Thinking of buying a TV; suggestions?

[Bube]

As the title says, I want to buy a new tv. There are so many different chioces on the market, I can't decide which one would be better. So I have some questions to ask :)

I at least had my mind set on LEDs, but the other day I saw a Panasonic tv with something called a neo-plasma screen and thought it looked real nice. Does anyone know anything about the subject?

I also want a 3dtv, and was wondering if there are any differences between the different technologies? Once again, the Panasonic model blew my mind.

And some models seem much more fluid in motion; I'm guessing this has something to do with them being 100/200 Hz? I think they look real cool.

And how about the refresh rate? I heard some models aren't good for gaming (this is almost the only reason I would own a tv). How big a problem would this cause me?

[magus113]

LCD screens don't get as good quality of blacks or whites because of the nature of the screen, but they're better for when you might have situations with screen glare. Plasmas get better blacks but you always run the risk of screen burn and the screens are much brighter, but if you're in a room where sunlight gets in easily you'll have some glare issues. I've had a plasma TV before my mom burned it out falling asleep watching a DVD, so I can attest to the better contrast, but the LCD in my room looks just fine, especially since newer LCD TVs have much more improved contrast ratios.

Plasma TVs are also much heavier than LCD TVs and LED TVs. I've seen LED TVs in stores but I haven't spent an extended amount of time with them so I can't vouch for them personally although I'm sure 3D LED TVs are great quality. They're also very, very thin.

It might be worth it in the long run to get a 3DTV if you're interested because you'll be able to take advantage of your PS3 as a 3D Blu-ray player for one, and because the picture quality is usually better on a 3D television, the only problem is you have to worry about the glasses and making sure they have batteries, although the LG Cinema TVs use 3D glasses that don't have batteries and it supports better viewing angles I believe. It's really wide though. They still maintain the 16:9 aspect ratio for films and games that are played in widescreen but that's something to think about.

I'm not a fan of the auto motion 120Hz crap or whatever, that makes everything try to look more fluid. It makes me sick (not like offended sick, my stomach feels weird) after a while to be honest because it doesn't look natural. If something was meant to be shown in 45-50+ fps, it would have been shot that way, not having some algorithms determine what it THINKS it should look like. Film directors choose frame rates by choice because sometimes it works better for things like action films and the like.

I remember the first time I saw it at Best Buy they were demo-ing the TVs with copies of The Dark Knight. Things looked okay when things were moving fast (it was when Batman was riding the motorcycle) but when they could cut to more static and non-moving shots like in the van with Harvey Dent, it seemed really strange, like they were trying to look like you were watching an episode of a daytime soap opera. I had another friend who told me their father had one of those TVs and they tried watching the Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray on it, and it didn't go so hot with them either.

If that's your bag then sure, go for it.

[manasecret]

Auto-motion stuff is IMO great, just not always and not always on high.

But it does. Not. Matter. Much like 3D will soon be, the automotion stuff is all but standard on any 120Hz or greater TV, and they are all going that way. You always have the option to turn it off, so don't worry if you do or don't like it when you're purchasing, since if you get an LCD TV you should be getting at least 120 Hz anyway.

[magus113]

Auto-motion stuff is IMO great, just not always and not always on high.

But it does. Not. Matter. Much like 3D will soon be, the automotion stuff is all but standard on any 120Hz or greater TV, and they are all going that way. You always have the option to turn it off, so don't worry if you do or don't like it when you're purchasing, since if you get an LCD TV you should be getting at least 120 Hz anyway.

I'm still glad that you can turn it off, honestly. The stupid part is that some people don't even notice. I was at takegiantstep's house and his parents had just gotten a TV with that on, and it pissed him off so much that he took it off and they didn't even notice.

[Bube]

It's good to hear that I can turn it off. Like I said, I mainly want it for gaming, and I think it'd be pretty nice in games (well, in my mind anyway :)). However, I agree that in movies and stuff, it makes it look like a Spanish soap opera :D

On the matter of burn-in.. That's something that scares me a lot (we have a plasma and ever since we bought it, I look for artifacts on the screen). I'd never thought of that this time, but since you pointed out, I feel that I'm leaning a bit more towards LEDs with their higher conrast.

[manasecret]

What it gives you is far more detail. HD TVs IMO were not impressive until I saw that. THEN I was impressed.

The thing about it not being the director's original intent is false, because all movies come out at 24 fps. It's not like there's a choice about it, they are beholden to theaters and the popular format that is ubiquitous. Automotion is like converting 24 fps to 48 fps (or more) -- the picture is much smoother and you see all the details you wouldn't see otherwise because it blurs out with the low framerate. Of course since it's a post-processing algorithm it's not perfect and in some cases is unusable, but when it works it's night and day better details and clearer picture.

