[Nick_2005]

Hope someone here can give me a little advice

I'm planing on getting a LCD tv but it's for a small room. I'd be viewing it from about 8 to 9ft max
None of the sources will be HD for now, just freeview tv or standard DVDs via RGB

I'm not sure if a 32 inch tv will be too big at that viewing distance and with then sources.

this is the one I'm thinking about

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-LE32...3779998&sr=1-1

One other quick question, just how bad is the motion blurring on LCD TV's Is it worse or better if you're not watching something in HD ?

any advice welcome
Thanks

[mixedgrillbody]

You need to test it out.

Personally I cant watch SD on an LCD as the quality is too poor.

But people have different quality threshholds .

I wont pay loads for a drop in quality like you get going from CRT to LCD.

But 32" from 8' sounds close.

Only you can decide if you find the quality acceptable.

I wouldn't but others on here would so its down completely to your personal preference.

There's no doubt that SD on an LCD looks shit if you are too close.

You'll need to demo a set to see if 8' is far enough away for the defects to be visible

Quote:

Originally Posted by mixedgrillbody

You need to test it out.

Personally I cant watch SD on an LCD as the quality is too poor.

But people have different quality threshholds .

I wont pay loads for a drop in quality like you get going from CRT to LCD.

But 32" from 8' sounds close.

Only you can decide if you find the quality acceptable.

I wouldn't but others on here would so its down completely to your personal preference.

There's no doubt that SD on an LCD looks s**t if you are too close.

You'll need to demo a set to see if 8' is far enough away for the defects to be visible

It is all down to the quality of the electronics (Upscalers, digital processors, etc) and the quality of the digital tuner (if you are watching Freeview). A chepo set top box will not do an expensive LCD set justice - a lot of people fail to understand this. Rubbish signal in - rubbish picture out.

Some of the newer (e.g. Panasonic) set top boxes with HDMI outputs can make a big difference.

---

Last edited by tinminer : 30-10-2007 at 22:34. Reason: swearing in original quote

[FlatProblem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinminer

It is all down to the quality of the electronics (Upscalers, digital processors, etc) and the quality of the digital tuner (if you are watching Freeview). A chepo set top box will not do an expensive LCD set justice - a lot of people fail to understand this. Rubbish signal in - rubbish picture out.

Some of the newer (e.g. Panasonic) set top boxes with HDMI outputs can make a big difference.

Agreed. You cant make a sweaping statements like:
"Personally I cant watch SD on an LCD as the quality is too poor."

"There's no doubt that SD on an LCD looks shit if you are too close."

as well as :
"I wont pay loads for a drop in quality like you get going from CRT to LCD." (more than likely the reason for the first 2 statements)

[Nick_2005]

Thanks for all the advise guys

Should have realised it wouldn't be as simple as a yes or no answer.
seems the overall view is that I should go make a pest of myself at some store and see how it looks to me.

Guess that's my Saturday sorted

[annetteandre]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlatProblem

Agreed. You cant make a sweaping statements like:
"Personally I cant watch SD on an LCD as the quality is too poor."

"There's no doubt that SD on an LCD looks shit if you are too close."

as well as :
"I wont pay loads for a drop in quality like you get going from CRT to LCD." (more than likely the reason for the first 2 statements)

I think its quite easy to make sweeping statements like the above because they are true.

Who wants to pay out for an lcd tv and end up watching poor quality pix.

The OP says he has no plans for HD so the only thing thats certain is that whatever he will be watching on his new set ,the quality certainly won't be as good as he is used to on a crt.

Even the pro flat panel brigade agree that sitting too close to an lcd makes for ghastly pix.

I've seen £10000 setups and the results are just not good enough for sd viewing even at that price level.

DTT and DSAT quality certainly dont help matters but thats irrelevant really if its what you will be watching on the set.

[roddydogs]

Just ignore daft posts like the last one, their not worth arguing with, if thats what you want to believe, good luck.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick_2005

Hope someone here can give me a little advice

I'm planing on getting a LCD tv but it's for a small room. I'd be viewing it from about 8 to 9ft max
None of the sources will be HD for now, just freeview tv or standard DVDs via RGB

I'm not sure if a 32 inch tv will be too big at that viewing distance and with then sources.

As long as you stick to 8-9 feet, a good quality 32 inch LCD will be fine, and if fed with RGB from a Sky box or Freeview box (or internal Freeview tuner) will probably out perform a good quality CRT set. From analogue signals or composite even the good LCD's don't look great, but from Freeview/Sky via RGB it's a different matter.

