I haven't had a TV in about a year. I haven't had cable or watched TV since 2003. I gave away the TV last year because my DVD player broke in 2006.

But I'm looking at what I can do with a Samsung 46" LCD (120Hz, model 750?), a PS3, my computer, and a Yamaha HDMI receiver hooked up for 5.1 plugging them all together. Anyone got a similar setup?

I'm not seeing any reason I can't have the TV available for movies and CDs from the PS3, games from both, a second really nice 1920x1080 monitor and sound system for the computer. The whole thing will probaby set me back $4,000 by the end of it, am I crazy for thinking this is a good idea?

On my TV (a 34" Sony Bravia), even-numbered pixels appear to be favored somehow. That is, if I have a pair of pixels on the same horizontal line, the odd-numbered pixel seems to pick up a bit of the even-numbered pixel's color. The effect is most noticeable with a test pattern of 1-pixel-wide vertical stripes. For example, I tried a pattern of alternating red and black stripes, starting with a red stripe in column 0. With a magnifying glass I verified that odd-numbered pixels--which were all supposed to be black--were showing a bit of red. Then I shifted the pattern over by one pixel, so that red was in the odd numbered columns. This caused the even numbered pixels to correctly display as black, but the odd numbered pixels were dimmed.

I don't know if this is common for TVs, but my monitors certainly don't do anything like that.

Now, this sort of thing has no noticeable impact on video, but it produces a mildly annoying effect with small colored text.

'I haven't had a TV in about a year.'

- What the hell is all your furniture pointed at?!?

When I think home theatre I think screens over 72inches with those nice reclining leather chairs with cup holders... I wish I had the time/room/funds to have a real home theatre setup. I know some folks who do and it's just sick.

I use my PS3 pretty much as a movie player on my 52inch LCD I bought Thanksgiving. I love it :D I have a cheapie yamaha 5.1 surround system (less than $500) I bought a couple of years ago, it more than does the job for me. I'm pleased with the picture and sound quality for both movies and the few times I actually use my PS3 or 360.

'I haven't had a TV in about a year.'

- What the hell is all your furniture pointed at?!?

It's Malse, he has his furniture pointed at a spy scope directed at San's bathroom window!!

I have a webcam for him.

I'm not seeing any reason I can't have the TV available for movies and CDs from the PS3, games from both, a second really nice 1920x1080 monitor and sound system for the computer. The whole thing will probaby set me back $4,000 by the end of it, am I crazy for thinking this is a good idea?

Yes. Go outside.

Yes. Go outside.

I used the last of outside last week.

'I haven't had a TV in about a year.'

- What the hell is all your furniture pointed at?!?

I laughed at this question since I doubt anyone who would ever visit this forum has grown up in an environment in which the glass teat wasn't the center of the living room, but currently my furniture in arranged in a semicircle with the comfortable couch facing mostly out the window as that provide really good light to read by in the daytime.

I'm not seeing any reason I can't have the TV available for movies and CDs from the PS3, games from both, a second really nice 1920x1080 monitor and sound system for the computer. The whole thing will probaby set me back $4,000 by the end of it, am I crazy for thinking this is a good idea?
Yes. Go outside.
But this is HDTV. It's got better resolution than the real world!

'I laughed at this question since I doubt anyone who would ever visit this forum has grown up in an environment in which the glass teat wasn't the center of the living room, but currently my furniture in arranged in a semicircle with the comfortable couch facing mostly out the window as that provide really good light to read by in the daytime.'

- Good call. I tried to fight my other half for a month to put a stop to TV in the bedroom. But god knows if she can't go without it for a night.
I'm not a big TV watcher. I only switch it on for documentaries and the odd movie - spend most the time in the study at home.

Supposedly a TV in the bedroom kills the sex life too, though my roomates hate to walk in on my porn watching in the living room. For someone who works in TV my friends find it funny I only have 2 (one in living room and one connected to my edit suite), but I've got a lazyboy and 4x 21" monitors and a wireless keyboard and mouse for the computer.

I don't know how people can sit in a recliner and be on their PC... it's just so uncomfortable for me. How do you guys do it?

TV in the bedroom is very bad for your quality of sleep too.
http://www.umm.edu/sleep/sleep_hyg.htm

We sleep well - and *play* well too. wink wink.

I haven't had a TV in about a year. I haven't had cable or watched TV since 2003. I gave away the TV last year...

The whole thing will probaby set me back $4,000 by the end of it, am I crazy for thinking this is a good idea?

I know nothing of your financial situation. But to most people $4,000 is a lot of money, especially to spend on something you will more than likely get little to no satisfaction out of. You should just take a European vacation or multiple other vacations instead. Vay Kays are always worth it! :gclub

I know nothing of your financial situation. But to most people $4,000 is a lot of money, especially to spend on something you will more than likely get little to no satisfaction out of. You should just take a European vacation or multiple other vacations instead. Vay Kays are always worth it! :gclub

For $4,000 you could probably get 4 weeks, all inclusive, at a 4 star resort in Mexico for example. That's a good point. I'd spend half on a TV and spend two weeks scuba diving personally :)

I don't know how people can sit in a recliner and be on their PC... it's just so uncomfortable for me. How do you guys do it?

