Home audio & video forum: 1080p Now or Wait a Few Years?

NOBODY BROADCASTING it right now. Prices continue to fall, I'd seriously save your money for a couple of years.

river.

XBR tvs look signifigantly better while displaying SD and ED than non XBR tvs but HD will still look alot better

I have the 42in version and it does have split screen. Look on page 72 of the manual or look for the button with the little square where half is white and half is black.

Probably not what you wanted to hear since it's apt to cost a little more, but for the size you're wanting I think you'll be happiest with the Sony. Also buy locally, as this is far too fragile an item to get mailorder (in my opinion) plus it makes a return or exchange so much easier.

I live in England.

Since, sending my last message to you I have found out that Denon has created a 1080P upscale player to quote,

'... October 27th, 2006
New High Quality DVD Players
The new DVD-3930 and DVD-2930 dramatically...'

See the Website URL below:

http://www.denon.co.uk/site/frames_main.php

Waiting for a reliable and cheap 1080P; Blu-ray or HD-DVD burner will still be better, but at least technology and prices are moving in the correct direction!

Barrington.

I guess it's up to you. Do you want to spend the cash now for 1080p and be ready? Or can you wait? Maybe you can buy two sets. That's an option as well.
I currently am in the process of purchasing a Samsung 46" 1080p. (LN-S4695.) They can be had for approx. $2800 clams at a wholesale wharehouse such as BestBuyPlasma. (Not affiliated with Best Buy.) One thing to consider is to be sure your set has at least 2 HDMI inputs.

There will be higher def TV's coming out by the end of next year...1440p is the newest format coming from Japan...so 1080p now I would wait, I would look more at the resolution of the TV's some 1080i TV have almost the same resolution has 1080p TV's. IF I have decode all this consumer confusion correctly..Resolution is the thing to look at for superior picture. MAke sure you check around alot of stores will sell an HD TV but now HD has a few different definitions. Right now almost all HD broadcast are at 720p. Unless you are getting an HD DVD player or Blu ray a 1080p tv now is still lacking programming to take advantage of all that display...Now I could be completely wrong and I am sure there are people that have different ideas...

The following is my understanding based on my research.

You "cannot" see anything in 1080P unless the content is in 1080P. A HDMI cable will not work magic and upconverting is pretty much a myth.

There are some demo DVD's for use with Blue ray or HD DVD's which themselves have different standards.

Cable companies and broadcasters are still coming to grips with 720P and 1080i and since there is no financial reason for them to adopt 1080p that is not going to happen anytime soon.

As I see it 1080p is right now a performance feature that has no real utility nor will for quite some time, if ever. It is a great marketing ploy and if there are any facts out there that is contrary to the above, I would appreciate reading those.

Thanks

Broadcasting means Over the Air Transmission, anyone with a receiver can pick up the signal. AM, FM, analog TV and digital TV are Broadcasting.
There will be NO OTA 1080p.

Cable Companies(copper wire or fiber) can do about anything they want to. If they want use the bandwidth for 1080p/24 they can. OTA Broadcasting has a fixed bandwidth so they won't. John

Your message is almost all true- the only source for 1080p right now would be something recorded. As I understand it, some of the 1080p recorded content doesn't do the format justice. Be sure to try to see both High Definition and Standard on the TV you want to buy. Some, just by their larger size, really make standard def painful to watch!
Sharp's top of the line and Sony's too are getting good reviews.
Since many TVs in the 37" plus size are now coming in 1080p formats for not much of a premium that may be a fine choice. But, also, as one person noted, there will be real price pressure the closer we get to Christmas- or right after.

