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uypeterson
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Los Angeles
 
2005-11-04, 15:40

Rule Number one with TVs -- NEVER buy it without first testing it in ALL the ways you plan on using it. The HP looks great on paper, but it may get in your house and you hate it because the image quality sucks, HD reception is flaky, its too big, its too noisy, and you hardly ever run the computer on it.

Between the Panasonic plasma and the Sharp LCD, Panasonic is the winner. I have seen both sets in operation and plasma handles constant motion images better than LCD.

Going by your followup posts, it seems you want a flat screen.

Will you run a computer or games on this screen? If so, go with a High Definition LCD screen that has a minimum of 720 horizontal lines. Sharp has the LC-37D7U 37" with 1366x768 resolution. That resolution helps if you're used to 1024x768 computer screens. If you can get a display with 1920x1080, that would be great.

If you do not plan on running a computer or games on the set and will not use it for extended periods of time, get a plasma. They offer the best image quality for constant motion images.

If you watch broadcast TV and DVD only, don't care about seeing the detail in insects, seeing skin pores and caked on makeup and seeing the difference between Astroturf and grass, and do not plan on upgrading to HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, ED (480 lines) is OK. I think they are a total waste of money and many of the top-tier companies (Panasonic, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Pioneer, LG, Toshiba, Mitshbishi) are downplaying ED.

The typical 42" ED display has a resolution of 852x480 -- perfect 16:9 size for DVDs. To my eye, DVD looks best on ED displays because DVD specifies 480 of horizontal resolution. In HD sets, the upsampling technology gives compelling results. I've seen fantastic results from 720 HD sets running DVDs through the composite (yellow RCA) inputs. Things get interesting with 1080 HD sets.

If you want a TV that can do it all and is ready for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, and you're willing to take a hit with your budget and a slight hit in image quality, you should get a 1920x1080 LCD display.

You will get a flat design, max HD image, acceptable resolution for computer use, no risk of image burn-in, acceptable power consumption, quiet operation. You will take a hit on price, limited inputs and image quality.

Until SED comes out and gets cheap, you can't have it all.

As far as the amp, I'm a Yamaha guy, but I do like Denons too. But, the best specs come from Sunfire and Musical Fidelity, in my opinion.

I agree with zippy -- it is best to run all video sources straight to display, and run all audio through the receiver. Your overall results will be better, but you'll be shuffling 14 remotes. You aren't confined to one or two brands at higher than necessary price points. Then, you can get better speakers . I won't go into those because it took me even longer to get the ones I liked (Wharfedale), and I'm upgrading those to Magneplanars anyway. Eventually, I want a set of Martin Logans :smokey: .
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