[mythtv-users] OT: Advice on choosing a TV

Ed W lists at wildgooses.com
Thu May 6 17:09:45 UTC 2010


On 05/05/2010 13:58, Paul Gardiner wrote:
>
> Interesting. TX-P50G20B might be what I'm looking for.

I think as a general rule, a large proportion of at least the higher end 
brands will suit your needs very nicely.  I bought a Sharp 46" a year or 
so back and my criteria then were:

- Could accept 24/50Hz pixel perfect from the PC (over DVI/HDMI/Displayport)
- 1080p (almost guaranteed on a big modern set)
- DVB-T builtin (probably you would spec DVB-T2 and/or Freesat tuners 
today?) - good for letting the babysitter watch tv without mastering 
Mythtv...
- Good selection of inputs including DVI/HDMI/VGA/Displayport
- Serial input

The last was because I had a mad idea about getting mythtv to turn the 
TV on and off as needed - It's not happened yet, but rather nicely the 
TV DOES turn off when the normal X screensaver kicks in, so at least 
when the kids walk off, the TV turns off after about 5 mins

I believe the Panasonic's and Pioneers are all very good in general.  
Back when I bought mine I had some worries about pixel perfect output, 
but I would have expected this to be more widely available now?

Oh, the other thing I observed is that TVs as supplied have all the 
contrast, sharpness, etc pushed up to the max and whilst it will 
initially look worse, I would encourage you to spend a little while 
trying to turn down the controls (especially sharpness) to get the 
display fairly balanced.  The initial impression is that it's got less 
punch, but after you watch the new settings for a while and swap back 
you will feel like the alternative is cartoon style over-vibrant colours!

It's quite hard to get TVs looking perfectly neutral in general, but on 
my nvidia card I applied a gamma ramp to overcome the change in PC 
output levels to consumer output levels + I tweaked the red gamma levels 
to slightly reduce the red push that you tend to get on all consumer tvs 
(google for why).  Obviously you can also use a monitor calibration 
device to get the colour ramps perfect if you so desire (another benefit 
of PC based tv source...)

Good luck choosing

Ed W


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