HD madness!

[rebeccajo 14]

Damn.

But no wonder I'm confused. After all, I remember the Beetles in black and white on Ed Sullivan......

[Robor007 0]

He is sold on the 1080P picture based on DVDs, and although it is very impressive, I wouldn't do it yet. It'll be years before Cable or Satellite broadcast in 1080P and I'm just too damn lazy to use a DVD player all the time. You can get fantastic 720P/1080i sets now for less than half the cost because of this 1080P craze. But that's just me.

Yes, go HDMI into your set, and as long as your surround receiver has a digital coaxial input and is no more than 10 feet away from whatever is running into it- TV, VCR, Cable or Sat- you can use a simple $2.00 RCA cable instead of a $70 HDMI cable or $20 optical cable.

I agree the 1080i TV's are a great buy right now. I was amazed at how great my 'old' 1080i projection LCD looked with a 1080p HD-DVD. The 1080p sets in the stores look great but I can't say I see a difference, especially from viewing position. I'd definitely go with 1080i over 720p just because there is plenty of 1080 material available even on air/cable. I'd still go with an optical cable just because they can be had for cheap as long as you don't get crazy and buy Monster's stuff. Monster is nice but much of the cost is in the marketing.

[dalegg 143]

I was amazed at how great my 'old' 1080i projection LCD looked with a 1080p HD-DVD. The 1080p sets in the stores look great but I can't say I see a difference, especially from viewing position. I'd definitely go with 1080i over 720p just because there is plenty of 1080 material available even on air/cable.

Not that I'm advocating 1080p, but as good as that DVD looked, you were only seeing the 1080p downconverted to 1080i on your set. As for choosing between 1080i and 720p you really don't have to make that choice because 99% of 720P sets are also compatible with 1080i.

[mRx 16]

Ok this is my first post here, but darn if I am shocked.

You are going to spend your money on a home theater system? I understand your under 25 but come on, spend the money on getting that vehicle for her.

Are you folks really going to watch that much TV.

I am saying that from experience. I have a lady, however I am just currently in the K1 process, actually sending it out this week.

I already own a 62" Mistibushi HDTV with DirectTV HD DVR, Sony DVD player(yeah with HDMI), Sony stereo reciever as well as a Bose 5.1 surround sound system. But if I knew what I was getting myself into, I would have saved all that money to get her a car when she arrives.

Yeah I watch TV, and its great for Football on HD, well sports in general, but even being alone right now, I dont watch it that much. So it is a huge expense when you look at what a car could do for your new found wife and yourself, it could be a better investment.

Not trying to stir the pot, but just giving you some advice on what I have encountered, and thats without the wife.

Regards,

T.

sounds like you got a pretty rockin system. I do appreciate the words of financial wisdom. And of course i am thinking of my wife. Buying this tv isnt gonna empty me at all. I am just going to use my tax return. But the kicker is that im deploying to Iraq in 3 and a half months. And im gonna save every penny i make over there. And when i get back in mid- September, we will be able to afford a brand new car.

So although when i started this thread, I said something about getting a tv instead of a car, it was more of a joke... honestly.

And I have thoroughly researched my choices on TVs. And ive decided to go 1080p. Although I wont be able to take advantage of its full power for a couple years, until the hd dvd vs blu-ray battle is ended. But its an investment of technology. The TV im getting is 1850 dollars. http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Sony_BRAVIA...D_TV,__25949446

and this is the sound system that i will probably get for now.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Philips_HTS...stem,__20289671

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Hybrid DVD player plays both HD formats

[Robor007 0]

I was amazed at how great my 'old' 1080i projection LCD looked with a 1080p HD-DVD. The 1080p sets in the stores look great but I can't say I see a difference, especially from viewing position. I'd definitely go with 1080i over 720p just because there is plenty of 1080 material available even on air/cable.

