Finally stepped into the world of HD

[Guy400]

I finally bought an HD set. I got the new 55" Sony A20 3LCD RP. It won't get delivered until Sep. 3 so that pretty much sucks. After watching TV on 32" and 46" SD sets I figured it was time to step up to HD. I was having a tough time deciding between DLP and RP LCD but wound up going LCD because apparently I'm one of the people that can see the "rainbowing" on DLP. My dad and wife couldn't see it but I could. It seemed especially bad with reds. If there was a large red object on the screen and it moved I noticed a rainbow ghosting on the screen. It wasn't everytime but in the 20 minutes I stared at the DLP's I caught it 2-3 times.

I was sort of hoping to get the newest Sony A10 series but right now only the 50" is available and I didn't want to wait any longer. It's one of those things where if you keep waiting for the next best thing you'll never buy anything.

[MOFO]

Nice pick! Hopefully the new 3LCD technology will fix the contrast issues on the LCD RPTV. If I did not already have my HLP4663, I would consider the new Sony's. Good luck with it! BTW, did you get a service contract?

If you have questions about anything HD related, let me know. God knows I've spent WAY too much time reading the AVSForums... my wife can attest to that! :D

If you are lucky enough to get OTA HD, that will be your BEST HD signal. I remember the day I fired up my TV for the first time (I could get OTA at my old place). My jaw hit the floor watching some college football game. The reason I dont remember who was playing is because I was stunned and just looking at the picture - not even paying attention to the game.

Its very addicting!

[Guy400]

Yes, I got the 4 year contract at Best Buy for (gulp) $400 but that covers the price of a bulb when it "magically" starts to go bad at the end of 4 years. In all likelihood the bulb will burn out within the first 2-3 years anyway. I have to call my cable company regarding HD signals. I have Time Warner digital cable right now but I don't know if it's already broadcasting in HD or not. I know if I go to any of the NBCHD, ESPNHD, CBSHD, etc. stations, they're all black right now. The most intimidating thing to me is getting it tuned. From what I've been reading on AVSforum these HDTV's have a million-and-one settings and I'm not paying someone $500 to come tune my TV so I guess I'll muttle through it until I get it where I want it.

I didn't look a whole lot at any of the older RP LCD's at the store but there was a Mitsu LCD to the immediate left of my TV and a Toshiba DLP right above it. They were showing some golf in HD and one scene was Davis Love taking off his cap and waving to the crowd and he had a black and white striped shirt on. The Sony displayed the white very well, the black was black and there was no bleeding of any type. On the Mitsu the whites were good but the blacks looked a little grayish to me. In all fairness maybe it wasn't tuned properly, I don't know but it wasn't as defined as the Sony. The Toshiba DLP had an excellent pic as well but I noticed the rainbow on it a few times. But, like I said, I saw it but my dad and wife thought I was making it up. I only seemed to notice it on reds.

[MOFO]

Good decision on the warranty... your right, you can count on the bulb going out within the 4 year period, if your like my wife and I - the TV is always on... and I was told that when my 4 years is almost up, place a call and say the video is getting very dim or does not power up all the time and they will replace the bulb right before the warranty is up... keep that in mind.

As for your cable, they will need to replace your cable box probably to support HD. It will use either component, DVI or HDMI connectors. Like I said earlier, if you live in an area that gets OTA signals, I HIGHLY suggest you get a digital OTA tuner (I think the Sony has one built it) and an antenna.... OTA is far superior to what any cable or satellite system's can provide (for now).

If you need help setting up the TV (video), I've been using AVIA and it works pretty good. It will get you pretty close to optimal settings. Of course the full blown ISF calibration is the best way, but like you said, $400+ is a tad high. If you need a "very" cheap way of getting AVIA, PM me... ;)

When I bought my DLP, I tried to see rainbows in the showrooms.... my wife and I never saw one. After a week or so, and countless hours of reading about rainbows on AVS, I actually tried to see them. Unfortunately I succeeded! I had to shake my head back and forth during dark scenes (my wife thought I lost my mind - she never saw them, even to this day). After I did see them, I saw them all the time. After a couple weeks my eyes forgot "how to see them" I guess and I've been fine ever since (about 10 months now). I've also read that some people just need to adjust to DLP - their eyes. That last statement almost sounds like a recovery group introduction...LOL!

You will be very surprised to see how much better the picture quality looks once you get it home, the bulb breaks in, you tweak it and feed a quality signal into it. The ones on display are usually way out of wack and are being fed a poor, severely split video signal.

