine was to stick to either LG or Hitachi, Samsung at a push - I was told that Panasonic and Phillips are 👎

 

[Pebb]

LG supply most of the parts for different HDTV sellers, like Panasonic and Sony, etc.

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

LG supply most of the parts for different HDTV sellers, like Panasonic and Sony, etc.

Umm...not for Sony's new line of HDTV's, at least not since they started with their SXRD series (to include the XBR's).

BigJamesGTI - Phillips doesn't make great HDTV's, but Panasonic TV's aren't bad. Sony's current Gen are deffinately better, eclipsing all other HDTV model's I've seen.

 

[MustangSVT]

I just got a new HDTV about a month ago to use in my basement where I spend a lot of time. It's a JVC 52" 3-LCoS rear projection. It has a native res of 1280x720p and it's absolutely gorgeous. I didn't get an 1080p because the only 1080p sets that are better than this JVC are the 1080p Sony SXRD and the 1080p JVC (both are LCoS). The Sony is way too expensive ($1800 canadian more for the 50"), and so is the JVC ($2000 canadian more for the 61"). At the viewing distance/tv size I'll be using, 1080p isn't a real improvement (if at all) over 720p and I know this for sure (52" and 9-10 feet viewing distance).

Anyway, this TV is absolutely awesome. I've got a Oppo 971 DVD player to go with it. Region free, does pal2ntsc, really good de-interlaces, upscales to 720p/1080i, plays divx/xvid and many more features. DVD's (and xvid too) just look gorgeous. I also use the Xbox 360 on it and it looks positively awesome, and lastly I also have a HD DVR box from my cable company. Can record HD stuff and great quality watching the 9 HD channels I have on it.

 

[slackbladder]

The advice I got when buying mine was to stick to either LG or Hitachi, Samsung at a push - I was told that Panasonic and Phillips are 👎

I've seen a Panny Plasma HDTV with a HD feed and it looked very nice. My HDTV is a Samsung 46" DLP. Perfectly happy with it but it does have a low contrast ratio of 2000:1 so with a dark screen the PQ is a little muddy and lacking detail. But it's my only criticism.
The new Sony HDTV's do look good now. My dream buy would be the Sony VPL-VW100 projector. I just need to win the lottery!

 

[su27killer]

Somebody PLEASE tell me if I can play GT4 and/or PS3 games in HDTV resolution on my monitor (22" CRT or some newer LCD with DVI) with this :

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/mdp120.asp

This costs $165 and would be very nice solution. There is 130 model too but I dont know the difference. And tell me please is 220 EUR much for good PS2 + 10 games + DFP. And what is the difference between DFP and DFP2?!

 

[Cod_Father]

We have a sony 42" grand wega. The lamp burned out at the 17 month mark and the repairman said that was the average life span for the lamp. He told us we were lucky that it was one of the cheaper lamps to replace. It was $472. Repairman said some lamps run up to $1200 (CDN) for some Panasonic models.

We asked him what he would buy now and he said nothing. If he had to he would go straight LCD, but would avoid rear projection and plasma.

While I am extremely pleased with the HD picture on the Sony, we've stuck to watching TV on a free 50" RCA HDTV we got when we purchased some furniture a few months back. The picture isn't as good (it's an old style rear projection with a tube), but it won't cost us as much as the Sony to watch.

I should mention the lamp was covered under an extended warranty we bought on the TV. Normally it isn't, but the salesguy (new employee) actually wrote on the warranty slip that the lamsp were covered and signed it. So that means we do have 5 years of lamp replacement.

We are thinking about selling the 42" and the 50" and putting that money towards a nice LCD.

 

[slackbladder]

$472 seems mighty high.
I'm hoping the lamp I'll need to replace the one in my 46" DLP won't be as expensive. I know it has to be replaced eventually so I'm hoping it'll be reasonable.
I'm still happy to have a DLP over an LCD but I think my next HDTV purchase will have to be something that does'nt need money spent on it every 16 months or so.

 

[Solid Lifters]

I just spent $4,500 on this beauty... Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR2

XBox360 in action...

PC in action...

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

I like the XBR line, but I think they're way overpriced. Again, this is why I think the 60" A2000 is a bargain for it's features

Nice TV, the processor in the XBR2's is insanely good, hope you enjoy it,

 

[Cod_Father]

$472 seems mighty high.
I'm hoping the lamp I'll need to replace the one in my 46" DLP won't be as expensive. I know it has to be replaced eventually so I'm hoping it'll be reasonable.
I'm still happy to have a DLP over an LCD but I think my next HDTV purchase will have to be something that does'nt need money spent on it every 16 months or so.

That was the repairman's price. Sony Canada had the lamp on their website for $299 + taxes. Still not cheap, especially considering the salesman told us the lamps were "around $100." We accepted that cost every 5 years or so when we bought the TV. Had we been told the truth however we would have passed on buying it.

Lesson learned: Salespeople paid by comission only will tell you only what they think you need to know.

 

[slackbladder]

That Sony KDL46XBR2 (or in the UK it's closest Sony HDTV would be the KDL-46X2000) is one of the TV's I may get in around 3 years time, at least it'd be a HDTV of a similar spec if not the same tv.
However by then there may be more competition out there. At the moment the KDL-462000 is around £3000 whilst my current DLP cost me £1500. But I'm sure it produces a better PQ than my DLP and has 1080p. If I had the money I'd get one now, but there's no chance of that for at least 3 years or so. It depends if the price plummets or not.
Of course my dream purchase would be the Sony VPL-VW100 Projector www.sony.co.uk.
But that's a cool £5000!

Cod_Father. I knew when I got my DLP the lamp would only last around 18 months, depending on use, conditions etc. However as time goes by I may end up getting a new lamp when needed then selling. It depends. But I admit I'm not too happy in spending up to £400 on lamps every 3 years.