LCD TV; LED and 240hz Worth It?

[Rosencrantz1]

Originally Posted by RFX45

I'm also switching up to Verizon Fios next week. Anybody have experience with it? I figure I'd ask here instead of creating a new thread.
FiOS is fantastic. We moved to it last year when it became available, and much prefer it to the Cablevision it replaced. Because the pipe coming into your house can carry so much more data, the HD channels look better on FiOS than they do on cable - my understanding is that they use a less-lossy compression codec for FiOS (I want to say it's MPEG-2 instead of MPEG-4, but I'm not positive). Regardless, both my wife and I felt it was an instant improvement in image comparing the FiOS HD to the Cablevision HD. As far as the set itself goes, it sounds like you're well on your way to picking something. I would echo what an earlier poster said: it's too easy to drive yourself insane with all the details, when whatever you get will probably thrill you and look fantastic. We have a mid-line Sony 46" LCD and it's absolutely fabulous. I do recommend getting a BD player - blu-ray really looks fabulous on the set. Also, be sure you spend some time calibrating the set for color. You can find a lot of advice on this on AVForum, including "recommended settings" for whatever set you buy. As far as MotionFlow (or whatever the various brands call it), I can't say that I personally enjoy it, but I don't think that 120 v 240 makes a lot of difference as far as that effect goes. Both refresh rates far exceed what your eye can actually see. Film, at 24fps looks like fluid motion when you see it, so 120 (5x as fast) and 240 (10x as fast) are, IMO, just overkill. Also, I haven't seen this mentioned, but the general opinion (by which I mean the general opinion on AVForum) is that high-priced HDMI cables are a waste. Order yours from a place like Monoprice and you'll save yourself a lot of $$$ over some super-over-price brand like Monster. Finally, if you haven't already, consider some kind of sound system. As another poster mentioned, one of the great things about Blu-Ray is the great sound. You will need a 5.1 (or 7.1) system to really take full advantage of it. If that's more than you care to get in to, I would make a recommendation for the Sony HT-CT100, which is a soundbar/subwoofer combo. We went with this system primarily because we didn't want the wires of a true 5.1 system all over our living room. No, it definitely isn't as good as a full home theater, but at the price ($299 when we bought it 18 months ago) it is such a VAST improvement over the built-in TV speakers that we are really glad we got it. Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[RFX45]

Thanks for the tips. Calibrating the TV is something I never considered so I will definitely look into it.

For Fios, from what I read, SD is also so much better because it is compressed since it is directly transmitted via fiber optics. SD on Direct TV is crap so I avoid it at all cost, but this will be a big plus for me.

I also already know about the HDMIs and monoprice. I already got about 10 HDMIs from them and got my friends to turn to them as well and they have all been happy and thank me to this day because they use to pay $100+ for Monster cables and now they just buy a 6 foot HDMI for less than $10.

 

[RFX45]

Ok, I figure I could go for a good/decent sound bar to go along with a new TV. Which one do you guys think is the best choice? Sony 1 Sony 2 JVC Samsung Polk Audio I'm not an expert in these things but I would prefer not to buy a receiver so a sound bar that I could directly plug into a blu-ray or satellite/cable box would be best. Does all those sound bars pretty much plug and play?

 

[Rosencrantz1]

Originally Posted by RFX45

Ok, I figure I could go for a good/decent sound bar to go along with a new TV. Which one do you guys think is the best choice?

Sony 1

Sony 2

JVC

Samsung

Polk Audio


I'm not an expert in these things but I would prefer not to buy a receiver so a sound bar that I could directly plug into a blu-ray or satellite/cable box would be best. Does all those sound bars pretty much plug and play?

I have the second one in your list, the Sony HT-CT100. As I mentioned in the earlier post, this is a great improvement over the built-in TV speakers.

I don't have experience with the other models you list, but I can tell you that one of the nice things about having a Sony TV + Sony SoundBar + Sony Blu-Ray is that they all 'play nice' together in terms of HDMI handshaking and so on. In other words, you get good compatibility of components because they are all from the same manufacturer.

That having been said, my guess is that any of the systems you listed will sound pretty much the same. If it were me, I would probably make this decision based on price, given the selections you are considering.

Let us know what you decide.

 

[RFX45]

Does your Sony connect directly to your Bluray, no extra receiver necessary?