I built a table that kinda goes across the arm rests and it sits just above my lap for my laptop and keyboard.

My back injury prevents me from scuba diving (and numerous other activities that have left me indoors more than I prefer), otherwise I likely would have done some lake diving at minimum this summer; however I can do both the excessive home entertainment and the monthlong Mexican vacation so that particular element doesn't enter into it, if it wasn't throwaway money I wouldn't be considering using it on a TV anyway.

Ok, well seriously while the LCD is cheaper - are you watching this by yourself, or with someone else? The technology was developed for computer monitors, and the viewing axis can be rough looking at it from the side.

Conversely, hooking it up to a computer its the better of choices due to refresh rates and different features like that, and burn in isn't a factor. They just have the off axis issues.

Primary viewing couch would be about 9' back and cover ~35 deg of arc.

Straight on it'll look fine, its just the guy with the shitty seat to the right or left of the TV who might have problems. Your flat monitor is probably a LCD, turn it slightly and you'll see what I mean. Also they have some glare issues, so a darker space is better.

It'll also weigh less than a plasma of the same size, which will help with the back moving it to and from the car :)

Modern LCD monitors--at least the good ones--are designed for a wide range of viewing angles.

I have a 36" Sony Trinitron downstairs for the game consoles, and that seems to be more than adequate.

Upstairs, I have a 52" with surround sound that I watch movies on, and even more so concert DVD's. Rather than have the radio or stereo going I will often put a concert on and listen through the surround sound system, and if a particular song grabs my attention I can stop what I am doing and watch.

I also have a 19" in my special room for copying and dubbing, but that is secret so I won't mention it here. :rolleyes:

Modern LCD monitors--at least the good ones--are designed for a wide range of viewing angles.

If they use the same technology as computer monitors, newness isn't as much a factor as which type of LCD technology is used. *-IPS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#IPS) types are the ones with an excellent range of viewing angles. Cheaper displays still use *VA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#MVA) and TN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#TN_.2B_film) types, even today, which have color shift at angles and terrible range.

That's probably more info than anyone could possibly want, but there you go.

If they use the same technology as computer monitors, newness isn't as much a factor as which type of LCD technology is used. *-IPS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#IPS) types are the ones with an excellent range of viewing angles. Cheaper displays still use *VA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#MVA) and TN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD#TN_.2B_film) types, even today, which have color shift at angles and terrible range.

That's probably more info than anyone could possibly want, but there you go.

The only way to tell is to look at it in a store environment and test it. The best LCD is worse than the best Plasma in that category, the worst LCD is worse than the worst Plasma. Even though LCDs are better, they aren't as good as a Plasma - but Plasma's can't get hooked up to a computer or they risk getting burn in and don't have the right refresh rates more often than not.

You can get a lot for $4000 these days. You won't regret it I put in a 60" Samsung (first generation DLP), full Yamaha with klipsch sound system for about $10K around 5 years ago. It seemed about 2 years later the TV's dropped in half on price, so you can throw a ton more into the sound system.... I love it. I went with floor standing speakers for sides, they are litterally a couple hundred pounds, and various other satelite speakers with stand alone 12" powered sub. I have my 360 hooked up to it and game play is unreal on it. I listen to a lot of music so I went with more of a Sound system than just a simply basic surround sound system.

Yeah, the whole "sound system" part is what I'm still iffy on. I know I can put together a fairly comprehensive 5.1 or 7.1 surround system for around $1000 (I don't know who actually buys these HDMI and speaker cables from Bestbuy, wtf) but whether or not I'm really going to get a return out of it versus the TV speakers is kind of up in the air.

5.1 surround sound or 7.1 ... what programs do you have that would utilize this? Most DVDs can do 5.1, some video games, no television can ... or can it?

That being said, it does make the experience better with sounds coming at you from all angles vs just from the (probably poor) built ins. The frequency response in the bass is probably pretty poor ... like listening to a mp3 instead of a cd or live.

whether or not I'm really going to get a return out of it versus the TV speakers is kind of up in the air.

It depends on your use. If you are at all like Ibudin and myself and like to listen to music (I have a lot of the Montreaux DVD's as well as a lot of other musical stuff) then having a decent surround sound will pay off. I think it really pays off with good movies as well.

Plasmas do look nice but if you plan to play games on it at all I wouldn't get one. They risk the chance of "burn in". The fact that I play console games on my home theatre system was the single largest factor in me getting LCD rather than Plasma.

Thats good info, didn't know that.

Plasma burn in occurs mostly after 25-45 minutes. But a game with a hud or other interface item that stays in the same spot can burn in even when the game is not paused.

Straight on it'll look fine, its just the guy with the shitty seat to the right or left of the TV who might have problems. Your flat monitor is probably a LCD, turn it slightly and you'll see what I mean. Also they have some glare issues, so a darker space is better.

It'll also weigh less than a plasma of the same size, which will help with the back moving it to and from the car :)
And last longer, and have lower electric bills, but you won't get as dark of blacks!

