What do you think is the best non-widescreen standard-definition TV?

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Budget? Flat glass CRT's are clearly (heh) the best option for SD programing. But they get VERY expensive in large formats. Plus they weigh A LOT.

As far as the rear projection looking bad, that's just a simple factor of the poor source (cable TV) being projected on a high quality display.

Think of a 320x200 little movie clip being blown up and displayed at 800x600. It just gets really nasty looking being stretched past what it was intended to be shown at.

Same problem with standard def. It's just being displayed on a TV with a higher "resolution" than the source was intended...in a nutshell.

32" Trinitron Tube HDTV! Or a Sony XBR that is. Other manufacturers use hte same tube thuogh. Jsut look for the two thin wires to confirm it.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: BD2003
Honestly, the best quality for SDTV is an HDTV, since it can usually upconvert it to progressive scan and such. How big you need depends on how far you sit from it...bigger isnt always better.

Eh, every HDTV I've seen with SDTV pretty much looked like trash, really grainy.

You don't have to worry about that if it is setup properly. The HD cable box will scale everything to HD resolutions and can look quite good.

The graininess comes from the TV not being setup well (mainly sharpness and brightness WAY too high)

Go to a higher end AV shop and take a lot there.

Yup. Cable has never looked better than on my HDTV. The reason you think it looks worse, it cause it looks so good that you can see the flaws. 😛

Yeah. Its a common complaint among new HDTV owners. "gee this looks like crap"

Well the truth is you've taken crap and blown it up on a high resolution monitor. Big arse scan lines do not mean "sharp"

With a good scaler (and this totally depends on the TV or cable box) SD content can look very good. Don't forget that DVD is standard definition.

well in non animorphic mode. animorphic is like edtv actually.

 

[Rudee]

Originally posted by: Ornery
I went with 36" WEGA for the same reasons you're asking about. It's got 16:9 Enhanced Mode equivilent to 33" Widescreen, which is fine for the 5% of the time it's used to view movies.

We have that TV in the bedroom. It's a brick! Nice picture though.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Rudee

Originally posted by: Ornery
I went with 36" WEGA for the same reasons you're asking about. It's got 16:9 Enhanced Mode equivilent to 33" Widescreen, which is fine for the 5% of the time it's used to view movies.

We have that TV in the bedroom. It's a brick! Nice picture though.

Yeah no kidding.

I only moved my own 36"a couple times before I decided to abandon it and go with a projector.

7 pounds is a lot easier to move around than 210 or whatever it was.

 

[Dunbar]

Originally posted by: ifesfor
Fmr12B why do you prefer watching regular cable on your 32? Is the cable quality horrible on your 36 hd?

I have the same TV (36HS420) and regular cable (Adelphia) looks very grainy, most HDTV's look like trash displaying regular TV. My friend also has the same TV with Comcast and it looks identical to mine (grainy.) If I were buying now I'd look into EDTV plasmas.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: BD2003
Honestly, the best quality for SDTV is an HDTV, since it can usually upconvert it to progressive scan and such. How big you need depends on how far you sit from it...bigger isnt always better.

Eh, every HDTV I've seen with SDTV pretty much looked like trash, really grainy.

You don't have to worry about that if it is setup properly. The HD cable box will scale everything to HD resolutions and can look quite good.

The graininess comes from the TV not being setup well (mainly sharpness and brightness WAY too high)

Go to a higher end AV shop and take a lot there.

Yup. Cable has never looked better than on my HDTV. The reason you think it looks worse, it cause it looks so good that you can see the flaws. 😛

Yeah. Its a common complaint among new HDTV owners. "gee this looks like crap"

Well the truth is you've taken crap and blown it up on a high resolution monitor. Big arse scan lines do not mean "sharp"

With a good scaler (and this totally depends on the TV or cable box) SD content can look very good. Don't forget that DVD is standard definition.

well in non animorphic mode. animorphic is like edtv actually.

aka, a marketing term. IMHO.

 

[Ornery]

Originally posted by: ifesfor

Originally posted by: Ornery
I went with 36" WEGA for the same reasons you're asking about. It's got 16:9 Enhanced Mode equivilent to 33" Widescreen, which is fine for the 5% of the time it's used to view movies.

Which model of 36 wega did you choose? Have you choose a HD model? ( like the 420?)

Just got a simple KV-36FS120. Best bang for the buck I could get, with Sears price match, and my son's employee discount.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Dunbar

Originally posted by: ifesfor
Fmr12B why do you prefer watching regular cable on your 32? Is the cable quality horrible on your 36 hd?

I have the same TV (36HS420) and regular cable (Adelphia) looks very grainy, most HDTV's look like trash displaying regular TV. My friend also has the same TV with Comcast and it looks identical to mine (grainy.) If I were buying now I'd look into EDTV plasmas.

Try turning down your contrast, color and sharpness, and give your eyes a few minutes to adjust to the changes. Then see what you think.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Ornery

Originally posted by: ifesfor

Originally posted by: Ornery
I went with 36" WEGA for the same reasons you're asking about. It's got 16:9 Enhanced Mode equivilent to 33" Widescreen, which is fine for the 5% of the time it's used to view movies.

Which model of 36 wega did you choose? Have you choose a HD model? ( like the 420?)

Just got a simple KV-36FS120. Best bang for the buck I could get, with Sears price match, and my son's employee discount.

How much in the end?

I paid $800 for my fs100 a little over a year ago.