HDTV Review

Toshiba 42HP66 42" Plasma HDTV

2006-11-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Reliability. Performance. Technology. Leadership. The Toshiba name means all this and more. Toshiba builds upon this heritage by delivering the industry's most innovative, high-quality solutions.PRODUCT FEATURES:ATSC & QAM Digital Television Tuners;720p True HD Display with Built-in Speakers and Tuner;Panel Resolution: 1024 x 768;8000: 1 contrast ratio;1200cd/m2 (peak) brightness;MTS Stereo/SAP with dbx;SRS WOW (3D, Tru-bass, Focus);StableSound;Direct Video Input Selection;Video Labeling;Individual A/V Settings by Input Type;Discrete IR Codes.

Customer Review: Great TV for the price

I got a wonderful deal (i.e. <2k) for this TV at Amazon. Having been enamored by the high definition images on plasma TVs at local stores, and being a huge sports fan, I decided to bite the bullet and get an HDTV for myself.
I researched TVs for hours and hours on the internet and went on scouting trips to local Best Buys and Circuit Cities to see the TVs live. Ultimately I decided on the Toshiba for the following reasons:

- I didn't want to break the bank with my first plasma

- At the same time I didn't want to get a "no-name" "low-cost" brand TV

- Unlike many of the lower cost plasmas, the Toshiba has 2 HDMI inputs

- I liked the aesthetics and black color (didn't want a silver model)

I have had the television for a week, and so far so good! I am still tinkering around with the settings to try to get the best possible picture in standard definition TV. HDTV looks amazing. And SD looks darn good too, it's just that compared to HD it looks downright primitive.

Some things to also consider with this TV:

- The glass is actually made my LG, not Panasonic. Also apparently the television is assembled in Thailand by the same folks who assemble Orion TVs

- There is no Picture-in-picture

Customer Review: Great Plasma for under two grand

Had the TV over a month now and am really pleased. I've always wanted a plasma but of course, the prices were way out of reach. Once they hit two grand and below I decided to take the plunge. People were telling me to go with the EDTV as they are a bit cheaper but its not high def. I decided with this one. I got it at Fry's Electronics. The tv has a very big wow factor in my middle sized apartment and I find myself watching more of my DVDs. The picture quality is excellent. I got comcast HD cable box with DVR for only 9.95 more a month so I cancelled my Tivo as they don't have HD (yet) on their drives. The sound is also excellent, much better than my sony trinitron that weighs a ton (over 100 pounds). The tv weighs somewhere around 80 pounds and is less than 5 inches thick. Panasonic makes the panels for Toshiba so you know the quality will be good as Panasonic's plasmas are always on the top of lists of best plasmas. Hope this helps.
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Sony KDL32S2000 32" Bravia Flat Panel LCD HDTV

2006-10-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

The sleekly styled, silver 32-inch Sony Bravia KDL32S2000 is packed with the latest high-performance video features, including a wide viewing angle, blazing fast 8ms response time (great for sports and action movies), and a wide color gamut backlight that provides more natural skin tones and highly accurate overall color reproduction. It also offers integrated HDTV capabilities (with an integrated ATSC tuner), digital HDMI video connectivity, and a bottom speaker design that helps save space. The thin profile of this Bravia TV accommodates VESA compliant mounting systems (separately available). The removable pedestal swivels 30 degrees left and right and also tilts forward 3 degrees and backward 8 degrees for additional placement flexibility.

With clean lines and styling, Bravia TVs look great in any room, either on a stand or mounted on the wall.

Like other TVs in the Bravia line, the KDL32S2000 uses Sony's Wide Color Cold Compact Fluorescent Light (WCG-CCFL) to display a color gamut almost 30 percent larger than a conventional CCFL display, which results in deeper reds, more vivid greens, and cleaner blues. It also offers a high response time (also referred to as refresh rate) of 8 milliseconds (ms), which is able to clearly portray fast-moving images across the screen with well-defined edges and without ghosting (streaking or shadowing). The set's Light Sensor feature intelligently adjusts the screen brightness to match the ambient light in a room, ensuring a comfortable viewing experience.

It also features the latest in Sony's unique S-PVA (Super Patterned Vertical Alignment) LCD panel technology, which divides each sub-pixel into two segments per color for a more refined consistency in colors, contrast, and brightness at wide viewing angles. This seventh generation Sony LCD panel was specially crafted at Sony's plant and produced from one of the world's biggest mother glass (a huge sheet of glass that can be divided to create multiple LCD panels).

The KDL32S2000 has a 1366 x 768-pixel resolution, 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, 178-degree viewing angle, and 1300:1 contrast ratio. (The higher the contrast ratio, the greater a TV's ability to display subtle color details and not get washed out by ambient room light.) The Cinemotion 3:2 pulldown cinema video processing detects and compensates film--which is shot at 24 frames per second (fps) compared with video's 30 fps rate--to video for a smooth theaterlike experience at home. The 3D digital comb filter offers 10-bit signal processing that renders superb gradation of grays, resulting in superior picture detail.

Blurred image caused by motion artifacts due to slow panel response time of typical LCDs.

BRAVIA's fast panel response time handles the motion in sports and video games

Other convenience features include:

WEGA GATE Easy Operation Guide allows you to easily navigate to the most convenient TV functions: favorite channels, TV channel list, external input list, or settings.
Favorite Channels with the WEGA GATE function, allows you to navigate a list of up to 16 favorite channels without leaving the current channel.
Wide Screen Mode allows you to watch 4:3 normal broadcasts in wide screen mode (16:9 aspect ratio).
Parental Control (V-Chip) helps parents monitor what their children watch on TV by establishing rating limits.
Caption Vision/Info Banner allows closed caption and/or channel programming information to be displayed.
The Freeze Function temporarily freezes the picture in a separate screen while the programming continues to display, which can come in handy when you want to copy a recipe, phone number, etc. that flashes too quickly across your screen.

