bought this tv Panasonic VIERA TC-P50S30 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

and so far it looks like **** in my mind...I've searched around on some forums but all i see is people arguing over what is the best plasma...not a simple setup guide for this specific tv. My eyes actually hurt after awhile watching this tv lol. Leaning towards returning it and getting same tv my brother has - VIZIO Edge Lit Razor LED - XVT3D424SV - 42" LED-backlit LCD TV. When i watch like TNTHD or MLB HD and then go watch it on his TV...looks way sharper and crisper on his while mine seems like its fuzzy at times especially during quick cuts from light to dark etc. Also if u are a foot or two away from TV you can clearly see like blurry ness

http://reviews.cnet.com/4351-12658_7-6583301.html

A helpful reference guide when comparing Plasma vs. LCD.

hey guys, i posted this in hsnl, but someone suggested i might get a better response here. thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

im in a tricky spot and hope someone can offer advice, or point me in the direction of some. i have a 50" pioneer kuro, and i really love(d) it. unfortunately, two weeks ago i managed to hit the bottom of the screen with a remote as i spun around to tell my dog to chillax. this slightly cracked the tv on the inside of the glass; it was still smooth and unbroken on the outside. there were 4 or 5 'spokes' coming out of the impact point and the whole thing was an inch in diameter. when i turned on the tv it was fine, but there was a slight discolouration where the mark was. it was unnoticeable on most channels, but visible on some color schemes. i was unsure how to proceed and watched a few hours of tv over the course of a few days to 'monitor' the issue. while i was in the other room, my friend was watching the tv when a small white 'fireball' shot from the mark, making the crack worse and leaving an additional foot long crack. the tv wont turn on and the standby light is now flashing. i bought the ultra-expensive extended warranty from the store and am still within it, however i dont believe it covers physical damage and ive read this store (major chain) is a real slut with this stuff. is there any case to be made for having the warranty fully or partially cover this, or is there any hope to repair a tv like this for less than what it costs for a new one?

im beginning to think that i dont have much of a shot at repairing the tv, which is unfortunate. i have considered that my relatively comprehensive renters insurance might cover this, so i will check with them, although i am skeptical. im starting to feel like my only option is to engage in a (futile?) attempt to get this covered by my expensive warranty with the retailer, and be as "vague" in describing the issue (and accident) as possible. i still feel like im walking into a slaughter and would like a more appealing option, but nothing about this is very appealing.

sorry to bug you guys with this, but im really unsure of how to proceed. any replies or pms would be very much appreciated.

This may not be good advice, but I would relate the story to them the same way you did here. Your expectation is that they will not cover it. The worst they can do is match your expectation. They may do something better than that, though they probably won't pay the entire amount to get you a new TV.

The first problem led to the second one, but the second one could have burned your house down. I hope you've unplugged it, even though it appears to have some sort of automatic shutdown when stuff like that happens.

I'm pretty sure your TV is toast, though, and I would imagine it would probably just be better to find something you like as much or more, likely for less money than you bought your original set.

Definitely attempt to repair the Kuro if possible. If not, you can probably sell it to some videophile on AVS as is. They worship that tv over there.

Based on his telling of what happened, it sure sounds like something got very badly fried. It may not perform at anywhere near the level it did prior, or it could cost a lot to repair.

However, if someone is willing to buy it from him, in its present condition, that's a very good out.

Futureshop is having a crazy BOGO sale for Sennheiser headphones at the moment link

I'm thinking of getting this model: Sennheiser Wireless Headphones (RS160)
link

I have an Onkyo TX-SR507 receiver. product page

*edit* I'm a total moron, read the fine print below

Is it possible for me to hook up both wireless headsets to my stereo? (answered in bold, disregard this question)

Would you guys suggest this set?

After further research I went with the slightly pricier Sennheiser RS 170. Most reviews I read said the 170 has richer sound, better bass and sounds better while gaming and watching movies. now i can watch movies late and night and not wake the wife or neighbors (i live in a 1 bedroom apt)

for like a visio led lcd tv is there an actual huge difference between 120hz and 240/480? I've heard the 480 is actually bogus but the 240 can make a difference with sports and gaming etc...but actually makes movies worse

Hi all - what do you guys think of soundbars? Generally my understanding is they are pretty weak, however Yamaha just released this:

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YAS-101...=1A1DVLQZ4HKPF

No reviews I could find online, but it promises to deliver more robust sound and calibration.

Thoughts on this particular model, or soundbars in general? I'm definitely not an audiophile, just want slightly better sound than I've got working today (older Onkyo 5.1 budget speaker system), and the presence of only one speaker for the soundbar is appealing to me.

