[BC] Panel LCD TV's

[Rich Wood]

------ At 01:54 AM 1/4/2008, Ronald J. Dot'o Sr. wrote: -------

>I was in Wal-Mart the other day killing time while the wife shopped 
>and wandered over to the electronics section to check out the prices 
>on the panel TV's as I've been thinking of getting one.
>
>When it comes to digital TV's I'm lost.  All the smaller ones were 
>720p and only two of the really big ones were 1080p or i (I don't remember).

In my market Wal-Mart sells 720p sets almost exclusively. I did see 
one 1080i. It's one of the worst places to see HDTV since they're 
feeding the sets with a daisy-chained composite signal that really 
stinks. As bad as it can be, Best Buy demonstrates the best quality 
from cable, an in-house source, Satellite and Blu-Ray. Circuit City 
has either Blu-Ray or an in-house source. Only one well-worn monitor 
displays Comcast cable. Another well-worn monitor displays DirecTV. 
It's a young sales staff that seems to love 480i MTV on its largest 
HD monitor. How they sell any HD sets is beyond me.

In spite of almost universally bad demonstrations HDTV is the biggest 
selling product in all the big box electronics stores.

By far, the best quality source is an OTA receiver. NBC, CBS and PBS 
are broadcasting 1080i. FOX and ABC are 720p. 1080p is only available 
from Blu-Ray and, I believe HD-DVD.

I get conflicting stories about the resolution of cable and 
satellite. My DirecTV HD box switches modes depending on the source. 
They might just be switching the resolution leds on the receiver.

>My question is what is the difference between the 720 and 1080, or 
>is it 1810?  Whatever...

P means progressive scan and I means interlaced. 480, 720 and 1080 
are resolutions. 1080p is the highest quality.

Most people find it terribly confusing. There's a lot of upconverting 
being done, especially by cable networks. History HD and A&EHD are 
often in "fathead" mode where they stretch the video to fill the screen.

This has been my experience. I'm sure others here can give you more 
detailed information of the exact resolutions and who used what 
compression. I believe the law now requires all sets over 13" to 
include a digital tuner. On my last IBUZ tour of retailers I couldn't 
find any set of any size without a digital tuner.

Once you've figured that out you'll be presented with HDMI, DVI, 
Component, S-Video and Composite inputs. That's just video. HDMI is 
the Devil's work. It incorporates HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital 
Content Protection) that often downconverts resolution on equipment 
that doesn't support it. In some cases it outputs black and white. 
HDMI is supposed to be compatible with DVI minus the audio 
connection. It's compatible unless it's incompatible. My monitor has 
a DVI input. I tried an HDMI to DVI adapter and got black and white 
at 4801. I noticed the adapter is missing a few pins. I might try 
another adapter with all pins wired. Unfortunately, experimenting 
with HDMI and DVI is expensive. The cheapest cables are at Radio 
Shack for $80 each. I can get a whizbang cable that'll actually 
improve my resolution for only $130. More Monster mash.

You may want to take up reading, instead.

Rich