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New Gaming HDTV advice DESIDES GET IN HERE

Discussion in 'Gaming Forum' started by Phin-o-rama, Feb 17, 2009.

  1. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    If I understand this right, then it's using the headphone jack on the TV to output to the speakers, in which case there shouldn't be any problem discerning left and right. It's not like headphones don't support stereo.
     
  2. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    I was thinking the speakers normally had a L/R input that you get with traditional rca cables.
     
  3. Phin-o-rama

    Phin-o-rama Well-Known Member

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    i got the samsung 540 from sams...40"...it's awesome...it's the same as the 550 except for liek 1 or 2 things...the 540 has a higher contrast rating due to a slightly glossier screen


    snagged a new tv stand that took me 4 hours to put together yesterday and re ran EVERYTHING to my receiver...ps3, 360, wii, dtv box all through the receiver/tv...

    having a tv with an optical out is hot...ran the ps3 and dtv box hdmi into tv...then one optical out to reciever for those 2...badass

    my 360 has no hdmi so i use vga
     
  4. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    I'm pretty sure you lose a lot of ability (soundwise) by not running it straight to the receiver. I know I would with my tv.
     
  5. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Agreed.

    Phin, you really want to re-cable your PS3 and DTV box into the receiver via HDMI, and then run an HDMI cable from your receiver to your TV. The receiver should act as the central hub for your devices, not your TV. Alternatively, you CAN run the PS3 directly into the TV via HDMI, but you'll want to run the optical sound cable from the PS3 to the receiver. It would be cleaner and probably better for your overall sound quality to just plug the PS3 via HDMI into the receiver, leaving out the optical cable entirely.

    Never heard of the Samsung 540, except for a cellphone with that model number. Enjoy the new set! Get some calibration settings off AVS Forum, too, or do it yourself with a test pattern.
     
  6. xDOLPHINSx

    xDOLPHINSx Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Great thread, don't really understand some of the technical stuff though. Anyways, I need your guys' advice on what TV I should buy. I was REAL close to buying one yesterday but I had to go to dinner with the gf so I had to put it off until later this week. I think I've narrowed my search down to Samsung 37-40" LCDs.

    Now this is where I need some advice. There are so many different types of these things I dont know where to start. I watch A LOT of sports and I play xbox360 (i have the elite, not sure if that matters but it has HDMI?), and thats pretty much what I use the thing for. I dont have any surround sound system, just use the TV for sound. I'd like to keep the price under 1k.

    Im just not sure if i want/1080p or 720p or 120 Hz or whatever else there is. So im asking you guys to help me out. Here are a couple TVs I've been looking at.

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...msung&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1205537712071

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...msung&lp=4&type=product&cp=2&id=1205537541429

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...msung&lp=2&type=product&cp=3&id=1205537541287

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...msung&lp=6&type=product&cp=3&id=1218063829730

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...sung&lp=13&type=product&cp=3&id=1202648987833 (good price here, although only 32")

    Any advice would be appreciated. :knucks:
     
  7. xDOLPHINSx

    xDOLPHINSx Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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  8. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    Personally, for under 40" 1080p isn't imperative IMO, especially if the price difference is significant.
     
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  9. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    There's no reason not to get a 1080p capable TV set these days, unless you're on an extreme budget, which you are not. ($1000 is very reasonable.) Larger picture, looks better than 720p, though there's no broadcast TV content in 1080p yet. (However, your games, if they support 1080p, will look amazing.)

    120hz mode simply refers to the TV processing the frames fed into it to create "in-between" frames that smooth out the action. It's called 120hz because broadcast TV is 60hz, aka 60 frames per second. So the TV is basically artificially doubling the frame rate to provide a smoother image. This has benefits and drawbacks, and is generally a good thing, but you can live without it.

    I recommend this Samsung 40'' 550 series. Granted, it's $100 over your budget, but Samsung uses higher-quality panels in its TVs sized 40'' and larger, thus making it worth going slightly over budget compared to, say, a 37'' 530 series.
     
