CRT or LCD/PLASMA

[Cliff1]

I have a Panasonic 36" flat screen CRT,saw it after reading WHF mag & seeing it in store,brilliant picture,3 scarts & a component connection,no hdmi connections,Toshiba XDE-500 dvd player with hdmi & scart,Pana.dvd/hdd recorder,scart & hdmi.Denon receiver,no hdmi.

I was going to upgrade everything but having been in a neighbours home yesterday,she had asked if i could try to improve the pic on her 40" Sony.I think i made it a little better,it was actually already quite good,but have to say not as good as my CRT.My brother has a plasma 42" & this i think is not as good as my crt.

I have now decided that i will not change my tv at the moment,because i can't see that i would get a better picture unless i'm always watching HD or blu ray.

I don't have Sky & i'll be watching a great deal more SD than DVDs etc.I will be changing my receiver for the Yamaha 863 & was also going to get the Panasonic DMP- BD35,which would i think require a component connection to the TV instead of scart,at least i'll be ready if i decide to change the tv later.

Would this improve my tv picture for dvd or even blu ray & would connecting to the Yamaha by hdmi instead of digital improve the sound which is what i would really want,some DVDs sound is not always great.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Cliff1:
I have a Panasonic 36" flat screen CRT,saw it after reading WHF mag & seeing it in store,brilliant picture,3 scarts & a component connection,no hdmi connections,Toshiba XDE-500 dvd player with hdmi & scart,Pana.dvd/hdd recorder,scart & hdmi.Denon receiver,no hdmi.

I was going to upgrade everything but having been in a neighbours home yesterday,she had asked if i could try to improve the pic on her 40" Sony.I think i made it a little better,it was actually already quite good,but have to say not as good as my CRT.My brother has a plasma 42" & this i think is not as good as my crt.

I have now decided that i will not change my tv at the moment,because i can't see that i would get a better picture unless i'm always watching HD or blu ray.

I don't have Sky & i'll be watching a great deal more SD than DVDs etc.I will be changing my receiver for the Yamaha 863 & was also going to get the Panasonic DMP- BD35,which would i think require a component connection to the TV instead of scart,at least i'll be ready if i decide to change the tv later.

Would this improve my tv picture for dvd or even blu ray & would connecting to the Yamaha by hdmi instead of digital improve the sound which is what i would really want,some DVDs sound is not always great.

Component will definitely be better than scart for sure when connecting the dvd player (you can get some fantastic deals on ebay for £100 component cables like the Chord Co one for about £25). As for sound, if you are connecting to your receiver from dvd player just for sound, I would go with coaxial. The benefit of hdmi is sound and vision through one cable or when hooked up to the correct BD player, HD audio. If you do get the BD35, definitely use hdmi 1.3 cable and you will get brilliant HD audio through the Yamaha.

 

[Cliff1]

Gerrardasnails

Thanks

I'll get the BD35, £199 in comet & Currys at the moment,will buy a hd dvd to check out the sound.

Think Argos had the S550 Sony for same price but all gone at present.

 

[Big Aura]

last I checked the argos one was the s500. Richer Sounds have the s550 fo £219, but there may be further price reductions over the next few weeks, if Sony unveil their new range at the Las Vegas CES... Perhaps worth waiting.

 

[Cliff1]

Big Aura

Yes,my mistake,was the S500,could be worth waiting to see.

 

[d4v3pum4]

While I debated whether to downgrade

from CRT to flat panel, I bought myself a 720p projector to dip my toes in the HD world. I'm glad I did that as I got a good 3 years worth of HD viewing before finally plumping for plasma to replace my set. I gave it away as no-one wants them anymore which is a shame but my brother is loving it. I still think CRT has a lot to offer. I have yet to see any set that rivals a CRT for SD performance but ultimately flat panels are not designed for it and some channels have terrible picture quality which even CRT couldn't hide. Now I have sky HD, I watch a lot more HD material and a lot less SD. I save my SD watching for my favourite programs and they're pretty good in all honesty. I did note though while waiting for my plasma that sky's HD output looked superb on my CRT but the major limitation is screen size. Have you considered a projector? You'll get the best of both worlds for SD and HD.

 

[Anonymous]

I've got a Toshiba picture frame 3 crt (at the mo') with a Sony BDP-S 350 connected through a Denon 2808. The sound is through HDMI so I get the HD audio and picture through componant. I have noticed an improvement in picture and sound quality from my DVD's. Probably due to it being a newer 'DVD' player then my old Toshiba. Blu-Ray looks great as well. Just that it outputs Blu-Ray at 480p rather than 576p like region 2 DVD. Obviously not the best picture possible through componant. Also if the HDMI is set to 576/480p the sound is decoded in the player so Dolby Tru is output as PCM multi-channel and DTS HD Master as normal DTS. To get the sound to be output as a digital bitstream I would after alter the HDMI output to 720p but that alters the componant to 480/576i. Strange! I can get the best sound but the worst picture. I just live with 480p and multi-channel at the mo'.

It might be worth downloading the Panasonic manual to check the small print before you decide to take the plunge. As happy as I am at the mo' with the Sony I wouldn't recommend it to someone with a CRT unless they plan to upgrade very soon.

 

[Cliff1]

Thanks for your replies,interesting points.