[Jay23Sx]

Hang on a second, I watch Sky (SD) on my LCD tv and the picture is perfect. Who says SD looks rubbish on an LCD? Far sharper than it did with my previous CRT.

Anyway, viewing distances? Pop into your local newsagets and flick through a copy of What Hi-Fi. They have advice on viewing distances and placement heights in the Buyers Guide of every issue. EDIT: Actually, who needs to do that when they place it on-line here

Ps. I'll add that I am planning an upgrade to Sky HD but there wasn't much point until I had the TV in place.

[annetteandre]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay23Sx

Hang on a second, I watch Sky (SD) on my LCD tv and the picture is perfect. Who says SD looks rubbish on an LCD? Far sharper than it did with my previous CRT.

Anyway, viewing distances? Pop into your local newsagets and flick through a copy of What Hi-Fi. They have advice on viewing distances and placement heights in the Buyers Guide of every issue. EDIT: Actually, who needs to do that when they place it on-line here

Ps. I'll add that I am planning an upgrade to Sky HD but there wasn't much point until I had the TV in place.

Thats why its a good idea for any buyer to trial a set before buying because some will say "sd is perfect on my lcd"
when many buyers and many pro flat panel users aswell as retailers (like Nigel Goodwin) freely admit that sd on an lcd is very much down to viewing distance.

The more technically minded posters such as Jarrak have explained on numerous occasions the technical reasons why sd on an lcd cant touch sd on a crt-but of course if your crt set is rubbish then even lcd can be an improvement

That there are those who claim their pix are perfect is no surprise.

As a one time installer myself it was amazing the amount of customers who thought their picture was "perfect" when they were not only connected via composite instead of RGB and sometimes were watching 4:3 stretched to fill their 16:9 set.

Much of the general public dont have a clue how to set up their own equipment and would not know a quality picture if it kicked them up the arse

Thats why the buyer should always demo the set themselves because they might fall into either category.

This forum is filled with threads from buyers who bought based on posts like the above then when they got their set home they wondered why the quality was so poor

Start here:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ht=lcd+quality


http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ht=lcd+quality



http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ht=lcd+quality


http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ht=lcd+quality

[Nick_2005]

Thanks again for all the other comments, advice and links
I didnt mean to start WW3 by asking a question on here
Given me plenty of stuff to think about.

And a little extra nod of appreciation to the the member with the username annetteandre. great choice of name. One of my favorite actresses


Thanks again everyone.

[Jay23Sx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by annetteandre

Thats why its a good idea for any buyer to trial a set before buying because some will say "sd is perfect on my lcd"
when many buyers and many pro flat panel users aswell as retailers (like Nigel Goodwin) freely admit that sd on an lcd is very much down to viewing distance.

Hmm .. well as a buyer for Harrods Sound & Vision and unbeatable.co.uk I come under the header of Retailer

[John259]

If you head for the shops, try to compare like with like.

For example, choose the same type of programme (live, high quality video, old video, line converted, chemical film, etc) and the same type of source (Freeview, satellite, cable, DVD, etc) on each television if possible. On freeview, BBC Parliament tends to give fairly consistent live or modern video high quality pictures.

The adjustment of brightness, contrast, sharpness and any signal processing gizmo's the television might have will drastically (and I mean drastically) affect the picture. Ask if you can play about with the settings, but even then it may take long time to form a proper assessment.

The shop's own lighting will have a drastic effect.

The shop's acoustics will have a drastic effect on the sound.

It might help to compare specs on Internet retailers and manufacturers' web sites. However, each manufacturer seems to do their own thing regarding contrast figures, some dreaming up terms such as "dynamic contrast".

Sorry, it is all very complicated but I canna change the laws of physics Captain.

John

[Nick_2005]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John259

If you head for the shops, try to compare like with like.

For example, choose the same type of programme (live, high quality video, old video, line converted, chemical film, etc) and the same type of source (Freeview, satellite, cable, DVD, etc) on each television if possible. On freeview, BBC Parliament tends to give fairly consistent live or modern video high quality pictures.

The adjustment of brightness, contrast, sharpness and any signal processing gizmo's the television might have will drastically (and I mean drastically) affect the picture. Ask if you can play about with the settings, but even then it may take long time to form a proper assessment.

The shop's own lighting will have a drastic effect.

The shop's acoustics will have a drastic effect on the sound.

It might help to compare specs on Internet retailers and manufacturers' web sites. However, each manufacturer seems to do their own thing regarding contrast figures, some dreaming up terms such as "dynamic contrast".

Sorry, it is all very complicated but I canna change the laws of physics Captain.

