Going back to 50Hz.

Has any body ever gone back to a 50Hz TV? I'm contemplating going back. At present I have a Philips P+ which at times has a really stunning picture but then on terrestrial and some satellite channels from my Humax is quite poor. The one thing I hate is the fuzzy appearance around any numbers that are superimposed onto the picture. i.e. telephone numbers. I have tried various 100Hz sets and they all appear to do this to some extent or other. I want to go back to a good clean picture. I remember when I had a 50Hz set about three years ago and changed it to a 100Hz set I was really disappointed in the picture quality but I supposed I have grown used to it now.
If any body has gone back to a 50Hz what were your findings. Was it how you remembered it? Also, can any body recommend a decent 50 Hz set. I here the Panasonic PS5 is not bad.

Bazza

 

You could check out one of the higher end Toshiba sets. They can't match the enhanced resolution of Philips pixelplus but what they do is give a picture with less onscreen artifacts and picture distortions. A good compromise between a clean 50hz display and pixelplus.

 

To be honest I'm also looking at a Loewe again. I had an Aventos and to be quite honest I did like it but I thought the P+ had a bit more detail so I went back to one. Also, the wife didn't like the look of the Aventos. Now having had the P+ for some time the artificial look on terrestrial and Satellite is slowing getting to me. I've tried all the picture enhancing models around and they all have some problems with movement scenes so I'm trying to find a local dealer who has a Nemos to look at but can't find anyone.

Bazza

 

Can't the PixelPlus be disabled on the Philips and instead use good ol' 50Hz?

 

You can put it into Double line mode which I believe works like 50Hz but the screen flickers like hell.

 

I'd love to go back to 50Hz, but you only ever seem to find it on the lower-end models. Try finding a 50Hz set with at least three SCARTS, two of which are RGB. Try finding one that's prog scan capable (for this I assume it would need to increase its refresh rate, but why not? Computer moniters can do it).

All this 100 Hz digital processing is all very well, but at the end of the day it's just a trick. You can't squeeze any more detail than the original 50Hz transmission provides. All you can do is interpolate; try and trick people by making it look like it's more detailed, at the expense of horrible artefacts.

I'd like to see a telly that reproduces exactly what's fed into it, at the same refresh rate, with no digital jiggery-pokery trying to make them something they're not. In other words, for signals coming off the aerial, or cable and satelite feeds, 50Hz. For Progressive feeds, 50, 75, 100 or whatever-the-heck they are.

And I'd like it to have a Freeview tuner, and three SCARTS minimum (two RGB). And separate component inputs that don't make one of the SCARTS unusable.

No! Make that TWO Freeview tuners (do away with the analogue one), so you can feed one out to your video.

Is this really too much to ask?

OK, one Freeview tuner then.

 

What about the Thomson 32 WB 642 S?

I think it is supports both 50Hz and 100Hz modes ...

Ciao!

 

What about the Thomson 32 WB 642 S?


Yep, Tried one of those. Colours are good but can be over saturated at times. The menu from my Humax seemed like it was trying to burn its way out of the screen. The only real bad thing though was the amount of jerkiness with movement on terrestrial. The wife wouldn't stop moaning about it. People only had to turn there heads and it would look like a strobe effect more times than not.

Bazza

 

Which implies some sort of digital processing at work again, which in turn implies it's not true 50Hz.

Keep looking, Baz. If you find a decent 50Hz set I'll be next in line after you.

 

Well it is predictable!

I'd recommend auditioning a 50Hz Sony IDTV not the cheapest 2 scart job but the next one up (DX50?)

I don't know how many Scarts it has.

I have spent ages setting up my DX20 this is what I can note

with RGB sources or in Movie mode (I haven't snipped VM yet - but I haven't used non RGB this year!!!!)

No distortion of letters/numbers, accurate colours, naturally sharp edges, not enhanced ect. Colour registration is good, geometry is adjustable to get it right.

The second gen tuner is quicker than my ist gen but the picture quality is excellent - better than the Twin

 

Just checked - only two

I'm also a bit scared of Sonys after all the trouble I had with my DS60. Admittedly, this is more down to the dealer and service agents than it is to do with Sony themselves, but I never did get it sorted to my satisfaction.

Having looked at all the latest Sonys, Pannys, Toshes, Philips et al, and sticking with the assumption that it has to be 100Hz to get the required features, I'd say that Loewe tellies have the least processed and most natural looking picture.