Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Bill Geschwind" <geschwin AT email.unc.edu>]

Late last year I bought a Sony KDL40-XBR2, which until recently was the
latest 40" LCD TV from Sony. It was a fair bit more expensive than other 40"
LCD TVs, but I think I got what I paid for. 

The most important reason for me to pick this one probably won't apply to
you - since I recently moved to Africa and in two years will likely move to
some other region in the world I wanted a multi-voltage system, so I could
plug it in anywhere using only a plug adapter without having to mess with
step-up and step-down transformers. 

There appears to be an ongoing debate about whether plasma or LCD TVs are
the way to go. People in the plasma camp say that plasma screens have a
better picture with better black, saying that black looks washed out on LCDs
and that LCDs are not good for images with lots of motion, such as sports.
People in the LCD camp say that LCD TVs use far less energy than plasmas,
are not as fragile as plasmas, and are not prone to burn-in like plasmas.

While some of those complaints against LCDs may still be true for lower end
models, I find that the blacks look just fine on my Sony, and that
high-motion pictures are just fine as well.

Next, with HDTVs you will find a rating of the maximum resolution that the
TV supports, expressed as 720p, 1080i or 1080p. I don't understand the
differences and implications that well, so I will let somebody else explain
these in more details. My Sony supports 1080p, which from what I understand
is the maximum resolution currently available anywhere, and there is not
much out there that currently requires such a high resolution, but I figure
that this way I have "future-proofed" my TV in case more equipment becomes
available that does support it.

My Sony also has a ridiculous amount of connectors on the back (and the
side). It has multiple HDMI Ins, as well as multiple Composite, Component
and S-Video Ins, a VGA In, two Coax Ins and Composite Audio Outs (I may have
missed a few; doing this from memory since the TV is in the other room).
Thus I have no shortage of ports to plug stuff in. On lower end models you
may find yourself not having enough ports to plug all of your stuff in and
you could start running into problems and compromise what you want to do. I
believe it's better to have too many than not enough ports.

This TV also has a gazillion pictures adjustments. Regardless of what type
of TV you end up with, you will want to adjust the picture to best suit the
room in which you set up the TV. By default it has all of its advanced
features turned on and the brightness ("vivid") cranked all the way up,
since that's best suited for the very bright floor in Best Buy (or wherever)
those things sit to compete for your attention, and a bright showroom floor
almost certainly is not the same environment in which you will set up the TV
at home. I found it best to use a "custom" picture and turn all of the
advanced features off.

I can't speak for the types of HDTV content available via cable or
satellite, since we don't get any of that stuff here in West-Africa. If you
have HDTV content available via cable or satellite, I would say go for it.

If you're going to spend a good amount of money on an HDTV and watch DVD
movies, I think you're cheating yourself by not getting a decent surround
sound system as well. It does make enough of a difference to be worth it,
and it's kind of silly to have the latest and greatest picture without the
latest advances in sound to go along with it.

In summary, even though my Sony was significantly more expensive than other
models I haven't regretted it and can highly recommend it.

- Bill 

-----Original Message-----
From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Roger Austin
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 1:21 AM
To: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
Subject: [internetworkers] Thoughts on HDTV Systems

  We are thinking of a new TV for our living room and I haven't
purchased one in about 20 years. Since many of you are younger
and wiser about these things, what should we be looking for?
  I figure we will buy HDTV, but what brands do you recommend
or not recommend? Are there any issues that make the most
difference? I have explored on-line and Sony seems to have some
decent looking systems. What experiences have all of you had with
the fancy new TVs?
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