OT: My first flat-panel HDTV

[William Sommerwerck]

The elderly among you probably saw "The Fly" (1958) in its first run. When
David Hedison's wife schleps Vincent Price to the laboratory to show him
hubby's latest and greatest, he asks "What is it? Flatscreen?".

It's taken "only" a half century for flat-panel television to become common.
Last weekend, having a few extra bucks, I wandered down to Costco and bought
a Vizio VW32L for $390. It was purchased primarily to replace an NAD MR-20A,
which is nearly 25 years old and has developed permanent (and likely
irreparable) focus problems, not as a display for HD sources, which I don't
have. *

I'm accustomed to viewing 480i signals on CRT-based IDTVs that deinterlace
and enhance them (a 32" Toshiba CZ-3299K, followed by a 36" Sony 400-series
WEGA, both of which are still in use). In general, the Vizio does not match
the Toshiba or Sony.

Perhaps I'm sitting too close, but the Vizio makes one all-too aware of
everything that's wrong with 480i program material. Most of it is soft --
sometimes downright smeary -- and lacking detail. One is very aware that
most performers are heavily made-up -- skin has little or no surface
texture. ** The rare really high-quality signals are knockouts.

The Vizio has dynamic image sharpening similar to the Toshiba's and Sony's,
in which the sharper transitions are "goosed". The result of this is that
text and graphics can look razor-sharp, while the rest of the scene, lacking
detail to enhance, remains soft.

One thing the Vizio does exceptionally well is stretching 4:3 to fit 16:9.
The center 1/3 is untouched, so performers don't look "fat". The stretching
at the sides is visible only when they're text spanning the screen width,
and is still pretty subtle.

Oh, well. The Vizio was purchased for non-critical viewing in my den.
Someday I'll have a Kuro in the living room. It will probably sit on the
Sony, with the latter used for viewing 480i from cable.


* I could hook up an antenna for off-the air HD, but haven't gotten around
to it. I need to find my coax switchbox (which has disappeared, of course),
and the Vizio memorizes only the cable or antenna channel lineup, not both.
It's not designed for "simultaneous" antenna and cable operation.

** Of course, conventional NTSC television has a maximum luminance bandwidth
of 4.2MHz, which doesn't render extremely find detail well.

 

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <gn6hdm$tu3$1@news.motzarella.org>,
William Sommerwerck <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote:

Perhaps I'm sitting too close, but the Vizio makes one all-too aware of
everything that's wrong with 480i program material. Most of it is soft
-- sometimes downright smeary -- and lacking detail. One is very aware
that most performers are heavily made-up -- skin has little or no
surface texture. ** The rare really high-quality signals are knockouts.

In the UK we get different data rates depending on channel - the
'minority' ones suffering most. You certainly don't get the same 'number
of colours' on digital as analogue. Most noticeable on flesh tones. Of
course even that goes out the window with CSI. ;-)
As regards sharpness I'd say here that DTTV is slightly sharper than
analogue - assuming a good source - but movement generally poorly catered
for.
Of course one look at the data rates used for 'closed circuit' pro use
soon explains why there will inevitably be faults on what we get at home.
Satellite could, of course, get round this - but don't seem to be
bothered.

--
*On the other hand, you have different fingers*

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

In the UK we get different data rates depending on channel --
the "minority" ones suffering most. You certainly don't get the
same "number of colours" on digital as analogue.

I'm looking at analog, not digital. Although the set receives most of the
same cable channels in digital, I haven't made a direct comparison.

 

[UCLAN]

William Sommerwerck wrote:

It's taken "only" a half century for flat-panel television to become common.
Last weekend, having a few extra bucks, I wandered down to Costco and bought
a Vizio VW32L for $390. It was purchased primarily to replace an NAD MR-20A,
which is nearly 25 years old and has developed permanent (and likely
irreparable) focus problems, not as a display for HD sources, which I don't
have. *

You mention that you are on cable. No local HDTV signals on Clear QAM?

 

[William Sommerwerck]

You mention that you are on cable. No local HDTV signals
on Clear QAM?

I can't find any. The set didn't (seem to) locate any during the setup. I'm
going to call Comcast to find out.

I called. Seems I was missing them. There are at least a half-dozen, most of
which are broadcast HD.

The 1080i picture is quite good -- better than one might expect for $390
set.