Some Good news & bad news for gamers looking for HDTV.

SAMSUNG new SLIMFIT HDTV, which is a new CRT technology which is 20cm less thick than traditional CRT.


http://www.samsung.com/my/products/television/ctv/index.asp

No mention of price at the website but i guess it should be < LCD & Plasma otherwise there's no point to this product.

Bad news...it doesn't support 720p...only 1080i/480p and some weird 576p??? resolution.

So XBOX gamers...look elsewhere unless you only want to play in 720p.

This post has been edited by Matrix: Oct 27 2005, 01:36 PM

Projection TV is not recommended for video games, i think it's because easy to burn in?? All projection TV got this warning in user manual.

hI,

Can tell which model is it?

I'm currently looking for a new HDTV...since my old 29" SDTV KO liao, it gives me a good reason to!!

But i've a hard time deciding. My current choice is the SONY DB29M61 which is currently the ONLY CRT HDTV which supports 1080i/720p/480p/576p etc...and i think it's the cheapest HDTV in the market!!(Only RM1900).

However, i'm also looking at the Philips Pixel Plus 2(the old Pixel Plus models all sold out i guess) and saw some on display in SENQ. Can't remember the price though.

Pixel Plus really makes a difference, i think it's the best looking of all the technology mumbo-jumbo of other tv's out there. However, as highlighted by other poster, the Philips model only plays 480p and 1080i.

So i'm wondering, can i play 720p XBOX games with Philips TV? Does it do upscaling (or whatever conversion) to 1080i??

Really headache...cannot decide!!

So your tv arrive already? I think it's kinda risky buying some tv from China...sometimes specs doesn't tells everything....the quality of the image might not be satisfactory.

Seriously, for that price, i'll rather go with Pixel Plus 2.... it beats everything, HDTV or not!

Anyway, good luck and be sure to let us know the result when you got it!

Lord Ashe: Can u tell me whether your Philips TV does upscaling/conversion of 720p to 1080i??

Example, when u play SC2 (XBOX) on your TV, how do you know which resolution it's running? Is it set from the game or TV?? Does it runs SC2 in 720p mode by upscaling to 1080i??

I think need to check out the Pixel Plus 2 prices soon.

Thanks...keep me updated!!

btw, just check out the price of the Pixel Plus 2 TV 29"(same like yours i think) at SENQ...SENQ prices cheat people one....their "member price"(pay RM12 to join) is actually the standard retail price. Ex: they charge RM2099 for the SONY DB29M61 and RM1999 for "member price"....when RM1999 is the standard retail price elsewhere.

Anyway, it's RM2999(non-member) and RM2799 for the Pixel Plus 2 TV (29")...means that it's about RM400 > than when you bought!!! You definitely have a good deal!!!

Anyway, i've checkout the quality of 3 models...SONY DB29M61 and Philips Pixel Plus 2 and Philips non-Pixel Plus HDTV.

Although the input isn't the best (only normal composite...it's hard enough to get those dumb showperson to test the thing for you with DVD video...most of them doesn't seems very interested in entertaining customers and isn't very tech savvy...asking them for component input will probably get a negative answer like "don't have", "don't know", "cannot"...pick your choice), the Pixel Plus 2 TV clearly blows away the Philips non-Pixel Plus HDTV.

It is also significantly superior to SONY's DB29M61 model, although i can't do a side by side comparison. But the DB29M61 does hold it's own and is pretty good, although it's inferior to the Pixel Plus 2 TV.

So the verdict:
PP2 > SONY DB29M61 > Philips non-PP HDTV.

I think i'm leaning towards the SONY model now...almost 1K difference wor...

kobe8byrant:
PANASONIC HDTV?? As far as i'm concerned, PANASONIC CRT TVs sucks. I don't think their HDTV conforms to the typical HDTV standard..with weird 833i mode....what the heck is that!!! Also, image quality lose out to both SONY and PHILIPS. I highly recommend you forget about any PANASONIC TV.

SONY has the best price/performance HDTV right now (< RM2K...apa lagi mau??), while Philips Pixel Plus 2 is the KING of the hills if you've the dough. Samsung new SLIMFIT TV also very interesting...but a bit pricey RM4300 and the image quality isn't very good ( or maybe the source video sucks...like every showroom in Malaysia...maybe need to ask them show proper DVD video to determine the result).

