02-01-2008, 09:14 PM
lifted from nytimes:
So hereâs a paraphrased version of what I learned or confirmed from him. If youâre among the HDTV shoppers who have yet to buy your set for the big game, maybe the advice here will help you out.
Q: Is there a lot of consumer confusion about HDTV?
A: Oh, man, you have no idea. People come in here absolutely clueless. Or furious, because they bought an HDTV set, got it home, and discovered that the picture doesnât look anything like it did here in the store. Because they donât realize they need a high-def *signal* to feed that set. For example, they need to replace their cable boxes with digital ones, or put a high-def antenna on the roof.
[D.P. adds: According to a study by the Leichtman Research Group, 50 percent of HDTV owners arenât actually watching any high-def shows on them... but 25 percent of them *think* they are.]
Q: Isnât it true, in fact, that standard-def broadcasts actually look *worse* on a high-def TV?
A: Unfortunately, yes.
Q: Donât you guys deliberately put the store-display screens in âtorch mode,â cranking the brightness and contrast all the way up to catch shoppersâ eyes?
A: We donât adjust the sets to look that way; thatâs the way most sets come from the factory. It actually makes the set look a lot worse than it will when you get it home and get it properly calibrated.
Q: Oh, you have to pay someone to come over and tweak the set?
A: You really should. We offer that service as part of installation.
[D.P. adds: How did I know he was going to say that?]
Q: O.K., here we go. One-word answer: plasma or LCD?
A: They both offer an amazing picture these days. In the better sets, the traditional flaws of plasma (like burn-in) and LCD (limited viewing angle, not very deep blacks, weak fast motion) have been largely eliminated.
The plasma screens still have glossy surfaces, though, and LCD sets are still brighter. So as a rough guideline, plasma has truer color and does better in darker rooms, and LCD has more vivid color and does better in bright rooms. (LCD is also lighter and more energy-efficient, but usually costs more for the same-size set.)
Q: OK, how about this one: 720p or 1080p?
A: These are measurements of how many fine lines make up the picture.
Youâd think that 1080p is obviously better than 720p. Trouble is, you wonât get a 1080p image unless you feed it a 1080p signal â and thatâs hard to come by. Thereâs no such thing as a 1080p TV broadcast (cable, satellite, anything), and wonât be for years. Even most games, like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, generally send out 720p (or less).
So the *only* way to get a 1080p picture on a 1080p set is to buy a high-def DVD player (Blu-ray or HD DVD). Thatâs the only way. *** Xbox????
[D.P. adds: Even then, you wonât see any difference between 720p and 1080p unless you sit closer than 10 feet from the TV and itâs bigger than 55 inches or so.
And even then, youâre not getting any additional sharpness or detail. Instead, as CNET notes, youâre just gaining the ability to move closer without seeing individual pixels: âIn other words, you can sit closer to a 1080p television and not notice any pixel structure, such as stair-stepping along diagonal lines, or the screen door effect (where you can actually see the space between the pixels).â]
Q: But a 1080p set costs a lot more than an identical 720p set, doesnât it?
A: Yeah.
[D.P. adds: At this point, he showed me two plasmas, same brand, same size, same model line, mounted one above the other: one 720p, the other 1080p. The fancier set cost $2,000 more â and the image quality was pixel-for-pixel identical.]
Q: Whatâs the best-selling size?
A: It used to be 42 inches. Nowadays, 50-inchers are more common, and even larger, because prices have dropped so much.
Q: Is a bigger screen always better?
A: Depends on whether you ask the husband or the wife.
If you sit 8 to 10 feet back, a 50- or 60-incher is not too big. But you donât want to overpower the room. If the screen dominates the room, it almost discourages relaxing, because it just towers over the space.
Q: What about rear-projection sets?
A: Theyâre great. And theyâre often overlooked, because flat panels are all the rage. But the truth is, once you mount a flat-panel TV, itâs just as thick as todayâs rear-projection sets (several inches from the wall).
Meanwhile, the quality of the rear-projection sets is amazing; itâs been improving every year. The downside is that you canât sit as far off-angle as you can with a flat panel. But rear-projection sets offer the biggest size at the best price. And they weigh almost nothing. One person can lift one.
[DP adds: Except you do have to replace the bulb every few years, which can cost several hundred dollars.]
Q: How come you guys donât have the remote controls on display?
A: We donât like to put them on display, because every time I turn around, somebodyâs turned a bunch of the TVs off.
Q: So of all the sets here, which is the very best one to buy for the Super Bowl?
A: Well, all of them will give you an absolutely great picture. But thereâs one thing that none of these sets can do: they canât make the Giants look good.
So hereâs a paraphrased version of what I learned or confirmed from him. If youâre among the HDTV shoppers who have yet to buy your set for the big game, maybe the advice here will help you out.
