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Cheap HD telly
Topic Started: May 24 2009, 03:06 PM (1,203 Views)
Gina
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Tracked the parcel - delivery due tomorrow 12th. :)
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Phaedrus
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:)
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Gina
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Latest status "Awaiting Delivery" - it's been checked onto the van :)
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Gina
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Its arrived! :) :) :) Just as we were eating lunch :lol Now to unpack it...
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Gina
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All set up now (except I shall want an HDMI cable to connect my DVD recorder). Tuned in and umpteen Freeview channels working fine. Also have SCART connection to my DVD recorder. The live TV is very sharp and clear. The screen is not just bigger but much sharper than the old CRT heap :) Signals fed over the analogue SCART are noticeably "softer" but still clearer than with the old set.

Nothing to fault so far :) :) Great, in fact :)
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Gina
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I like the remote control - nice clear legends on the keys and a good layout IMO. Also slimline and easy to hold :) Having a bigger screen with better resolution also means that the picture is still a reasonable size when showing old recordings with 4:3 format.

I watched some of Gardener's World earlier and the bright colours of the flowers and sharp picture were a joy to behold :) :)
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John
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You might want to lower the sharpness a bit mate, they normally whack it right up which is ok if you can live with it but it normally makes a mess of DVD and HD content with it being sharp already.

All our TVs are set to fatovision, i cant be arsed with 4:3 bars and prefer people with fat heads now LOL.

I set mine up last night using some photographic calibration photos on a USB stick cos i was sick of watching it dim and dark, if i burn the screen tough babba LOL

If and when you buy a Blu-Ray player if this is your cup of tea mate buy this http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/3388938/Planet-Earth-Box-Set/Product.html its stunning
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Gina
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Now that is something I WOULD be interested in :) :) The price is good too :)

I don't think I'll be able to afford a Blu-Ray player this month - I've somewhat diminished my funds! I only have pension income.

As for sharpness, I've looked round the settings and sharpness is set about half way. The contrast was set at 100% so I lowered it a bit and increased the brightness. That improved the picture (to my taste). I've found TV sets tend to come with odd settings so fiddling with the settings is nothing new :lol
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John
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The sharpness sounds about right mate TBH, makes a change :)

As for the contrast i have no idea what the makers are thinking every flat telly i have got comes with 100% contrast and its bonkers. My contrast is 70, brightness is 62, colour is 45 and colour balance is medium. Freeview can look a bit roapy at that but anything from a HD source (or even DVD) looks bang on.
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Gina
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I reckon I've got mine somewhere near right for Freeview as I get a very good picture :)

I shall have to rearrange the furniture a bit it seems - currently I would need an HDMI lead over 3m long to reach from my DVD recorder HDMI port to one on the telly :( I don't want my DVD recorder underneath the TV as it means bending down to put a DVD in. I suppose a shelf above it might be one answer, but it might look cluttered.
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Gina
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Just watched "Escape to Athena" on Film 4 in "super" wide-screen - 2:1 :) This was great with the better quality of the LCD screen :):) Now we have the opposite "Blithe Spirit" in super square screen :lol Must say I prefer the SWS format :lol seems more natural in cinema format :)
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Gina
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Now watching "Star Trek: Nemesis" in normal wide-screen, though I suspect it was made in Cinemascope (missed the beginning sequence, so didn't see). :)
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Gina
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It was in Panavision - said at the end. Pan and scan worked quite well with this film though - only a couple of times the width was insufficient.
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John
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When watching widescreen films you should get black bars top and bottom mate rather than it trying to fill the screen :)
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Gina
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Yes, that's right :) That's what I get. (When they televise it in cinema format.) What really annoys me is when some channels transmit Cinemascope or Panavision films in 4:3 format :( Fortunately that seems to be happening less these days.

Watched Royal Ascot this afternoon - that was great. The better picture quality did justice to the colourful fashions and fantastic hats the ladies were wearing. And the horses looked much better too.

I've been rearranging the lounge and have put the "boxes" on a table next to the TV rather than about 5-6 feet away. Picked up an HDMI cable for a tenner from our local farming store (of all places :lol ) a few days ago and now have my DVD recorder/player connected with HDMI. Decidedly better quality than through SCART. Now I can see definite differences in the quality of TV programmes with some showing quite definite compression artefacts!
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John
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I cant wait till you see something HD on it mate, you are going to be bouncing off the ceiling LOL

On our LCD the compression artifacts on freeview are terrible but thankfully the plasma smooths them out and its much better.
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Gina
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I'm thinking about Blu-ray :lol For next month when I've got another pension payment :) Tesco are advertising The Italian Job (original version, not the crap "remake") in DVD and Blu-Ray. It's one of my favourite films and it's got some great scenery too - definitely a candidate for BR I think. Then there's that collection (Natural Earth or something) you mentioned, John. Maybe it's time to start collecting :lol The Sound of Music is another candidate, but I haven't seen that available on Blu-Ray yet.
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John
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BRDs are great but stuff like the italian job might not look as stunning as something new just because of its age and the film stock it was shot on, my mate has enter the dragon on BRD though and he says it is better than DVD. There is one thing it cant look worse than the DVD copy can it :)

Planet Earth is great but it isnt without problems because there is some noticable problems with the authoring (25fps being made to run at 24fps) so you get some stutter on pan shots but i still think it is stunning to watch ill be honest.
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Gina
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Maybe it's not worth paying the extra for BRD for old films. May do some more thinking :lol If I go into ASDA next month to look at Blu-Ray players I'll probably look at what BRDs they're selling. Not yet too sure whether to get a stand-alone BR player or a PC drive.
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John
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Even old films have a resolution higher than what is needed for HD but with it not being digital it can look a bit ropy
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