Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss no tv for sunday!?!?!?!

Very important point RobA. Some of the newer sets have a refresh rate of 120hz compared to the normal 60hz. This is supposed to help smooth out the image and will also be an important feature when 3D viewing becomes more widely available. Also, the response rate is something to pay close attention to when shopping for an lcd. That is an area where they did lag behind plasmas for a while. The responce rate is important because you will notice blur on fast moving objects (football games) if the responce rate is too low. Look for a responce rate of no more than 8msec.

One more thing, when shopping for the tv and looking at the manufacturer's specs, take them with a grain a salt. Every manufacturer has there own way of measuring each category, and there is no regulation in place to standardize the tests, so just because one tv claims 10,000:1 contrast it is not necessarily any better than the one that claims 5,000:1. Trust your eyes and what looks best to you, it is the only way you will be satisfied for the life of the set. If you are really concerned about picture quality, I would recommend a professional calibration. Unfortunately, they can cost $300-$500, so unless you purchase a high dollar set, you may not want to go this route. If not, there is another option. Pick up a copy of the dvd "Avia: Guide to Home Theater Vol. 1". You can find it for less than $50, and it allows you to do a decent calibration yourself. The problem with not calibrating is that most tv's are set up at the factory to stand out at the store. This usually means that the colors are over-saturated and set-up for high Kelvin fluorescent bulb lighting.

Here is a link to show how surrounding colors can affect the way you perceive colors, and helps justify the need for some sort of calibration.

http://www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllusions/colourPerception/colourPerception.html

HD TV with standard signal = bad.........that's got me a little worried...

thanks again everybody, we'll be out looking today, and if not finding one, watching the SB at santa's house..

"HD TV with standard signal = bad" Died, it's not that bad. It's bad if you view it in HD wide screen mode, however most of the TV's automatically adjust the format to normal mode when HD is not being recieved.

I should have mentioned that the size of the screen is a factor. My little 17" TV is a computer monitor/TV combo and has a HD resolution. The picture looked fine on it with a standard signal. The same standard def signal on Cindy's 60" Pioneer plasma looked noticeably worse than a conventional CRT TV with the same signal.

I guess it all depends...

thanks RT and GW, my wife found a couple ratings places to compare how various new models behave w/ a sub par signal....the units we liked are not available in our local stores, so we wait a while longer...

Cindy ended up getting her sets from Vanns.com. She beat Best Buy's price considerably. They had good people answering the phones and they responded quickly when one of the sets was delivered broken. If you get it shipped be sure to check it for damage before accepting it.