NickRich said:
Thanks Gavtech. Whilst you confirm my "too good to be true" thoughts, I must admit to being a little taken aback! You seem to be saying I would have been better sticking with my old CRT TV,
Well not entirely. There have been other coincidental technology changes which make your purchase justifiable... and panels are not without their advantages... I'm just trying always to fight against the commercial hype.
By almost every measure of quality it is just a fact that CRT technology is a better performer than panel type technologies, because it is so mature and well developed.
Panel technologies will no doubt continue to improve and may one day exceed crt's in performance but they have quite a long way to go yet.
I just like to keep addressing some of these common myths ... like 'digital means better' etc.
NickRich said:
but what I see on my new screen (built in Freeview tuner vs CRT + digibox) does not bear this out. It's a subjective judgement I suppose, as you say.
If that is the case I would urge you to sit back and enjoy it then and don't give it a second thought.
The message is more important than the medium.
It is all to easy for us to go 'looking for trouble' and lose sight of the function of TV.
One of the problems of developing a technically educated eye is that one starts to see all the flaws and limitations of the technology, rather than simply enjoying it.
NickRich said:
I'm also now somewhat confused about the whole upscaling thing. If my TV has a built in upscaler which is better than that in the 75 / 85, what is the point of the new range of DVD players incorporating this feature? Or are you saying the Panasonic upscaler is no good?
No - I'm not saying that at all. I cant really comment on how good or bad it may be. It is just that a dedicated [internal] upscaler always has the advantage of finishing up in the native resolution of the screen which will produce the best performance by far.
NickRich said:
I have seen an Xbox playing an upscaled DVD though my TV and it is noticeably sharper and cleaner than on my existing DVD player. Perhaps it is the intrinsic quality of the player rather than the upscaling that makes the difference?
It may depend on many variables. The type of connection ... the source material ...[ if they are games for example , they are going to be in digitally generated primary colours ] It can be down to nothing more than internal tweaking which can give a subjective improvement to the quality... or it may indeed be due to the upscaling.
One of the problems of appraising these comparitive quality issues is that most people have been used to the limitations of analogue systems. When they first see a digital system they can be quite stunned by the quality because the digital process overcomes the shortcomings of analogue systems quite well ... Unfortunately it introduces a whole different range of shortcomings of its own,
completely different in type to analogue failings ... and most people have not yet developed the discernment to see it.
In a sense, ignorance is bliss and I dont think it is all that helpful of me to point out to people the inadequacy, or more accurately, the shortcomings of their systems.
NickRich said:
My thought process in all this has really been: I've got an HD ready TV...how can I make best use of this until Freeview HD (hopefully) comes along? (other than subscribing to Sky)....how about using upscaling to achieve the best possible picture on my TV?
So am completely barking up the wrong tree?
I dont know that you are ... There are enough people on this forum who are convinced that it produces great benefit, but it remains a fact that it is a technical fudge.
It may be a fudge that works well enough for you.
I can only say try it and see. The EX75 and 85 are grand machines anyway so you would reap countless benefits from having them with the whole issue of upscaling aside.
Good luck.