I stopped by the Sony Centre today, lured in by the sight of some big-screen televisions – although these places never seem to show good quality signals on HD screens.
Wouldn't it make sense to hook-up some Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players to HD TVs? The main selling point of a TV is the picture quality, so why have a bog-standard freeview signal daisy-chained around? Nothing looked particularly good – in fact, anything over 42" looked very smeary.
Anyway, I don't have 20:20 vision, so I won’t get the best out of High Definition. And humans have bad eyesight compared to many other animals (like cats), so I'm going to wait until evolution improves matters before I invest in High Def.
I'm joking. Of course.
But the quest for purer, better, sharper, more realistic images does get a little silly. But I'm sold on the hype, as I think HD is a stark improvement over regular DVD – which often seem hazy, with washed-out blacks. You can really see the difference between DVD and HD-DVD – but it's not the quantum leap most of us made in the late-90s – when the world jumped from VHS and analogue to DVD and digital.
In a rival Panasonic shop, they had a big screen showing a movie on Blu-Ray, and it eclipsed anything the Sony Center had on view -- but for a ridiculous £1,400 price-tag! Crazy. Sony even had a 50" TV in their window for £4999 as a part of a "SALE PRICE – £2000 OFF" offer. I thought this meant the TV was £3k.. but it was actually reduced to £5k from £7k! Huh?!
Mad, mad prices. I recently found a 37" Toshiba online for £680 with Full HD, and the reviews were great. I know you get what you pay for, and I've no doubt a £1.4k TV is better than a £680 one -- but is it really twice as good? Seriously?
You're a mug to buy TVs in high street dealerships anyway. It's more informative and easier to browse around online for the best deal, and only use real shops to visually inspect the picture. If they have your model in store.
But basically when buying a new TV (to future-proof yourself), try and get a HD TV that can display 1080p signals. Just because it's so-called "HD Ready" doesn't mean it can show HD pictures at the best resolution for your HD-DVD or Blu-Ray films. These Full HD TVs are coming down in price, too.
As I mentioned, that Tosh was under £700 -- which is amazingly good for a 1080p set. I spent over £1000 on a 32" widescreen CRT about 7 years ago, so you definitely get more bang for your buck these days.
And how is the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war going, anyway? I've noticed HD discs have their own area in my local HMV – going totally ignored. It would be interesting to see some HMV stats about how many customers are buying HD discs.
I suspect PS3 owners are picking up the odd Blu-Ray if they're lucky enough to have a HD TV. In other words, only a select breed of lucky gamers and early adopters are really dipping their toe in the HD water.
My brother just got a PS3 and is now looking for a HD TV. I recommended the 37" Tosh, obviously. Coincidentally, my dad also bought a 42" Samsung HD TV, which was a pretty good deal at £899 from Currys. But the only thing better than the £680 Tosh is the extra 5" screen size – so was the 5" worth an extra £200? Oh, and the same TV was over £100 cheaper on Currys' website, so he made the mistake of buying directly from the shop. So be warned!
Also, considering he has no intention to play HD stuff on his telly... having upgraded to DVD only in the past 4 years, and having bought a DVD/HDD combo drive just 4 months ago... his new HD TV is still impressive... but you kinda want to watch High Def on a High Def TV, don't you?
It's a shame that he basically wasted his cash on that DVD/HDD combo drive. I was going to get him one of those DVD players that "upscale" standard DVD to a sort of quasi-HD standard for Christmas...
I've heard these DVD "upscalers" do an impressive job and are a brilliant stop-gap solution for HD TV owners until the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray "war" is over. Multi-region ones from a good manufacturer sell for approx £60, which is great value for money. I recommend you get one if you don't want to risk investing in a HD player until the HD/BR debate is done with, and you don't fancy shelling out approx £400 for a PS3.
Or you could just wait 5 years... when everything will be more affordable. But, by that time we'll probably be awaiting HD-3D TVs, and everyone will be watching stuff through online accounts -- with personal video libraries streaming content to any internet-connected TV around the world -- all at the push of a button...
And then, in 20 years time (knowing my luck), laser-eye surgery will have advanced so it can bestow cat-like vision on everyone – meaning Blade Runner 3-D: The Absolute Best (We Promise This Time) Special Director's Cut Limited Edition will look like shoddy crap.
