Green Peace Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Sky HD will probably be at 720p rather 1080i. All new plasma, LCD and DLP will likely have a resolution 1280x720p. Even if you have a PC set up to your new HDTV compatiable screen running 1080i it will scale to 720p. TBH, I find it very hard to tell the difference and I run HDTV on a 8ft screen HDTV is well recommended if you can upgrade to it in 2006 with SKY. DVD HD format still being decided over but I hope Blu-ray will win. You can most info here http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=104 Thanks for that soz I meant HDMI connection, you def know ya stuff...keep us posted on developements...will def look into the DLP screens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terawua Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Chaps... I would recommend getting the cheapest plasma you can find... about 900 quid on richer sounds at the moment, then get a good quality component out cable, and then get a surround amplifier with component upsampling (like my Denon AVR 3805) a good setup and hard to beat. HD is still a long way off, so just save your money. If you have never had a plasma before you wont even know what the contrast ratio is anyway - I didnt and I am happy with my LG screen ... hmmm that reminds me there is about 20 episodes of pimp my ride on my sky plus box.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 yeah - everyone is going mad about this high density - but it still seems a way off, and as usual, will be well expensive at first. what is this 'component out' business?? - I have never heard of it!! im not a complete technical moron, but I don't know what this is and what it looks like!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 what is this 'component out' business?? - I have never heard of it!! im not a complete technical moron, but I don't know what this is and what it looks like!! "Component" is the best way to transmit a video signal. It uses three coaxial cables (similar to RGB) but instead of transmitting the three colours separately it works a bit like S-video and uses the three lines to transmit luminance and colour data. I think it uses two lines for colour and one for luminance. The problem with component is that pretty much only DVD players actually output it. RGB, S-video and composite (in decreasing order of quality) are far more common. This can cause problems when connecting all your sources together because ideally you want multiple connections into your video amp but only one out to your screen. Lower end video amps (called AVRs - Audio / Video Recievers) only pass the signal through, so anything you put into the amp as RGB can only come out as RGB, and anything that goes in as S-video can only come out as S-video etc. If you have equipment already thn this can be a limitation no how you connect it all together. As said above, the ideal solution in this case is to buy an AVR that can upsample any input format into component, thereby getting around the probems of different sources. I couldn't afford an upsampling AVR, but luckily most of my equipment could output RGB (which is almost as good). I made sure I bought an AVR which could do RGB pass though and a screen which could accept an RGB signal. I definately recommend connecting all your sources to the screen via an AVR rather than direct to the screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kunwho Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 HD=High Definition Its not all that expensive now as you can view using a good spec PC. WMV-HD IMAX disc can be bought off the net same price as normal DVD. There are WMV-HD hi-def movies from an Italian site, can't quite remember where. Component cables consist of 3 wires red, green and blue and is usally the best way to connect a DVD to TV if they have the connections. I'm not sure what system you have but if you have a CRT tv and DVD player it likely to connected via scart cable. Most plasma will have scart connections too, thats also good way to connect the two devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Cheers Digsy, That was really helpful! I feel enlightened now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 HD=High Definition Do'h!!1 I'm getting there!! I didn't realise that getting a plasma was so technical. I was looking at the richer sounds site - and they have that panasionic 42" for £1099 - Which I guess is pretty good. but it has no input or tv tuner!!! so I guess I'd have to buy al that and plug it in separately. will a Freeview box work in place of a tv tuner???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted March 24, 2005 Author Share Posted March 24, 2005 I am confused too I am looking at the Pana mentioned above but havent got a clue what else I need. I currently have a normal aerial (very rarely used), Sky, a DVD, a cheap(ish) home cinema surround sound kit and a 28" wide screen TV that i am thinking of giving to my old mum. So, what else would I need to buy with the pana here http://ws3.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=PANA-TH42PWD6B-BLK to get all this to function as a wall mounted set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kunwho Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 I am confused too I am looking at the Pana mentioned above but havent got a clue what else I need. I currently have a normal aerial (very rarely used), Sky, a DVD, a cheap(ish) home cinema surround sound kit and a 28" wide screen TV that i am thinking of giving to my old mum. So, what else would I need to buy with the pana here http://ws3.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=PANA-TH42PWD6B-BLK to get all this to function as a wall mounted set? I will assume the TV tuner is a silver box and have 4 AV inputs. You should connect SKY by scart cable and your DVD by scart or component cables. The audio side from the TV tuner L\R audio and your DVD player optical\coaxial out to surround sound kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted March 24, 2005 Author Share Posted March 24, 2005 I will assume the TV tuner is a silver box and have 4 AV inputs. You should connect SKY by scart cable and your DVD by scart or component cables. The audio side from the TV tuner L\R audio and your DVD player optical\coaxial out to surround sound kit. Is the "TV Tuner" what Digsy was calling an AVR thingymebob? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kunwho Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Is the "TV Tuner" what Digsy was calling an AVR thingymebob? sort of. what make is your surround sound unit? if your surround sound unit have video inputs at the back then you unit is AVR too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 sort of. what make is your surround sound unit? if your surround sound unit have video inputs at the back then you unit is AVR too. what and that will tune into terrestrial tv broadcasts?