[mythtv-users] OT: Buying a new TV - Sharp Quattron or 3D?

[R. G. Newbury]

On 06/04/2011 03:23 AM, Paul Gardiner wrote:
> On 03/06/2011 21:29, Kingsley Turner wrote:
>> Does anyone have a Quattron?  I am hoping to get decent skin-tone colour
>> reproduction.
>
> If you are coming from a good quality CRT, buying a new TV can be
> very disappointing. My recommendation would be buy a second hand
> Pioneer Kuro.
>
> A big problem with buying TVs is you cant really believe reviews,
> and the best TVs don't look great in brightly lit shops. In a line
> of TVs all showing the same content, the one that catches your eye
> will be the one that looks unnatural when you have it back in your
> living room. It's hell buying a new TV.


I have been to CES each year for the past couple of years with a group. 
In 2010 the BIG thing was 3D with active glasses. Those gave everyone in 
the group a headache. And if you get migraines or suffer from flicker 
vertigo or have epilepsy I think you could be in trouble. And the 
glasses are heavy, restricting and expensive. Even worse if you already 
wear glasses.

This year the neat thing is LG's polarized glasses 3D. You wear what 
look like sun-glasses but the glass/plastic is polarized differently for 
each eye. Very nice.

But then how the director films it becomes important. Subtle hints of 
depth in the picture are great. But it was all to easy to get assaulted 
by images which leap from the screen. I did not see any game replays. I 
think that would be nice to see.

But 3D is not yet ready for prime time IMHO.

Regarding the TV itself. If you get good HD transmission and like 
watching sports, then the 120/240 refresh rate feature will be 
worthwhile. Plasma's are electricity hogs and HOT, HOT, HOT. Something 
to consider if the kids will leave it on all day.

One thing I REALLY noticed was that different brands have marked 
differences in how difficult it is to change INPUTS. I returned a Sharp 
42" a couple of years ago, because it had a (comb filter??) error which 
made the picture look like you were looking through a waterfall. It also 
had the most complicated menu system and took about a dozen key presses 
on the remote to change the input.

OTOH, the LG I now have, has a dedicated button on the remote to change 
inputs, so swapping from OTA, to cable, to mythbox is just a keypress. 
(My wife prefers to watch the news and weather 'live', not through myth. 
News is OTA, weather is cable.)

And I will never, ever again buy anything Sony. The root-kit and the 
blackmailing of geohotz says far too much about the corporate culture.


Geoff