Not that I'm advocating 1080p, but as good as that DVD looked, you were only seeing the 1080p downconverted to 1080i on your set. As for choosing between 1080i and 720p you really don't have to make that choice because 99% of 720P sets are also compatible with 1080i.

Yes but it's still the same lines of resolution. I've read opinions saying that you'll not see a difference between 1080p and 1080i unless it's 60" or bigger or your closer than 'X' amount of feet.

Wouldn't a 720p set downconvert any 1080 signal causing a reduced resolution and picture quality?

[Robor007 0]

Hybrid DVD player plays both HD formats

Yep, they're coming. Don't waste your money on a stand alone set top box that's exclusive to one format or the other.

[mRx 16]

Hybrid DVD player plays both HD formats

Yep, they're coming. Don't waste your money on a stand alone set top box that's exclusive to one format or the other.

but doesnt that just seem ridiculuos? If both formats never gave up. I mean come on. Stores are not gonna want to carry hd dvd, blu ray and of course regular dvd. What a waste of technology, we have these powerful monitors, with no media to play on them.

[Robor007 0]

Hybrid DVD player plays both HD formats

Yep, they're coming. Don't waste your money on a stand alone set top box that's exclusive to one format or the other.

but doesnt that just seem ridiculuos? If both formats never gave up. I mean come on. Stores are not gonna want to carry hd dvd, blu ray and of course regular dvd. What a waste of technology, we have these powerful monitors, with no media to play on them.

Oh, I agree. I hate the 'format war' and I do think one of them will eventually become the standard. The question is, which one? That's why I'm saying don't bet your money one way or the other on an expensive set top HD-DVD or BluRay box that can't do all three (including standard DVD) formats. I got the XBox360 HD-DVD drive just because it was reasonable ($200) and might be of use later to store data for my XBox360.

[mRx 16]

Hybrid DVD player plays both HD formats

Yep, they're coming. Don't waste your money on a stand alone set top box that's exclusive to one format or the other.

but doesnt that just seem ridiculuos? If both formats never gave up. I mean come on. Stores are not gonna want to carry hd dvd, blu ray and of course regular dvd. What a waste of technology, we have these powerful monitors, with no media to play on them.

Oh, I agree. I hate the 'format war' and I do think one of them will eventually become the standard. The question is, which one? That's why I'm saying don't bet your money one way or the other on an expensive set top HD-DVD or BluRay box that can't do all three (including standard DVD) formats. I got the XBox360 HD-DVD drive just because it was reasonable ($200) and might be of use later to store data for my XBox360.

Maybe these next-gen systems signed their names on the products a little too soon eh? Think about it, if blu-ray goes down the drain, the PS3 will follow. The same is true of Xbox360. This war will be interesting.

[dalegg 143]

I was amazed at how great my 'old' 1080i projection LCD looked with a 1080p HD-DVD. The 1080p sets in the stores look great but I can't say I see a difference, especially from viewing position. I'd definitely go with 1080i over 720p just because there is plenty of 1080 material available even on air/cable.

Not that I'm advocating 1080p, but as good as that DVD looked, you were only seeing the 1080p downconverted to 1080i on your set. As for choosing between 1080i and 720p you really don't have to make that choice because 99% of 720P sets are also compatible with 1080i.

Yes but it's still the same lines of resolution. I've read opinions saying that you'll not see a difference between 1080p and 1080i unless it's 60" or bigger or your closer than 'X' amount of feet.

Wouldn't a 720p set downconvert any 1080 signal causing a reduced resolution and picture quality?

No it's not. 1080i is 1080 lines of resolution- interlaced. This means at any given time you are only seeing a maximum of 540 of the lines that make up a picture. 1080P (progressive) means you are seeing all 1080P at once, so the resolution is actually twice that of 1080i.

720P is less total lines than 1080i, however since you are seeing all 720 lines at once, the clarity is on par with 1080i- in fact the consensus is that it's even better especially for sports.

