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Buying A HDTV Help!?!?!

M

Macmadant

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Hey there,
We are going to be purchasing a HDTV in a few days, but to be honest i don't have a clue what I'm looking for expect that i want a 32" and has a DVI port, what i get confused with is all this 720p 1081i, 1080p, what does it all mean i know the tv we were looking at can handle 720p, but would we be better of going for a tv with a 1920 X 1080 Res ? would 1080 HD stuff look as good on a 720 HDTV, surely scaled down means more quality and what is the difference between 1080i and 1080P, and do i want HDMI ports
thanks for your help
 
mkrishnan said:
Mmm, not quite?

I think that anything that calls itself an HDTV must either "down" convert to 720p (which is actually a better picture generally, from what I've heard, than 1080i) or upconvert to 1080p. The latter is what the best TVs would do -- they'd scan double the 1080i to 1080p.

At this point, it does seem that 1080p is several years off being a necessity. It all depends on what you want to do. But I don't think much of anything is going to "require" you to have 1080p for many, many years, since the HDTV standard does not require you to have 1080p.

It's amazing how murky this is. Is it any less murky in countries that were not as slow to go HD as we were?
Click to expand...

Well thats put my mind at rest for the 1920X1080 res, so 1080P would look as good on a 720P HDTV but 720P wouldn't look as good as on a 1080P tv

What type of contrast and brightness should i be looking at, also is response time important for HDTV, i don't want 'splitting', also when HD DVDs become the norm, will i be able to play 1080P or i DVDs
 
Good time to buy now, prices have come down a lot.

My parents bought me a Sony 50" RP on offer from Argos, £999 down from £1400.

As long as you get a model with HDMI and HDCP your sorted, most should have component too.
 
Macmadant,

Don't buy your new TV until you have a thorough understanding of what you're purchasing. You're talking about making a purchase of hundreds (more likely, thousands) of dollars and you don't know what you're buying. Stop. Step back. Go visit some HD and A/V forums and educate yourself first.

Figure out what you're going to use it for. TV? DVD? HD-DVD? Computer monitor? Game console(s)? What HD programming does your cable/satellite provider offer? What resolutions do they use?

If all you're going to do is watch sports on channels that broadcast in 720p, a 1080 monitor is probably not the best choice. If you're going to hook up an XBox 360 or a computer, a 720p monitor is not the best choice.

Don't buy until you know what you need/want.
 
Here's an older, but helpful thread which I started a year ago. Have a read through it as well.

Oh, and definitely get HDMI ports - preferrably at least 2. 😎
 
Macmadant said:
i want a 32" and has a DVI port
Click to expand...

~Shard~ said:
Oh, and definitely get HDMI ports - preferrably at least 2. 😎
Click to expand...

As Shard pointed out, pay attention to HDMI ports; DVI has practically been phased out in favor of DVI (from what I understand, HDMI is a better interface/technology - I think the main difference is HDMI carries the video+audio signals whereas DVI is video only). Most new tvs now come with HDMI ports but not DVI (AFAIK). Most products also don't support DVI anymore, only HDMI (but there are DVI/HDMI converters available either way).

(Our Samsung 30" SlimFit Widescreen tv we bought back in August has 2 HDMI ports.)
 
zero2dash said:
Most products also don't support DVI anymore, only HDMI (but there are DVI/HDMI converters available either way).
Click to expand...

Yeah, the biggest issue is the one-way-ness of things. Any proper, new HDMI device (ignoring HDMI devices that adhered to early versions of HDMI) should support all DVI broadcasts, since some but not all DVI devices do HDCP, and HDMI supports it. But the converse isn't true at all -- the vast majority of DVI displays on the market in the past do NOT support HDCP. Particularly in the PC market, contributing to the potential fiasco with HDCP in Vista.
 
For all intents and purposes, HDMI = DVI+Audio. As long as the DVI ports support HDCP, there should be no issues viewing "protected content" on a DVI port with a new television. There is no difference in the format or quality of the video and you can buy adapters and cables with every combination of DVI and HDMI for as little as $10.

So don't worry very much about whether the TV has HDMI or DVI inputs as long as they all support HDCP. Heck, get both. That way you can use any cable that happens to come with a new toy.

BTW, don't go spending a hundred bucks or more for a fancy DVI or HDMI cable. It's a waste of money. It's a digital signal. Either it works or it doesn't.
 
thanks for everyones help, i'm pretty sure i know what i'm looking for, all we'll use it for is eventually watching HD-DVDs when they become the norm, and watching standard definition TV
 
Macmadant said:
thanks for everyones help, i'm pretty sure i know what i'm looking for, all we'll use it for is eventually watching HD-DVDs when they become the norm, and watching standard definition TV
Click to expand...

That sounds as if you can wait a couple of years. 😉

The prices are looking good but there are too many things out there. The fact that many people are confused says a lot.

I'm thinking that it will be a while before things settle and we can get back to judging performance, not guessing what works together. It'll be nice to see combination HD DVD/Blu-Ray disc players, for instance.

I'm still okay with a 720p t.v. and upconverted DVDs, as long as the sound makes up for the lack of greatness in the video, even if the video is much better than it was even 10 years ago.

