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Author Topic: flat screen tv recommendations? Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 11-27-2010 01:34 PM                     quote: Jesse Skeen I tried a Denon receiver before I got the Pioneer, but it was awful at handling analog video- if the sync went bad for the slightest amount of time, the signal would drop out, it even happened when my laserdisc player changed to side 2! I contacted Denon about this and they suggested I get a time-base corrector! It went back right after that. I found out the hard way on this one..I installed two Denons at UC Irvine, initially thinking that the extensive input switching and the upconversion would be ideal..untill damn near EVERY source suffered the blackout problem..a major deal as professors use the worst-possible media for lectures. I ended up having to run additional lines to the video projectors and get an outboard component video switcher to get things working right. Like I said before, never again with Denon. Richard, I hope your Denon holds out..I have no faith in their long-term reliability anymore either.  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-27-2010 02:43 PM                     I'm looking for a good 55" unit (non-3d). The Samsung models look good, but I'd consider other brands. Anyone have recent experience here?  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 11-27-2010 09:04 PM                     I have my computer hooked to the HDMI input on the receiver, which then goes to the TV's HDMI input (all my stuff is hooked to the receiver, but I also have component cables hooked to the TV and swap them between DVD players when I want to see closed-captions, since HDMI can't pass those.) Works with no issues except there's about an inch of black on all sides- my TV has 4 pre-settings though so I use one of those with the HSize and VWidth set just enough to zoom in on it. I can't get my computer to play any downloaded multi-channel audio files through the receiver with either the HDMI or mini-optical output- I'm too computer-illiterate to know exactly how that works. As long as I'm posting here, I'll link to a video of the problem my Vizio TV is having with its 'smart dimming'- this should be self-explanatory: (And yes, that is my voice.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX45RuQnGuY Posting that was actually enough to get the company's attention and they sent me a replacement TV but it had the same problem. Now they're going to send me the next model up, but I'm afraid it's still going to do this. It seems whoever designed this TV programmed it to do that on purpose, but of course they're wrong- the LEDs should never go COMPLETELY out when there's any video signal coming in. I currently have the smart-dimming turned off, but the black levels are pretty crappy that way. I held off getting a new TV for a long time just because I'm picky about black levels, and this was the first affordable LED set to come along.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-28-2010 10:58 AM                     I just bought this model yesterday for our bedroom at an HHGREGG while in Charlotte, NC visiting family. My brother-in-law knows a manager at the store and got me $50 off of an already good price. Hooked it up last night and it looks great on the hi-def channels. Can't wait to get my hi-def cable box later this week so I can hook it up properly with an HDMI cable. I hope to buy a much larger TV later next year for our living room to replace our large projection HDTV. http://www.hhgregg.com/ProductDetail.asp?SID=n&ProductID=24571  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 12-01-2010 11:58 AM                     A little off topic, but does anyone know what BD-Live is? It shows up on the menu in certain movies, but when I click it, it says to check my internet connection or my USB connection. My blu-ray is connected to my router via ethernet, and I just hooked the Blu-Ray directly to my modem via USB. When I talked to a tech at Insigna, he couldn't answer my questions and kept putting me on hold. He finally came back and said BD-Live is just for updates. To which I replied, "then why is it an option on my menu screen when I insert a disc, and when I select it, it says I don't have an internet connection?" I know my internet connection is good. So anyway, what the hell is BD-Live?  |  IP: Logged Daniel Schulz Master Film Handler Posts: 387 From: Los Angeles, CA USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 12-01-2010 12:15 PM                        BD-Live is a feature that lets you pull additional or new content tied specifically to your disc; it shows up on the menu and everything. For instance new trailers for related movies, or a commentary or making-of that was created after the discs were pressed.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-01-2010 12:56 PM                     I have two Vizio's that I bought at Costco (bought them 6 months apart with one being the 120hz one)- both 37inchers. One upstairs in the living room and the other with my computer with Blu-Ray with HDMI output in my ET room. The autodim feature works good with the one downstairs. The light sensor is in the lower right of the unit.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-01-2010 03:50 PM                     I also just bought this Sony Blu-Ray Player at Best Buy. Hooking it up tonight to check it out. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+3D%26%2342/Internet+Connectable/Wi-Fi+Built-In+Blu-ray+Disc+Player/9739925.p?id=1218165051047&skuId=9739925 Incidentally, I am selling off all of my 35mm equipment very soon. Just no time to mess with it. I would rather pop in a Blu-Ray or use Netflix and watch a film on my new flat screen. Much less work and cost. I will miss working with film though.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-01-2010 03:57 PM                     With Blu-Ray there is an Achilles Heel in all of this since some of the newer releases requiring firmware updates with the players to reproduce the information on the disc correctly. ..do a search on firmware updates with that and any player that is out there, for there has been some makes where any updates done via USB thumbdrive can totally screw up and lock up the unit due to update procedures or the software itself. Thus, the unit has to be returned to the factory(ies) to clear out the system where they have to do the updates themselves. Heard that Samsung had a few issues in this direction..  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 12-01-2010 04:04 PM                    BDlive is an interactive connection that can be included in certain bluray titles. You need an Internet connection and a usb flash drive for the content to download to.  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 12-02-2010 10:37 PM                     BD-Live is a candidate for "Sony's stupid piece of shit that doesn't fucking work"!  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-03-2010 08:16 AM                     The player that I bought has wi-fi built in so there is no problem connecting to the internet for updates. I read about some of the Samsung problems too. I wanted to buy a unit that was the same brand as the TV that I have and CNET rated the Samsungs pretty high. The users however complained about a lot of player failures so I steered clear. I then went to Sony thinking that since they developed the technology, they should have the best hardware for it. We will see if that is the case. Worst case, I am only out $160.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-03-2010 01:08 PM                     My experience with Sony's has been nothing but bad...very slow loading, two units that outright died, three that kept outputting green screen or multicolored snow...all in client's screening rooms. Oddly, never had any trouble with their DVD only players, I have one in a screening room that is well over 10 years old with heavy use and still going strong. I have Samsungs at UC Irvine, we'll see how they last. They do load faster than Sony and seem to load faster than the Panasonic I have in my own screening room.  |  IP: Logged

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