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  10. Phin-o-rama

    Phin-o-rama Well-Known Member

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    my reciever doesn't have hdmi passthrough's anyways...and honestly i hear no difference whatsoever with it laid out like it is now, and how i had it previously (ps3 hdmi to tv...optical to receiver)

    i found some settings from avs and i'm watching apocalypto on blu ray and it is jaw dropping...much better with the tweaked settings..

    this set is awesome.
     
  11. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Well, the way sound systems are supposed to be laid out, the media device (like the PS3) outputs the multi-channel sound data to the receiver, which then sends it to the correct speaker. The goal isn't just sound quality, it's reducing the length of time it takes for the sound to get to the speakers, thus making sure the video and audio don't go out of sync.

    I haven't heard of any relatively recent receivers that lack HDMI passthrough. They should all have at least 2 HDMI inputs and one HDMI output to the TV. That's strange.

    Glad you like it. :up:

    Couple of tips: when you're watching sports, you may want to go the Entertainment Menu (green Menu button on remote -> Setup (third icon from bottom) -> Entertainment) and set it to Sports. This will override your calibration settings, but it reduces the TV's response time and adds some saturation to the colors, so the picture "pops." A lot of people like how it looks. Try it with a basketball game.
     
  12. Phin-o-rama

    Phin-o-rama Well-Known Member

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    i second that except if you get it from amazon its 899 w/ free shipping...

    they will come in, unbox it and hook it up for you to test FREE

    [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LN40A550-40-Inch-1080p-HDTV/dp/B001418W2C/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235337093&sr=8-1#"]Amazon.com: Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV: Electronics[/ame]


    30 day return policy etc...there are tons of positive reviews from people that bought their tv online from amazon...

    I bought at sams because i had to, but i would have bought that exact tv from amazon if i could of.

    899 for that set is a steal.
     
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  13. Phin-o-rama

    Phin-o-rama Well-Known Member

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    it's an old onkyo...works well though...and thanks for the tips on the sports setting i will try that
     
  14. xDOLPHINSx

    xDOLPHINSx Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    man thanks for the link. Even though I wanted to pick it up at a store, I can't pass this deal up. Between this and desides advice...im sold.

    man im pumped, thanks for the tips guys!
     
  15. Phin-o-rama

    Phin-o-rama Well-Known Member

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    just an fyi...i found this post made by a samsung tech on the cnet forums:


     
  16. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    The trouble with that explanation is, it's a comparison of dynamic contrast. Dynamic contrast means you aren't actually getting 30,000:1 or 35,000:1 contrast. It means you're getting a much smaller contrast range at any one time, but the TV can change that range up and down the scale depending on the type of picture that needs to be displayed.

    I'll bet that they actually have the exact same true contrast ratio.
     
  17. McLovin

    McLovin Resident Pats fan.

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    I have a 42 inch toshiba Regza 1080p that is almost 2 years old and i love it. all around it has great features and tosses my friends samsung out of the water. the backlighting is bright which is nice when you are playing those dark games and there is no glare on the screen and no fade side to side. i have an old sony surround, about 5 years old with no hdmi pass throughs on it. i have the DTV, PS3 hooked up HDMI to the tv, 360 component to TV (360 has HDMI but cant run that and optical at same time) PS3 and 360 optical to recieiver and DTV with digital coax to recieiver and its great. I tried HDMI into tv and the optical to reciever but it didnt work on uncompressed audio on blu ray because the tv has to process it first and cant decode that. sounds much better directly into the receiver.

    check out this website for a wall mount.

    http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10828
     
  18. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    In case you didn't know, I'm pretty sure that optical can't handle all the various HD audio codecs (maybe not the right word) or the muiltichannel pcm that HDMI can. I'm positive you can't bitstream 7.1.
     
  19. McLovin

    McLovin Resident Pats fan.