Good luck with your search.
 
jtown said:
Macmadant,

Don't buy your new TV until you have a thorough understanding of what you're purchasing. You're talking about making a purchase of hundreds (more likely, thousands) of dollars and you don't know what you're buying. Stop. Step back. Go visit some HD and A/V forums and educate yourself first.

Figure out what you're going to use it for. TV? DVD? HD-DVD? Computer monitor? Game console(s)? What HD programming does your cable/satellite provider offer? What resolutions do they use?

If all you're going to do is watch sports on channels that broadcast in 720p, a 1080 monitor is probably not the best choice. If you're going to hook up an XBox 360 or a computer, a 720p monitor is not the best choice.

Don't buy until you know what you need/want.
Click to expand...
No offense but I believe he was asking for help and not just jumping the gun. Not that browsing the HD and A/V forums isn't a nice idea, but he was asking for help as well. 😉

To the OP. I am in the same boat as you. Ready to buy but not sure what to buy. I have XBox 360 and regular DVDs to consider. I watch about 75% of my programming in HD and I do not have an HD DVD player. Though I will eventually have one, right now I do not.

So yeah, I am with you and I've been stuck on 720p so far. Not sure why which is why I haven't laid the cash down yet.
 
Macmadant, try www.avforums.com, a UK based AV site.

Very good, helped me to decide on my purchases.

Click on the forums tab on the left and theres a complete list of everything the cover, which is quite a lot.
 
Is it just my imagination or have HDTV prices crashed recently? I remember looking at getting one in the summer - something around 26" - and for a half decent one I was looking at around £700-£800 minimum. Now I'm seeing decent ones for under £500. That's a pretty hefty drop in a short space of time!
 
FleurDuMal said:
Is it just my imagination or have HDTV prices crashed recently? I remember looking at getting one in the summer - something around 26" - and for a half decent one I was looking at around £700-£800 minimum. Now I'm seeing decent ones for under £500. That's a pretty hefty drop in a short space of time!
Click to expand...

In the US, at least, there was a huge crash in conjunction with Christmas shopping incentivisation. I got my TV during that period... I read a couple of days ago that LCD TVs were the top Christmas gift item spending category in the US this year, which is a first (they beat out notebook computers and digital cams, the latter of which had been the top category for several years here).
 
FleurDuMal said:
Is it just my imagination or have HDTV prices crashed recently? I remember looking at getting one in the summer - something around 26" - and for a half decent one I was looking at around £700-£800 minimum. Now I'm seeing decent ones for under £500. That's a pretty hefty drop in a short space of time!
Click to expand...

Yes they have, and I love it. The HDTV that I just put a deposit down on (Mitsubishi WD-65831) was about $7000 last summer. I am picking it up for just over $3000. I am going to pick it up when my wife and I get back from our honeymoon at the end of January.

A great place to learn about HDTV/Audio/Home Theater is http://www.avsforum.com. They are a great group of people and will help newbies like you and me.

So, I will have some HD Superbowl goodness on my new 65" this February.

Hickman
 
If you want to connect a computer to your new HDTV, get something that takes a native 1920x1080 (1080p) res.

Certain 1366x768 (720p) TVs are not so computer friendly!
 
Macmadant said:
Well we got a Plasma, LG 42PC1DV, but not entirely sure it's HD, but have no way of checking this says it is
Click to expand...

The res is 1366 x 768 according to your link, so it can only display 720p - meaning no 1080p for you. The HD-DVDs you plan to get should still look nice, however.
 
kingjr3 said:
The res is 1366 x 768 according to your link, so it can only display 720p - meaning no 1080p for you.
Click to expand...

i'm happy with that, the only 1080p TV under a £1000 was a cheap £400 brand we had never heard of. and if i do get a console, it would be a Wii
 
kingjr3 said:
The res is 1366 x 768 according to your link, so it can only display 720p - meaning no 1080p for you. The HD-DVDs you plan to get should still look nice, however.
Click to expand...
This is a little misleading. The TV will most certainly display 1080p content. However, its scaler will downsample the video to its native resolution.
 
MisterMe said:
This is a little misleading. The TV will most certainly display 1080p content. However, its scaler will downsample the video to its native resolution.
Click to expand...

Semantics here...It might be me, but down sampled 1080 content != 1080p because you lose detail.
 
Joony said:
If you want to connect a computer to your new HDTV, get something that takes a native 1920x1080 (1080p) res.

Certain 1366x768 (720p) TVs are not so computer friendly!
Click to expand...

He said he was looking for a 32" TV. 1080p isn't available in that size. I believe they start in the 40+" range.

I just bought the Sharp LC37D42U. Going in I was all about the Samsung LNS3251D but the range of the Sharp seemed much better. Also I wanted a 32" model but with the introductory sale of the Sharp ($500 discount off) it came to the price I budgeted for the 32". There was a 40" Sony Bravia (1080p) that looked the best out of those 3 but it was over budget ($2,200+).

Like others mentioned I highly recommend www.avsforum.com for researching and asking questions.
 
Macmadant said:
i'm happy with that, the only 1080p TV under a £1000 was a cheap £400 brand we had never heard of. and if i do get a console, it would be a Wii
Click to expand...
I can't confirm but read the Wii only outputs at 480p. PS3 outputs at 1080p and xBox can be "tweaked" to output 1080p.
 
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