Another new contender for HDTV:

TOSHIBA 29JZ9UES
http://www.toshiba.com.my/servlet/svtUProd...02400&func=tech

The PDF clearly state it supports 720p and 1080i!!!!! Woow!!

But TOSHIBA model is very hard to find in showroom nowadays (i think their marketing and dristribution channel is very weak) and thus can't determine the quality. However, i really like my old TOSHIBA 29" SDTV (about 7 or 8 years....now RIP) and in terms of image quality it trounce my crappy 20" Panasonic anyday.

Anyway, if any of you guys do have experience with the TOSHIBA HDTV, do drop a post!!!

Eh? HSL got branch in One Utama meh?? Where ah? New wing? Old wing?

Anyway, there's also one shop i can recommend. It's DESA HOME THEATER SYSTEM in Kepong and Low Yat Plaza. At least the staff their treats their customer properly!!! Bought my HT system from the Kepong branch last time, quite okay service. Also been to LYP branch to check out some TV sometime ago...staff was okay...also maybe can bargain a bit....hee-hee.

I've been to Harvey Norman to browse, but didn't see the SONY DB29M61 or the PHILIPS PP2 model.

Been to Best Denki One utama also, but the staff there isn't very helpful either...maybe just my bad luck. but i don't think i see any PP2 CRT TVs there either.

Anyway, I will check out HSL ASAP!!

Yep. And their latest plasma/lcd promotes useless features like 8 BILLION colours...errr...don't they know the human eye cannot differentiate > 16 MILLION colours?? This kinda marketing gimmick leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, trying to cheat people who's not aware that their product is "better".


This post has been edited by Matrix: Dec 7 2005, 09:46 AM

I think the info there is wrong. It is known that SC2 supports 720p and has been mentioned in various reviews in online sites.

btw, how do u disable the 480p/1080i mode? From software or tv??

Updated:
Check http://www.hdtvarcade.com/xboxlist.htm properly again.

SC2 XBOX support 720p ler..

This post has been edited by Matrix: Dec 10 2005, 11:15 PM

Thanks. Now i know why i don't have such option...:0

btw, just read that XBMC can upscale DVD movie to 720p/1080i from 480p...and i was thinking about buying an expensive RM1K+ DVD player for that...ha-ha!

Feel sorry for you man...kena con by china conman......seriously it's better to buy a Philip Pixel Plus or even SONY HDTV locally for that price....if problem occurs (touch wood)...who can fix and where to find spare parts?? A bit risky...

Anyway, hopefully you won't have any problems with it!

btw, just saw Toshiba HDTV on display in SENQ The Curve. Dunno about the quality as the input is probably some sucky composite signal...can't tell...but i think the price is a bit high..can't remember exactly. think RM3K+ but not sure whether it's for 29" or 34".

Lord Ashe: Also saw the Philips 29" Pixel Plus 2 at HSL (Mid Valley)...wah-lau...how come so expensive one?? I think either RM2999 or RM3999!!!! Maybe wrong price tag ah........

Gotta go check out DESA when got free time.

Yeah...when you surf US sites...you can see a lot of models reviewed which is not available here...dunno why. And i actually think LCD and PLASMA ain't all that great if you look closely...but then again...with the crap setup in our Malaysian showrooms...who can tell anything!!!

I guess so...some of those ASTRO signal are so bad it look worst than all the TV's in my house!!! I guess those splitting and splicing of the signal has taken it's toll.

I think the reason they've such a poor setup is they're uneducated (in terms of product knowledge) coupled with no directions from their management/supervisor ( who probably tell them to sell the most expensive product to customer where possible, and if not possible, just sell them anything!!). The problem is they're still taking that the customers nowadays are ignorant like maybe 10 years ago and just try to con their way out by bombarding people with all sort of tech jargon (without knowing what it means themselves).

They still haven't realized this is year 2005 already.....*sigh*....

I thought you've gone mad when you said "knowledgeable staff" and was about to send you 10,000 flame mails but luckily i've read your last note....ha-ha!!!

Sometimes really dunno laugh or cry at the pathetic morons at most AV and electrical shops who is so ignorant and sometimes LCLY when they know NOTHING....

Aginggamer: Interested in ur gadget...what it is suppose to do? Send wireless signal to ASTRO DMT unit??