Plasma burn in occurs mostly after 25-45 minutes. But a game with a hud or other interface item that stays in the same spot can burn in even when the game is not paused.

So those annoying network/channel logos won't be getting burned in if you watch the same news programs each day? I had the 11 from my local NBC affiliate burned into an old 46 inch projection TV, in the bottom corner, years ago and it bugged me to no end.

just to chime in, i have a 72in DLP (yes i am overcompensating) and I love it, its light, its small and it works great. I have had it for 2 years and no bulb problems which is sometimes what you hear about. Most companies warranty their bulbs for a decent amount of time anyway.

Finally got around to getting this, I must say it's a little weird.

On one hand, the PS3 is an awesome console -- I use it as a music library and video player much more than a game machine and it not only has a passable web browser but also can stream data from my Freecom Storage Gateway with its much larger hard disk and easier filesystem access. The TV looks incredible, although I'm still futzing with all the 50 billion settings getting it and the PS3 and the Pioneer receiver doing everything right (5.1 surround was easy, 1080p at 24/60 frames was a bit tougher, 120 hz smoothing is still up the air).

What qualifies it as "weird" is that the quality difference between it and an older TV/DVD setup is downright eerie. I was watching Heat last night, and having seen it many times on large screens in the past it was absolutely FREAKY seeing all the tiny background details that were smeared by oversampled DVD->480i TV. It has a disconcerting "TV Movie of the Week" effect because everything looks like a steady cam closeup, even if it's a wide shot. Hopefully that's a viewing expectation thing but for the moment it's a bit distracting -- I keep noticing all the text I can read in the background now, in one case even the larger print off the side of a cereal box. Definitely not kind to the actors that got by on character over photogenity.


One thing I did find funny was how many Berkeley/GNU license statements I found in the manuals for some of this stuff, I was remembering a discussion here a few years back about how "open source is a dead end" despite my Samsung TV, Pioneer receiver, and Sony device ALL making use of it. Apparently the support model wasn't so awful after all ;>

Also, despite the fight against Chinese consumer goods, I have found it is virtually impossible to get a decent set of speakers or furniture that is not made in China unless you want to buy horribly expensive or via Mail Order. I settled with Polk speakers, but after opening the boxes ... yep, designed here, actually made and assembled in China. Bummer. Same with the TV stand. In so far as I can tell at least the wood wasn't cut here, shipped there to be worked and then shipped back.

hehe I remember the first BlueRay movie I watched on my TV, I was like holy shit you can see the hairs on people's faces, every crevice or facial imperfection was glaringly obvious. It made me smile b/c so many actors are airbrushed.

I find it near impossible to watch "regular" TV anymore, anything not in HD just looks fuzzy and horrible. And like you I've watched far more movies with my PS3 than used it to play games. I hate the web browser though, the constantly asking to load plugin bullshit gets OLD. Not to mention on some forums it doesn't keep the password so you have to logging in over and over again.

I'm a noob with the settings, mine are default I haven't a clue what to change or how it should look. I just know it looks better than my old TV. I also find that my PS3 gets far more use than my 360. Gratz on the new toys though. I'd be interested in knowing what settings you tweaked exactly and what you mean by 1080p at 24/60 frames. I'm wondering if I can make my TV look even better.

hehe I remember the first BlueRay movie I watched on my TV, I was like holy shit you can see the hairs on people's faces, every crevice or facial imperfection was glaringly obvious. It made me smile b/c so many actors are airbrushed.


I laughed when I read this because I remember thinking how I never noticed how much actors sweat, they all have sweat all over them. When I bought my HD I got $100 off of a PS3 which is my main DVD player!

You think its distracting in 1x, just wait until they start shipping 2x or 4x programming. We've been shooting on the Red camera a lot of tests lately and just recently some commercial work, its unbelievable the stuff you see. You almost have to keep 60-70% of the picture out of focus or its too distracting. Hell, my computer monitor can barely get up to 2x resolution so I'm not even sure what 4x truly looks like.

The new Samsung DLP units use a LED light engine, no bulb to replace.. EVER. And the pricing is not too bad. Three of the people I work with own Samsungs.

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=dlptv&model_cd=HL67A750A1FXZA

Here is the 67" with the LED light engine. Anywhere from $1700 to $2k, great TV

The new Samsung DLP units use a LED light engine, no bulb to replace.. EVER. And the pricing is not too bad. Three of the people I work with own Samsungs.

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=dlptv&model_cd=HL67A750A1FXZA

Here is the 67" with the LED light engine. Anywhere from $1700 to $2k, great TV

/drool

The new Samsung DLP units use a LED light engine, no bulb to replace.. EVER. And the pricing is not too bad. Three of the people I work with own Samsungs.

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=televisions&type=televisions&subtype=dlptv&model_cd=HL67A750A1FXZA

Here is the 67" with the LED light engine. Anywhere from $1700 to $2k, great TV

That's not entirely true. The LED light engine will probably burn out in 10 years and need to be replaced, but that's still a pretty crazy long lifetime and these operate cooler and at a much greater energy efficiency than other units.