Switching between 50Hz and 100Hz

[Nuuk]

My old TV packed in recently and I am going to go for a 32 inch widescreen CRT. I've been doing the usual research but sometimes all this information can be counter-productive!

I was more-or-less sold on getting a 100Hz set but I watch a fair bit of sport and was worried about the smearing. A friend of mine says he has noticed the smaearing on his Toshiba set but that he can switch to 50Hz when he is watching football etc. As this is a feature that I have not seen mentioned in any specification that I have read, I wondered if this is a feature that is unique to my friend's Toshiba or do other sets have it too?

Last week, I spoke with a fairly knowledgeable salesman in my local Comet (yes, it surprised me too!). He told me that he had not sold a CRT in three months (apart from a few 14 inch portables). Everybody it seems is going for LCD or Plasma, and this is certainly confirmed if you scan the second-hand ads with most sellers giving the reason for selling a CRT as a move up to LCD or plasma. It's got me wondering if I shouldn't wait a couple of months because if nobody is buying the CRT's, surely their price will have to fall quite a bit. Any comments?

 

[chedmaster]

CRTs have already dropped in price a stupid amount. Especially the second hand ones.

My Toshiba CRT produces a better picture than any LCD I have seen, and plasma's were way out of my price range, being a student. So I decided to buy a cheap CRT for now, until LCDs are the new CRTs, and plasma's are less thank £1k for HD ready (which won't be long if you ask me)

Anyway I got my progressive scan Tosh for £250 off these forums (in fact got one for £200 but that one broke in transit so had to get another - and they were few and far between so had to pay asking )

Its phenomenal, and a great stop gap. And to answer your other question, Toshibas have progressive mode which makes for a wonderful picture with no artefacts or smearing or anything (it runs at 50hz but still twice the amount of lines drawn than interlaced = no flicker).

 

[chedmaster]

One piece of advice - if you are buying second hand, aim for a particular model and don't be swayed.

Avoid Sony's, no component or progressive modes, just flickery standard 100Hz.

If I were you, aim for a Toshiba 32zp46 or 48. Pal/NTSC Progressive and less than £500 new.

 

[Nuuk]

Thanks Chedmaster. My mate with the Toshiba advised me to get a Sony!

Funny old world but going back to my question, does the Toshiba automatically switch between 50 and 100 Hz?

 

[chedmaster]

no, but it doesn't need to. just set it to progressive and you get an amazing picture with no artefacts. There are 4 modes, 100Hz (standard - like sony's - all flickery), Active (100Hz designed for sport etc) and Natural (100Hz and much more stable than standard 100Hz). Then flick it in to progressive and resolution doubles, the picture becomes smoother and you'll wonder why we need high def!

I say again progressive is 50 full frames per second as opposed to 100 half frames (100Hz) or 50 half frames (standard 50Hz).

 

[Nuuk]

OK, I think I get it now! I'll keep an eye out for one of those Toshiba models you suggested.