My 10 year old Toshiba 28" TV has a new home, pleasing little kiddies watching CCTV. It replaced their dad and mum's conked-out one. In TV-years, my TV was ancient, and so I decided to give it away and retire it to a deserving home.
Yes, it was HD poor. It was Flat Screen poor. It was LCD impoverished.
I miss the Toshiba though; it was like when I took the old dog to the Vet's to have his final sleep at the age of 14 (one year older than I was), except that I did not cry all the way home with his lead/remote control in my hand :-(.
But its new family are happy - they have rich colours again instead of orange-yellow washout, high contrast pictures.
Ah, but what did I buy; what did I replace my old set with? Doubtless a modern LCD model. I expected that would happen, but it didn't.
I bought a Samsung 32" Real Flat Wide Screen, 100 Hz, HD Ready TV bought from Amazon.co.uk (yes, I was amazed too). Yes, you read correctly, I replaced an old-fashioned 50 hz tube with a new-fashioned 100 Hz tube. Why not LCD?
I checked out Comet (and other stores) and the Web. I discovered that LCD screens, even the expensive ones (and they are all expensive compared with their CRT equivalent) are not fully High Definition. They meet the HD Ready standard, but that is about half the resolution they could have. It does not mean that the picture will be an improvement on a traditional, standard, TV. The LCD picture compared to a CRT tube is inferior. Challenge the showroom to demonstrate the two side-by-side as a test, and they will confirm it. Interestingly, many stores and web services do not offer CRT versions of modern TVs. Not because they don't sell but because LCD won't sell if the alternative is provided. Check out stores that do sell CRT TVs - are they on demonstration? I would be surprised. And they will be in a corner away from the LCD models.
Now we know why LCD models are demonstrated with cartoon characters, not live actor action films - unless you demand it, you will likely get Robots or similar. Yet, how many cartoons do you watch on any day? What about a canned News 24? Not likely on an LCD.
HD TV is coming. An HD LCD may be better than a Standard Tube TV when receiving HD TV signal, but HD LCD sets are not even close to the standard of picture of a HD Ready tube TV, so far as I can tell. Yet they are more than double the price, for much less.
Is HD Ready misinforming? I think so, for one misunderstands from the tag that the TV will be able to reproduce a picture better than a DVD action film. UK available LCDs for any money do not seem capable of that. And for less than £400 I paid, my set can. I have not seen (and I had sets of £2,000 demonstrated) one that can actually do justice to a live action DVD.
Its a pretty, new set and I look forward to many happy years together before I take it to the vets - er, I mean it retires to a new home.
HD Coming, Ready Or Not? 100 Hz Tube, yes; LCD, not so much.
HTH
3 comments:
HD is much cleaner and crisper on an LCD screen, fact. CRT will give you less accurate and duller colours, especially around the edges.
If you're suggesting DVD on a CRT is clearer than HD on an LCD then you're mistaken.
If you're suggesting HD on a CRT is clearer than HD on LCD then you're not without prejudice.
I am talking here about HD Ready TVs in Britain for about the same price; for cost-effectiveness, IMHO.
DVD was poorer on the LCD (HD Ready) TVs than on the CRT TVs.
Thats actually really handy to know, could save me some money in the not-too-distant future! :)
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