Just got my new 1080P Sony blue ray hooked up last nite so here is the fact with no BULL. When I compare a 1080I picture with my Dish network 811 system and watching Nothing but trailers on h.d.net (that show has the best picture and sound quality) EVER and then watching a blue ray movie. blue ray looked a hair better But I have a 72" d.l.p. set so on a smaller screen you would not see any difference at all . In closing A 1080I picture looks so awsome as good as any movie theater why all this 1080P crap anyway. Guys it like having a car that goes 200 m.p.h and you want to spent twice as much on a car that does 205. If you have a nice system and hooked up rite then why worry about all this new technology just kick back and enjoy. In closing my old 72" d.l.p. Toshiba is now 1 yuear old and already outdated I everyone in this chat room puts down my set. well I dont worry about lamps, fans and wheels it still puts out a movie quality picture happy day stewee

I have a Samsung 71 inch DLP 1080P set, and it looks good with everything that I am putting into it. I have several high definition 1080i channels, and that is the very best for now. Some of the Channels including Fox are broadcasting 720P, and that is pretty good, but I would bet that eventually almost everyone will be running 1080i or better. I have TNT, ESPN and HBO in 1080i, and it is really fantastic. I will get to watch all of my sporting events in HDTV from now on. Also, seeing a movie in 1080i is just like being at the theater. DLPs seem to be lower in cost for a given size than any of the other types of HDTV, and the picture is stunning. Within a few years, I would bet that most of the HDTV broadcasts will be in 1080i or better for competitive reasons. I have Cox Cable in Phoenix, AZ, and right now every channel that I get on the Samsung is 480i or better which is about DVD quality. Any new 1080P set should be able to properly display any format received.

Here's a long list of what you need to consider:

1.) You said you only want the TV to last 4 or 5 years. You need to ask yourself if that is *really* what your intention is, or will this tv likely remain in your household for much longer? Most people have televisions that last 10 years or longer and are quite happy with them. So, again, is 4 or 5 years a real assessment? If it is, get a good 720p set and save your money. IF the tv will be around for 5 to 10 years, consider spending on a good 1080p set.

2.) Standard tv is scheduled to be replaced entirely by HD in Feb. 2009 -- well within the useful life of this tv. Also, HD tv standard is either 720p or 1080i, I have not seen any broadcast commitment to 1080p due to broadcast bandwidth issues. It will likely be a very expensive proposition for tv broadcasters to commit to a 1080p standard if it will cost them more money to broadcast in native 1080p, so I wouldn't hold my breath!

3.)If you are really committed to buying 1080p, make sure the set can display a 1080p signal, NATIVELY. As you may have noticed from several other reviews, many sets display in 1080p by upconverting either a 1080i or 720p picture. This is a major reason for a grainy or subpar picture on tvs that alledge that they are "true" 1080p. Even if the set has an HDMI interface, the signal may be being upconverted from 1080i to 1080p as there are very few devices that actually broadcast a 1080p signal. Currently, the only device that I know of that has the capability of supplying a 1080p signal to a tv is the new Sony Playstation 3. (Both models provide a true 1080p signal via HDMI.) To take a minute and clarify here, the tv *should* be able to display a 1080p signal natively since future devices will likely have the capability to supply a native 1080p signal.

4.) Three HDMI inputs only matters if you will have 3 devices hooked up to the tv that an HDMI connection provide add-value to you. The 3 devices to consider are: DVD/DVR player/recorder, Cable/Satelite box/DVR, and a game system like PS3 or Xbox360. Also consider whether you intend to buy any of these devices in the next 4 or 5 years, during the supposed time you expect to own the tv! (If not, then 2 HDMI connections are probably enough.)

5.)Something else to consider is that regular DVD's broadcast in 480p, so any benefit to buying an upconvert DVD player/recorder with HDMI connection is really a waste of money if the TV also has upconvert capability. My recommendation is to use a DVD player with it's component inputs and let the TV do all the upconversion, instead of wasting money of an upconverting DVD player that will upconvert the signal from 480p to something higher (720p or 1080i) and then have your tv modify that signal once again to 1080p! A good 1080p tv will do a good job of upconverting the 480p signal to 1080p, via the TV's internal signal processor. Also, my opinion is that the tv's processor will probably do a better job of upconversion since it is "matched" and built into the tv (vs. an upconverted signal from a dvd player that is independent of any tv it will play on.) A good way to look at this is upconverting DVD players/recorders/devices are only good for HD-Ready tv's and tv monitors since they lack the internal processor to do any upconversion on their own. A full-HD tv already has a processor built in for handling this task...The real question is, how *well* does the internal processor handle the task?!