[MOFO]

Not to rub it in, but the Jets vs Vikings game is on right now CBS-HD (1080i & DD 5.1). :devil:

[Guy400]

Well it finally showed up. The picture doesn't do it justice obviously. Right now it's going through some auto-program deal where it's searching for channels. It's found 80 analog channels and 19 digital channels. HD DVR won't get here until tomorrow:mad:

[MOFO]

You SOB. Are you getting OTA HD channels???

[Guy400]

Originally posted by MOFO
You SOB. Are you getting OTA HD channels??? I don't know. I just shut it down to hook up my surround sound. Lemme figure this beast out and I'll let you know.

You are a lucky lucky man! Congrats:D

[Guy400]

Originally posted by MOFO
You SOB. Are you getting OTA HD channels??? No OTA HD:( I try to flip through the ANT channels and several come up with the title bar showing "CH 8.1 CBS-HD" and similar stuff for ABC, NBC, etc. but the screen is just snow. I must say I'm less than impressed with my current non-HD digital cable box. Everyone I talked to about HDTV's said watching standard cable channels will be disappointing and they were right. Time to pop a DVD in and see what happens:D

[HtFoxChick]

Originally posted by MOFO
Not to rub it in, but the Jets vs Vikings game is on right now CBS-HD (1080i & DD 5.1). :devil:

Sure, sure rub it in!!:rolleyes: I'll be watching the VIKINGS on our 60" Tv, alot like yours, only 60":D It's real....niceee:D Alot of cables tho for the HD ...:ermm:

[MOFO]

Originally posted by Guy400
No OTA HD:( I try to flip through the ANT channels and several come up with the title bar showing "CH 8.1 CBS-HD" and similar stuff for ABC, NBC, etc. but the screen is just snow. I must say I'm less than impressed with my current non-HD digital cable box. Everyone I talked to about HDTV's said watching standard cable channels will be disappointing and they were right. Time to pop a DVD in and see what happens:D


You might not be too impressed unless you have atleast a progressive scan DVD player (480p). They are very cheap now a days, so if you dont, go get one. If you using a non progressive DVD player, its going to be like your watching your SD cable.

But if you can swing it, an upscaling DVD player is well worth it IMO. It will up convert the 480P to 720P or 1080i.... makes quite a difference.

[Guy400]

I watched a few minutes of some DVD's I have and it was much better. It's about 6 months old now but I do have a 5-disc progressive scan Sony DVD player.

[MOFO]

Originally posted by HtFoxChick
Sure, sure rub it in!!:rolleyes: I'll be watching the VIKINGS on our 60" Tv, alot like yours, only 60":D It's real....niceee:D Alot of cables tho for the HD ...:ermm:


cables for HD? What do you mean? You really should not be increasing any number of cables to get a HD signal. :confused:

[HtFoxChick]

I maybe should have worded that better. We had to get all new cables and new DVD player, VCR etc. just to have the best quality pics....that's what all the complaining was about when the bill came. Alot of added extra's. Yikes:ermm: Plus we got the bose surround system...so it just all added up.

[MOFO]

thought I'd give this thread a bump with a pic of my current setup.

Guy, now that you have the TV for a day... how do you like it?

[HtFoxChick]

Ours is the Panasonic that we bought at Bestbuy. Saw the EXACT same TV at Sam's Club!

[Guy400]

Originally posted by MOFO
thought I'd give this thread a bump with a pic of my current setup.

Guy, now that you have the TV for a day... how do you like it? It's awesome! The HD DVR showed up this morning and I had to run and buy several sets of component video cables (had to ditch the RCA's that I used to use) and all the HD stuff is amazing. Both my TV and DVR have HDMI ports but my home theater system doesn't. All my audio/video runs through it so it's the "master" for everything else and I didn't want to have to use one remote for DVD viewing but then grab a different remote for TV viewing and then change inputs on the home theater system, etc. As it is now I'm using my component cables for the DVR and DVD and the only thing I have to use is my home theater remote and switch between Video1 or DVD. So far I've noticed that the HD channels are far superior to those of SD. It's amazing the detail you see on HD that you don't on SD. Can't wait for tonight's NASCAR race in HD. While it was in SD, it sure was nice seeing Notre Dame kick Pitt's *** last night:devil:

[MOFO]

Originally posted by Guy400
While it was in SD, it sure was nice seeing Notre Dame kick Pitt's *** last night:devil:



:o tell my wife that... :devil:

[MOFO]

Originally posted by HtFoxChick
Ours is the Panasonic that we bought at Bestbuy. Saw the EXACT same TV at Sam's Club!


...and your point is?

[honda350r]

Originally posted by MOFO
...and your point is?


That two different store have the same TV .. :rolleyes:

[knighttime]

Originally posted by Guy400
it sure was nice seeing Notre Dame kick Pitt's *** last night:devil:

:mad:

:cuss: :grr: