Extremely disillusioned

itbestuk

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Hiya, I have just been down to my local Sony centre to make a side by side comparison of the 40W and the 40X, the first test I did was to see both sets playing HD, I was very impressed! both TV's looked superb and I couldn’t notice any difference between each set, so thumbs up!! Then we moved onto the SD test which I thought the 40X would win as the EX engine is supposed to handle SD well, but I was extremely unimpressed with the quality of both TV's, the salesman pointed out that all the TV's in this small shop were running off just one sky box so a single source would give a better signal. The picture looked very pixalated and not very sharp, my existing 28" CRT is far better!

I so wanted to be blown away by the quality, I sold the idea to my wife based on the fact that the picture quality would be that much better, but I feel that the technology has a long way to go to make the most out of the SD signal and HD has a long way to go before it can be used as justification for buying a TV and for the TV companies to use HD as an advertising strategy is misleading.

I think I will be hanging on for the technology to catch up before I take the plunge,

Iain
 
I entirely agree with you. Best to hang onto your CRT as long as possible as it will probably take a few years before CRT is equalled or overtaken, particularly with regards to fast motion. I have just replaced my CRT with another CRT for the reasons which you outline.
 
I felt the same way for some time.
I used to own a 32" sony Wega set which i sold just before the world cup. (best time to sell a TV)
although it was only 1 year old it sold for only 280quid. a big difference from it's new price.
I then looked around for an LCD and have taken until last week to choose one. I waiting for months for the 40" x series to become available. Eventually i went for a Sharp 46". (not sure i made the right choice.. time will tell) but for me, the LCD does supprise me.
I can be half way through a film and think wow that scene looks amazing and then it will drop off a little. it sort of comes and goes if that makes sense.
I just changed my SD dvd player to progressive and believe me, watching the begining of the 3rd Lord Of The Rings movie the quality is outstanding, much better than CRT the colours really come to life. What you do find though sadly is that you watch picture quality now to justify the expense where-as what we should do is watch the movie.
For size and sheer wow factor you have to go down the LCD road. My TV looks amazing even when it's switched off which is more than can be said for any big lumping CRT.
 
...Then we moved onto the SD test which I thought the 40X would win as the EX engine is supposed to handle SD well, but I was extremely unimpressed with the quality of both TV's, ...
Iain

If you want a really good SD picture, look at the panny plasma px60/600. Excellent black, natural colors, sharp images.
 
My wife watches a fair bit of TV now as she is at home with our child and most of the stuff she watches is SD, all the soaps and the stupid home decor and face lift programmes. All of these shows and most other programmes are SD which means that 90% of the time I will be unimpressed and when I spend over £1500 on technology I expect to be blown away even when watching Emerdale!

Maybe I just want too much, or maybe when I watch the adverts selling TV's with there bright colours and sharp pictures I expect to get that. It feels like I have just been into McDonalds and ordered a Big Mac and now I am disappointed that it doesn't look like the TV ad!?! (But the Big Mac is a TV if get my drift)
 
panny plasma ?? do they have a domain or a reseller, can't find them?
 
Your experience is different from my own.

I always mistrust shop demonstrations as it is easy to jump to conclusions without really knowing what is being compared. Recently I saw a Pioneer plsma in Comet that looked very poor against an adjacent LG whereas the cause was a poorly located scart cable!

In this case the cause is just as likely to be a poor signal being distributed as two poor sets. Using the internal Freeview tuners would have probably been more useful as then assuming there is enough signal to allow a digital signal to be displayed you will eliminate most external issues.

These sets can display an excellent SD picture as many happy owners have said in threads here. However it is known that the default out of box settings are poor - very bright and over processed. Also remember that larger screen will inevitably show more errors when viewed from a short distance than a smaller CRT. If those errors are visible at a normal viewing distance then that is an issue or if you plan to sit under 12 inches from your TV!
 
I think I will be hanging on for the technology to catch up before I take the plunge,

Iain

I agree as well, I think you are correct in your decision, the LCD technology has a long way to go before it can compare with a good CRT on SD sources, whatever any of the LCD fans on here try to tell you.

I have both LCD and CRT and I know which I prefer.
 
, the LCD technology has a long way to go before it can compare with a good CRT on SD sources, whatever any of the LCD fans on here try to tell you.

I have both LCD and CRT and I know which I prefer.

In your opinion of course... some people here might not be able to stand the geometry issues that come with CRTs after experiencing LCD. :)
 
What do you mean by geometry issue is this in regard to the size of a CRT?
 
In your opinion of course... some people here might not be able to stand the geometry issues that come with CRTs after experiencing LCD. :)

Geometry on my last two SONY WEGA CRT's (32FD1 and 36FS70) was excellent - nothing worth complaining about.

Best thing you can do with a SONY LCD is bypass its internal processing - its dreadful.
 
The best technology for SD other than a CRT has got to be plasma. The LCD's may possibly be great in about 6 years time when we all have HD, however I fear that we will need LCDs to take a 1900 feed as opposed to a 1080p by that time. Also don't forget SED will come out in a couple of years time. If you live in the UK and don't use an xbox (because that is a big reason for people buying such displays), get a decent panasonic or pioneer plasma and you'll enjoy the experience. Otherwise....take up reading!

Cheers

Richard
 

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