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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Television  |  Are flat screens really better than cathray tubes « previous next »
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Author Topic: Are flat screens really better than cathray tubes  (Read 6054 times)
wickednick
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« on: April 26, 2010, 02:50:46 AM »

So my roommate purchased a 42" LG flatscreen. I don't know what the dpi and contrast ratio is is but it cost around $1200 dollars, so it should be pretty good. So I've been watching tv in HD on this thing and while it does have a better picture on most things I really don't see why these things are supposed to be so much better.
First problem is that this tv is supposed to be wide screen, from what I have seen it's not totally wide screen. The old letter box black bars that I see on my old cathray tube tv are still there on this one, even when I am watching something in a HD widescreen format and in the 16:9 aspect ratio.There are different zoom options but they stretch out the image and make it look like crap. I didn't mind this on my old boxy tv but these things are supposed to be for wide screen and I still have black bars on the top and bottom.Why? 
Second, the tv can't process some images as well as my old tv. I was watching WWE the other night and noticed that the Titantron display does not show up correctly on this tv. It looks garbled and pixelated like the tv can't keep up with whats going on. I don't really care about whats going on with the Titantron, but I'm beginning to see this pixelation show up in other shows where something complicated and fast is happening on screen. Never saw this problem on my old tv.
Third color. I notice color changes really easy because my job involves me looking at color all day long and these things still have problems with color especially black, which usually is a dark gray. Skin tones are kinda off, greens are too green, blues are generally ok, and reds are pretty good but yellows sometimes have a weird tint.
So far, except for its compact size, I don't see whats so great about them. They are really expensive, things only look good when they're in HD, still get black bars on the top and bottom, old tv shows look worse, still a lot of pixelation going on, and color is only average.
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Trevor
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« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2010, 03:06:12 AM »

I've never actually understood the huge TV screen craze at all ~ I mean, you don't see more of the picture, do you?  Also the amount of heat those things put out. Question

My 54 cm TV is 100 % OK for me.
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claws
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« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2010, 03:28:31 AM »

Sounds like your roommates flatscreen settings are off. Otherwise lots of praise for the same model at amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0016PBCQY/?tag=feedneemo-20

I've never encountered such problems as you described with my LCD. Matter of fact, I continue to get joygasms whenever I watch blu-rays or HD channels :)
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Jack
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« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2010, 07:29:30 AM »

Movies aren't in 16:9, they're commonly in one of two different height/width ratios, one of which is very close to 16:9 and you get very small black bars at the top and bottom.  The other ratio is much wider in relation to its height, and you'll get larger black bars.  But it's still so much better than a 4:3 TV, where a widescreen movie can look like a little strip across the middle of the screen.

As far as pixelation, you'll notice more of that when you're watching a standard definition show on a high definition display.  Every imperfection is more noticeable.  It was all blurred together on older TV's.  Personally, I just got used to it and don't notice it any more.   Of course if you watch something in hi-def on your hi-def TV, all those problems are gone.  You can also get some motion blur and that sort of thing, which depends on the television.  The more expensive ones have less of it.  I guess the 120hz ones are better than the 60hz, or something.

As far as color, I spent quite a bit of time screwing around with the settings on mine before I was satisfied with it.  Standard def TV's seem to have much more vivid color in comparison.  You can actually buy setup DVD's that display images on the screen and you adjust them according to the instructions until all the colors are supposedly correct.  I never was able to get good blacks on mine.  I guess plasma displays are better at displaying pure black that than LCD's, but I dunno.  I suppose if you mess around with it long enough you can eventually get something satisfactory.  Like everything else, I just got used to it after a while  TeddyR
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claws
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« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2010, 08:25:26 AM »

As far as color, I spent quite a bit of time screwing around with the settings on mine before I was satisfied with it.  Standard def TV's seem to have much more vivid color in comparison.  You can actually buy setup DVD's that display images on the screen and you adjust them according to the instructions until all the colors are supposedly correct.  I never was able to get good blacks on mine.  I guess plasma displays are better at displaying pure black that than LCD's, but I dunno.  I suppose if you mess around with it long enough you can eventually get something satisfactory.  Like everything else, I just got used to it after a while  TeddyR

I once tried to adjust my settings based on the THX set up found on various DVDs and blu-rays. As it turns out the "Standard" setting on my LCD is just fine, about on the same level as the THX one. I know most if not all people always say that the factory settings are way off but with my Toshiba LCD I'll have to disagree. The way it is configured it really brings out the best or worst in HD. And if a movie or program isn't quite up to HD standards I can always pick one of the many provided View Modes to automatically adjust/enhance the viewing.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2010, 11:17:16 AM by claws » Logged
Flu-Bird
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« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2010, 11:58:46 PM »

Hey i can still remember when we had the old blac & white  TVs and when color TVs were first comming out and when you had to ajust the color and tint on some of those origional color TVs
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« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2010, 10:26:29 AM »

Movies aren't in 16:9, they're commonly in one of two different height/width ratios, one of which is very close to 16:9 and you get very small black bars at the top and bottom.  The other ratio is much wider in relation to its height, and you'll get larger black bars.  But it's still so much better than a 4:3 TV, where a widescreen movie can look like a little strip across the middle of the screen.


1:1.78 or 1:1.66 ratios, among others.  Movies in those aspect ratios should show a little letterboxing if they're displaying correctly.  So as Jack says, that part's not necessarily a problem.   

I have different aspect ratio issues with my Blu-ray/TV combo.  I am always having to fiddle around with both settings to get the proper display.  The TV doesn't automatically recognize whether the source was shot in 4:3 or 16:9 or some other format.  Most people just let the monitor stretch it, and honestly it does a good job, but I'm picky and want things exactly right. 
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Torgo
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« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2010, 12:14:15 PM »

I own a 40" Samsung 1080P LCDTV.  I haven't gone blu-ray yet. I have a Sony up-converting DVD player that hooks up via a HDMI cable and up-converts up to 1080P on regular DVD's. I was hoping to have a good blu-ray set up at this point but I had a lot of stuff hit me financially recently so I'm waiting until later this summer.

Anyway, a 16:9 HDTV is actually in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio.  If you're watching a movie that was shot in the wider 2.35 (or 2.40):1 ratio, then you'll still have some black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.

I've also noticed that a lot of recent movies that were shown theatrically at 1.85:1 are usually opened up a bit at the top and the bottom to fill out a 16:9 TV.    

As far as settings go, a few months ago I actually eased off a bit on my backlight setting and increased the gamma setting (which controls the intensity of the primary colors red, blue and green).  I also eased back some on the brightness (which controls the levels of the blacks) and the contrast (which adjusts the whites) as well in addition to cutting off the edge enhancement option and the sharpness a bit.

Some of my friends who don't know that I don't have blu-ray yet have actually recently been fooled by how some recent up-converted DVD's look on my TV, especially since I tweaked my settings a bit more. I've had my HDTV for about exactly a year now and my friends have teased me how I've constantly tweaked my settings since then.

but I feel like now I've gotten them exactly where I want them to be. Maybe once I actually get blu-ray going (looking at getting a PS3) I might tweak a hair more than but I doubt that I will.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2010, 03:22:09 PM by Torgo » Logged

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