Originally posted by: Mielr
Tube TVs have the best picture, without a doubt. However, the problem is they're limited in their size, and everybody seems to want a bigger TV these days. Personally, I'd prefer a smaller tube set with a better picture than a larger plasma or lcd TV with a lesser picture.
Tube TVs have the best picture, without a doubt. However, the problem is they're limited in their size, and everybody seems to want a bigger TV these days. Personally, I'd prefer a smaller tube set with a better picture than a larger plasma or lcd TV with a lesser picture.
AMEN!! I recently bought an HD tv. What'd i get? a 30 inch phillips with a REAL picture tube!! & the salesman (a teenage kid) couldn't comprehend when i stated that i absolutely do not want an LCD, and preferably not a plasma. he began to explain to me that the reports of them burning out quickly/ dead pixels etc were blown out of proportion. While tose things were a concern of mine (& still are, he didn't convince me), i also brought up the issue of picture quality. Standing right infront of the tvs, plasma, LCD, & a good tube, he looked at me straight faced & said, "the LCD looks really nice to me..." It pained me to hear it, as, staring at the same tv's, i could plainly see NO black on the LCD display anywhere, while the Plasma was totally crushed & the tube looked great! At any rate, the picture on my new tv is amazing with REAL blacks & great color/ etc. I've calibrated it with the only instrument i have (my trusty eyeball - dont hate me!) but i think i did a respectable job. Of course, all the factory setting options have everything set way too high (especially color & sharpness, ugh!) All adjustments are on a scale of 100 & i have everything set in the 30's & 40s.
One odd thing i have been confused by though is the sharpness settings. When watching digital cable (both SD & HD) the picture looks good with the sharpness around 40 to 50. but when watching dvds & laserdiscs, i have to turn it up to about 65. Below this, i get painfully visible halos, much like very bad edge enhancement or having the sharpness on a regular tv set too high. If you turn the sharpness way down, you get sort of a "double vision" looking crazy blurry image. if you crank it up into the high 80s or 90s, you get the results you'd typically expect with sharpness too high (loss of detail, psuedo-artifacting, halos, etc.) But in the lower midrange settings, you get a really nice picture with these infernal freaking halos!! It just doesn't make sense to me. Unless digital tvs use the sharpness filter differently than analogue ones... But, like i said, it does this on dvd's AND laserdiscs, so i'm fairly sure it's not really bad edge enhancement (not to mention it's consistent along every disc i've tried). But again, it doesn't do this when i'm watching cable (that i've been able to tell), just other input devices. Any ideas?
Just so i don't completely derail the thread: I hate the way the STAR WARS dvds look. I've actually found that with a minor amount of tweaking my standard settings on my new tv, and of course zooming in so the image isn't surrounded in a sea of black (like the new oot will be...), i can get my DC laserdiscs to look pretty darn good. Not as good as modern dvd standards mind you, but certainly good enough to not be distracted by picture quality while enjoying my favorite films ever.