Newfangled digital TVs

[zahc]

My Sony CRT has served me very well, but I need a TV that works with computers, and my Sony refuses to display content from computers properly.

So, I guess I need a plasma, since black levels are important to me, and I generally hate the way LCDs look. Especially the new 120hz ones with motion smoothing. Yuck.

Trouble is, I never, ever watch TV. I only watch movies, which usually have letterbox bars. Will this cause a burn-in problem with plasmas? When I'm not watching movies, I'm playing games, which are usually 4:3 pillar-boxed. I haven't noticed any burnin with my CRT, so does that mean I should be Ok with a plasma?

I'm also thinking about a DLP projector. I've never seen what the picture from a good DLP projector looks like, though, and it's hard to get demos. And there's really nowhere to put it in my room anyway.

[sanglant]

start with avsforums, and htspot. i'm afraid lcd is simple better for what you want to do. or get the plasma and stay away from me. oh and i can ruin dlps with one word, best keep that away from me too.

[Marnoot]

oh and i can ruin dlps with one word

"Rainbows"? I don't find it to be much of an issue, but I'll admit that varies widely by person. I can see them, but I don't notice them unless I'm specifically looking for it. Some people can't see them, some can't not see them.

[sanglant]

i can see them from 10-15 feet back, must be my glasses Rx. it wouldn't be the first thing they made look a lot worse then it should. gg astigmatism.

oh and back to the topic. some of the newer lcds have better blacks(they still leave something to be desired) and there is this. good luck finding a set you can live with.

i have a westinghouse because my wega crt died, its a 26inch 768p. the 768p is the one thing i would say to avoid. every thing you watch(other than your desktop) has to be scaled to fit, it adds slight stair stepping to pretty much everything. at least 1080p is the right resolution for some things. here's the set i have been eyein' lately(price is going to have to plummet ) lg 37le5300

and this review site gives you the black level and brightness,(in cd/m2) and Contrast ratio. on there test sets at least, i bet every tv off the line is slightly different.

[Brad Johnson]

Backlighting has a lot to do with the contrast, too.  The new LED sets seem better at the contrasr game.  Mom and Dad recently got a 55" Samsung LED (a 240 Hz model IIRC).  The picture is stunningly good.

Be prepared, though.  Some channels still haven't fine-tuned their HD service.  We were watching Groundhog Day (can't remember the station) and you could distinctly see every jump where the station had trimmed for time.  Plus, the picture looked really funky, like the whole movie had been shot on BetaMax.  Other stations, they looked fine so it was unique to that channel, or to the way they digitized or encoded the movie.

True HD broadcasts of programs originally shot in HD can be incredibly good.  NatGeo, Travel, and History Channel all have excellent offerings.

Brad

[zahc]

I never, ever watch TV. The only thing I care about is my Oppo upscaling DVD player, my HTPC, and my future PS3.

I'm looking at either 720p or 1080p plasmas in about 42" sizes, but the burnin-of-the-letterbox-bars is kinda worrying me. I guess they have screen-eraser routines you can ru periodically, and screensavers. The thing is, I've never burnt in my CRT, so I'm trying to figure out if plasma burn-in is worse or better than CRT burn-in. I don't see any reason why it should be worse since they probably use similar phosphors.