It pumps out 20 watts of audio power via its integrated bottom-aligned stereo speakers (10 watts per channel). It has a built-in Dolby Digital decoder (for connecting to a surround sound home theater receiver) and it can also produce SRS TruSurround XT virtual 5.1-channel surround sound from its two speakers. This set offers the following connection options:

Composite (RCA audio/video): 3 inputs (1 on the side)
S-Video: 2 inputs (1 on the side)
Component (Y/Pb/Pr): 2 inputs (with left/right audio jacks)
HDMI: 1 input (with L/R RCA audio connections)
PC: 1 D-Sub15 input (with L/R stereo mini plug connection)
RF: 1 input
Total audio inputs: 5 (1 side, 4 rear)
Analog audio output: 1
Digital audio ouput: 1
Headphone: 1

Tech Talk
HDMI is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface to link any audio/video source (such as a set-top box, DVD player, or AV receiver) with your TV--all over a single cable. HDMI supports standard, enhanced or high definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on a single cable. It supports all ATSC formats--standard (SDTV), enhanced (EDTV), and high (HDTV).

Component video (also called Y/Pb/Pr) features a three-jack video input, which provides separate connections for luminance (Y), blue color difference (PB) and red color difference (PR). This results in increased bandwidth for color information, resulting in a more accurate picture with clearer color reproduction and less bleeding than you would get with S-Video or composite (RCA yellow video plug) connections. You will need a separate RCA left/right audio cable for sound.

TruSurround XT audio adds three new audio enhancement technologies to produce an amazingly immersive sound experience.

Dialog Clarity brings movie dialog into focus during the playback of any surround-encoded material to make speech much clearer and crisper.
TruBass creates incredible deep rich bass allowing a person to perceive significantly deeper, richer low bass tones that are far beyond the physical low frequency capabilities of the speaker itself.
The SRS WOW feature widens the soundstage by processing standard two-channel stereo material as well as multi-channel encoded material for a dramatic improvement in the playback of any stereo audio over a two-speaker system.

And in case you were wondering, BRAVIA is short for "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture."

What's in the Box
32-inch Bravia LCD television, tabletop stand, remote control (with batteries), coaxial cable, HD15-to-HD15 cable, printed operating instructions

Warranty
1 year for parts and labor; in-home diagnostic warranty service for one year (for LCD TVs from the Bravia S-Series measuring over 30 inches)

Customer Review: Beware of Sony's HDMI

One of the attractions of this set is HDMI (High Def Module Interface). HDMI is currently defined as a single cable the transmits both Video and Audio. A very clean installation, via a single cable. However for Sony, for this set, you need a cable with a HDMI end that connects to the cable box, that then goes to a DVI connector (video only) on the Sony LCD, and THEN a separate audio cable. What a pain in the %#@%$#. Therefore no Digital Audio.

Customer Review: Aspect feature undocumented limitation

Excellent set overall, but one misleading entry is in the manual which the factory confirmed to me is partly mistaken. The "wide zoom" feature for aspect control, magnifying etc., is shown with a separate panel entirely devoted to features applicable to high definition, wide screen sources. The manual fails to mention these functions work only on broadcast or cable tuner reception, and are not available on any external input, HDMI or component video -- such as a Sony high definition recorder for the broadcasts. The issue affects the extremely wide panavision movies which have to be rendered with horizontal black bars even on a 16:9 display to see the entire width -- which is how some are transmitted on HDNET for example (premium channels seem to adopt a full screen, pre-zoomed approach). Cable boxes have zoom features built-in which can expand these pictures, but the tv won't do it by itself, the way it handles low definition signals, and the very limited releases of early HD-dvd, blu ray players etc so far don't have it. The need for it is less with a wide screen to begin with, compared to old 4:3 screen format, but the pictures are shown almost 1/3 less than the vertical height of the screen.

The only two brands which do have this feature complete have so many other faults they cannot compare with the sony for this viewer. No other leading brand has the feature, either, and the sony at least can process the broadcast signals more than some of them.

The limitation of sony S series also applies to the more expensive XBR series sets, at least for 2006.

Check Sony KDL32S2000 Prices

Toshiba 50HP66

2006-10-11T02:01:00.000-07:00

Toshiba 50HP66 50" Plasma HDTV

The Toshiba 50HP66 Integrated Plasma TV delivers the very best in picture quality for better home theater. The high-definition plasma TV utilizes a 10,000:1 high contrast ratio panel for enhanced picture quality. StableSOund reduces volume fluctuations by keeping volume within set levels. SRS WOW greatly improves audio performance with better fidelity and wider "sweet spot" for listeners.

Dual HDMI inputs provide uncompressed digital audio & video in one convenient cable. Black Cabinetry integrates the bottom speakers, creating a sleeker and more modern design. 10,000 - 1 contrast ratio 3D Y/C Comb Filter 480i Auto Aspect 2-3 Pull Down Cinema Mode 20W speaker output SRS WOW & StableSound PC input (15-pin D-Sub), PC audio input, S-Video (2), ColorStream HD inputs (2), A/V inputs 2 HDMI digital inputs Outputs - Variable Out, Digital Audio Coax & Digital, A/V and S-Video RF inputs Includes 4-item glow universal remote Energy Star compliant Power Source - 120V @ 60Hz; 460W power consumption Dimensions(WxHxD) - 49.5 x 34.2 x 16.2 Weight - 122.4 lbs.

