Why LCD and Plasma? 37

Tvad,

When I was shopping for my first flat panel TV a couple of years ago, SD picture quality was a huge consideration. I ended up purchasing the 3rd generation Panasonic 42" EDTV plasma. It looks really good with SD program material, and from my viewing distance, I couldn't see much difference on digital signals in either SD or HD.

I've been very happy with it for about 3 years.

Enjoy,

TIC

01-02-08: Tvad
I have yet to see a high definition LCD or Plasma TV displaying a
standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio signal that didn't look like crap. Do
any exist?

Not that I'm aware of. I think they purposely use crappy SD tuners to make the HD picture look that much better. So when you compare the HD picture to the SD picture you get more WOW! factor.

That being said, for some reason my wife always chooses to watch in SD as opposed to HD. I can't say that I know why. The picture looks awful to me.

As for Brian's question, I just think LCD and plasma get most of the ink because they are the two hottest formats. They tend to cost more $$$ though. Most folks here have more $$$ though, same reason they tend to talk about seperates more than integrateds. Nothing wrong with integrated amps or DLP's. You spends your money you makes your choices.

Cheers,
John

Tvad, I will be in the market for a new plasma. In what way does the 4:3 standard def look like crap?

John,

That's funny! My wife does the same thing. I think it's habit. She's been conditioned to punch in the channel number of the SD channel and hasn't bothered to learn the HD channel numbers. Anyway, I set the default power-on value of our DVR/STB to the high def version of NBC. From there she just uses the up/down button to get the the HD versions of the other network stations. However, the non-major network channels in HD aren't in sequence, so all bets are off when watching HGTV!

Enjoy,

TIC