John

Cheers John

Got the chance to go into a couple of places today, but for some reason both shops had there TVs just showing a no signal screen logo or nothing at all. Have to say the no signal logo looked nice and clear

will try again over the weekend.

It's great how all this moden stuff makes life so much easer

[annetteandre]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick_2005

Cheers John

Got the chance to go into a couple of places today, but for some reason both shops had there TVs just showing a no signal screen logo or nothing at all. Have to say the no signal logo looked nice and clear

will try again over the weekend.

It's great how all this moden stuff makes life so much easer

What you really want to do is to demo a set displaying what you intend to watch.

The low bitrates used by Sky and Freeview look bad enough on a CRT on some channels but lcd or plasma will accentuate this if you are too close.

Many clueless retailers will be not only be feeding these sets with analogue stretched but feeding a lot of sets at the same time.

I've lost count of the times I've been into retailers and asked them to connect a Sky box to an lcd and they wont or cant do it.

Much of the time they will feed dvd or HD which will look better than your Sky or Freeview box but you wont realise it until you get it home.

What we really need is for the HD services to get into full swing then people can spend most of the time
watching HD which will do the sets justice .

Maybe this time next year there will be enough HD output to make it more worthwhile

[annetteandre]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay23Sx

Hmm .. well as a buyer for Harrods Sound & Vision and unbeatable.co.uk I come under the header of Retailer

I would say that makes you a tad biased then.

Its hard enough to find CRT sets in places like Comet and Currys so I cant see Harrods offering any and you wont be slagging off equipment that is your livelihood will you?

Personally I find the offerings on sale from Musical Images in Covent Garden superior to any chain store (even Harrods)

Perhaps because they are specialists who know what they are talking about.

At the end of the day Harrods is just another department store - just more expensive

[Nick_2005]

Quote:

Originally Posted by annetteandre

What you really want to do is to demo a set displaying what you intend to watch.

The low bitrates used by Sky and Freeview look bad enough on a CRT on some channels but lcd or plasma will accentuate this if you are too close.

Many clueless retailers will be not only be feeding these sets with analogue stretched but feeding a lot of sets at the same time.

I've lost count of the times I've been into retailers and asked them to connect a Sky box to an lcd and they wont or cant do it.

Much of the time they will feed dvd or HD which will look better than your Sky or Freeview box but you wont realise it until you get it home.

What we really need is for the HD services to get into full swing then people can spend most of the time
watching HD which will do the sets justice .

Maybe this time next year there will be enough HD output to make it more worthwhile

Had no idea that switching over to LCD couldd bring up so many questions. Most of the time newer=better. this time it seems thats still true as long as several other things are taken into account.

Will take a look around some shops in the west end. there's a few there near center point I know will be willing to set a tv up the way I'll be viewing it.

[sheppy124]

I just got a 32 lcd, further away the better, 6 to 7 feet away is about the line with mine, on freeview, and analogue, depends what channel i am on,

analogue, basically bbc1 ones fine the rest are pants.


bbc1, channel 4, five on freeview are a match for my old crt, itv channels seem to suffer from a lot background noise. Its a bit of head thing in my opinion, your head rejects the picture intially as its used to your old crt, but after a while you will get used to your new set. My set at times if fantastic depending whats showing and the signal.

Gaming and dvd, set comes alive.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheppy124

I just got a 32 lcd, further away the better, 6 to 7 feet away is about the line with mine, on freeview, and analogue, depends what channel i am on,

6-7 feet is probably pushing it a little, but obviously depends on the person watching - generally a minimum of 2.5 times the screen size is about as close as you want. So you're in that ballpark.

[Nick_2005]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheppy124

I just got a 32 lcd, further away the better, 6 to 7 feet away is about the line with mine, on freeview, and analogue, depends what channel i am on,

analogue, basically bbc1 ones fine the rest are pants.


bbc1, channel 4, five on freeview are a match for my old crt, itv channels seem to suffer from a lot background noise. Its a bit of head thing in my opinion, your head rejects the picture intially as its used to your old crt, but after a while you will get used to your new set. My set at times if fantastic depending whats showing and the signal.

Gaming and dvd, set comes alive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

6-7 feet is probably pushing it a little, but obviously depends on the person watching - generally a minimum of 2.5 times the screen size is about as close as you want. So you're in that ballpark.

Thanks to both of you

sound like the distance / screen size thing may not be a problem which was my orignal concern. I just wasnt sure if 8 to 9 ft with a 32in was unrealistic

Realise the only way to know for sure is to check it out myself which i'll be doing this weekend, would be good to get this sorted before christmas