Wouldn't it make sense to hook-up some Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players to HD TVs? The main selling point of a TV is the picture quality, so why have a bog-standard freeview signal daisy-chained around? Nothing looked particularly good – in fact, anything over 42" looked very smeary.
Anyway, I don't have 20:20 vision, so I won’t get the best out of High Definition. And humans have bad eyesight compared to many other animals (like cats), so I'm going to wait until evolution improves matters before I invest in High Def.
I'm joking. Of course.
But the quest for purer, better, sharper, more realistic images does get a little silly. But I'm sold on the hype, as I think HD is a stark improvement over regular DVD – which often seem hazy, with washed-out blacks. You can really see the difference between DVD and HD-DVD – but it's not the quantum leap most of us made in the late-90s – when the world jumped from VHS and analogue to DVD and digital.
In a rival Panasonic shop, they had a big screen showing a movie on Blu-Ray, and it eclipsed anything the Sony Center had on view -- but for a ridiculous £1,400 price-tag! Crazy. Sony even had a 50" TV in their window for £4999 as a part of a "SALE PRICE – £2000 OFF" offer. I thought this meant the TV was £3k.. but it was actually reduced to £5k from £7k! Huh?!
Mad, mad prices. I recently found a 37" Toshiba online for £680 with Full HD, and the reviews were great. I know you get what you pay for, and I've no doubt a £1.4k TV is better than a £680 one -- but is it really twice as good? Seriously?
You're a mug to buy TVs in high street dealerships anyway. It's more informative and easier to browse around online for the best deal, and only use real shops to visually inspect the picture. If they have your model in store.
But basically when buying a new TV (to future-proof yourself), try and get a HD TV that can display 1080p signals. Just because it's so-called "HD Ready" doesn't mean it can show HD pictures at the best resolution for your HD-DVD or Blu-Ray films. These Full HD TVs are coming down in price, too.
As I mentioned, that Tosh was under £700 -- which is amazingly good for a 1080p set. I spent over £1000 on a 32" widescreen CRT about 7 years ago, so you definitely get more bang for your buck these days.
And how is the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war going, anyway? I've noticed HD discs have their own area in my local HMV – going totally ignored. It would be interesting to see some HMV stats about how many customers are buying HD discs.
I suspect PS3 owners are picking up the odd Blu-Ray if they're lucky enough to have a HD TV. In other words, only a select breed of lucky gamers and early adopters are really dipping their toe in the HD water.
My brother just got a PS3 and is now looking for a HD TV. I recommended the 37" Tosh, obviously. Coincidentally, my dad also bought a 42" Samsung HD TV, which was a pretty good deal at £899 from Currys. But the only thing better than the £680 Tosh is the extra 5" screen size – so was the 5" worth an extra £200? Oh, and the same TV was over £100 cheaper on Currys' website, so he made the mistake of buying directly from the shop. So be warned!
Also, considering he has no intention to play HD stuff on his telly... having upgraded to DVD only in the past 4 years, and having bought a DVD/HDD combo drive just 4 months ago... his new HD TV is still impressive... but you kinda want to watch High Def on a High Def TV, don't you?
It's a shame that he basically wasted his cash on that DVD/HDD combo drive. I was going to get him one of those DVD players that "upscale" standard DVD to a sort of quasi-HD standard for Christmas...
I've heard these DVD "upscalers" do an impressive job and are a brilliant stop-gap solution for HD TV owners until the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray "war" is over. Multi-region ones from a good manufacturer sell for approx £60, which is great value for money. I recommend you get one if you don't want to risk investing in a HD player until the HD/BR debate is done with, and you don't fancy shelling out approx £400 for a PS3.
Or you could just wait 5 years... when everything will be more affordable. But, by that time we'll probably be awaiting HD-3D TVs, and everyone will be watching stuff through online accounts -- with personal video libraries streaming content to any internet-connected TV around the world -- all at the push of a button...
And then, in 20 years time (knowing my luck), laser-eye surgery will have advanced so it can bestow cat-like vision on everyone – meaning Blade Runner 3-D: The Absolute Best (We Promise This Time) Special Director's Cut Limited Edition will look like shoddy crap.
