[martok2112]

HI-DEF VIDEO with the right tools is simply stunning.

For several months now, I've had a nice LG HDTV (42 inch screen, 1080p 60Hz). It was great to watch blu-rays on, (via my Sony PlayStation 3) and play video games with. But, even when watching Blu-Rays, I could tell something was amiss. The blu-ray movies really didn't look much better than DVD's, except maybe just a little sharper.

That all changed today, when I got my new HDTV from Samsung (46 inch screen, 1080p 120Hz). Amazing what a difference another 60Hz made.

Granted, right now, the top of the line TV's are 240Hz or better, so by some standards, I got another out-dated TV. However, since I'm not entirely sold on the whole "3D TV" hype yet, 120Hz would suit my needs. And it has served well.

I inaugurated my new purchase by watching the 2009 movie of Star Trek. I could IMMEDIATELY tell the difference as soon as the Paramount logo blazed on the screen at the start of the movie. The stars were sharper, and more vivid, the mountain looked less like a CG model, and more like a physical model. After going through the opening logos, my jaw dropped as the first actual footage from the movie came up. It was simply stunning. The contrast was razor sharp, the characters and foreground objects stood out. And the movie that I had been so used to seeing in a rather film-grain visual now looked like it was shot on videotape (and I say that in a good way). Shiny objects looked much more lifelike. I felt like I was there on the bridge of the Kelvin. And the spaceship shots.....WOW! They looked less and less like CGI models, and again, more like physical models...the way the hull reflected light. To some degree, the live character shots looked almost like something you'd see in the old PBS/BBC Doctor Who productions....but with better quality.

I actually had to pause the movie and step away a few times, I was so stunned with what I was seeing. (BTW, I gave my old HDTV to my roomie, since his HDTV had burned out....yeah, I'm a generous guy like that. He, in turn, is going to cover my Special Edition Halo Reach Xbox 360 purchase.)

Well, I finished watching the movie, and decided to see how my blu-ray of the Star Trek Original Series Season One would look. I popped on my favorite episode, "Balance of Terror". Again, I was blown away.

If anyone remembers the classic look of the older series "Dark Shadows", that's what the blu-ray presentation of Star Trek Season One reminded me of. Again, the contrast, the characters, and even the space shots just gave me pause. I could not believe I was watching a show from 1967. The grainy look was gone. It was as if, just with the Star Trek movie, the series had been shot with a completely different camera.

I'm anxious now to see how my video games will look.

I realize, again, I've bought relatively outdated tech, but for my purposes, there's no buyer's remorse here.

[Futureguy]

Originally Posted by martok2112

HI-DEF VIDEO with the right tools is simply stunning.


If anyone remembers the classic look of the older series "Dark Shadows", that's what the blu-ray presentation of Star Trek Season One reminded me of. Again, the contrast, the characters, and even the space shots just gave me pause. I could not believe I was watching a show from 1967. The grainy look was gone. It was as if, just with the Star Trek movie, the series had been shot with a completely different camera.

I'm anxious now to see how my video games will look.

I realize, again, I've bought relatively outdated tech, but for my purposes, there's no buyer's remorse here.

I've got a 720, but compared to what I had last year, this is sooooo much better. One of the Grandchildren has seems to have made some kind of "impact" on the screen and there is now a dark spot about the size of a 2yr olds hand.

Dark Shadows? I use to rush home after school to catch the last 15-20 minutes of the original afternoon broadcasts. Most remembered are the on set mistakes that always made it through to viewing. Seems that there were practically no "retakes" on the budget the show had. Imagine if ST had the same restrictions, though I do know the budget was pretty tight toward the end.

[martok2112]

Originally Posted by Futureguy

I've got a 720, but compared to what I had last year, this is sooooo much better. One of the Grandchildren has seems to have made some kind of "impact" on the screen and there is now a dark spot about the size of a 2yr olds hand.

Dark Shadows? I use to rush home after school to catch the last 15-20 minutes of the original afternoon broadcasts. Most remembered are the on set mistakes that always made it through to viewing. Seems that there were practically no "retakes" on the budget the show had. Imagine if ST had the same restrictions, though I do know the budget was pretty tight toward the end.

Yeouch! Sorry to hear about the (I'm gonna guess) paw print on your screen. Big disadvantage to flat panel LCD's.....and I risk I certainly take every time I buy one...especially a computer monitor. Thankfully, I have no kids.

Yeah, that would kinda suck if you didn't have the budget to do retakes of a shot....almost as if DS was shot live. And yeah, imagine if the original ST lacked a shooting budget that permitted retakes.

It does deliver a certain bit of honesty in the performances though, eh?

[kevin]

I only just got a Blu-Ray player and while it's not played on a TV that size it is a HD TV and even with upscaling the results were impressive between that and the DVD played through my old DVD player.

[Saquist]

yeah...120 is life like...
after coming from 60 it looks like you're watching everything prerecorded...at 120...it's like everything is live. It's the only way to watch TV.

240 is even better.

[martok2112]

Indeed, I imagine 240Hz is off the hook. I wanted to get a 240Hz, but those were out of my price range for the moment.

If I recall correctly, I think I've even seen a couple of plasma TV's with a 500Hz range. If that's the case, I couldn't even imagine it.

However, I'm not a big fan of plasma TV's. (Video games and computers are not good for plasmas, even though current model Plasma TV's do apparently have some kind of burn-in rectification feature, I just wouldn't wanna chance it.)

I've got the entire series of the new Battlestar Galactica on Blu-Ray, and started watching the miniseries last night again. Holy FRAK! It looks like a completely different show in 120Hz.

[Saquist]

60 MHz is enough to fool the eye.

Normal long tube florescent lights flash at exactly 60 MHz. But the moment they begin to fail you start to see them strobe in some cases this looks like simply flashes in other cases it looks like pulse traveling from one end of the tube to the other.

Past around 100 MHz the human eye can't really tell the difference 120 is more than enough and 500 is simply excessive. What it does do however is make slow motion functions on the DVR clearer and blur far more reduced when observing action and adds to clarity but this isn't typical movie watching.

[NCC-73515]

You need 1.21 GHz!!!

[horatio]

Wow, that's some crazy sh*t, I am still happily living in the last millenia with my small old-school CRT TV.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by horatio

Wow, that's some crazy sh*t, I am still happily living in the last millenia with my small old-school CRT TV.

Well, if it ain't broke..........

I only bought a Blu-Ray player because my DVD player went kaput. When the TV I have goes, then I'll upgrade to one the size of a window!