Toshiba 50HP66 Technical Details

Screen size: 50 inches
TV type: Plasma
HDTV capable: Built-in
NTSC tuner: Yes
ATSC tuner: Yes (for over-air HDTV reception)
QAM tuner: Yes (for unscrambled cable HDTV reception)
CableCARD compatible: No
Resolution: 1366 x 768 pixels
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Speaker wattage per channel: 10 watts
Number of speakers: 2
Brightness: 1000 cd/m2 peak
Contrast ratio: 10000:1
Viewing angle: Information unavailable
Comb filter: Yes, 3D Y/C
3:2 pulldown correction: Yes
Line doubling: No
Color temperature control: Yes
Aspect ratio controls: No
Auto channel setup: Yes
Closed captioning: Yes
Last-channel recall: Yes
Multilingual menu: Yes
Parental control: Yes
Picture-in-picture (PIP): No
Remote control: Yes
SAP: Yes
Sleep timer: Yes
Composite A/V: 3 in (1 front), 1 out
S-Video: 3 in (1 front), 1 out
Component video: 2 in
DVI: 0
HDMI: 2 in
RF: 1 in
PC VGA: 1
USB: 0
Firewire: 0
Headphone jack: 0
Digital audio output: 1 coaxial, 1 optical
Front/Side AV jacks: Front
Surround sound: Yes, virtual (SRS WOW)
Sound leveler system: No/Yes
Item width: 49.5 inches
Item height: 32.3 inches, 34.25 inches with base
Item depth: 5 inches, 16.2 inches with base
Item weight: 96 pounds, 107 pounds with base
Includes DVD player: No
Includes VCR: No
Stand included: Yes
Wall mount type: Information unavailable
Power consumption: 460 watts
Warranty: 1 year parts and labor

Customer Review: Toshiba 50HP66 the Best

You can't go wrong if you get this TV, I did shop around, the picture of Toshiba, Pana, Pioneer all the same.Why you don't buy Toshiba with less money

Customer Review: our 1st HDTV!!

we looked long and hard to find the best "value" and not price, meaning we were not interested in the lowest cost solution. In fact our focus was on the top 42" &43" Panasonics and Pioneers (based on Consumer Reports and Plasma TV Buyers.com) until comparing the Toshiba 50HP66 side by side with Panasonic at Video Only in Bellevue. (Toshiba was superior in every category!) The sales rep included "free delivery" so we are now into a 50" Plasma HD which has tranformed our tv experience where we can watch an excellent picture, sound and are more engaged. You should include Toshiba in your search also they are the first on the market with HD DVD recorder.

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Sony KDL40S2000 40" Bravia Flat Panel LCD HDTV

2006-10-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

The sleekly styled, silver 40-inch Sony Bravia KDL40S2000 is packed with the latest high-performance video features, including a wide viewing angle, blazing fast 8ms response time (great for sports and action movies), and a wide color gamut backlight that provides more natural skin tones and highly accurate overall color reproduction. It also offers integrated HDTV capabilities (with an integrated ATSC tuner), digital HDMI video connectivity, and a bottom speaker design that helps save space. The thin profile of this Bravia TV accommodates VESA compliant mounting systems (separately available). The removable pedestal swivels 30 degrees left and right and also tilts forward 3 degrees and backward 8 degrees for additional placement flexibility.

With clean lines and styling, Bravia TVs look great in any room, either on a stand or mounted on the wall.

Like other TVs in the Bravia line, the KDL40S2000 uses Sony's Wide Color Cold Compact Fluorescent Light (WCG-CCFL) to display a color gamut almost 30 percent larger than a conventional CCFL display, which results in deeper reds, more vivid greens, and cleaner blues. It also offers a high response time (also referred to as refresh rate) of 8 milliseconds (ms), which is able to clearly portray fast-moving images across the screen with well-defined edges and without ghosting (streaking or shadowing). The set's Light Sensor feature intelligently adjusts the screen brightness to match the ambient light in a room, ensuring a comfortable viewing experience.

It also features the latest in Sony’s unique S-PVA (Super Patterned Vertical Alignment) LCD panel technology, which divides each sub-pixel into two segments per color for a more refined consistency in colors, contrast, and brightness at wide viewing angles. This seventh generation Sony LCD panel was specially crafted at Sony's plant and produced from one of the world’s biggest mother glass (a huge sheet of glass that can be divided to create multiple LCD panels).

The KDL40S2000 has a 1366 x 768-pixel resolution, 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, 178-degree viewing angle, and 1300:1 contrast ratio. (The higher the contrast ratio, the greater a TV's ability to display subtle color details and not get washed out by ambient room light.) The Cinemotion 3:2 pulldown cinema video processing detects and compensates film--which is shot at 24 frames per second (fps) compared with video's 30 fps rate--to video for a smooth theaterlike experience at home. The 3D digital comb filter offers 10-bit signal processing that renders superb gradation of grays, resulting in superior picture detail.

Blurred image caused by motion artifacts due to slow panel response time of typical LCDs.

BRAVIA's fast panel response time handles the motion in sports and video games

Other convenience features include:

WEGA GATE Easy Operation Guide allows you to easily navigate to the most convenient TV functions: favorite channels, TV channel list, external input list, or settings.
Favorite Channels with the WEGA GATE function, allows you to navigate a list of up to 16 favorite channels without leaving the current channel.
Wide Screen Mode allows you to watch 4:3 normal broadcasts in wide screen mode (16:9 aspect ratio).
Parental Control (V-Chip) helps parents monitor what their children watch on TV by establishing rating limits.
Caption Vision/Info Banner allows closed caption and/or channel programming information to be displayed.
The Freeze Function temporarily freezes the picture in a separate screen while the programming continues to display, which can come in handy when you want to copy a recipe, phone number, etc. that flashes too quickly across your screen.

Composite (RCA audio/video): 3 inputs (1 on the side)
S-Video: 2 inputs (1 on the side)
Component (Y/Pb/Pr): 2 inputs (with left/right audio jacks)
HDMI: 1 input (with L/R RCA audio connections)
PC: 1 D-Sub15 input (with L/R stereo mini plug connection)
RF: 1 input
Total audio inputs: 5 (1 side, 4 rear)
Analog audio output: 1
Digital audio ouput: 1
Headphone: 1

TruSurround XT audio adds three new audio enhancement technologies to produce an amazingly immersive sound experience.

