Have your say & ask the experts

Hi, me again. We're getting started on the next edition of the Ultimate Guide series – this time, it's the turn of television sets, plus all associated aspects of TV and display technology, to come under the spotlight.

And that's where you come in. Some of you might be aware that in the last issue, the Ultimate Guide To Hi-Fi, I invited forum posters to get involved in a feature at the front of the magazine, and that as a result of their contributions, several readers wound up achieving fame in print.

So now it's your turn to make your voice heard about your TV, your Sky HD box, your PS3, your projector or whatever else you feel is the most important video device in your life. Why did you buy a new TV? What's so special about it? How do you feel about high-definition, about 1080p, about Blu-ray and about high-definition gaming?

Also: what are your favourite products, and why? What do you want to add next? I'm also interested in what you love to watch, and what makes it so special when you watch it on your TV. We're also including projectors, so big-screen enthusiasts, now's your chance to share your love of the projected image with the world.

Please feel free to be as brief or as long-winded as you like, and I'll do my best to print the most interesting comments in our next issue. So, now's your chance: away you go!

Out of the frying pan and into the fire we go!. I have to say my best buy's of all time so far has been my 'Panasonic 42px70 Plama and Toshiba HD-XE1 HD-DVD Player. Together they are a match made in heaven at showing how good my movies can really look in SD or HD.

I have a collection expanding to 500 movies now and I have only just begun to really watch them. I have found myself going through movies I do not watch that regularly just because they look so good.

That is the difference this technology has made to me and long may it do so from now until the next great inventions.

They absolutely trounce my old setup consisting of a Hitachi Lcd and Samsung Dvd upscaling player. When I first got these two I was impressed with the images in front of me but not Gawping at the images in front of me Like with my Panny plasma provides.

I also think 1080p is a revelation as opposed to 1080i. I really find the movement and camera pans slide across the screen much more seamlessly to the point where it doesn't spoil my viewing of what I am watching.

I am looking forward to what the future of HD has in hold in the coming years as I was truly impressed with some of the results that HD-DVD discs could provide. So I will be looking to Blu-Ray like the vast majority of us, to see what trumps the format can provide next.

Thanks for listening, Paulthefilmfan.

To say I'm impressed with my Pioneer pdp 428XD would be an understatement. I had held off going down the flat screen route for as long as I could, simply because nothing seemed to come close to matching my old panasonic CRT. The picture is quite stunning - even with SD (via a BT Vision box).

It will be interesting to see just how long I will keep my PS3 as a disc spinner - as a games machine it will be around for a good while yet. But with Play tv just around the corner and a 500gb internal drive likely to be under £100 by year end, it may soon become a very capable PVR. With constant firmware upgrades and a rumoured R/W blu-ray drive, I may not be pensioning off my Playstation to gaming duties just yet.

The revelation, for me at least, has to be the Sony DAV-is10. This tiny system produces a sound in scale and stage that totally belies its size. Friends who come round will still stick their ears to my big B&W floorstanders, convinced it is from them that the sound is coming from!. It's other secret weopon, apart from being used to upscale my Region 1 DVDs, is as a music system for our iPods. This is the bit where HiFi buffs should click away, but since playing various musical styles through the Sony TDM-IP1 dock, my Fatman iTube has been made redundant and the Cambridge Audio Azur 840c CD Player/ Romulus valve amp combo rarely gets used.

I am the first to admit that there are far better and more esoteric systems than mine but, for budget and room constraints, I think my set-up would be hard to beat.

I love the audio visual thrill that this system gives me. The HiDef likes of Casino Royale or the wonderful Pixar Shorts keep a big dopey grin on my face, but for jaw dropping, heart thumping, toe tingling pleasure then it would have to be the BBC's Earth (blu-ray LGB93946) - a cut down version of Planet Earth. It says 'maximum hi-def experience' on the box - they're not wrong. Forward 55mins and watch the Angel Falls sequence. For me those two or three minuets sum up the words 'Home Cinema'.

Thanks for your time.  