6.) Don't get hung up on the new HDMI standard. It deals with bi-directional communication along the connection and only really matters with hooking HDMI up to an audio component system. The TV will not likely benefit from the HDMI v1.3 standard nearly as much as, say, a surround sound receiver will. I won't bore you with the details about what HDMI v1.3 is supposed to do, but that's the deal with the next version of the HDMI standard. It benefits audio way more than video. I will mention, however, that the new standard is backwards compatible, so don't worry about losing any current HDMI support.

7.)Lastly consider whether you want to ride the technology wave. If you buy latest-and-greatest now, it is likely to still be a fairly competent tv 5 to 10 years from now! Sure there will always be something better, but that's the nature of the industry! You waited this long to get into HD for several reasons that were all practical and good decisions, I'm sure, but there are always 2 decisions to make when it comes to buying technology: do I spend more money and get something that will last over the long haul, or do I save some dough and buy something that is competent by today's standards, but may be outdated in a few years? If 4-5 years is all you will have this tv, spending more money for 1080p may not be worth it depending on how you feel about the other things I pointed out. If the tv is *really* going to be around your household for 5-10 years, then strongly consider the 1080p solution with 3 HDMI connections. You will probably be happy over the long haul.

Well it's your money.
HDTVs come in 720p, 1080i and 1080p which cost more.
My guess is that in a year or two it will be only 720p and 1080p.
How good SD looks on ANY HD set depends on how good the rescaller circuit works, not if it is 720p or 1080i/p set.
The problem is that how good a job HDTV sets do with SD is NEVER reviewed!!! But many of the newer sets are doing a better job than last years models.
1080p source material will only be from HD-DVD/Blue Ray DVDs. John

I think johnc6 put it best. I agree with him on every point he has made.

One thing I would suggest as well is bring some of your favorite DVDs(DVD's with the THX Optimzer helps because it provides a series of tests signals/patterns to help calibrate with) to your local store and view them. Mess around with the TVs and the DVDs menus to see what the upconverted DVDs look like(the players upconvert versus tv upconvert).

But mostly the TVs menus I find pretty critical. My father just bought a Samsung 61'' DLP and the picture looks great depending on what you watch. What sucks is that whatever adjustments I made to make the Broadcast TV input look good it applied the same adjustments to the DVD input which made the picture look like crap. My point being...having independent control over each individual input is key. Last thing you want is to access your TVs menu everytime you switch between your gaming system, cable or dish, and DVD player just to get the picture looking right. I bought a Sony KD34960XBR(CRT) and it has alot of options in the menus. I'm pretty happy with it but I don't watch SD much at all on it because it looks like crap(one thing you won't be able to see in the stores). I have an SD set in the bedroom I switch to for that. But I bought my HD set for the sole purpose of watching HD sports and DVDs(480p BluRay & HDDVD wasn't out yet).

That brings me to another point about BluRay and HDDVD.
I don't own either but from what I have read neither one is fully there yet. Not enough extras on disc, upconverted DVDs look like crap on one format but not the other, and the fact that some titles don't exist on one format or the other. I'd wait for that BluRay/HDDVD war to end and there is a clear winner to be concerned about that. Or at least until there is a unit which can play both formats.

Going back to my father's DLP Samsung. I have to say I bought my tube set because the LCDs and Rear Projections available at the time had crappy contrast, blacks looked like crap, and it looked like I was looking at a TV through a screen door. DLPs weren't around just yet but after seeing my fathers I'm convinced..."It's the mirrors". I've seen some of Sony's LCDs that look nice too. The technology is getting better and better.

Best of luck and happy shopping!