[mythtv-users] LCD HDTV recommendations (that are Myth friendly)...

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:08 AM, Marc Sherman wrote:

> R. G. Newbury wrote:
>>
>> Secondly. Take the time to explore how the TV's menu works. My wife
>> pushed for a 32" Sharp Aquos on our first go-around. It had bad  
>> scaling
>> on both analog and digital SD to larger content (wavy images) and an
>> utterly stupid menu structure which took 15 or 16 keypresses to  
>> change
>> the input source.
>>
>> I took it back to BestBuy and ended up with a 37" LG and I am  
>> extremely
>> impressed with the LG product. It scales well and it has a simple and
>> easy to use menu structure. The remote has a button which allows  
>> you to
>> cycle through any of 6 or 8 separate inputs. This is matched by a
>> dedicated button on the side of the TV. Each input's parameters are
>> remembered so that it knows the tuning required for Antenna is  
>> different
>> from that required for Cable and that PC (the mythbox) uses no tuner.
>> The Sharp forgot all that info on every change of input. Bah!
>>
>> This is one aspect which seems to get ignored, but is crucial to your
>> enjoymnet.
>
> Another minor issue that often gets overlooked when choosing a tv is  
> the
> availability of discrete IR controls for power and input selection. My
> current tv has neither, and we're constantly fiddling with our  
> remote to
> get things into the right state whenever someone's been using it for
> something other than mythtv.
>
> I have an Olevia 32" lcd, and while the price was right, I regret  
> buying
> such a bargain basement tv, because the menus and remote controls are
> terrible.
>
> - Marc

Try picking up a Harmony remote. You can get the 550's pretty cheap  
now and it will allow you to press a single button to get your TV in  
the right state for whichever activity you're switching to. I have an  
880 and I really love hitting a single button for each activity like  
"Watch Recordings" and "Listen to Vinyl". It turns on the right stuff,  
turns off the right stuff, sets the input on each device  
appropriately, etc. It even works on TV's that require cycling through  
an Input command to get to the right input.

-Brad