Do you know if they sell these at Best Buy, and have them set up in areas where you can listen to them? All flat screen TVs these days sound like sh*t, and I am open to go checking soundbar type stuff out for you, to tell you if I think they're any good, if you're interested.

I believe they are at Best Buy - I'll probably stop by myself to check it out - if you end up listening to them, be great to hear what you think!

I have one and it's fine if you're not a serious whatever snob (I say that in the nice way, I'm snobby about a lot of stuff but TV isn't one of them).

On a bang for the buck basis, for the casualTVfan they're the way to go IMO. Huge improvement over built-in tv speakers.

pvn - thanks, that's what I sort of thought (I am def not an audiophile on any level, very much a casualTVfan).

Also, they're pretty cheap so if you decide you want to buff up your system later you're not out that much and you can just re-use it in whatever other room.

I went to Best Buy today, and they didn't have the one you were asking about, but I did a decent evaluation of the Sound Bars they had there.

The way it interacts with the TV appears to be weird, in that it appears you have to have the sound up, in the TV, in order for the Sound Bar to work (at least this was how it was set up at Best Buy). So, what you will notice is that there is a slight delay between the TV sound and the Sound Bar (with both playing at the same time). That's an extremely undesirable effect for me, and you will hear a slight echo.

I thought most of the Sound Bars they had on display (the Sony one didn't work properly), sounded pretty crappy. However, there were two I thought were decent, that you should listen to. Your choice would be dependent upon what type of "sound" you are looking for.

My first choice is this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insignia...bar&cp=1&lp=15

It has a very nice dialog sound, and it isn't as boomy as the other Sound Bars. It was placed much lower to the ground, than my other choice, so the TV "delay effect" wasn't as noticeable, and I was only listening, as opposed to watching the screen and listening.

My second choice is this (it has a satellite subwoofer that I think produces a somewhat undesirable effect, based on tastes, so if there is a way to listen without the subwoofer, or if you can EQ the Sound Bar, it would likely sound better):

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+...0bar&cp=1&lp=7

The voices sound relatively clear, but the subwoofer still produces a boomy effect, though it is not as undesirable as the rest of the Sound Bars I listened to.

Sound Bars appear to be set up to try to address the consumer complaint of there not being enough bass in the flat screen TV speakers. I think they overcompensate, and thus can ruin a good listening experience (in the opposite direction of the crappy flat screen speakers). I can't guarantee my choices, in any way, but I think the Insignia is a very solid choice, at a very nice price point. It also has connections to add a subwoofer, if you want to do that.

Take a listen in the store, and let me know if my ideas match what you hear. I thought the Polk Sound Bars sounded awful, and so did the Boston Audio one. So, I would avoid those, unless there is EQ available inside the box.

I sure would like to hear that Yamaha one, so if you find out where you can listen to it in person, I would like to do that.

I have a soundbar attached directly to my TV (Vizio 42" LED whatever) via optical cable. There is a setting in the TV that completely disables the speakers.

I'm guessing the best buy ******s just don't know how to twiddle the settings correctly.

I hope so. When I was there, I immediately turned down the volume on the TV, and no sound came from the Sound Bar. Obviously I thought that was pretty stupid. I was still able to get a good idea of what the stuff sounded like, though.

Do you have a link to the model of Sound Bar you have? Do you use it with a subwoofer?

I have this:

http://www.vizio.com/vsb200.html

it has subwoofer output but I don't use it. It's got plenty as is for me, but I'm casualTVfan.

I've had that for about a year and haven't had any problems with it. just set my remote to control it, set the TV to disable speakers, and boom, done.

I do remember reading some stuff on like AVSforum before I got it that some TVs don't have a setting to disable their internal speakers. But even if I have the internal speakers on, the volume is independent (i.e. I can adjust the TV volume without changing the soundbar volume).

Do you use it with or without the SRS stuff (which I hate)?

If I had one of these things, I would just turn the volume all the way down on the TV.

I don't have a need for one of these, right now, since I'm monitoring through the same set up I use to do sound mixing, but if I ever add a second flat screen, I will definitely want something like this.

I bet, within the next few years, that these things are going to become ubiquitous, once the "issues" are solved. Flat screen TV sound really sux, and I wish it wasn't that way. I still love the way my Toshiba 50" cabinet HDTV sounds, and it's almost 10 years old. It's a shame that they've taken away the ability to listen in a nice way through the internal speakers. TV should not sound like it's coming from a laptop, and you shouldn't have to spend an extra $500 bucks to get something that sounds decent, in my opinion...