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    you're right. here's what i found on avs.
    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archive/index.php/t-772866.html

    still sounds good though. LOL.
     
  20. xDOLPHINSx

    xDOLPHINSx Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    So I got my TV today, super pumped to try it out...but the guy says to wait until it gets to room temp. so im like damn....ok I'll clean up and get everything ready. So I get my old xbox box to get the HDMI cables out and they arent in there....basically im pretty mad about it which sucks because I should be totally stoked right now. Pretty sure I put the cables in my other xbox box (it was stolen) and that was thrown out by my landlord when he cleaned the basement. this sucks.

    Anyways my question is, are HDMI cables really a big deal. I looked them up and they cost $50. Which is 50 bucks i should have never had to spend...ugh. But if they make a noticable difference i'll probably drop the dough.
     
  21. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    HDMI is a step up from component. It's not a HUGE step up, but it's still worth using.

    $50 HDMI cables are just a ripoff, however. Go to monoprice.com and order their cables, or go to Amazon: I've gotten cables as cheap as $3 from Amazon before. There's no difference in quality between the $50 cables and the $3 cables, presuming you don't run cables longer than 10'. 6' or even 3' should suffice for any home theater setup, your 360 included.

    Also, which TV did you go for? What's your setup like?
     
  22. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    HDMI is a big step up because of the audio ability IMO.
     
  23. xDOLPHINSx

    xDOLPHINSx Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I got this one
    [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LN40A550-40-Inch-1080p-HDTV/dp/B001418W2C/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235337093&sr=8-1#"]Amazon.com: Samsung LN40A550 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV: Electronics[/ame]

    No real setup atm. Just the 360 will be hooked up to it for now. Im still just so upset i dont have those cables right now, because i know i had them. Do they help the picture at all, or are they mainly for making the audio sound better...talking about the HDMI cables.
     
  24. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    they make the picture better imo.
     
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  25. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    If you order from monoprice today, it might be there by saturday.
     
  26. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    Oh, nice, you went for the 550. :hi5:

    HDMI's advantages over component have less to do with improving video quality (though there is that) and more to do with adding and simplifying features. It's one cable, so you get your video and audio signals sent with just one cable instead of six million. HDMI is the only way to get 1080p from HDCP-enabled content (think Blu-Ray movies.) It also helps when setting up high-end multi-channel sound systems, though I don't know if it supports bitstream content. (I'm pretty sure it does.) Just grab some cables from Amazon or Monoprice, for 5 bucks it's worth it.

    If you still have some money to burn, it might be worth it to look into a 5.1 sound setup and a good receiver. It'll make a major difference when playing games, though less so when watching TV.

    Couple of things to keep in mind about the 550: the labels you give to each input affects how the TV displays content. It sounds weird, but it's true. For example: if you name your 360 input "PC," you won't be able to configure a lot of settings, as the TV will activate some factory-defined settings. But if you change the label to Game, you'll be able to configure everything without any problems. Use the input labels, and be as accurate as possible: for example, with a PS3, it would be better to use the Game label than the Blu-Ray label, IMO. You should also use the "Satellite STB" label instead of the "TV" label if you have DirecTV or Dish.

    Also, the Entertainment options in the Setup menu (hit the green Menu button in the center of the remote, 3rd icon from the bottom) will override your other picture settings as long as they're active. Turn on a basketball game tonight and toggle the Sports setting in the Entertainment menu and you'll see a difference: the TV's response time will be faster, and the TV cranks up the brightness and saturation to help with the "pop."

    Lastly, here are some good calibration settings for the 550 series. Every set is slightly different, but these are excellent both to set and forget and as a starting point for coming up with your own color-accurate settings. Note that you'll have to re-apply these for each input: that is, you'll have to select each input and re-apply the settings. When configuring your 360, keep the information in this post in mind.

    Enjoy. :up:
     
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  27. xDOLPHINSx

    xDOLPHINSx Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Hate to be such a needy guy here, but...what HDMI cable should I get? I went to a website and it seemed like there was a million different kinds. Could you maybe send me a link to an HDMI cable that would work well for my xbox. That'd be great if you could.

