Plasma, LCD or LED?

Zepher said:

seavixen32 said:

As you've found out, all have their pros and cons.

For me personally, I would:

1) Discount plasma on running costs alone as they need more power.

2) Prefer not to go for LCD as picture quality is not so good.

3) Have found that an LED set gives me what I want, which is reasonable running costs combined with good picture quality.

Also, definitely go for HD, it is far superior in terms of picture quality.

If you are buying a large screen-size TV, do take into account your room size as the bigger the screen, the further away you need to sit so as not to see pixelation.

LED TV vs LCD TV : LCD TV Buying Guide covers LED vs LCD

LED and LCD are the same (both use LCD Panels, just different backlighting).
Plasma has the most natural picture and colors.

So what you will recommend me to get? On your opinion....
Do you think Panasonic TH-P50U30K is okay?
And do anybody know what is the problem why the TV that have USB cannot detect my external hard disk?
And I'm using MKV files, is it okay ?

seavixen32 said:

If you are really undecided as to which format to go for, a good TV retailer will let you try out each one at home for a few days.

That way you can make your choice on what you see in your environment rather than relying on other peoples' perceptions, whose TV viewing area may be totally different to yours.

One thing I have found out is that TVs in a retail environment are usually set up to give the best picture for that environment, and you may need entirely different settings at home.


You have other things to consider as well. Will you want a home cinema setup with it? Will you want a Blu-Ray DVD player and/or recorder to use with your new TV?

Okay...
I dont really need a home cinema setup because all my neighbour is annoying.
And I also don't need Blu-Ray DVD player and/or recorder to use with my new TV.
I going to use to watch movie downloaded from the internet, which is usally MKV 720P.
Do I need to let you test a sample of the file?
I heard that I need to buy something like a converter and use it with my hard disk or pen drive to play these format on other brand of TV which support USB because I tested a Samsung Plasma and all format is working and some other brand doesn't work fine.

seavixen32 said:

I can't answer your query about downloaded films as I never use them, but someone else should be along shortly.

Well is okay....
Anyway, thanks for all the suggestion and help given to me just now.

If the TV has DLNA capability, streaming is actually quite simple.

Basically, connect it to your router and either:
Install Nero Media Home (which may come with it, & works really well)
or
turn on media Streaming in WMP and your good to go.
Just go to the My Media section on the TV, and start streaming Videos.


Although I can not speak for other brands, I know mine supports MKV, MP4 containers as well as most popular stream types such as .. H264 video, AAC and AC3 audio.


I would think that any TV that has DLNA capability would be quite similar.

Wishmaster said:

If the TV has DLNA capability, streaming is actually quite simple.

Basically, connect it to your router and either:
Install Nero Media Home (which may come with it, & works really well)
or
turn on media Streaming in WMP and your good to go.
Just go to the My Media section on the TV, and start streaming Videos.


Although I can not speak for other brands, I know mine supports MKV, MP4 containers as well as most popular stream types such as .. H264 video, AAC and AC3 audio.


I would think that any TV that has DLNA capability would be quite similar.

I see.
Can I know know about the audio file... "dts" is it?
If the TV does not support it, then there is no sound coming out from the TV right?

If its an unsupported stream, you should get a invalid file message. It will likely refuse to play it at all.

But to know for sure exactly what is supported, once you've decided on a TV & if it has DLNA, you'll need to look up its DLNA supported file types.


If, for example, it does not support DTS you have 2 options.
Recode the DTS Audio track to AC3 or whatever type is supported
OR....
Use a media server that can transcode on the fly, such as TVersity or Nero Media Home.
Both of these have a free version, which streams your media as is.
The paid versions are the ones that can transcode on fly, so it would be an additioanl expense.

However, it would be easier & cheaper to recode the Audio track to a format that is supported by the TV.
Simply because, unless you are using a High End Home Theatre, you will not likely tell any difference between DTS and higher bitrate AC3.


But thats getting into something entirely different than Plasma vs LCD/LED ..
So Ill try not to derail anymore :)

All of this is pointless unless you decide you want a TV with this feature anyway.

Thanks for the info mate :)
So how do I recode the audio format? And will it take a long time to do it?