Dialog Clarity brings movie dialog into Focus during the playback of any surround-encoded material to make speech much clearer and crisper.
TruBass creates incredible deep rich bass allowing a person to perceive significantly deeper, richer low bass tones that are far beyond the physical low frequency capabilities of the speaker itself.
The SRS WOW feature widens the soundstage by processing standard two-channel stereo material as well as multi-channel encoded material for a dramatic improvement in the playback of any stereo audio over a two-speaker system.

And in case you were wondering, BRAVIA is short for "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture."

What's in the Box
40-inch Bravia LCD television, tabletop stand, remote control (with batteries), coaxial cable, HD15-to-HD15 cable, printed operating instructions

Warranty
1 year for parts and labor; in-home diagnostic warranty service for one year (for LCD TVs from the Bravia S-Series measuring over 30 inches)

Customer Review: I have not bought so forget the rating, but just what is this

is this supposed to be a cheaper version of the 40" XBR1 ?

Customer Review: HDMI input problems

Great picture. Only one complaint: when switching from standard definition to high definition channels, the screen goes blank, although the sound continues to work. The TV must be turned off and on again and the high definition picture appears.

Sony sent a repairman and the fix was to use a different input, not HDMI. Not much point in a HDMI input if it can't be used.

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Samsung LNS4051D 40" Wide LCD HDTV with Integrated ATSC Tuner

2006-09-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Bring your home entertainment together with the 40-inch Samsung LNS4051D LCD television, which includes an integrated HDTV tuner as well as connectivity options for your PC and portable digital audio players. The thin-profile, piano-black LNS4051D will look great in any home entertainment cabinetry. The dual purpose pedestal stand can also be used as an articulating wall mount when it’s folded back. Additionally, the stand can be removed for wall-mounting via optional VESA compatible hardware (such as Samsung wall mounting kit WMTL4001).

Featuring an LCD panel created in Samsung's state-of-the-art Gen 7 plant, the LNS4051D incorporate the latest cutting-edge developments in technology (as well as design). While viewing either very bright or very dark scenes, it can be difficult to distinguish main images which blend into the background. Samsung's Dynamic Contrast dramatically mitigates this problem by adjusting the backlight intensity, providing up to a 4x improvement in contrast. It offers support for a range of Samsung MP3 players and other portable digital audio devices, with an RS-232 port enabling you to navigate the player's content on-screen with the LCD remote by connecting the device to the TV via an RS-232 cable (included). Samsung also worked closely with Microsoft to create a special Game Mode that optimizes image quality, sound and response time for more realistic video game play--with just a single touch of a button. The Game Mode enhances dark areas, sharpens the picture, speeds up the image processing response and enhances the sounds of your games.

Get a great view from anywhere in the room with this TVs great verticle and horizontal 178-degree viewing angle.

The LNS4051D features an unbelievable 4000:1 contrast ratio, 500 cd/m2 brightness rating (for brighter whites, deeper blacks, and every shade in between), a 1366 x 768-pixel resolution (for a widescreen 16:9 screen aspect ratio), 178-degree viewing angle, and a super-fast 8ms (millisecond) response time, which minimizes blurring of moving images and is especially helpful for sports and action movies.

The Samsung Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe) Video Enhancer refines all analog NTSC and wideband video inputs for an overall improvement in picture quality. DNIe improves contrast, white level, picture detail and incorporates digital noise reduction to improve lower quality video inputs. The 3D Y/C digital comb filter constantly analyzes the three dimensions of picture height, picture width, and picture changes-over-time to dramatically reduce edge image artifacts while improving transition detail. Other convenience features include:

Picture-in-picture (PIP) enables convenient simultaneous viewing of TV programs and video or PC sources.
Built-in image scaler to handle inputs from a variety of digital and analog audio/video sources.
Parental Control (V-Chip) helps parents monitor what their children watch on TV by establishing rating limits.
Auto volume leveler keeps audio volume consistent during channel changing.
Multi-lingual on-screen displays in English, Spanish or French.

High-quality virtual surround sound can be experienced with just the speakers built into the TV. SRS TruSurround XT technology delivers an amazing, simulated 3D effect with clear dialog and powerful bass. This set utilizes Samsung's Dual Acoustic Chamber System technology, which isolates each woofer and tweeter in its own chamber. DACS is a revolutionary, computer-simulated technology that enhances lowrange sound performance, sharpens mid-to-high-range sound quality, and improves overall sound clarity. It produces 10 watts of power per channel (for 20 watts total). It offers the following connection options:

Composite (RCA audio/video): 2 inputs (1 on the side)
S-Video: 2 inputs (1 on the side)
Component (Y/Pb/Pr): 1 input
HDMI: 2 inputs
PC: 1 D-Sub15 input
RF: 2 inputs
Sound monitor output: 1
Digital optical audio ouput: 1
Headphone: 1
RS232 port: 1

TruSurround XT audio adds three new audio enhancement technologies to produce an amazingly immersive sound experience.

Dialog Clarity brings movie dialog into Focus during the playback of any surround-encoded material to make speech much clearer and crisper.
TruBass creates incredible deep rich bass allowing a person to perceive significantly deeper, richer low bass tones that are far beyond the physical low frequency capabilities of the speaker itself.
The SRS WOW feature widens the soundstage by processing standard two-channel stereo material as well as multi-channel encoded material for a dramatic improvement in the playback of any stereo audio over a two-speaker system.

What's in the Box
40-inch LCD TV (black), tabletop stand, remote control (with batteries), AV cable, RS232 cable, AC power adapter, printed operating instructions

Warranty
1 year parts and labor (90 days parts and labor for commercial use)

Customer Review: Spec?