 

i recently got a pansonic pz85 i was really impressed with how vivid colours where it beats my old sony rear projection on sd hands down something which i was worried about, but after getting it out of the box i watched chronicles of riddick on itv2 normally if it was on tv and i owned the dvd i would just whack that on instead to get the better picture; i didn't need to i just carried on watching it on freeview [i also found this picture was better than virgin media] i hope you'll be doing the full set-up [av receiver and 5.1 speaker packs too] as i like to get totally imersed when i watch a film and to me the sound is just as important. i like to hear and see every detail: the look of terror in someone's eye, the emotion in their sigh, seeing individual pages flicked through and to hear every little rustle, the detail of the backdrop greenery mountains etc. my favourite scenario is rainstorms, watching a terrential downpour is exhilarating hearing all the droplets whizz past and crash into the floor seeing them splash into forming puddles and the crackling boom of rumbling thunder, the only difference is im inside and dry. i often sit by the window during a good storm to watch, now i can just flick a switch. i recently watched ratatouille on bluray and was amazed at the sharpness of detail the visiblity of single hairs and blades of grass and how realistic the water was in the scene where the rats flee from their hive next up demo a marantz dv7001 to get the best from my dvd collection [maybe in a year or two]

Well up until last week my tv was a trusty 8 year old Panasonic 32" quintrix crt. It's been a great tv until I got a PS3. After playing Burnout Paradise on my brothers 40" Sony Bravia W2000 and being blown away by the increased picture quality compared to my tv well it had to go.

So I bought a Panasonic 42" PZ85 plasma to replace it. Normal sd viewing from sky and the onboard digital tuner looked very good. I used the star wars dvd to set up the tv using the THX optimiser, then watched the film using my PS3 to see how that looked. I was blown away by the picture quality compared to sky. Very detailed and a huge improvement from my old crt.

But it was my 1st full hd blueray experience that really took my breath away. To say the picture looks life like is an understatement. Watching spiderman I was amazed,especially at the close up's on the characters faces, I could clearly see every eye lash, and hair on Tobey Maguire's head. The level of detail is staggering, I could even see the blemish's and texture of his skin.Amazing. Motion handiling,colours and clarity really have to be seen to be believed. Night time scenes again look fantastic, with very dark rich blacks.

The best part is when someone comes over to see it for the 1st time. The picture is so life like on blueray that everyone has touched the screen just to make sure it isn't real. It's a good job Panasonic throws in a free cleaning cloth with the tv.

Gaming in full HD is a huge step forward. GT5 on the PS3 in 1080p looks stunning, there's just no comparison to my old crt tv. The detail,colour and improved clarity from hd is really impressive. And on that huge screen it really sucks you into the action.

Even the sound from the plasma is very good. Especially in the virtual BBE VIVA surround mode. This sounds as good as the stereo mode but with improved surround soundiness. It really is quite impressive.

My next upgrade will be a proper tv stand. At the moment im using the cabinet from my old tv, but with my stylish plasma sat on top it really doesn't do the tv justice. I would love to get an Atacama AV rack with the plasma mount. I really like the black frame with the black glass, and would be the perfect match for my plasma. I could then use the top shelf for my centre speaker and still have room on the bottom shelf for the sky box and PS3. 

Im really looking forward to watching more Bluerays, why go to the cinema when you can have better in your own home? No numb buttocks or noisey people to worry about. No traveling and the nightmare of trying to park.You can just relax in the comfort of your own sofa, turn the lights down low, fire up your nice big screen and surround sound system and marvel at the full hd goodness up there on screen for your enjoyment. 

I just hope the new hd audio formats show as much improvement. Full HD with HD sound could be somthing really special.

 

Wow - pretty poor number of postings on this forum so far given the reward! Anyway, here's my thoughts.

