buying a high def television , need advice :)

Joao Sapiro

Hello ppl, i am currently thinking on buying a high def television, i dont want a huge ass one , just something to replace my crappy one , i want something that runs at 480i or something like that , as i dont understand what the hell that means...

BUT the thing is , over here at europe we get screwed up , televisions here cost testicles , and as an american friend i have at the same place that i live pointed , at the USA its cheaper to buy one , but theres the question of the NTSC vs PAL format, would like to buy a good television from the states, ship it here to spain , and be able to connect my pal dvd , my N64 ( and futurely wii ) pal , he told me he didnt know if it is possible , and i dont understand crap about this stuff , so anyone with more experience could help me thanks

TomDunne

If you have PAL appliances or wish to view PAL broadcasts, you need a PAL tv. An NTSC is simply incompatible with PAL signals and vice versa - they have incompatible refresh rates amongst other things.

You can get an NTSC/PAL convertor box, but I don't think that's going to save you much money in the long run, and you'll be downgrading your signal. It probably doesn't make you feel any better about the high price, but PAL is the better standard.

With regards to high-definition, the basic/lowest resolution for any NTSC television is 480i. That means a screen has 480 vertical lines of resolution, with interlaced frames (each frame has alternating lines of the screen image and lines of blank field.) The highest end of HD television is called 1080p, which is 1080 vertical lines of resolution with progressive frames (each frame shown is the full image - this is how computer monitors always work.)

1080p sets are very expensive and still rather uncommon. More available are sets that support 1080i and 720p, both of which are still very good but slightly lesser HD formats. I play my Xbox360 and HD stuff at 1080i, and it looks good enough that I wouldn't pay extra just to get 1080p.

Hope that helps a bit.

firestarter

Hey Johny, you`ll get screwed with a customs tax bill too if you try and import from the US yourself, you won`t get a choice, they`ll keep your tv until you pay up. I feel your pain man, whats going on with electronic goods tax for europeans is outright criminal.

Bort

Forget about importing a tv (from outside the eu), not worth it.

The prices of good 720p sets are falling quiet fast as the next push for 1080p sets starts to kick in.

If you don't plan on getting a 360, PS3 or a High Def tv source then you'll just need a 480p set with component input. But I'd advise you to get a 720p set with at least 1 hdmi socket to future proof yourself.

Just don't buy a cheap one. Make sure it has a good de-interlacer, scaler and can handle standard definition content well. They are worth paying for.

Tell us the screen size you want, what you'll be using it for (2nd monitor, watching standard broadcast tv etc) and how much you'd like to pay and a few of us will point you in the right direction.

notman

Think of the resolution rating as you do your computer screen. The rating actually is the second number that is typically shown in computer settings. For instance, a 720 TV is 1280x720 in computer language. To display a computer image properly to the TV, you'd need to supply that resolution to it.
The P is for pregressive and I is for interlace. P is better.

As others have mentioned, target getting 720 or higher (1080). Obviously I can't speak for your budget though. One thing you'll want to keep in mind though is preparing for the future. If you buy something lower now, are you going to want to upgrade it later? You'll end up paying more in the long run than a little extra right now.

Before buying any TV though, make sure to go to http://www.cnet.com and look at their review section. They do a good job of comparing pros and cons of each TV. There are also consumer ratings available.

Also, make sure it has the ports you need. HDMI is the best option, so make sure it has SEVERAL. HDMI switching units are expensive, so it's better just to have the ports on the TV.