There are few errors on the specs for this TV on Amazon.com description:

- Contrast ratio is 4000:1 NOT 5000:1

- Only one(1) HDMI not Two(2)

Go to Samsung.com and check it out!

Customer Review: Hot, Sexy, and a Great Picture Too

This is a fine looking tv. When it arrived the delivery men took it out of the box and set it up for me which was a nice service. I was very suprised at it's high glossy black finish but I immediately fell in love with it. It gets oohs and aahs from all my friends that have seen it so far. I have the samsung upconversion dvd player hooked up to it and the picture is incredible. I haven't got the HD cable box from the cable company yet but I am looking so forward to seeing the HD cable channels on this TV. My only complaint (and it's not that big of a deal) is that when the dvd is playing the volume goes down quite a bit as compared to the tv volume.

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Samsung LNS3251D 32" Wide LCD HDTV with Integrated ATSC Tuner

2006-09-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

Bring your home entertainment together with the 32-inch Samsung LNS3251D LCD television, which includes an integrated HDTV tuner as well as connectivity options for your PC and portable digital audio players. The thin-profile, piano-black LNS3251D will look great in any bedroom or home entertainment cabinetry. The dual purpose pedestal stand can also be used as an articulating wall mount when it’s folded back. Additionally, the stand can be removed for wall-mounting via optional VESA compatible hardware (such as Samsung wall mounting kit WMTL4001).

Featuring an LCD panel created in Samsung's state-of-the-art Gen 7 plant, the LNS3251D incorporate the latest cutting-edge developments in technology (as well as design). While viewing either very bright or very dark scenes, it can be difficult to distinguish main images which blend into the background. Samsung's Dynamic Contrast dramatically mitigates this problem by adjusting the backlight intensity, providing up to a 4x improvement in contrast. It offers support for a range of Samsung MP3 players and other portable digital audio devices, with an RS-232 port enabling you to navigate the player's content on-screen with the LCD remote by connecting the device to the TV via an RS-232 cable (included). Samsung also worked closely with Microsoft to create a special Game Mode that optimizes image quality, sound and response time for more realistic video game play--with just a single touch of a button. The Game Mode enhances dark areas, sharpens the picture, speeds up the image processing response and enhances the sounds of your games.

Get a great view from anywhere in the room with this TVs great verticle and horizontal 178-degree viewing angle.

The LNS3251D features a stunning 4000:1 contrast ratio, 500 cd/m2 brightness rating (for brighter whites, deeper blacks, and every shade in between), a 1366 x 768-pixel resolution (for a widescreen 16:9 screen aspect ratio), 178-degree viewing angle, and a super-fast 8ms (millisecond) response time, which minimizes blurring of moving images and is especially helpful for sports and action movies.

Picture-in-picture (PIP) enables convenient simultaneous viewing of TV programs and video or PC sources.
Built-in image scaler to handle inputs from a variety of digital and analog audio/video sources.
Parental Control (V-Chip) helps parents monitor what their children watch on TV by establishing rating limits.
Auto volume leveler keeps audio volume consistent during channel changing.
Multi-lingual on-screen displays in English, Spanish or French.

Composite (RCA audio/video): 2 inputs (1 on the side)
S-Video: 2 inputs (1 on the side)
Component (Y/Pb/Pr): 1 input
HDMI: 2 inputs
PC: 1 D-Sub15 input
RF: 2 inputs
Sound monitor output: 1
Digital optical audio ouput: 1
Headphone: 1
RS232 port: 1

TruSurround XT audio adds three new audio enhancement technologies to produce an amazingly immersive sound experience.

Dialog Clarity brings movie dialog into Focus during the playback of any surround-encoded material to make speech much clearer and crisper.
TruBass creates incredible deep rich bass allowing a person to perceive significantly deeper, richer low bass tones that are far beyond the physical low frequency capabilities of the speaker itself.
The SRS WOW feature widens the soundstage by processing standard two-channel stereo material as well as multi-channel encoded material for a dramatic improvement in the playback of any stereo audio over a two-speaker system.

What's in the Box
32-inch LCD TV (black), tabletop stand, remote control (with batteries), AV cable, RS232 cable, AC power adapter, printed operating instructions

Warranty
1 year parts and labor (90 days parts and labor for commercial use)

Customer Review: Stunning picture

You will be glued to this TV! I just got my Monster Ultra800 HDMI cable yesterday and even though I'm a Monster skeptic, I got a great deal and the picture is a little better than the components I had hooked up. Whites are awesome, blacks are stunning and the best I've seen...the 4000:1 contrast ratio is one the of the best out there. SD is surprisingly good and HD is as close to perfect as you're gonna get, to the point where I find myself watching random shows on HD such as "Carribean Escapes" because the picture is so amazing. I have seen the Sony XBR's and I have to say that I can't notice any difference...the Samsung is just as good for much less $$. I can't comment on DVD or XBOX because I haven't used either with this TV yet....but this is one of the best LCD sets I have ever seen. I bought the lns3241d at Circuit City initially then saw the top of the line version lns3251d for less $$ so I took it back and exchanged it for the 51. If you do buy from a Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. make sure you talk them down. This was selling for 1700 at CC and when I took my first set back they didn't want to lose my business and gave me the better one for around 1350-at cost (supposedly). Take in some comparison prices from Amazon and Pricegrabber and save yourself $400 or so...although the price right now on Amazon is unbeatable.

Customer Review: Samsung LNS3251D 32" Wide LCD HDTV

This TV has a great picture and is well worth the money. The only problem is the settings for the viewing options and picture set up after you are hooked up to HD digital cable is a bit difficult to sort out. I love the quality of true HD programming the widescreen takes getting used to because of the cable options that are available for now. If you are considering this TV GO 4 IT? Make sure to use the HDMI cable hook up for the best possible picture and get a wall mount set up!

