LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[charlesr]

Please provide feedback on your gaming display device. Please be objective, so if it's great overall, but there are a few cons, please detail the good as well as the bad.

Please state standard connections and screen modes. Please provide model number rather than just a link to where you bought it, because links may cease to work.

Thanks.

[Dunc]

Gaming LCD

I recently bought the Sharp Aquos LC-26GA5E for my gaming setup.



It has the following features:



-800:1 Contrast ratio (gives very good black levels, a real problem with some LCDs, and a stumbling block for games like Splinter Cell)

-450cd/m2 Screen Brightness

-H:170/V:170 Degree Viewing Angle (means multiplayer games are accessible to all in a room, not just those directly in front of the display)

-1366x768 Panel Resolution (HD and Prog scan compatible via Component in)

-NTSC, PAL and SECAM compatible

-16ms response time



It has the following connections:

1x S-Video

2x SCART (1 RGB, 1 AV)

1x Component

1x PC D-Sub

1x Composite

1x RF aerial in

It is quite frankly an excellent all-round TV.

-I currently have my GC and PS2 plugged in via Component with excellent, crisp results.

-The Xbox looks better and sharper through RGB SCART

-SNES looks fine through composite connection (will benefit from RGB connection no doubt)

-N64 looks a little muddy, but is still perfectly acceptable

-PC connection is excellent, Halflife 2 has never looked so good (you do however need to ensure your card?s drivers are up to date and can output the correct resolution).
-Dreamcast through S-Video looks likewise excellent, haven't tried with a VGA box yet but that may be even better...
-DVDs look fine through say an Xbox, but a Prog scan DVD player is a real treat.

The only real problems you may encounter with this TV are as follows:

-Jaggies. Games that appear jaggy on a CRT are absolute hell on an LCD! GTA San Andreas isn't looking its best unfortunately, likewise for Jade Empire. Just thank Microsoft for disabling the prog scan support in England...
-The default settings will make you cry and wish you hadn't shelled out ?600. For some reason these settings are very harsh, with the sharpness turned up to 11, and make everything look terrible. A quick adjustment down to about 2 sorts it right out.
-Bear in mind that this is some high tech kit! Older systems like the SNES, NES, MD and N64 were designed to output through CRTs so understandably dont look their best. Might be an idea to keep a small, high quality CRT handy in your games room for these classics?
-Bearing in mind the above point, current consoles dont look as good as they could either. The 360 and PS3 however with prog scan output will really make your eyes bleed. Cant wait...
-Has a motion enhancing function on it (Pixel Plus on Philips, Pixel Power on Sonys), which looks great on some games and films (Private Ryan) and absolute plop on others (lightsaber scenes from any OT Starwars film).

Overall 8/10 (progressing to 9 when the next gen consoles are released)

Hope that helps!

Dunc.

P.S. Currently ?525 on Digital Direct!

[Salsa Party Animal]

Also you should have a comment if it is any good for watching football on it as well

[The Cobra]

Sounds like a good set, the only thing which it lacks is an HDMI connection.

[amorenod]

Also you should have a comment if it good for watching football on it as well

No TV will make Real Madrid look good

I've just bought a LG 32LX2R, HD ready:

-600:1 Contrast ratio, 500 cd/m2 brigthness, 178? viewing angle, 1366x768 resolution, 8 ms response time

-2 Scart (1 RGB), 1 s-video and 1 composite sharing stereo input, 1 DVI, 1 HDMI with HDCP, 1 component, 1 RF, 1 RCA stereo output, 1 headphones output

I still have to tweak it, but my impressions so far are:

-RF, my summer home has crappy RF signal, but I have the snes connected this way and it's acceptable. I expect reasonable image quality when I'm back to my winter home

-Composite, pal n64, rubbish, but then it was rubbish on my old crt tv anyway

-S-Video, untested

-RGB scart, only the Saturn and a satellite box connected. Saturn is not bad, satellite box is horrible, but that's not a tv fault, again it was bad on my crt. I'll change the box, the previous one was much better. Until then, I'll make no comments about sport viewing.

-Component, DVD player/pal xbox modded for prog scan/pal gc/pal ps2. This is where we start to get serious. The DVD looks great with prog scan. The xbox looks good in 480p (surprisingly, Panzer Dragoon looks worse), and excellent in 720p (slight ghosting, which I expect to solve tweaking, but maybe using a modded pal xbox has something to do with it). Ps2 and Gc output is in 480i, and while quite good, I can notice some deinterlacing.

-DVI, I've tried my PC in 1024x768 and 1360x768, and it's ****ing fantastic, to the point that I'm considering making a permanent connection (btw, the set includes DVI-Dsub, DVI-DVI and minijack stereo cables). Right now, I have a DC with a VGA box and it looks great.

