HD TV Questions

[rexcrk]

So I've got a huge jar of coins that's almost full, and I know it's got to have a couple hundred bucks in it, and I wanna get myself an HD TV (because the TV I have now is a piece of crap and if I'm gonna get a new TV, I might as well go HD). I was at Best Buy the other day and they had some nice looking 26 inch or 32 inch TVs that were in the $500 range (I don't need a huge over-$1,000 TV =P ) but before I jump in I need some questions asked.

First of all, how does it work if I wanna play old games (yes that's right, I actually play old games... I'm just stuck in the past, I'll still whip out my Genesis from time to time =P ) or even the systems that I don't have component cables for (like N64, Wii, original Xbox, PS2)? Am I screwed? Or even a standard DVD player with the red/white/yellow composite cables (I'm probably just gonna get a Blu-ray player, but I wanna know just in case)

Is there a way to watch DVDs in full screen (don't worry, anything I own in full screen is in its original aspect ratio, like TV shows and older Disney movies lol) without them being stretched into widescreen?

"LCD" is also HD right?

And what are some of the better brands? I'm thinkin Sony or LG.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[D'Snowth]

No, it's going to be stretched, sorry.

This is one of the several reasons why widescreen anything sucks.

 

[rexcrk]

Got myself a Samsung HDTV and a Samsung Blu-ray player today (I had $610.82 in my jar! O_O) and everything's totally awesome! I checked out different games and they all look fine (I played Sonic & Knuckles on Sonic Mega Collection on Wii, Ocarina of Time on the Master Quest disc on Wii, and The Force Unleashed on 360-- which looked absolutely gorgeous).

And the broadcast TV looks fine in the "full screen" setting.

w00t!

 

[D'Snowth]

And the broadcast TV looks fine in the "full screen" setting.

w00t!

Whoa, back up the pineapple here...

Explain this "full screen setting" a bit more to me; does this imply that you can set up your television screen to receive picture in a full screen format (ala the black bars on the sides of the screen, rather than the top and bottom)? If so, then I MIGHT give in a get a widescreen TV in this case, as I'm about in need of a new TV.

 

[MrsPepper]

Awww MAN, I typed out this nice reply before I read that you actually bought your tv already! I will post it anyway for posterity's sake

All widescreen tvs have an aspect ratio button either on the remote, on the box or both. Mine has several options (like wide, full, and a few that are different combinations of that) and when I am watching a tv show in fullscreen, all you do is press it and it changes what it shown, and I just press it until it is the shape that I want it to be! So no worries there. Whe you go to best buy or whatever, talk to someone and ask if you can see the remote and if they can find the button for you.

As far as I know, LCD should have no problem with HD. LCD and Plasma are the main two different types of screens. My brother has a plasma and sometimes his tv has 'ghost' images of what was on there before, like if he left a movie on pause for half an hour, you can still see the shapes there a bit when you turn it off, its like it burns in. I have an LCD computer monitor and it doesn't do that, but I don't know how large tvs are made if they have an LCD screen, I think plasmas come larger.

 

[rexcrk]

Thanks for posting anyway, Mrs. Pepper

 

[GonzoLover85]

You've already bought, but I thought I would clarify some things for some people.

LCD stands for "liquid crystaline display", and plasma is just what it sounds like, it's gas.

As far as picture goes, if you're going to be using your tv for video games mostly, LCD is the way to go.
Plasma is better if you're into movies.

As far as HD goes, either or will work fine for HD. But, you probably won't see any difference in picture until you get into the larger sized televisions: ie) 50'' plus...

Plasma has a clearer picture overall, but as MrsPepper mentioned with the plasma if you have it on the same picture for too long, you can get a permanent "burnt image" on the screen.
If you were to leave it on the tvguide channel for too long, or if you watched only the same station all the time, you would eventually get the station logo from the bottom corner burned into the screen.

The downside of LCD's is that over time you can get broken pixels which are just black spots on your screen, which can just be annoying.

Anyway, for those looking to buy, it all depends on your personal preference. I personally prefer plasmas over LCD's as I'm a huge movie buff and really like to experience a film while I'm watching it.

Best of luck to all buyers.

 

[D'Snowth]

The downside of LCD's is that over time you can get broken pixels which are just black spots on your screen, which can just be annoying.

Man, I have a few dead pixels throughout my laptop screen - they're red against bright backgrounds, and cyan against dark backgrounds.

 

[GonzoLover85]

Man, I have a few dead pixels throughout my laptop screen - they're red against bright backgrounds, and cyan against dark backgrounds.

Annoying aren't they? There's absolutely no way to fix this either, only way to get rid of them is to buy a new monitor.

 

[D'Snowth]

Annoying aren't they? There's absolutely no way to fix this either, only way to get rid of them is to buy a new monitor.

They can be, but for the most part, you don't really notice them if you don't pay attention.

And I believe Luke said a long time ago that one thing you can try is apply just a little bit of pressure with a damp (not soaking wet, but damp) cloth where the dead pixels are, or there's supposedly software out there that can detect dead pixels and try to revive them; either way, I haven't tried either method.