Need TV Recommendations

[DishWorks222]

I'm trying to help my brother out with his HDTV setup. We are both new to the HD world so bare with me.

His entertainment center is 126" long, 22" in depth and about 7' in height with a TV opening of 62"w X 38 1/2"h. He has bought a DishPlayer 942 and has the Monster HDMI cable to go HDMI<>HDMI.

He purchased a SONY WEGA 3LCD part number E55A20 from his local Best Buy. He got the TV home and setup, the HD channels on his 942 is simply remarkable, couldn't imagine it being any better. However the SD channels where terribly horrific, very grainy you might say. He pondered about it not being acceptable over a days work, got home and had watched about 30 minutes of TV when the TV all of a sudden just popped and went black with a red indicator light blinking. He called SONY, the tech told him to take it back to Best Buy that the TV couldn't be fixed, well to say the least that put the icing on the cake. He took the TV back and just got a refund.

So now you know where we stand and would really like to have your input whether you think something was just wrong with the set in the first place and was the reason for the poor SD picture. Do all HDTV's of that size have that grainy look?

My main question here i guess is what TV of that size would you guys recommend? Money is not a major factor but would like to keep it reasonable. He just wants to get the best bang for his buck.


Thanks!

 

[PhillyOTA]

HD sets vary widely on how well they display SD. I would suggest to go to a specialty store that has the tvs he is interested in hooked up and watch SD content and see which one he approves of.

Personally, I do not like the way any HD set displays SD and have stopped watching all SD programs.

Eddie

 

[sdallnct]

I couldn't agree more. Also the larger the screen the worse the SD Pic.

I always knew DVD was mo better on my X-1 to a 94" screen vs Dish Network SD image. But mostly chaulked that up to how good DVD is. However, last weekend I hooked up a HD OTA receiver and I could quickly and easily switch between the HD show and the SD show in Dish. It is night and day. As an example, on MNF they were doing a replay's to see if it was really a fumble late in in the game. Thu my Dish, SD I could not even SEE the football as it went between the player and ground. However on HD you could clearly see the ball. It was unbelievable the difference. And the X-1 is not a true HD PJ!!!!

IMHO, the better and/or bigger the display the better your source had better be. For anything "bad" will only get magnified.

 

[JimMcC]

Hd

In my opinion, the best SD picture will be gotten by the old CRT TV's. I had a 55" Mitsubishi RPTV and the picture was pretty good on most SD channels, with my Dish Network satellite. Some SD channels are better than others though. I also have the X1 projector, and it does have a great picture with HD. Watching football in HD on a 106" diagonal screen is FANTASTIC.

 

[Cozdiver]

I have a Sony WEGA model 55XS955 connected to a 942 with that HDMI cable (the one with a connection in the middle) provided at time of installation. Our SD channels look great, in fact, my wife says she can't tell the difference between those and HD. I can but admit the SDs are 10 times better than the cable service we had.

I have the Sony HDTV setting on TV type 1080i and use either STRETCH or PARTIAL ZOOM on SD channels depending on the content. I always leave the Sony on NORMAL mode (Wide button under Mode on the Sony TV remote). I found Zoom or Wide Zoom modes applied on the TV combined with Dish remote Aspects will create a very grainy pq. I always leave the Sony set to Full and only adjust aspect using the Dish remote. For example, if you set the Sony to Zoom using the Sony remote then set the aspect using the Dish remote to Partial Zoom or Zoom it is really zoomed in and very grainy. They're added together.

I just found it odd that two very similar models had such differing results and wondered if it could be something as simple as doubling up of resolutions.

 

[DishWorks222]

Thanks for the input guys.

He went shopping and has a SONY 50" Plasma model# KDE-50XS955 on the way. The Best Buy he had gotten his first TV at couldn't provide SD channels on their HDTV's so he could compare the quality, they told him all they had was HD programming on those TV's. He felt there and went down the road to Circuit City where they could provide him the comparison between HD and SD programming on each set. In-fact his salesman has a 942 with the same TV at home and told him the PQ was even better with the 942 than what he was seeing at the store because they had cable with HD programming there at the Circuit City, He even offered to personally come over to my brothers house and help him set it up. I think he said he paid around 1600 more bucks for the Plasma over the LCD he originally purchased. That included a 6 year warranty and maintenance package with the Plasma. I don't think he went wrong.

Thanks again!

 

[Gregg Loewen]

hi!

you are concerned about SD and bought a plasma???
Be prepared to be disappointed.
You will either have burn in (due to the jail bars) or will have a sub par picture due to the scaling to fit the entire screen (while preventing burn in).

My apologies for being late to this thread...
I have been watching SD only on a 50" samsung dlp for the past 2 months using the Bell ExpressVu HD PVR (no LNB for the HD bird). I have been very happy with the image.

The Samsung DLPs have everything going for them, accurate color fidelity (when calibrated), bright images, acceptable black levels, no convergence issues with good geometry, easy to move and to ship (at less than 100 pounds). The only potential down side is the "rainbow effect" which is really a non issue for 95%? (or more) of the population.

Best wishes

Gregg

 

[cappy29]

plasma

hi!

you are concerned about SD and bought a plasma???
Be prepared to be disappointed.
You will either have burn in (due to the jail bars) or will have a sub par picture due to the scaling to fit the entire screen (while preventing burn in).

My apologies for being late to this thread...
I have been watching SD only on a 50" samsung dlp for the past 2 months using the Bell ExpressVu HD PVR (no LNB for the HD bird). I have been very happy with the image.

The Samsung DLPs have everything going for them, accurate color fidelity (when calibrated), bright images, acceptable black levels, no convergence issues with good geometry, easy to move and to ship (at less than 100 pounds). The only potential down side is the "rainbow effect" which is really a non issue for 95%? (or more) of the population.

Best wishes

Gregg

Hello gregg i just got done trying to somebody that in the dishnetwork forum section on this site but they told me i need to do more research on plasmas but i don't have to do any research on plasmas because ive been told by numerous people the same thing your saying thats why i bought a toshiba 52'' dlp 6 months ago.

 

[colinbarton]

hi-- i bought the same tv and sd channels are from very bad to bearable. the only thing i can watch on sd is cnn now. once you see the great hd picture on that sony you can never go back.