Buy for Cheapest Price Here

HDTV Tuners

2006-08-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

High definition TV tuners or HDTV tuners are designed to receive high definition programs by connecting to an external antenna. HDTV tuners will not only show movies and DVD’s at high definition, but will improve the viewing of normal TV. It is because of the improved definition or color and picture quality of DVD’s and programs that make HDTV tuners very popular with viewers.

Television sets often come with HDTV tuners already built into them, these are called integrated HDTV’s. If you are considering buying an external high definition TV tuner for your television, make sure that your TV set is HDTV compatible. A separate tuner may also be needed. This can be either a cable or satellite box for watching high definition programs.

Most people have heard that there is a mandate on televisions to make integrated HDTVs. This is not entirely correct. Certain televisions that are for sale after a certain date will be required to have built in tuners. The tuners required won’t be HDTV. The mandate is actually referring to ATSC tuners. It is not even necessary that TV’s be able to display HDTV resolutions without either an internal or external tuner. This new mandate will not apply to plasma and front projectors. The mandate will not take effect for some time. Until then there will be no change in television manufacture or tuners.

It is important to ask about features of high definition TV tuners before making a choice. If you are not sure what some of the features are, ask for clarification. Make sure that your television is compatible, HDTV tuners may not work with older televisions. Ask your cable or satellite company weather they support high definition TV, as many people find out later down the road that they cannot receive HDTV programs through cable or satellite.

Ask about what kind of warranties are available and what parts they actually cover before buying. External high definition TV tuners are quite reasonably priced. Prices start at around $150. If you are on a budget, make sure not to buy cheaply made appliances. Always wait for specials or price reductions on reliable brands.

One of the most popular brands available is the Samsung SIR-T451. This one is ideal for high definition programming on any high definition TV compatible television. There are many more HDTV tuners available on the market. By doing a quick search on your favorite search engine, you will be able to find a HDTV tuner that will fit both your budget and your TV’s requirements.
Simon Oldmann has been studying personality with focus on the effects of financial planning on health and mental stability. Simon is currently writing tips and advice on smart purchases such as a High Definition Television Antenna

HDTV and the iPod photo: A Perfect Marriage?

2006-08-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

They may seem like an odd combination, but the iPod photo could be the perfect choice for anyone who wants to view photo slideshows on an HDTV.

The iPod photo can store thousands of digital photos, and syncs with a Mac or PC via iTunes. It will read any slideshows you’ve created in iPhoto on a Mac or Photoshop Album on a PC and copy them to the iPod. Alternatively you can tell it to copy a folder full of images from your hard drive as a slideshow.

Also, with the addition of an optional camera connector($29), you can copy photos directly from a digital camera and automatically create a slideshow from them on the iPod photo. All slideshows can be set to music.

To connect the iPod photo to an HDTV you’ll need to first make sure that your HDTV has composite video and audio inputs and then purchase the iPod photo AV cable ($19) from Apple. Connect the iPod to your TV, select the appropriate input and hey presto, your slideshow can be seen in beautiful, bright widescreen glory on your HDTV.

It’s worth bearing a few things in mind when creating slideshows for HDTV. First of all, the

screen of an HDTV set has an aspect ratio of 16:9 (length: height) so if you size your photos with this aspect ratio you’ll be able to fill the screen without cropping the photo or seeing ugly black space around it. Secondly, the resolution required for optimal viewing on HDTV at full screen is less than that needed for printing even an A4 image. So if you only intend viewing your photos on-screen, whether on your computer or HDTV, you can save space on your iPod photo by reducing the capture resolution on your digital camera. If you set it at three mega-pixels, that will be enough to allow you to crop photos to the correct aspect ratio and still view them at the highest possible quality on an HDTV.

Of course, the iPod photo can store more than just photographs. Anything that can be saved as an image file, such as JPEG, can be included in a slideshow, so you could even use it to carry around business presentations which can be viewed by anyone with access to a TV or projector.

About the Author: Robert Armstrong is a contributor to The HDTV Tuner - a guide to the kit, the technology and the programming on HDTV.

The History of HDTV

2006-08-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you unfamiliar with HDTV, it is the highest DTV resolution in the new set of standards combined with CD-quality Dolby Digital surround sound. This combination creates spectacular illustration with stunning audio effects, which is quickly moving HDTV to become the new standard in television systems.

HDTV seems like a completely new innovation but actually the system has been around in various forms since the mid-1970s and has developed quite an impressive history.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the trial product for HDTV was being developed in Japan as a way to improve television quality and therefore sell more TVs. The first HDTV system was called MUSE and employed filtering tricks to reduce the original source signal to decrease bandwidth utilization.

The idea of introducing HDTV in the United States was met with mixed responses. In the 1980s, the National Association of Broadcasters in the United States invited NHK, Japan's public network, to present the ideas behind the MUSE system to the Federal Communications Commission. At that time, there were two groups that were adamantly against the introduction of HDTV in the U.S.

The first group that opposed the introduction of this new technology was the Terrestrial Television Broadcasters. They were scared by the possibility of being excluded from the HDTV market because HDTV required more bandwidth (the amount of information sent through a channel or connection) than standard TV. These broadcasters worried because the channels that they already had license to would not be able to handle the bandwidth of this new form of television.

The other group that became concerned about HDTV in the U.S. was Congress. Congress felt threatened by the many Japanese innovations that they saw arriving in the U.S. and ultimately they didn't want to introduce a new form of communication that was owned by another country all together.

With these two complaints in mind, the American government sought to invent a new form of HDTV. Groups of researchers and manufacturers were gathered together to form different teams. Each team would attempt to create an HDTV system that could fit into the existing channels that were used by broadcasters.

