Re: HD televisions

[Jim Noble <yahoo-groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 15 Jul 2007, at 19:09, Martin Howell wrote:

> Starting to think about replacing my ancient steam-powered
> TV with a shiny new wall mounted flat screen and looking for
> recommendations.  In particular:-
> - suggestions re the 'best' screens - best I've seen so far
> are seem to be Sony

Perhaps. Samsung are worth a look as well. They both use the same
panels (Samsung make them), but the other components can differ
substantially (even within each manufacturer's range)...

> - some details about what HD actually means - I seem to
> remember discussions on this list about some TVs claiming to
> be HD but actually being nothing of the sort.  What should I
> be looking out for?

If it has the "HDReady" logo, it should support at least 720p and
1080i properly. Some panels support 1080p as well (aka "Full
HD").
Unless you're buying a very large panel (40"+), it's questionable
whether you need 1080p at normal viewing distances.

There are also moves afoot for 24fps support (Toshiba issued a
firmware update to enable 24fps support in some of their HD-DVD
players). I'm not sure which, if any TVs support that frame rate yet.

> - I intend to build myself some kind of media centre PC,
> what should I be planning for the interface with the PC?

Most TVs seem to have either VGA or DVI for PC input, but with some
jiggery pokery I believe you can use the HDMI inputs.

> - some clues about the cheapest place to buy would also be
> good :-)

Have a look at the John Lewis thread on the LCD section of AVForums
and see where people are trying to price-match to these days...

HTH,

Jim