[mythtvnz] Which HD TV to buy - suggestions please?

[Daniel Williams]

>> Hi everyone, 
>>
>> I've decided it's time to upgrade to a decent HDTV and would like some
>> suggestions on features that I need to look for to hook up with the
>> mythtv box I'm almost done building.
>>
>> What specific features should I be looking for? 
>>
>> i.e.: 
>>
>> * Full HD 1080P
>> * 30,000+ Dynamic Contrast
>> * 5ms response
>> * PC input
>>
>>
>> What recommendations do you have as far as  brands & models?
>>
>> ?I'm looking at the latest Harvey Norman catalogue and there is a huge
>> range of HD TVs to choose from. 
>>
>> There's a 42" LG with 1080P, 5ms & 30,000:1 dynamic contrast.  Is it
>> worth spending the extra $488 to get the 4ms, 50,000:1 dynamic contrast
>> or is it mostly marketing hype?
>>     
As someone who has just gone through this a few weeks ago - I decided on 
the Sony KDL40W4000, and haven't regretted it.

Main factors I considered (in approx order):
Full HD 1080P (1920x1080 LCD Panel)
Perceived Picture Quality
Inbuilt Freeview Tuner (plug in power + uhf aerial and your done!)
PC Input.  While the specs say it didnt support the full 1920x1080 on 
the dsub input, a bit of net research said it did work.  The mode isn't 
supplied by the EDID data, but with a bit of trial and error, you can 
get a modeline which works at native res.
Size - Didn't want anything bigger than 40-42" due to viewing distances 
would be an issue for larger screens. (40" 16:9 provides a fractionally 
larger  4:3 image than a 29" tv)
Connectors - 3 HDMI, and 3  Older Connectors (1 can be 
Svideo/Composite/Component,  1 Composite/Component, 1 Composite)  So 
supports a lot of older equipment no problems (ps2/sky box).
Optical out for hooking to the home theatre (I haven't tried this yet, 
as the sound system is rigged for the projector).
$ Cost.

Ignore the technical dynamic contrast etc, it's marketing c$%p as far as 
I care.  It's better to see the tv set displaying an image, and deciding 
for yourself.

When looking for a tv - was lucky enough that a store in chch had a good 
setup where it could display HD content on each of the panels, so you 
could compare image results much more easily.  It pays to get them to 
show a range of images - from fast moving sport, to smokey/dark scences 
(a good place will have this sort of material avail to show off the 
tvs).  After watching various sets, the image quality on the set I 
bought was just that much better to my eyes.  Pays to play with the 
settings on the TV as well, as some of the 'enhancement' modes can 
actually make the picture quality worse  (MPEG Noise Reduction for 
example).  The cheaper model (v4000) didn't quite have the same image 
/colour quality  especially on faster moving images.

Only 2 minor issues so far - Occasionally the screen gets confused as to 
whether the OSD should be showing, and instead of toggling off after 5 
seconds, it will toggle back on (change between analog / digital mode 
fixes this, and has only happened twice so far - and seemed to happen 
when I've been tweaking settings in the setup menu), and you can't 
display the time on screen when tuned to digital channels like you can 
when on analog/external inputs.

Haven't noticed any artifacting/scaling issues with showing the freeview 
HD test channel (720p) on the 1080 panel. (normal viewing distance is 
about 2.5metres), and the viewing angle is great, meaning that nobody 
gets a degraded view if they are massively off centre (A concern when 
everyone piles around for the rugby).

As for the price - currently a lot of retailers are pushed for sales, so 
with a bit of haggling can work wonders - I got approx $500 off RRP 
($3K), which made it only marginally more expensive than last years 
model + a freeview box.

Daniel