Initially, I bought a new HDTV after a few months of owning an Xbox 360. I was playing Project Gotham 3 and, whilst speeding towards Big Ben, I thought, "This is great, but what am I missing?". About a month of research later, I had my lovely HD Ready Panasonic TH-42PX600B set for only £1,900 (including stand and 5 year warranty) and I was over the moon (purchasers today should rejoice at the prices now!). Given the PS3 wasn't even out in Europe, and most HD formats were hard to come by, the graphics on Project Gotham 3 and Quake 4 blew me and my friends away. The sheer beauty and detail that was previously unavailable on my Panasonic Quintrix CRT was astounding. This was truly the moment when I realised what next-gen gaming meant... I was immersed into a game to a level I hadn't conceived of before ... and I loved it!

Of course, this was just for starters! Gears of War stepped this up even further and, graphically, I'm yet to be as impressed as I was from the initial wow factor Gears provided. Halo 3 and GTA IV are both better games I think, but Gears of War really set the bar in terms of improvement on what had come before.

The main coup de grace came when the PS3 was released in Europe however. I had pre-ordered a PS3 about a year before it was originally due to be released so, after the initial delay, I was then surprised to get an email from Play.com saying I was guaranteed one on the release date, as I'd completely forgotten I'd ordered one! After thinking about it and deciding I could afford the £500 price tag (including three games + spare controller + HDMI cable), I decided not to cancel the pre-order. Wow, am I glad I did!

Let's be straight, the PS3 still isn't the greatest games console (though the disparity between the 360 and the PS3 has well and truly closed up now). However, what it did provide was an incredible Blu-Ray player - one of the best on the market when the PS3 was first released. When I first watched Casino Royale on it through my HDTV, I could only sit and grin like a schoolboy!

Since then, I've watched 2001 and seen the stark beauty and horror that film offers displayed at its greatest. I've been on an intergalactic ship full of twenty somethings determined to wipe out a load of "bugs"! I've been in West Coast Africa, watching how people are made slaves and are murdered to bring the Western world diamonds. And I've been chasing Replicants down on the futuristic streets of Los Angeles. And much more besides!

And I think this demonstrates what the current high-definition sources and displays are all about. True immersiveness (if you'll allow me a technically non English word!). That's what good films have always tried to re-create. That's what great games have always tried to re-create. That's what it's always been about in my mind. It's just now, we got one step closer.

For Me it's a combination of equipment and software that I love that seamlessly brings togher my Love of Movies, Gaming and Music, but knowing where to start is hard so this post may get a bit long but I suppose the best place to start is at the begining of my personal Journey into Home-Cinema.

My first serious step was when I purchased a 28"" Widescreen Phillips CRT back in 96, this was one of the first Widescreen sets on the market and didn't even have "PROPPER" wide screen modes simply a button you pressed to strecth the image for a extremely letter-boxed 4:3 image to the 16:9 screen size, but back then the results were amazing as I could view my Widescreen VHS tapes as the Film was ment to be seen as I have allways hated PAN AND SCAN!

The next big jump was with the Birth of DVD, WOW! Transmission quality in your own home at last! So off I ran to invest into  Pioneer DV 717 which cost me a small fortune at the time especially after having Techtronics make it Multi-Region but boy was it worth it. I love Cult Horror movies from the likes of Lucio Fulci,Jess Franco ET'AL, but these movies had allways been subject to problems with the BBFC censors, but now with DVD and the rise of the internet suddenly I was in dream land and able to easily find and purchase fully-uncut correct aspect ratio versions of the Films I wanted to watch and easily import them.

I then upgraded the TV to a then MASSIVE 40"" Rear-pro model from Toshiba and added a Yamaha RXV630 and  set of Eltax Speakers,. Now even tho I did enjoy the shear size of the Rear-Pro , I never enjoyed the dodgey viewing axis but persiver I did until one day I could afford my first Plasma set being in the Form of a Panasonic 42PW5 which cost me just over 3 grand at the time Plus upgrading the trusty old DVD player to a Pioneer DV757Ai to make the most of the Plasma's Progressive scan, and suddenly I was i a cinematic wounderland of propper blacks and a true-widescreen display to boot!