From what I've seen I believe that if a movie was actually produced in 1080P that you could actually see the difference on sets as small as 37 inches- depending on the resolution of the set. Remember- just because your set is capable of tuning to a 1080i signal, it doesn't mean that it actually has the resolution to display it all.

Take for example the Sharp LC-45D40U. This is a 45" 1080P LCD HDTV set that has only 1366H x 768V resolution. See that 768V? That means the set only has the capability of distinguishing 768 of your precious 1080 lines. On the other hand Sharp has the LC46D62U. Just one inch larger but this one actually has full 1920H x 1080V resolution so as they say- "nothing is lost". That's why one costs $2000 and the other costs $3000.

So yeah, if you compared a 46 inch 1080i set with 1366 x 768 resolution to a 1080p set with 1366 x 768 resolution, you may not see the difference unless you were close up, but if you compared the same set to a full 1920 by 1080 progressive scan set, you would see the difference.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Hybrid DVD player plays both HD formats

Yep, they're coming. Don't waste your money on a stand alone set top box that's exclusive to one format or the other.

but doesnt that just seem ridiculuos? If both formats never gave up. I mean come on. Stores are not gonna want to carry hd dvd, blu ray and of course regular dvd. What a waste of technology, we have these powerful monitors, with no media to play on them.

Oh, I agree. I hate the 'format war' and I do think one of them will eventually become the standard. The question is, which one? That's why I'm saying don't bet your money one way or the other on an expensive set top HD-DVD or BluRay box that can't do all three (including standard DVD) formats. I got the XBox360 HD-DVD drive just because it was reasonable ($200) and might be of use later to store data for my XBox360.

Maybe these next-gen systems signed their names on the products a little too soon eh? Think about it, if blu-ray goes down the drain, the PS3 will follow. The same is true of Xbox360. This war will be interesting.

I imagine that Blu-Ray won't be going anywhere - simply because the majority of the movie studios are signed up to it. HD-DVD has Universal who are using it exclusively. Blu-Ray is represented notably by Sony Pictures (Spiderman, James Bond + the entire MGM/UA Back Catalog) and 20th Century Fox (Star Wars).

Edited January 5, 2007 by erekose

[mawilson 2,133]

Dalegg,

My TV supports 1080p but the cable box and DVD can only go as high as 720p or 1080i.

Which resolution is "better", 720p or 1080i? 1080i looks a little bit better but I'm not sure.

Thanks

MW

[dalegg 143]

Dalegg,

My TV supports 1080p but the cable box and DVD can only go as high as 720p or 1080i.

Which resolution is "better", 720p or 1080i? 1080i looks a little bit better but I'm not sure.

Thanks

MW

They are actually about the same. 1080i breaks the picture down into smaller parts, but only displays 540 at a time. 720P shows you all 720 at the same time.

There is more to it than whether it's 1080i vs 720P too. Broadcasters don't often give you a chance to compare apples to apples either. For both types of signals, it takes 19.2 megabits/sec to accuratley display a true HD signal. With anything less than that, you get more and more digital "artifacts". This is where Kobe passes the ball and you can't distinguish the basketball from the audience. Off air broadcasters only have 19.2 Mb/s available in their signal, and a lot of them want to send multiple channels, so they'll only use 14 Mb/s for their HD signal and split the remaining 5 megabits between 2 SD programs. The movie channels- HBO, Showtime, Starz- do the same thing, however they rarely show anything that's true HD, so it doesn't matter as much.

Here in LA we have a good comparison. CBS uses their full 19.2 Mbs for one 1080i signal and Fox uses the full 19.2 for 720P. On football Sunday you can do a direct comparison. I personally prefer FOX's 720P, but maybe it's because I like the NFC better. NBC on the otherhand splits their signal with 2 other SD channels, so their 1080i signal never gets the full 19.2 megs and thus is subject to more artifacting.

Edited January 5, 2007 by dalegg

[Carol&Marc 0]

http://hdguru.com/

Have fun!