 

[Rosencrantz1]

I have the following configuration:

Digital Cable Box --> HT-CT100 ---->
Blu-Ray Player --> HT-CT100 --------> TV
Roku HD Player --> HT-CT100 ------>

All connections are via HDMI. This means that the HT-CT100 handles all source switching and I use only a single HDMI input on the TV.

The HT-CT100 subwoofer is powered and has a built-in HDMI switch. This is why you don't need a separate receiver/home theater amp if you use the HT-CT100.

 

[RFX45]

That is great to hear. I will probably go with that one then. Thanks for the help, highly appreciate it.

 

[RFX45]

Alright, picked up the 46" Samsung 6300 and Sony Sound bar HTCT150. Picture quality is awesome, very nice indeed. I love it. I just need to figure out how to sync all the stuff together. I hate having to use 3 remotes to turn the tv, sound system and fios on (ps3/blueray as well). It's weird because when I turn the tv off, the sound system automatically turns off but when I have to turn them on, I have to individually turn them off. Makes me want to get exchange the Samsung to a Bravia but the reviews I read on the Bravia is a bit discouraging. I'll probably stick to Samsung and just try and integrate everything to one remote, if I can figure out how to do it.

Thanks for all the help in the thread, I highly appreciate it!

 

[Rosencrantz1]

Originally Posted by RFX45

Alright, picked up the 46" Samsung 6300 and Sony Sound bar HTCT150. Picture quality is awesome, very nice indeed. I love it. I just need to figure out how to sync all the stuff together. I hate having to use 3 remotes to turn the tv, sound system and fios on (ps3/blueray as well). It's weird because when I turn the tv off, the sound system automatically turns off but when I have to turn them on, I have to individually turn them off. Makes me want to get exchange the Samsung to a Bravia but the reviews I read on the Bravia is a bit discouraging. I'll probably stick to Samsung and just try and integrate everything to one remote, if I can figure out how to do it.

Thanks for all the help in the thread, I highly appreciate it!

Sounds like an HDMI issue. Don't know how to resolve it, but if you go to AVFORUM, you should be able to get some help with it.

 

[RFX45]

I don't think it's the HDMI wire because when I first connected it, they all synced well together. I could even change the volume of the sound system with the Fios remote but once I turned them all off, once I turned everything back on, it's like they reset and I have to use each remote. I have to turn on the sound system, tv and fios box with their own remote. I have to change channels with the fios remote and adjust volume with the sound system remote. I just can't figure out how I could sync it all together like before, I've searched and can't really find much answer.

 

[DNW]

Originally Posted by RFX45

I don't think it's the HDMI wire because when I first connected it, they all synced well together. I could even change the volume of the sound system with the Fios remote but once I turned them all off, once I turned everything back on, it's like they reset and I have to use each remote. I have to turn on the sound system, tv and fios box with their own remote. I have to change channels with the fios remote and adjust volume with the sound system remote. I just can't figure out how I could sync it all together like before, I've searched and can't really find much answer.
The Fios remote might be an older model so it doesn't work 100% with newer models of electronics. My cablebox remote can turn my TV and Blu-ray player on/off, but it can't, for example, change the input source on my TV. Of course, the TV remote doesn't work with the cablebox and the Blue-ray remote doesn't work with either.

This does explain why those $150 Logitech remotes are so popular.

 

[bdeuce22]

yeah. getting everything to work on a cable remote is a chore. exactly why i switched to a logitech remote. they were crap when they first came out, but they really upped their game recently. usb connection to computer made everything better.

 

[RFX45]

I am actually considering one of those logitech universal controls now, the 650 is on sale at Target.com right and it looks pretty good.

However, is it even possible to sync everything tot eh cable/fios remote? For some reason, I can turn the tv and box off with that one remote and the sound system turns off when I turn the tv off but when turning it on and controlling everything, I need the individual remotes. Just so damn weird.

 

[bdeuce22]

i know i can't sync everything to my cable remote. not even close to being possible with everything i have. Chances are no, you can't. See if there are other codes for your specific models for the cable remote. My bedroom set up which is just TV and cable box had an issue where i could turn everything on OK, but i'd have to separately turn off the tv and cable box. annoying, but the TV had like 15 different codes and one finally worked to where i can turn off both at the same time.

 

[CBDB]

Originally Posted by JohnGalt

**** son, that reminds me of ~98...I was in Paris and saw one of the first consumer plasma displays on sale for ~$10k (iirc).

I saw that too and I think I was told it was $20K in a FNAC store.