Now I find myself in a position where I wonder where it all can go next? I have a Full HD 50"" Samsung Plasma for a third of what I piad for my old and much loved Panasonic PDP, A fantastic DVD player in the Guise of my Denon DV3930 which upscales my noe rather large DVD collection to 1080p at which they look fantastic and to be honest far beter than they ever have before, or given my main choice of movies ever will as I cant personally see the likes of CANNIBALL HOLOCAUST ever seeing the light of day on Blu-Ray.

Now being a Gamer as well I have made the constant progression  through countless consoles dating back as far as the Atari 2600 to all 3 of the current Gen consoles which all offer slightly differing gaming experiences from the draw dropping visuals of say Gears Of War on 360 and Gran-Turismo on PS3 which looks sublime at a native 1080p, to the not so visually imperssive Wii but a unique aproach to gaming with the likes of Wii Fit etc. But it is in the gaming world where I also get a big bonus in the the PS3 is also a BD player. Now yes most of my movies are not on BD nor will they ever be but when you See something like Ratatouille at 1080p@24htz you cant help but be impressed, the extra level of detail and added vibrancy of the on-screen colour all displayed at 24fps with at last none of that home-video bug bear SCREEN JUDDER! truely spectacular!

As for future system upgrades? Well I would love to finally get a Sub but which one? Also maybe upgrade the Amp to a new one to also enjoy HD sound. Then there is the obvious for me any way to get a Propper BD player (sorry PS3) but I will hold of on this until they are finally profile 2.0 and definatly Multi-Zonal as for me I want to be able to purchase my software for any Zone and know it will play as I do now with DVD.

CHeers the Krimester!

Being (probably) somewhat younger than the typical WHF reader, I do not have at my disposal the monies or floorspace that a more mature WHF reader might have. But nonetheless I have managed to aquire and put together a system that gives me great satisfaction. The main components are a 26" Sony HD ready lcd tv and a Samsung upscaling dvd player. I should also mention my hi-fi as I use it for my movie viewing aswell as listening to music. It consists of an Arcam Alpha cd player and matching amp, and a pair of Mission bookshelf speakers, and fed by my dvd player it does a great job at creating a 'big' movie sound, if not being as immersive (or unsettling!) as a surround sound setup. Whilst my hi-fi is an important part of my system which delivers much better sound than my tv's internal speakers, I would like to focus on the combination of my tv and upscaling dvd player.

My setup may be fairly modest - even though with the money I spent a couple of years ago, today I would be able to buy a 42" Panasonic plasma and Blu-ray player - but it certainly doesn't fail to impress and entertain me. While my tv's performance with Freeview is limited to the fact that Freeview is inherantly rubbish, I can put up with this lack of quality when watching Hollyoaks! It's when I sit down to watch a movie that the quality becomes important to me, and it's with dvd movies that this system really delivers.

Although many would regard my 26" screen to be way too small for serious movie-watching fun, it couldn't be a more ideal size for my small bedroom and short viewing distance. As for performance, the tv / dvd player combination is brilliant; the picture is just so desirable - well, as desirable as the director intended, because this system can accurately convey that film without any noticeable loss in detail or indeed quality. Pictures are detailed and sharp. Colours are vivid but totally realistic, and images are a pleasure to view. While these images are not as sharp as natively high-def Blu-ray content, some people believe that standard dvds' pictures are in some way more theatrical compared with the perfect, flawless images that you get with Blu-ray. And those people do have a point, because, as much as I love those spotless Blu-ray pics, sometimes you want movies to have that 'look' to them, like scratches on film reels that give the pictures a bit of an edge, some grittiness to them.

It's hard to know which to give most credit to; the dvd player or the tv. I find the best results come from having the dvd player setup to do all the upscaling (and not to forget de-interlacing) magic and then letting the tv do what it is built for; to simply display a high-def picture. Do this and the results are endlessly satisfying. Watching Harsh Times with the Samsung set to upscale to 720p, and the gritty LA landscape is a treat to watch, with the Sony tv superbly rendering the stylish, tinted cinematography. Another example, and a different somewhat greener and more pleasant (and less violent) side of LA, Garden State is also very visually enjoyable.