After years of work, the separate teams of researchers and manufacturers decided to combine forces. This unity gave birth to a new group known as Grand Alliance.

As researchers continued their attempts to develop this new form of HDTV, they discovered that this new technology would have to be partially digital in order for all the necessary information to fit into the existing channels. With this in mind, they were able to develop a system that was quite different from the Japanese system.

The Japanese NHK version of HDTV was analog but the updated version created by the American researchers ended up being completely digital.

Unlike BETA VCRs and 8-track players, HDTV is one form of technology that is being built to withstand the test of time.

With the decades of development and research that have gone into optimizing the HDTV system, this form of television is likely to endure for decades to come.

About the Author
Mitchell Medford is a popular reviewer of consumer electronics and technology. He has written for numerous publications and served as a product development consultant for several consumer electronics manufacturers. Visit his site or more information on HDTVs, DVRs, and special offers including free Dish Network.

HDTV

2006-07-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

As many of you already know, one of the highest quality television sets on the market today is an HDTV set. This stands for high definition television. I know that many of us have heard of this product, but how many people really know what it means? With HDTV you will receive sharper, clearer, and wider television programming. The pictures will seem more lifelike, and the digital sound will be clearer than nearly any other TV out there. The reason for this sharper image is because of the increased number of pixels on your screen. There are nearly double the amount on HDTV sets than there are with the older analog TV's that many of us have in our homes today.

The older style of television displays the picture using the analog format. The newer HDTV systems display and receive their programming in digital format. If you are currently or looking to become a satellite customer, with an older style TV, you may really find this part interesting. Satellite television is broadcast digitally. If you are receiving these broadcasts and using an older television, all of the digital images are changed into the analog format when they are passed through your television. This decreases the quality that is shown on your screen. I would highly recommend looking into an HDTV set to make use of the satellite television programming you are receiving.

Another reason to update your old television with an HDTV set is that DVD's have the digital format as well. If you are watching DVD's on an older television, once again the signal is being converted from digital to analog, and therefore is decreasing the picture quality displayed on your screen.

Right now there is a real push to convert everything to digital. I would definitely recommend that you look into getting a new HDTV set in order to receive all the sharpest image, as well as crystal clear sound.

About the Author
Tina Porter is the writer and product researcher for http://www.hdtvtome.com/. She has extensive experience with consumer electronic products including satellite TV's and home entertainment theaters.

LCD vs Plasma HDTV

2006-07-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

LCD vs plasma HDTV - which is best? If you're looking for a flat-screen, slim and sexy display, to watch HDTV, you have a choice of two technologies, LCD and gas plasma.

Each has benefits and disadvantages and so each is more appropriate in specific circumstances.

Historically, the LCD vs plasma HDTV choice has been fairly simple. If you wanted a flat-screen that was about 40in or bigger, you had to choose plasma, otherwise you should choose LCD. However, as LCD technology improves, LCD HDTVs are getting bigger and most of the major manufacturers expect the number of LCDs they produce to grow steadily over the next few years while the number of plasmas will decrease. However, if you're looking for a flatscreen TV today, plasma still has a lot to offer.

To understand the LCD vs plasma HDTV question, we need to look at the way the two technologies work.

LCD

LCD HDTVs work by shining a light behind an LCD panel made up of a fixed number of pixels. Each pixel is either red, blue or green and is switched on or off when a voltage is applied to it. When voltage is applied to a pixel, it is switched off, meaning that light can't shine through it.

The main advantage of LCD vs plasma HDTV is that LCD panels don't suffer from what's called burn-in. This is a feature of plasma TVs where they are used to watch TV stations with logos permanently displayed on-screen or where they are used for video gaming with games that have static images such as a cockpit on flight simulators. The image literally 'burns-in' the screen meaning that even when the image is not present you can still see a faint trace of it on screen. So for video gamers in particular, LCD is a better choice than plasma.

Plasma

Plasma HDTVs have over a million chambers which house one or a combination of gasses. When a voltage is applied to one of these chambers the gas ionizes and emits ultra-violet light. This light strikes red, green or plue phophors coated on the inside of the chamber and a pixel emits this color light.

Plasma HDTVs tend to have better contrast than LCDs because, even when a pixel on an LCD panel is switched off it doesn't block all the light coming through and therefore the pixel isn't completely black. Plasma HDTVs also tend to have a wider viewing angle than LCDs, as on LCD HDTVs the contrast and colour of the image can change when the screen is viewed from different angles.

LCD vs Plasma HDTV conclusion

Technology is changing rapidly, but for now (July 2004) it's still true to say that at sizes of 40in and above, plasma offers a less-expensive and generally better solution. For screen-sizes less than 40in LCD is better. However, as LCD technology improves and prices fall, this will change.
About the Author

Kenny Hemphill is the editor and publisher of The HDTV Tuner - a guide to the kit, the technology and the programming on HDTV.

EDTV vs HDTV

2006-07-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

Is EDTV vs HDTV getting you crazy? I'm not surprised. Who can keep track of all the digital TV acronyms floating around? It's only going to get more complex. Many people have little knowledge of these acronyms.

I'll breakdown the technical jargon to make EDTV vs. HDTV as straightforward as we can. There are several EDTV sets available. You can decide whether you can live with any missing features.

Standard TV has 525 lines of interlaced video. Interlacing means that the video (which is split into 2 fields) gets shown alternately. Of the 525 lines only 480 have a video signal. That's the 480i you see floating around in all the EDTV vs HDTV specifications.

While standard TV has worked well for years TV sets have gotten bigger and the deficiencies of SD (standard TV) have become magnified.

There's no question that in EDTV vs HDTV the HDTV (for now) is the ultimate in PQ (picture quality). HDTV stands for High Definition TV. EDTV is the 2nd best PQ that we have. EDTV stands for Enhanced Definition TV.