    I really appreciate all the help you guys have given me, phin-o-rama, stitches, and desides. You've made this process alot easier/better on me. :hi5:
     
  28. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    The only difference between HDMI cables should be their manufacturers and lengths, nothing else. HDMI transmits a digital signal: 0s and 1s. The other end either receives the transmission or it doesn't. It's not like analog cables where you have to worry about signal strength. (Think of the difference between a radio transmission and an email.)

    [ame="http://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Cable-2M-6-Feet/dp/B0002L5R78/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1235725486&sr=8-1"]This cable[/ame] is fine. You shouldn't need more than 6 feet in length unless you have a really awkward setup.
     
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  29. xDOLPHINSx

    xDOLPHINSx Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Thanks :hi5:, I just went ahead and ordered it. Definitely glad I checked in here about the HDMI cables, almost went out and bought xbox HDMI cables last night because I didn't know you could use any random HDMI cable to hook it up.

    One last question for right now. When I play vids, in the top left it will say 720x480 @60hz. How come it doesn't say 1080? Should it be at 1080?

    BTW, lovin the TV! Thing is real slick.
     
  30. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    You have to configure your xbox settings to be optimum IIRC, it doesn't always detect automatically.
     
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  31. Phin-o-rama

    Phin-o-rama Well-Known Member

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    glad you like the tv man! :up:


    what are you playing vids on ? your xbox? how did you hook it up w/o hdmi? composite cables maybe...

    i don't know...a little more information needed.

    you will always have to config your periferals (satelite box/game systems) to the right resolution and stuff typically
     
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  32. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    i read through most of this thread just now... wow. You ****ers are smart. I wanna post my setup and maybe get some optimal settings from you bastards
     
  33. xDOLPHINSx

    xDOLPHINSx Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    of course! cant believe i didnt think of this. thanks.

    Just hooked up through the hd cables that come with the box. My HDMI cable will be here next week though. :up:
     
  34. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    720x480@60hz is 480p. What you need to do is go into the Xbox's dashboard settings and make sure that you have 720p, 1080i, and 1080p support enabled. Note that you won't be able to get 1080p on component: you'll need HDMI for that.

    What are you watching movies on? If it's a regular DVD on a regular DVD player or your 360 (the 360 plays DVDs, right?) then you're getting the correct resolution, nothing wrong there. Plain old DVD is 720x480 resolution. Only way to go higher is to use an upscaling DVD player, like the PS3.
     
  35. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    You can achieve 1080p on a VGA cable can't you??
     
  36. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    1920x1080 on a VGA cable is REALLY pushing the limits of what that particular cable can do. It would look blurred as hell even if you could get it up to that resolution.

    Component can technically do 1080p, the trouble is that component doesn't do HDCP, so most devices (like Blu-Ray players) that can output 1080p content choose not to output 1080p on component. That's why HDMI is linked so closely with 1080p.
     
  37. Stitches

    Stitches ThePhin's Biggest Killjoy Luxury Box

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    My xbox-VGA can do 1080p and there is no blurriness on my tv.
     
  38. Desides

    Desides Well-Known Member

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    That shouldn't be happening. VGA was made for about 1600x1200 tops. That's one reason why DVI took over: it's capable of higher resolutions than VGA, and looks better at the same resolutions as VGA.
     
  39. Phin-o-rama

    Phin-o-rama Well-Known Member

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    hd-dvd's over vga on my old westinghouse were jaw dropping...serenity and transformers are 2 that I still own that are phenomenal...over vga
     
  40. Arrow Eagle

    Arrow Eagle Junior Member

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    hey guys see some of you are good with this stuff ive been looking for a new tv and seem to like this one http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10376355#Item+Description
    what u guys think on this one is it a good deal or should i look around more mostly watch movies on my ps3 and play that
     

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