And what's the price difference? |
Rysa4, what are the "couple of problems with the Panny 42 HD" you mention?
We looked at Panny ED and HD in Magnolia the other day and felt that the PQ with HD content is considerably better on the HD model, while SD looked only a tiny bit better on the ED. Of course, who know how they have these things set up. Anyway, I think we've decided to go HD. I am now struggling with the consumer vs. commercial decision. |
Thank you again, Rysa4, you are an exceptional resource.
Someone on AVS Forum also claims that the 8th generation consumer does not allow for overscan adjustment. In practical terms, I don't know what that will mean to me, but I'd say the evidence is mounting against the consumer HD.
If if were your decision, I gather you'd get the 42" ED or the 50"HD, consumer or commercial. Correct? |
Actually, I think it's the TH-50PHD8UK |
Based on all of the latest input, I am now adding the Hitachi 42" units to my consideration set. A little more money than the Panasonics but they seem very full-featured and are quite handsome. A few consumer reviews have even commented on excellent performance with SD. Blacks not as good as Panasonic. Anybody have opinions on Hitachi? |
We bought the Hitachi, but we may take it back. The problem is not the set itself so much as the difficulties we are having adjusting to widescreen, high def, loss of TiVo and so forth. It's less easy to just sit down and watch TV and, as great as the PQ is on HD and DVDs, we're not sure it's worth it. Plus, I am beginning to notice things that are bugging me (color banding in black-and-white films, lack of focus in some parts of the screen, odd distortions in crowd scenes). This is not unlike high-end audio in that I find I am focusing so much on the picture that it can get in the way of enjoying the content. On thge other hand, I have found myself deeply immersed in programs that I might of passed by with my old TV, such as a Discovery piece on India and some segments of an Isle of Wight concernt in HD, which gave me goosebumps it was so involving.
And what's with widescreen DVDs that display black bars across the top and bottom? |
The Hitachi is the latest, model is 42HDS52. I am using DVI to HDMI from STB and component from DVD at the moment, but I will experiement with those to see what's best.
Thanks for the anamorphic explanation. 16:9 zoom gets rid of the bars but you lose some on the sides and the quality seems to decline a bit.
Loss of TiVo: we used to run STB to TiVo to TV. But the best connection the TiVo box can offer is S-video. If we keep it in the chain in the same way, not only are we not able to TiVo any HD content but we won't be able to even see HD. One solution is to connect the STB directly to the TV through one input and connect it via TiVo using S-video through another input. This should work, but adds complexity and and layer of decision to the process of watching TV. Plus everything coming though the TiVo will probably have a poorer PQ than what comes directly from the STB. One solution is to get used to Comcast's inferior DVR interface. Another is to switch to DirectTV, which is available with TiVo for HD.
We've also noticed some synch problems between audio and video (all audio goes through an AV receiver). Is there so much video processing going on in the Hitachi that it actually creates a noticeable delay? Doesn't seem likely. |
Thanks guys. We do have the Comcast HD DVR but are struggling with the interface.
The problem with cable card is there is no way to do DVR, as far as I know.
DVI to HDMI shouldn't be a problem as I understand it. It's effectively an adapter (no conversion whatsoever). |
Update: we are keeping the Hitachi and looking forward to TiVo's cable card HD box, which should be released later this year. For now, we will endure the Comcast DVR.
The audio synch problem continues to be an annoyance. Audio is ahead of video. I was able to add 50ms of delay in my Oppo DVD player, so that input is okay, but my AV receiver does not have this feature so I can't adjust the delay from the STB/DVR. And we still have our TiVo in the system, and the delay from it is horrendous.
I use an inexpensive Panasonic digital AV receiver, only run the system with two channels, and use the receiver for audio only (video connections are all direct to the plasma). I think the only solution to the synch problem is to get a receiver with audio delay capability, and it needs to work independently for each input. But I love the sound of this Panasonic and really don't need anything more except for the delay feature. Any suggestions? |
>I'm beginning to think there are bugs in the whole paradigm shift to digital broadcasting.
No question about it. |
From what I've seen, most components that have a method of compensating do provide what you need, which is a delay on the audio, not the video. My Oppo DVD players does at any rate. Many AV receivers also do. |
If the sound comes out before the video, then you want to set your audio delays to something greater than zero, so that the audio is delayed. |
No, if your problem is audio before video, then what you need to do is delay the audio to allow the video to catch up. If setting the audio to delay makes things worse as you say, then your problem is video before audio. But I'd be surprised if that's the case. Try playing with different degrees of audio delay again and see if you can't find a setting that works.
The problem I've found is that the degree of delay varies not only from source to source but from channel to channel and DVD to DVD. Even worse, some people claim there is variation within given DVDs. |
|