-I have no HDMI sources.

So, as expected, it doesn't excel with interlaced SD sources, but I've bought it for xbox360, ps3 and hd dvd, so it's not a biggie for me. My old 28" crt Hitachi is great in RGB, a fact that certainly hasn't helped with the transition but, curiously, the scanlines do bother me now.

Misc:

-The size is slightly on the wide side (93 cm), thanks to side speakers, which are surprisingly good.

-The remote can control 6 devices, but I haven't tested it, as I recently bought a Logitech Harmony remote and I'm happy with it.

-As expected in LCD, the black levels are inferior to crt, but not an annoyance.

-It has PIP, but only one tuner, therefore you can't see two RF channels at once, but any other combination with/between AV sources is possible.

-For some strange reason, the official RGB PS2 cable doesn't work, the image is composite, but the Blaze one works. I did my first test with the PS2 and official cable, and my heart sunk the moment I loaded GT4.

-The borders in 4:3 are in light grey by default, quite annoying, but I've managed to change it to black via service menu.

Overall, 7/10. I expect to raise the score by tweaking, and like Dunc, when next gen is here)

[Miguel007]

Could someone review the Samsung LE26R41B or the 32'' model as I know a few people have got one on here - and I'm still undecided whether to get one or not. Thanks.

[sj33]

Snip - review

That sounds almost too good to be true man, I assume it is actually fully HD-Ready? i.e supporting all resolutions, in both 50 and 60Hz, with HDCP support?

EDIT - Hold the phone, no DVI it seems.

[John Beaulieu]

can people please state prices at the ends of their reviews - helps for those looking to purchase one

[Mr Fujisawa]

I recently bought the Sharp Aquos LC-26GA5E for my gaming setup.

i have the model previous to this, the 26GA4E, which got discontinued. its ashame cause its a better set. its exactly the same as ures EXCEPT the speakers are removable AND it has a DVI port. why they decided to replace it with a downgraded model i will never understand. without a dvi or hdmi port, a set is useless in the upcoming HDCP requirement world

[tom-nook]

can people please state prices at the ends of their reviews - helps for those looking to purchase one

If people are including the price they paid for a set is there any chance they could also state when & where they bought it from?

Prices can vary quite a bit from retailer to retailer and particularly between the internet and high street. Also the prices of LCD/ Plasma etc. are coming down fairly quickly at the moment.

Just a suggestion.....

[Dunc]

Sharp Aquos LCD

i have the model previous to this, the 26GA4E, which got discontinued. its ashame cause its a better set. its exactly the same as ures EXCEPT the speakers are removable AND it has a DVI port. why they decided to replace it with a downgraded model i will never understand. without a dvi or hdmi port, a set is useless in the upcoming HDCP requirement world

I know what you mean about no HDMI or DVI port, its a real ****ter in terms of upcoming HD TV. But to be honest for ?525 (at the moment) you get a spanking LCD with all the connections you want for current gaming. Surely they (the big THEY) will bring out some kind of interface for older LCDs and Plasmas that can easily accept the right signal but lack the requisite HDMI port?
It's a very capable TV and no mistake, and i'm sure yours is just as good (if not better). I've seen some brilliant ones for a lot more money (Panasonic freeview LCDs), and some real crappy ones for even more money(Sony entry level LCDs). So the choice is down to what you want at this moment in time:
Wait a year or two and get true HD connectivity, or splurge now and get a ****-hot TV that fits right against the wall and takes an input from all the consoles that you could possibly plug into it today.

Either way, i'm not on Sharp's payroll. But it is a damn fine TV. You're free to make your own mind up!

Dunc.

[mid]

Surely they (the big THEY) will bring out some kind of interface for older LCDs and Plasmas that can easily accept the right signal but lack the requisite HDMI port?

Nope. They're convinced that nefarious criminals are out there, ready to record HD movie discs from any unencrypted cable sent to a monitor. The fact that said nefarious criminals have already done this on Broadcast HDTV in the US, so its too late, and a far more sensible way to go about things would be to crack the copy protection system on the discs once the format launches seems to pass them by.

[ItsThere]

What do you guys think of this model? I don't really know what to look for but it seems like a good price for something half way decent.

http://www.prcdirect.co.uk/PRC/PRC.storefront/EN/product/LE26R41BX

All it says is HD ready, what the frig does that mean?

Blair

[mid]

That's the screen that everyone keeps raving about. It's also going to be the one Microsoft use in the XBox 360 demo pods. "HD Ready" means it accepts 720p and 1080i at both 50 and 60Hz over HDCP-compliant HDMI.

[ItsThere]

Excellent, cheers man, ordered one today so should be in my sweaty palms in a couple of days and I can post some thoughts!