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Component cables consist of 3 wires red, green and blue and is usally the best way to connect a DVD to TV if they have the connections. I'm not sure what system you have but if you have a CRT tv and DVD player it likely to connected via scart cable. Most plasma will have scart connections too, thats also good way to connect the two devices. Be really careful here. Component cables and connectors are colour coded red, green and blue, and use coaxial cable coded red, green and blue. However, so are the connectors and cables for an RGB signal, which is a totally different thing. This is sometimes because you can use the ports for a component signal to pass through an RBG signal, or where the ports are shared between two signal types. My screen has inputs coded RBG and you can use them for either a component OR an RGB signal, but not both. You have to configure the screen in a menu to tell it which signal you are using. Also, SCARTS: Gone are the days when the SCART connector was a foolproof, connects anything-to-anything plug. There are at least three different configurations now (all outwardly identical, just to make things interesting). You can get composite video, S-video snd RGB on a SCART relatively easily. SCART configurations that support true component video are, as far as I know, still quite rare. A TV tuner is not the same as an AVR (unless the AVR has a TV tuner built in, I suppose). A TV tuner is anything that you can plug a terrestial TV aerial into and get a video signal out. This can be the tuner in your VCR, your Sky box, and most simply, the card than slots into your screen. An AVR is a big switch that allows you to plug all your video and audio inputs into one box, and then pick which one gets routed out to your screen. Sometimes they have additional outputs for multiple VCRs, DVD recorders, CD recorders, etc. Also more often than not they have an RDS radio tuner built in. Another important feature of an AVR is that it will handle your surround sound decoding and drive your x:1 speaker system. Think of it as the "hub" of your audio / video system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 That richer sound deal doesn't come with a TV tuner by the looks of it. http://www.tiny.com are selling both plasma and LCD TV's at very reasonable prices. I booked a 42" samsung plasma screen today complete with tuner and speakers (not that I need the speakers as I have full DTS surround sound) at £1290 with a free DVD recorder. Every plasma or LCD TV I have seen for sale so far has required you to purchase either your own glass (seems to be the normal type) stand or a wall mount. Most of these stands or brackets are retailing at circ £100-150 on top of the price of the telly. The rear projection LCD TV's are about a foot deep and aren't anywhere near as heavy as a normal projection telly so can feasibly be mounted on a good solid wall however I would guess that you lose picture quality as my understanding goes its an LCD setup that is magnified so it wont be as sharp a picture as a directly viewed LCD will. I am still looking into buying one of these myself and before I part with my hard earned i am going to do a tour of the big leccy shops and actually look at some tellies before I buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terawua Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Good discussion here! To be honest, if you want a decent set up... you only need the plasma screen as a monitor you are just paying for useless cack if you get the speakers and a tuner. Your tuner should be either a freeview box, or a skybox, which can output a suitable signal. Personally I recommend SKY plus- it has revoltionised my TV viewing!...Ideally all the audio and video switching should be done in a good quality A/V amplifier look to spend about 800 quid money well spent as it is the heart of your system.... something with component video upsampling is the way forward as you never have to fart around with switching inputs as the amp converts everything it is input into a component output (did you know that the Playstation 2 even has a component out??!!!!) I have an S-video output along with optical digital form my Sky plus box into my Denon AVR-3805 amp, and its pretty damn good, my other inputs are a tv out from my computer (along with digital audio) playstation 2 with component out and digital audio (wired into custon made bedside table!) and Kiss DVD with hard drive again with component out and coaxial digital audio. As far as I know Yamaha make some pretty decent component upsampling amps, I think the AV 7400 (or something like that) and up do a pretty good job. As for speakers, well a surround setup is what you should aspire to. You dont have to spend loads, but a BOSE mini cube setup is very nice stylish and unobtrusive. Either that or there are some nice sets of micro speakers from Mordaunt short and others which will do the job nicely. Anyway.... as for where to buy stuff.... plasmas from Richer are a good buy. Denon is very sexy and I got mine from a place called Krish AV in Chiswick http://www.krishav.co.uk and I got all my interrconnects (spend good amounts of cash on these!) from http://www.hificables.co.uk (Nice girl called Katie works there and will sort you out). As for hooking all of it up...yes it can be quite hard to get it all sorted, so get someone to give you a hand who knows what they are doing or pay for the install. Just have an idea of how you want your setup to look, as you will need to know cable lengths to connect everything up just right.... not excessively long as this causes needless interference (I used to make my cables in the past - custom lengths) but not too short so they dont reach. Anyway.... good luck all you potential home movie buffs! If onyl I had spent all the money on my supra that I have spent on AV stuff- I would have a show winner for sure! James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terawua Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 oh and I didnt see what digsy wrote, but yes he is right in his description of the AVR.. its the main part.. hence you should part with the cash to make it work well - a properly set up system is so damn cool to use.... one button to turn everything on and off... automatic switching of inputs.... hmmmmm hi fi heaven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsy Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Just for reference, here's my system layout in the attached file. As for cables, if you buy off the shelf you can expect to spend something like 10% of your total system cost just on those. I saved quite a bit of money by making my own, but its tedius! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Posted March 24, 2005 Author Share Posted March 24, 2005 Digsy old chap, that is the dogs dangling bits and a great help to enable a numpty like me to "see" the system layout. Much horse grassy arse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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