[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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