EDTV has the same 480 lines as SD, but they are progressive scan. SD uses 480i (interlaced) and EDTV uses 480p (progressive scan). DVD players uses progressive scan to display PQ and EDTVs do a great job of displaying them.

Progressive scanning means that instead of splitting the signal into two fields and showing half the lines at a time, all 480 lines of video are shown at once. That's one of the reasons why DVDs look so sharp on your SD TV.

So the big question is --which format should you go with-- EDTV vs HDTV??? Well the truth is it depends upon 3 things......

1)your budget
2)your seating distance
3)your viewing habits

Right now there is very limited TV content available in HDTV format. So you won't get the full viewing impact of HDTV. Another factor weighing in against HDTV is how much DVD viewing do you do?

A controversial point disputed by many HDTV owners is that some TV experts believe that shows watched from a DVD player on EDTV displays better.

Why? Because there's no scaling to be done by the EDTV. An HDTV needs to re-process the signal before it can display it to you. As said before a DVD player's natural resolution matches that of the EDTV format.

Perhaps the most important factor is the viewing distance. How good the PQ is has a lot to do with seating distance. It's a fact that if you sit 8 feet or more from you TV you won't be able to tell the difference in sharpness between a 42-inch EDTV and a 42-inch HDTV side by side.

If you get close to an EDTV say 6 feet or less you start to see the screen door effect (SDE). That's when you start to see the actual pixels on the EDTV.

If you watch sports, the Discovery channel and other channels that will eventually swing into HD programming and you sit close to you TV then HDTV may be for you.

At this point in time EDTV vs HDTV depends mostly upon your viewing distance. If you have the bucks or you sit close to you TV than the EDTV vs HDTV choice is HDTV.

I have both an EDTV and HDTV. The truth is that in most cases after 6 feet or more I can't see the difference between the two. Panasonic EDTV's are the way to go in this tecnology.

About the Author:
movieman90 is the webmaster of www.the-hdtv-review.com. A site that offers current, unbiased and valuable info on the latest Hi Def technology.

All About HDTV

2006-07-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

The HDTV has become increasingly popular since it’s introduction. There are many well-known electronic manufacturers that have designed many models of the HD style TV. There are multiple sizes, styles and colors that can be attributed to a HD television. Likewise, there are various price tags found on the HD television. With so many choices and decisions ahead of you, don’t feel overwhelmed; there are many great resources to help make your search as quick and painless as possible.

HDTV has been around since the mid 1960’s. In Japan, the first model of the HDTV was created. The innovative electronic geniuses of the United States were quick to follow and the race to perfecting the high definition technology was off to the races around the mid 1990’s.

Basically, the term “HD” refers to the quality of the broadcast signal that is sent through the television set. The high definition signal represents images that are as crystal clear and lifelike as possible. When you watch a program via the HDTV, you will quickly understand why it is becoming the favorite method of watching TV! The HD signal is digital in nature and provides viewers a 16:9 wide screen format, the same as used in movie theaters. The incredible, lifelike images displayed through HD televisions are unbelievable! You can literally feel like you at the racetrack or on the football field! If you are watching a concert, you will have a front row seat to the magical madness, too!

Many of the leading television manufacturers make at least one model of the HD television set, including: Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Hitachi, RCA, JVC, Mitsubishi, Pioneer and Magnavox. There are multiple sizes of the HDTV available, from as small as 13 inches to as large as 85 inches!

3 types to choose from

There are three different formats that offer the HD technology, including: CRT (paints the image onto the screen. This style is perfect in any lighting condition and from every angle.), LCD (uses 2 different polarized, transparent panels to house a liquid in the middle.) and the Plasma (digital images at a high resolution are created.). Be sure to do a little research to find the format that you will prefer.

Rear-projection CRT televisions are older technology. CRT TV's use three separate cathode ray tubes to create red, green, and blue and the TV combines the three beams before magnifying and projecting the image. The image quality isn't as good as Plasma or LCD technology.

Flat-Panel LCD TVs (liquid crystal display) technology are designed to create sharp, bright images in any lighting condition. LCD flat screen TV models work by shining light through pixel cells, with each cell containing a red, green, and blue component.

Plasma TVs are the thinnest of all types of high definition televisions. You can find a huge range of widths, from 36, right up to 72" inches that offer amazing color accuracy and saturation.

The 2 different types of HDTV

There are two types of hdtv systems, ones that are HDTV-ready and other systems that have an integrated system. HDTV-ready is the definition for a television that is capable high definition programming with the installation of a receiver or tuner. An integrated system is a television with a built in HDTV receiver enabling you to watch programming right out of the box.

If you are not sure as to which brand, size or format you prefer, there are many resources that you can access to make the decision a little easier. Other consumers, that have made a purchase of an HDTV, have written HDTV reviews on their TV of choice. These reviews are unbiased in that some may be favorable and other may not. One thing you can count on is that these reviews are not biased; everyday consumers, like yourself, write them. No one likes to spend their hard earned money on a product that they would have never given a second glance, had they been forewarned. Well, with reviews and ratings from other consumers, you will have a “heads up”!

When you are in the market for a great new TV, the HDTV is a perfect choice! There are many sizes, styles, formats and prices available. You should have absolutely no problem finding the perfect one for your home or business. If you demand only the best in your life, the HD style TV will fit right in!

About the Author: Chris Vorelli is a successful writer with info HDTV reviews & Plasma TV reviews. Find information on Sony plasma TV, Pioneer Plasma TV, Panasonic plasma TV models and more. Reprint permission given will all hyper links intact. © http://www.hdtv-n-plasma-tv-reviews.com/

Welcome

2006-07-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our HDTV review blog.
We'll discuss and review HDTV products available on market.
Make sure to visit our blog often to read our latest HDTV article and reviews.
Thanks.