I think what makes me enjoy so much my upscaling dvd / flatscreen tv setup is that it really succesfully brings the whole movie experience to the comfort of my bedroom, which is seriously fun, especially as it does so while keeping that wonderful, progressive-scan, cinematic look and feel and without any noticeable loss of quality. And it is the forementioned 'serious fun' that's the reason why I love my setup. Thanks for reading.

HD great! 1080P excellant! LCD, PLASMA superb! CRT rubbish hum, at least the sound quality was good, everyones so into how good the quality of screen has to be they have forgotten we have other senses! I suppose spending thousands just to here the dam thing aint so bad!

I'll go for something short n sweet, punchy with high impact.

"When I first clapped my eyes on a Kuro, it was like a smack in the mouth!"

or how about

"Splash your wedge on a PS3. You won't be disappointed!"

mmmm here goes!!

 For the last 8 years I have been using a Panasonic 26" Flat CRT and its been with me everywhere (I'm in the RAF so I do tend to move about!), however since my tour in Afghanistan earlier this year when my mother sent a copy of What Hi-Fi out to me I thought it was time to make the change to a Flat Screen.  Especially now that I have my own place and room is at a bit of a premium.

I initially brought the LG902PB (was after the Tall boy version but couldn't get anywhere to view it) from Comet - wasn't really impressed with Comet as there system said they had it in stock and had to wait 30 minutes for them to find it, only to be told they didn't.  Offered me free delivery but still had to wait a few days for it. 

As for TV well I was going to go the LCD route with one of the new LG scarlets however it wasn't until I started posting and reading this forum that I finally went for the Panasonic TH37PS80B (brought from John Lewis and priced matched to £599.99) and I have to say I've been blown away with it.  The colours and just generally the overal picture quality is amazing.  Up until last firday I was playing a PS3 (GTA4) on the CRT and was quite impressed with the graphics and quality, however when I plugged it into the Plasma I was speechless the picture quality was amazing and when i fired up GTA4 i was even more impressed! 

Got the Spiderman trilogy delivered today (£25.99 for 3 blu-ray discs was quite impressive) along with the HD setup disc.  Got the screen setup in my opinion and whacked on Spiderman 1 - well what can i say in certain shots you can see almost every skin pore and when Peter is in the wrestling ring you can see all the bobbles on his balaclava . So far I have been more than impressed its just a shame that I waited so long to get this sort of enjoyment out of it - even the missus is impressed and that saying something!

My next purchase would have to be a stand as I'm currently using the one I had the CRT was on and its limited for room.  Got MGS4 on order and having seen the trailers and playable demostration trailer I can't wait for that to come out.  My only concern at the moment is that I wish I had waited before I purchased the LG all-in-one as it has only one optical input and I need two (one from Sky and one from PS3).  I daren't replace the LG otherwise I'd get a slap!

I mainly watch Films and shows like House, Bones, CSi and to be honest its very rare that I watch any of the BBC shows.  To see these on the Plasma is well amazing the detail is superb (and thats even SD).  If SkyHD were to waiver their £10 fee for SkyHD I would bit there arm off to have it installed!

Sounds a bit stupid now but the most useful bit of kit is the Media Server part of the PS3 - this allows me to stream shows from my Mac to the TV which is great as it saves watching it on a 13.3" laptop screen.

 

Nothing related to the original post, just noticed your optical woes there, gherkin. Have a look at this.

Man, I ought to be on commission the number of times I've recommended this to someone!!

Cheers prof, I do recall you replying to another post of mine recommending that box. As strange as it might sound i thought there might have been a more hi-tech 'pretty' looking device on the market by now. Not that there is anything wrong with that device just looks 'cheap' compared to the rest of the equipment i have - admittedly it would be out of site but you know!

Well, there's this. Or you could look at something like this - though prices are increasing fairly sharply now!