[goldenone]

I'm thinking of getting a new TV and this is the one that has been recommended to me.
Basically i'm after a good set that will look good on my Xbox 360 and will display SD through Sky + well without noticable (or very minimal) motion blur particularly when watching sports such as football.

How does this model perform and would it be the one for me?

Thanks

[Inkblot]

I've had one for a couple of weeks and am pleased with it. Hopefully someone with more acute eyesight will comment on the motion blur - it looks fine to me. My main complaint is the terrible instruction book which is useless for trying to figure out how to get the best results from the TV.

It's not a particularly user-friendly set: it's not immediately obvious that to switch it on (or off) you have to hold down the button on the remote for a couple of seconds, not just push it once. Similarly, putting the aspect ratio on "auto" does the opposite of what I expected, since it stretches the picture to fit the screen rather than automatically switching to the correct ratio for the source material.

I would say the picture is good, colours are strong and black is black; sound is fine in a smallish room (I don't have separate home cinema audio equipment). My son uses a PS2 which looks OK but I don't know how good the picture from consoles should be.

[Orbitalzone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkblot

I've had one for a couple of weeks and am pleased with it. Hopefully someone with more acute eyesight will comment on the motion blur - it looks fine to me. My main complaint is the terrible instruction book which is useless for trying to figure out how to get the best results from the TV.

It's not a particularly user-friendly set: it's not immediately obvious that to switch it on (or off) you have to hold down the button on the remote for a couple of seconds, not just push it once. Similarly, putting the aspect ratio on "auto" does the opposite of what I expected, since it stretches the picture to fit the screen rather than automatically switching to the correct ratio for the source material.

I would say the picture is good, colours are strong and black is black; sound is fine in a smallish room (I don't have separate home cinema audio equipment). My son uses a PS2 which looks OK but I don't know how good the picture from consoles should be.

Regarding the 'auto' viewing mode, when this is selected can you then not choose the mode you want for non widescreen? - on previous models I think you chose 'auto' then quickly pressed one of the coloured buttons to choose either 4/3 or the 'just' mode (stretchy) or 14/9.

I could be wrong, but it might well be something like that, it should then work so that viewing non widescreen will go to 4/3 (or whatever mode you chose) and then it auto switches to widescreen mode when suitable progamming is viewed.

[bobcar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orbitalzone

Regarding the 'auto' viewing mode, when this is selected can you then not choose the mode you want for non widescreen? - on previous models I think you chose 'auto' then quickly pressed one of the coloured buttons to choose either 4/3 or the 'just' mode (stretchy) or 14/9.

I could be wrong, but it might well be something like that, it should then work so that viewing non widescreen will go to 4/3 (or whatever mode you chose) and then it auto switches to widescreen mode when suitable progamming is viewed.

I'm not absolutely sure what you said but the way my Panny works is that you set it to 4:3 and then it will autoswitch between 16:9 and 4:3.

[Inkblot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orbitalzone

Regarding the 'auto' viewing mode, when this is selected can you then not choose the mode you want for non widescreen? - on previous models I think you chose 'auto' then quickly pressed one of the coloured buttons to choose either 4/3 or the 'just' mode (stretchy) or 14/9.

I could be wrong, but it might well be something like that, it should then work so that viewing non widescreen will go to 4/3 (or whatever mode you chose) and then it auto switches to widescreen mode when suitable progamming is viewed.

According to the instructions:

Auto aspect determines the best aspect ratio to use to fill your screen. It does this using a four step process to determine if the picture being viewed is a widescreen picture.

If Auto aspect detects a widescreen signal it switches into the appropriate 16:9 or 14:9 widescreen mode. If Auto aspect does not detect a widescreen signal then this advanced TV enhances the picture for optimum viewing pleasure.
The text shown on the screen indicates how Auto aspect determined which ratio to use:
"WIDE" appears in the top left of the screen if a widescreen identification signal (WSS) is found or a signal found through a SCART terminal. Auto aspect switches to the appropriate 16:9 or 14:9 widescreen ratio. This function will also work in any aspect mode. "Auto" appears in the top left of the screen if black stripes above and below the picture are detected. Auto aspect chooses the best ratio and expands the picture to fill the screen. This process can take several minutes, depending on the darkness of the picture.

I've quoted the exact wording from the instruction book to show how badly written it is. I don't think the "just" mode is available separately on this model, it's similar to "auto" from what I gather but expands the picture in a slightly different way. I think!

Oh, and what bobcar says is correct: to ensure that it displays both 4:3 and 16:9 programmes correctly, it's best to set it to 4:3 and let it switch itself to 16:9 when it needs to.

[Orbitalzone]

OK, on older models (maybe even just CRT) they have the stretchy mode that made 4/3sort of look wide by tugging the edges outwards. You could make it so that on 4/3 footage it either displayed as 4/3 (proper) or this 'just' mode that made 4/3 fill the screen without losing top and bottom, albeit making everyone look short and fat.

Sony call it smart mode, I just call it **** mode

I'd want my TV to display 4/3 as that and fill out the screen to 16/9 when needed.