720p vs 1080p

[diogen]

Yet another reason not to buy a TV based on what it looks like at a place like Costco. Torch mode will make any observations useless.

Exactly!
But flat panel technology has almost become commodity (except for the high end).
For LCD there are 2-3 glass manufacturers, 3-4 for electronic components and only QC differrentiates the products.
Have a look at this post
http://www.satelliteguys.us/1142667-post10.html

If you have more time than money, I think spending some time to calibrate the TV can do miracles: no-name TV can look better than brand name in torch mode. And doing it yourself today isn't so hard having AVIA, DVE and lots of test screens available online. It won't be ISF calibration, but can make a huge difference.

DIogen.

 

[navychop]

In March 08, DVE for Blu-ray is due out, and a new version of it for HD DVD. Too bad it was delayed. But using the DVE DVD for cal helps, as is using the THX cal program on many DVDs.

 

[Carl B]

IMHO, HDTV calibration's value lies in the eyes of the beholder. Source material and room lighting are much bigger factors in the quality of your viewing experience. Yes, if you want to do one setting for watching DVD movies with exactly the same room lightiing from exactly the same viewing position, calibrating with the THX calibrator on many DVDs will provide some improvement in PQ for the viewer.

However, most highly calibrated sets will appear too dark for the average TV viewer, especially for watching OTA DTV content or a digital feed from satellite or cable. On the better HDTVs, the factor options for Standard are fine for variable viewing and Dynamic (torch) is fine and necessary in bright light conditions (mornings and afternoons in a family room or bedroom).

 

[FlyingJ]

Exactly.720p and 1080p aren't as different as most would suggest,to most customers.And I don't want to knock Front Projectors ,but theirs alot more things that effect the picture quality,mostly light! The only one I Ever saw that had Breath taking HD on it was at an IMAX theater. Which I might add was in a totally black dark room. I have friends with Front projectors and none of them use them for everyday tv viewing.Movie night for his friends is when we watch his $10,000 Front projector. If we are their for football we watch his 72" inch Sony.So IMO unless you like to watch Football ,Baseball or even the news in a pitch Black room IMO Front Projectors are the way to go.If you want breath taking HD you can watch anywhere Plasma ,LCD is the only way.

No... and your buddy paid too much.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

No... and your buddy paid too much.

He has millions $10,000 is like buying a cheap DVD player for me. That Sony 72" was $30,000 he has as well.

 

[vurbano]

It's a bit simplistic for this day and age.
If you are into HD/BD movies and sit close enough to the screen, you won't have difficulties to see the advantages a 1080p display provides.

Diogen.

I could easily see the difference when I picked mine out. Just as I can easily see how much better 1080p looks on BD and HD DVD

 

[haertig]

Incidentally, the sets on display at the big box stores are rarely set up properly. They're usually splitting the same signal 20 or 30 times, usually a pizza dish signal at that, making the picture look like crap on every set in the store. The only exception is when they have a BD or HDDVD deck connected directly to a set.

If you're splitting a digital signal multiple times, the degradation goes like this: "Great, great, great, gone". It's not like splitting an analog signal where it goes: "Great, good, fair, poor". With a digital signal you may see some breakup right before "gone", but that point is so close to gone that you would consider it gone anyway.

The showroom TVs may not be set up correctly as you said, but splitting the digital signal is not a part of that.

 

[mike123abc]

Most of the big box stores now use ATSC transmissions to distribute the signal to all the TVs. It has helped a lot.

 

[navychop]

I've seen component connections, running to some box I think is more than just a splitter.

 

[diogen]

While searching for something else, I run across this post on AVS from over a year ago
720 vs. 1080 and networks - AVS Forum

It looks at the 1080 vs. 720 issue from a different angle: not what a human eye can resolve and from what distance but what effective resolution a modern motion picture carries (resolvable video equivalent). From this post (and links within it) it looks like 1280 vertical lines (i.e. the 720 high definition standard) is more than enough to show everything (frequency-wise) a modern picture has.

Says Joe Kane

Horizontal resolution of most film masters in 1080p is in the area of 800 to 1300 lines. The horizontal capability of 720p is 1280 lines, the top end of what’s on the 1080p master.

Interesting read.

Diogen.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I agree about display device quality.

If you ask people on avs whether you should go with a 720p Kuro or a 1080p Samsung/Panny plasma, most say Pioneer. I agree, especially at 50".