I'm In Love.... (1 Viewer)

[Adam Sanchez]

So a month ago after a long tortorous wait, I got my very first HD-Ready Widescreen TV. (This is also the first TV I have ever owned that is MINE. I got a 32 Inch Sony Bravia. (Not the Black XBR one, the one right below it) and I love it.

I am a big movie fan so this TV was mainly bought to basically be my monitor to have something to show the picture on my shiny DVD's to go with the nice 5.1 surround sound system I have. I even bought a Sony HDMI Upscaling Player so I can see more of my TV's potential and I do notice a distinct improvement with the upscaling ON.

For years I have lived in a home with VERY basic cable. I have not been much of a TV watcher for years. Last year the only 2 shows I watched was Enterprise and 24.

This week I decided to order TV for my TV and I went with Cable, which in my area is Comcast. I got Digital Classic + HD with a HD Box and DVR all in one.

OH
MY
GOD

TRUE HD is simply breathtaking. I see my Tv's true power now. The upconverting DVD player is nice.. but not this nice. I could stare at Discovery HD all day and night. The only thing bad is it's so amazing that normal TV looks like shit. They need to make everything HD like yesterday! It's makes you want everything in HD. But for now I have... 7 channels. *Sigh* (24 in HD and 5.1 will be mighty cool though!)

Also while I'm rambling. Because I have not been into TV before, I have never ever used a TiVo or the like. I know what they can do of course and know they are very popular but had never owned or obviously really had a need for one.
It took me about 5 minutes to become totally addicted to the DVR of my cable box. That is one of the coolest, handiest home entertainment things to come down the pipe in ages. It's so easy to use, records great, no tapes, and it's part of my cable package so I only pay $10 extra for the box that is both HD and a DVR. Two tuners to record one thing and watch something else is also very very handy.

So I'm seeing my Tv's true power and have alot of options to show it off.

This next part I may be posting in the wrong area but here goes. I'm a smart guy and I know how things work but something confuses me a little.

HD is either 720 x 1280 (or whatever) or 1080 x something like 1920 right? Ok I have a TV that says in the manual that is displays ANY input at 1368 x 768 which is of course my TV's resolution. So how does this work? The TV is getting basically a higher resolution than it can handle so it drops it down to it's own resolution? But since the source resolution is so high, it uses the TV to it's maximum potential? Do I have that about right?

I'm thinking of the analogy of a digitl photo. The more megapixels, the bigger it can be and still look good. Is that a good example?

Sorry so long, I just wanted to express my love for HD.

I'm curious though so quick poll: 720p or 1080i?

 

[Arthur S]

Congrats Adam

Having seen one of the first HD demos about 7 years ago, I was dying to get an HD TV. But the $7,000 cost back then put a hold on that dream. 14 months ago prices had dropped by about 70% and I've been watchin Comcast HD on my 65 ever since.

720P-1080i, who knows. 1080P is the one we are waiting for.

Surprisingly, I get pretty good PQ on most SD channels.

Enjoy

 

[RobertR]

Generally speaking, I'd say 720p is best for things like sports with lots of action, 1080i is best for relatively static shots. But Arthur's right, 1080p is what people REALLY want.

 

[Adam Sanchez]

I swear I almost wanna just drop every cable channel but my 5-7 HD channels.

Corwin's Quest on Discovery HD is amazing to watch.

Happy new HDer!

 

[Arman]

Congrats Adam! I'm like you last year when I bought my Toshiba 52" DLP because of the Olympics - am so blown away by the 2004 Olympics coverage in HD. Simply incredible and breathtaking!

This is the one (32" BRAVIA™ XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTVKDL-V32XBR1) I'm planning to buy next month (if they do drop the price closer to $2000). Do you think Sony will reduce the price or put this on sale during the holiday season? I almost pulled the trigger 2 weeks ago when Circuit City sent me $100 coupon and they had that TV on sale for $2350 something. Best Buy sent me $300 GC (which I used to pay for my U2 iPod) when I bought that Toshiba DLP last year.

 

[Jordan_E]

10 years ago I got my first WS TV and then 5 years ago I got my first HDTV...which makes me wonder what will come along 5 years from now?!

 

[Adam Sanchez]

The one I got is the Sony right below this one, meaning the 32 inch without the HD Tuner. I researched long and hard for my TV and am happy I did choose the HD READY set. I only pay $10 to Comcast for a DVR/HD box AND the HD channels so it will take years at $10/month to match the price difference between the black 32 inch XBR and the one I decided on. (I love my TV!)

 

[Scott L]

I try to tell myself not much considering it takes about 40 years for the next "big" thing to happen to television. First tube -> Color TV -> HDTV -> 3DTV.

But yea, who knows what will come along in the next decade or two.

 

[Arman]

I'm not buying that Bravia just because of the built-in HDTV tuner (though, it's a plus - on our experience too, Sony TVs are really very reliable and durable, we have Sony TVs that are still alive and running which we bought over 10/15/20 years ago). Overall, I think (with the exception of the 40" version) that 32" BRAVIA™ XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTVKDL-V32XBR1 (not only it suits my style, taste and area space) has the best PQ and most gorgeous looking (built and finish) LCD TV available today (that I can relatively afford to buy).

 

[Jordan_E]

Well, considering how far along plasma and LCD has come along in the past couple of years, I see something exciting easily happening in another 5 years. If not, I'm still more than satisfied with my projector (something I couldn't even IMAGINE owning just a few years ago!), my 55" Mits downstairs and 45" in my bedroom. Yeah, I loves me TVs!