Wooi yoh! Got such thing ah!! I'm interested!! My ASTRO is connected to 3 TV's (ha ha! Try beat that! ) When i'm upstair i cannot change channels as the remote is downstair!

So anyone has actually a working unit of this kinda gadget?? Where can buy this? Pasar Road??

No! No! No! 100Hz is NOT progressive scan at all!! It simply shows the images at double the frequency PAL(50Hz)=>100Hz, NTSC(60Hz)=>120Hz. It's just like ur monitor frequency. Try setting it to 60Hz and you'll feel kepala pening. The monitor should be set to 85hz and above to get a stable image.

Ur standard CRT shows 480i (interlaced), meaning it only shows half of the horizontal resolution (240) of frame 1 and then the other half of frame 2. Thus, you get to see 2 frames been "interlaced" every 1/25th or 1/30th second depending on PAL or NTSC.

With progressive scan. you see the FULL frame every time, thus your images are much much sharper, just like ur monitor.

Also, even with progressive DVD player, currently the DVD media are not really encoded properly. I read some tech stuff which i can't really understand, but it basically means the quality even with progressive scan TV and DVD player, it's not really 100% progressive due to current DVD media are encoded, but still much much better than crappy interlace.

btw, when ur watching in HDTV mode, you won't get 100Hz/120Hz as it'll drop to 50Hz/60Hz. But due to the stable full frame images, u won't get flikery images even at lower refresh rate.

Lord Ashe: how i get 3 TVs to ASTRO? 1 use composite AV, then an RF splitter behind the DMT unit to go upstair to 2 TVs.

Actually, all the major HDTV brand uses some kinda line doubler technology...vertically and horizontally. Some even got the nerve to call it line-quadrauple due to this...ah well...u can't argue with marketing people...

Actually, some line doubler does really good job, and in Pixel Plus 2 case...exceptional job! (although the images does look a bit hyper realistic at time...but i can't say that's a con).

SONY uses DRC (Digital Reality Creation), another propriatery algorithm which does a good job.

TOSHIBA recently promote their METABRAIN tech...same thing, different algorithm.

IMO, line doubler is okay. But things like "100Hz" is just frame doublers!!!!

Mua...ha...ha...just bought a SONY DB29M61 for my HDTV gaming needs!! But too bad delivery only next Monday...*sigh*...

After much comparison, i decided to go for this as it seems to provide the best bang for the buck with reasonably good picture quality (but game picture quality still dunno yet..)

Have also bought a SONY DVD player NS50P(or something like that) (my old chaplang DVD which cost more than the SONY DVD player also died together with the TV) also. But forgot whether to ask component cable is included or not....i have a sneaky suspicion they'll only give ultra crappy composite cable.

Since i already habe a HI-DEF pack for the XBOX, XBOX is not a problem. However, i dun have PS2 component cables. Anyone know how much one of this?

Also, i might need to get a straight component cables for the DVD player if it's not included. Where to get these and how much? Pasar Road?

Actually, i dunno whether the SONY DVD player good or not. But it does have optical out compared to some other models like LG/JVC etc etc. I find it strange very few models has optical output. Even my Chaplang DVD player got optical out!! I dun like messy cables...linking what...5 analog cables for the surround sound to my amp is not a pleasing idea.

I was also thinking about the SAMSUNG SlimFit TV since it has wide screen. But the colour seems kinda dark and it's about 2 x the price of the SONY HDTV. I figure the price of LCD might come close to this in hopefully a years time or so. (fingers crossed). Better wait another 2 years or so for an LCD TV.

I'll update this thread once my TV arrive and sample some games and movies on it.

Cheers!

BTW, anyone knows where to find COMPONENT cable selector and how much?? The TV only got 2 component input...I need 3 currently and maybe more in the near future.

Any recommendations?

Thanks. Just checkout the review of the farmer box and seems like most reviews by users are favourable!

I wonder if i can get this at shop locally? Try my luck first before ordering online...btw, how did u pay to LIK-SANG? Via PAYPAL? Last time only accept Paypal, now i dunno. PAYPAL very leceh-ler. I prefer to pay by credit card.

What do you think of those cheap PS2 component cables? ok or not? The official SONY one is RM100+, while the 3rd party is only < RM30 (based on the price at the online websites).

I'm thinking of buying from Play-Asia if i can't get these 2 items locally.