As soon as native 48 fps (or greater) movies start coming out, Automotion will be obsolete. Until then, I'll watch movies with all the details you other guys don't see.

EDIT:

HOLY SHIT YES!! The Hobbit is being filmed in 48 fps! https://www.facebook.com/notes/peter-jackson/48-frames-per-second/10150222861171558

And in native 3D I might add. I am triply stoked for this movie now.

[Vampyr]

Can someone tell me what the purpose of the auto motion actually is? I mean, it attempts to upconvert the FPS? To what end?

The only thing I noticed when having it on was that it didn't blur the background correctly, so EVERYTHING was in focus, and stuff looked very weird.

Also, I have a Samsung LED LCD (1080p, 46"), and I love it. I had a Samsung LCD (720p, 37") before this one, and it was great as well...I highly recommend Samsung.

[magus113]

Can someone tell me what the purpose of the auto motion actually is? I mean, it attempts to upconvert the FPS? To what end?

The only thing I noticed when having it on was that it didn't blur the background correctly, so EVERYTHING was in focus, and stuff looked very weird.

Also, I have a Samsung LED LCD (1080p, 46"), and I love it. I had a Samsung LCD (720p, 37") before this one, and it was great as well...I highly recommend Samsung.

Samsung TVs are great but if you want the best as far as middle of the road brand name products go, Vizio works great. I have a 1080p 37" TV from them and it's great. Lightweight, great picture quality. Could use a few more ports but I make do.

[Bube]

Hmm.. I don't think we have Vizio over here, but today, I pretty much decided on a 42" Samsung LED model. Non-3D, because I found out that glasses were too expensive, and I don't think the 3D gimmick is worth the price.

[Jason1]

Can someone tell me what the purpose of the auto motion actually is? I mean, it attempts to upconvert the FPS? To what end?

The only thing I noticed when having it on was that it didn't blur the background correctly, so EVERYTHING was in focus, and stuff looked very weird.

Also, I have a Samsung LED LCD (1080p, 46"), and I love it. I had a Samsung LCD (720p, 37") before this one, and it was great as well...I highly recommend Samsung.

I dont really know the purpose, clearer picture I assume. But from what I understand, it basically works like this: The TV will actually "guess" what the missing frames will look like so to speak and add in extra frames to get it up to 48 FPS or whatever. So, it should result in a smoother picture.

[manasecret]

Here's a good visual example. What the Automotion effect does is the interpolation at the end.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/spnPUORGMak" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="560"></iframe>

You can also see how such an algorithm is not perfect and can cause some very bad artifacts. However, the results from TVs (Samsung's, Sony's, and Vizio's anyway) are never that bad, though it does in some cases cause bad enough artifacts to be unusable.

Wow, this one is even better to show how good these effects can be.

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EViiARmvZ8k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I am seriously wondering now if this is how Inception got its super-slow-motion scenes... nah Nolan got to spend as much as he wanted on IMAX film for Dark Knight, surely he was able to get some super-slo-mo cameras. Anyway

There are a whole series of interesting videos about motion interpolation at this link http://wn.com/Motion_Interpolation

[Bube]

To be honest, I didn't notice any artifacts?

I bought a 46" Samsung LED TV today btw. It's getting delivered tomorrow; hope I'm not disappointed :)

[Vampyr]

To be honest, I didn't notice any artifacts?

I bought a 46" Samsung LED TV today btw. It's getting delivered tomorrow; hope I'm not disappointed :)

You might have the exact some one I do. :)

[manasecret]

The artifacts are very clear in the guys running video. At 0:39 seconds, watch the wall warp behind the guy on the far left with black pants and jacket.

The artifacts in the car video are all but unnoticeable unless you look very closely at the background around the wheels and bottom of the car. An impressive example of how good it can be.

And good choice on Samsung. I was under the impression that virtually all the LED TVs include 3D, is that not so?

[Bube]

You might have the exact some one I do. :)

Maybe; there are just a few models with those specs. I can't remember the exact model no, I'll try to find ot when it arrives :)

The artifacts are very clear in the guys running video. At 0:39 seconds, watch the wall warp behind the guy on the far left with black pants and jacket.

The artifacts in the car video are all but unnoticeable unless you look very closely at the background around the wheels and bottom of the car. An impressive example of how good it can be.

And good choice on Samsung. I was under the impression that virtually all the LED TVs include 3D, is that not so?

I thought it was like that as well, but I guess it's not.

And yes, in the first video the artifacts are really noticeable. I somehow managed to skip that video and watch only the second one :)