HD v Full HD

[JK]

Nup, it's this one- the Panasonic VIERA TH-42PZ700A 42" (106cm) FULL-HD Plasma $2569

http://www.webprice.com.au/page/shop/fl ... //offset/0

& this- Sony HTDDW1600 Muteki Home Theatre System- can get it cheaper than the $1019 listed (best price- $965)

http://www.webprice.com.au/page/shop/fl ... //offset/0

Still good price mate, RRP on the first one is $3299.00 ... Not sure about the Muteki unit though.

[Psyber]

http://www.webprice.com.au/page/shop/fl ... //offset/0 "Subwoofer: 335x410x412mm"

A little puzzling for an old-time HiFi nut like me. The subwoofer box is tiny - and it doesn't say what size the bass driver itself is??

I am aware that the trend these days is to make the assembly small so it fits in a flat or small living room and damp the whole thing heavily to eliminate frequency peaks and rapid frequency roll off, then drive it with enormous wattage to get any sound at all, but this requires very expensive and durable materials like Kevlar for the speaker cones, and with small driver diameters long cone movement to produce adequate air/sound pressure.

By contrast each of my two bass/mid driver assemblies has four 250mm diameter drivers in boxes, which are 865mm x 765mm x 355mm. The have doped paper cones and you would be struggling to stay in the room if you put 50watts into them. They deliver 20HZ to 850Hz and distortion is down to 0.5% at the top end and no more than 2% at the bottom. [Other speakers take over above 850Hz.]

The theory always was that the size of the box determined the lowest Hz your speaker could deliver efficiently and the size of the room what you could get down to usefully. Specifically, for example, with horn-loaded speaker systems the actual perimeter measurement of the mouth of the horn sets the lower limit of bass reproduction and how close you can get the speaker cone to the throat of the horn sets your top frequency. This is harder with small diameter long-throw cones [or domes in dome tweeters].

So, does this stuff actually produce a full frequency range or just thump it out in those it can reach?
Has the basic physics of speaker design of the past been proved incorrect???

[Kahuna]

I think you should think hard about getting the 42" panel,Punk. Somebody-or-others Law states that a TV screens apparent size will decrease in direct proportion to the length of time you own it.
The full HD thing is to a large degree a version of e-penis. For the most part,you probably won't need it. HD free to air tv is not full HD . Your run of the mill DVD is 576p which is Standard Definition and Foxtel is 576i which is Poxy Definition.
The TVs have an upscaler chip in them which will convert the above inputted signal to your sets native resolution, ie 576p DVD will be upscaled to 1920 x 1080 on your 42" however it still will not be full HD because as they say,you can't polish a turd. You cannot get more out than is put in. The only time you will ever get full HD is as stated previously in this thread is if you use HDDVD or Blu-Ray.
I have heard it argued that a relatively low res input like Foxtel will actually look worse on a full HD screen as compared to a "lesser" panel. I don't know about that but I think it shows that the whole HD thing is not just about screen native resolution.
Look again at the Pana 50" you linked to before,it looks a good set at a nice price and size really does matter.
Also don't get sucked into buying $100 "quality cables". Jaycar at Gepps Cross have HDMI cables for about $30.Trust me,the TV won't know the difference.
Good Luck

[Dutchy]

I have heard it argued that a relatively low res input like Foxtel will actually look worse on a full HD screen as compared to a "lesser" panel. I don't know about that but I think it shows that the whole HD thing is not just about screen native resolution.

Correct, foxtel looked better on my old CRT than it does on my new LCD, although I didnt have widescreen before....in fact I think foxtel has gotten worse int he last month, probably made it that way with the launch of Foxtel HD coming shortly

[Psyber]

A good CRT still has advantages, especially in dealing with movement, their problem is just bulk and power consumption. I have a couple of high quality 19" CRT computer monitors which offer higher resolution and refresh rates, and deal with action, better than any LCD - they just need most of the desk to sit on and I can't spare the desk space.

[Interceptor]

The full HD thing is to a large degree a version of e-penis. For the most part,you probably won't need it. HD free to air tv is not full HD . Your run of the mill DVD is 576p which is Standard Definition and Foxtel is 576i which is Poxy Definition.
The TVs have an upscaler chip in them which will convert the above inputted signal to your sets native resolution, ie 576p DVD will be upscaled to 1920 x 1080 on your 42" however it still will not be full HD because as they say,you can't polish a turd. You cannot get more out than is put in. The only time you will ever get full HD is as stated previously in this thread is if you use HDDVD or Blu-Ray.
I have heard it argued that a relatively low res input like Foxtel will actually look worse on a full HD screen as compared to a "lesser" panel. I don't know about that but I think it shows that the whole HD thing is not just about screen native resolution.
Look again at the Pana 50" you linked to before,it looks a good set at a nice price and size really does matter.

Actually DVDs, FTA and Foxtel are all 576i (PAL) resolution.
How good each one looks comes down to original source quality and then the digital encoding (bitrate) of each.
So typically "Poxtel" looks like crap because they have squeezed too many channels into their available bandwidth, with most channels suffering from too much compression (low bitrates).
Hopefully when they introduce HD channels the SD channels will improve as well.

The absolute most we will get on FTA HD will be 1920x1080i.
Channel 10 may be doing this from memory, but others like 9 will do 1440x1080i (or something like that).
I think ABC and SBS are doing or are planning to do 720p HD broadcasts.

I would still get a full HD set.

Also don't get sucked into buying $100 "quality cables". Jaycar at Gepps Cross have HDMI cables for about $30.Trust me,the TV won't know the difference.

I definitely agree with this point.

[Psyber]

Also don't get sucked into buying $100 "quality cables". Jaycar at Gepps Cross have HDMI cables for about $30.Trust me,the TV won't know the difference.

I definitely agree with this point.

Yes. The same applies to things like gold cables for sound equipment. I have a reel of good quality low oxygen residual twin core flex for the purpose I can just cut to length. "Shielded" cables often introduce capacitance effects which can be a nuisance.

[carey18]

Go the plasma, at less than $1500 you can't do any better value for your money.

Wedgie,
I'm going FULL HD.

Sorry mate, I thought the Panasonic TH-42PX70A 42" (106cm) Plasma HDTV was full HD as when I had a glance at the specs it stated it has a chip that handles 1080 (ie blue ray) but that unit does appear to be different to full HD even though it handles full HD. Im no expert.

I have a Pana 42PX70a and it looks great. wouldnt go to 50 as i watch a lot of foxtel and the image gets to stretched on a 50. also like the flat black finsh of the pana. Not a piano or bright look.

[Psyber]

Like many in the community I'm sticking with the set I've got until they sort the b..... standards out.

[Dissident]

Cables that cost money are better quality ..
Problem is, it's other parts of the chain that let it down.

Also - small things like not having the power cables near the audio cables cuts down audio issues (especially if you twist them up!!)

[Psyber]

I bought the twin core low oxygen cable at wholesale through a friend who was a partner in a Hifi firm - it was what he used at home, where he had 4 Quad electrostatic speakers and a large sub-woofer with a 15 inch Altec bass driver, all running on valve amps he'd built himself, in his home studio.

[Kahuna]

Got your TV yet Punk?

[Dutchy]

anyone watch the cricket tonight on 9HD? sensational picture and sound....first cricket match in HD

[Psyber]

Nah, watched it on a 14" CRT we've had for 10 years.

[Dirko]

anyone watch the cricket tonight on 9HD? sensational picture and sound....first cricket match in HD

Fantastic...

[Punk Rooster]

Got your TV yet Punk?

picked it up 3pm fri Big K....