Q: Is there a lot of consumer confusion about HDTV?
A: Oh, man, you have no idea. People come in here absolutely clueless. Or furious, because they bought an HDTV set, got it home, and discovered that the picture doesnât look anything like it did here in the store. Because they donât realize they need a high-def *signal* to feed that set. For example, they need to replace their cable boxes with digital ones, or put a high-def antenna on the roof.
[D.P. adds: According to a study by the Leichtman Research Group, 50 percent of HDTV owners arenât actually watching any high-def shows on them... but 25 percent of them *think* they are.]
Q: Isnât it true, in fact, that standard-def broadcasts actually look *worse* on a high-def TV?
A: Unfortunately, yes.
Q: Donât you guys deliberately put the store-display screens in âtorch mode,â cranking the brightness and contrast all the way up to catch shoppersâ eyes?
A: We donât adjust the sets to look that way; thatâs the way most sets come from the factory. It actually makes the set look a lot worse than it will when you get it home and get it properly calibrated.
Q: Oh, you have to pay someone to come over and tweak the set?
A: You really should. We offer that service as part of installation.
[D.P. adds: How did I know he was going to say that?]
Q: O.K., here we go. One-word answer: plasma or LCD?
A: They both offer an amazing picture these days. In the better sets, the traditional flaws of plasma (like burn-in) and LCD (limited viewing angle, not very deep blacks, weak fast motion) have been largely eliminated.
The plasma screens still have glossy surfaces, though, and LCD sets are still brighter. So as a rough guideline, plasma has truer color and does better in darker rooms, and LCD has more vivid color and does better in bright rooms. (LCD is also lighter and more energy-efficient, but usually costs more for the same-size set.)
Q: OK, how about this one: 720p or 1080p?
A: These are measurements of how many fine lines make up the picture.
Youâd think that 1080p is obviously better than 720p. Trouble is, you wonât get a 1080p image unless you feed it a 1080p signal â and thatâs hard to come by. Thereâs no such thing as a 1080p TV broadcast (cable, satellite, anything), and wonât be for years. Even most games, like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, generally send out 720p (or less).
So the *only* way to get a 1080p picture on a 1080p set is to buy a high-def DVD player (Blu-ray or HD DVD). Thatâs the only way. *** Xbox????
[D.P. adds: Even then, you wonât see any difference between 720p and 1080p unless you sit closer than 10 feet from the TV and itâs bigger than 55 inches or so.
And even then, youâre not getting any additional sharpness or detail. Instead, as CNET notes, youâre just gaining the ability to move closer without seeing individual pixels: âIn other words, you can sit closer to a 1080p television and not notice any pixel structure, such as stair-stepping along diagonal lines, or the screen door effect (where you can actually see the space between the pixels).â]
Q: But a 1080p set costs a lot more than an identical 720p set, doesnât it?
A: Yeah.
[D.P. adds: At this point, he showed me two plasmas, same brand, same size, same model line, mounted one above the other: one 720p, the other 1080p. The fancier set cost $2,000 more â and the image quality was pixel-for-pixel identical.]
Q: Whatâs the best-selling size?
A: It used to be 42 inches. Nowadays, 50-inchers are more common, and even larger, because prices have dropped so much.
Q: Is a bigger screen always better?
A: Depends on whether you ask the husband or the wife.
If you sit 8 to 10 feet back, a 50- or 60-incher is not too big. But you donât want to overpower the room. If the screen dominates the room, it almost discourages relaxing, because it just towers over the space.
Q: What about rear-projection sets?
A: Theyâre great. And theyâre often overlooked, because flat panels are all the rage. But the truth is, once you mount a flat-panel TV, itâs just as thick as todayâs rear-projection sets (several inches from the wall).
Meanwhile, the quality of the rear-projection sets is amazing; itâs been improving every year. The downside is that you canât sit as far off-angle as you can with a flat panel. But rear-projection sets offer the biggest size at the best price. And they weigh almost nothing. One person can lift one.
[DP adds: Except you do have to replace the bulb every few years, which can cost several hundred dollars.]
Q: How come you guys donât have the remote controls on display?
A: We donât like to put them on display, because every time I turn around, somebodyâs turned a bunch of the TVs off.
Q: So of all the sets here, which is the very best one to buy for the Super Bowl?
A: Well, all of them will give you an absolutely great picture. But thereâs one thing that none of these sets can do: they canât make the Giants look good.
I realise that I have a past to break with--an accumulation of inertia, wrong, foolishness, rot, junk. A great need of clarification, of mindfulness, or rather, of no mind. A need to return to genuine practice, right effort. Need to push on the great doubt. Need for the spirit. Hang on to the clear light.
Thomas Merton