It reminds me so much of how movies are so wrapped up in the idea of visual storytelling that they forget that making the voices sound good is an integral part of the audience's enhanced enjoyment of the movie. Dam you, lav mics!

I am pretty sure I don't use the SRS stuff. But like I said, I set it up one time and forgot about it. IIRC, I tried it with and without SRS and with sounded ****tier.

SRS tends to eff up the stereo, and the compression is unbearable to me. I always turn all that stuff off in Blu-ray players and TVs. If you noticed that it didn't sound as good, you're at least one step above the average consumer. I had some decent results, in the past, with SRS TruBass, but I still don't think it was any good. They're all just psychoacoustic effects.

DRC is the thing you want to turn off in your DVD/Blu-ray players to get the full experience, if you didn't know that already.

Why do they even have that crap?

"hey, let's add a button that makes our product look/sound like a total piece of ****!"

"BRILLIANT!"

Here's "why":

In the late 90s, I remember reading an article in The Hollywood Reporter (shortly before I wiped my azz with it) that asked a question to a bunch of movie theater attendees. The poll was phrased this way:

If you had a volume knob that you could control, while watching the movie, would you?

A. Turn the volume up overall
B. Turn the volume down overall
C. Turn the volume up and down throughout the movie.

The poll had the overwhelming result of C, which I felt was an extreme indictment of film mixers/mixing, at the time. In TV, we have had our levels restricted for a really long time. Due to that, we tend to have mixes that don't have wide dynamic ranges, while movies certainly do. In a way, you can say that the consumer had become "used" to the sound of TV programming, and wanted movies to be the same way.

So, often what happens on TV is this. Movies sound too low, TV programs sound okay, and promos/TV spots sound way louder than the programming. This wide disparity between the various types of programming is the problem TV/DVD/Blu-ray manufacturers are trying to solve. The first thing we were given was the DRC, which I think first started showing up in early DVD players. This "enhancement" came because the consumer would complain that the dialog was too soft, and that the music was too loud (not to mention the sound of the home video trailers before the movies). See 1970s movie mixing for extreme examples of this phenomenon, and to a large degree all the way back to the 1930s. DRC would compress the music, and raise the voice, thus squeezing the dynamic range, making it more like a TV program. However, the major issue with this is that it was never intended to sound this way, and basically destroys what the mixer was trying to create.

In the last 5 years, flat screen TVs have become very prevalent, and because of the small width of the "cabinet", you can't put in a full range speaker. So, the few consumers that have these TVs without a 5.1 system, said that the sound was too small and unrealistic. This is why SRS technology was developed, to make the sound "bigger". Unfortunately, that is mostly accomplished by throwing the signal out of phase, or having a very active narrow band EQ (in other words, just effing with your head). Again, these things destroy the mixer's intention, and should basically be avoided at all costs.

Now, we have the Sound Bar, evidently. This is kind of an amalgam between the old school TV speakers you would have in 19" TV, with some speaker quality enhancements. Adding the subwoofer can give it more dimension, but I have a feeling most of these Sound Bars are truly intended to not be used with subwoofers. Everyone is all about the "slick" look these days, and Sound Bars help fit people into that, as long as they still mount their flat screen on a stand. It gives a cleaner line, which people like. The largest advances in home theater technology, in my opinion are likely going to come from the improvement of these. $250 is much easier to drop on one of these, than $500 or more from a true 5.1 set up (as flat screen purchases rise, as the costs fall, a lot of the consumers will be living in apartments that will not "allow" them to have a true 5.1 set up). Many of those people, upon buying their first flat screen HDTV, will be upset to know, once they get home, that the TV they just bought sounds like crap (because these types of TVs are nearly always expected to be set up with satellite speakers). So, how do we meet the consumer halfway? They're still trying to figure that out...

From a mixing perspective, things have already changed significantly in the last 5 years, and more major changes are coming. There is something going through Congress called the Loudness Mitigation Act. People are mad that commercials are so loud, and they're sick of turning their TVs up and down. So, in response to this, Congress is devising a law that would force a standard upon everyone creating content for television. Smart people are already implementing the basic standard, but many will wait until it's too late, which means the quality of their product will suffer while they adjust. Product suffering means loss of work, which means loss of money, and potentially loss of job. Nearly all of network TV programming has already implemented the standard (each has a slight variation of what they want), and within probably the next 5 years, at the most, everyone in the business will be expected to adhere to those standards. The hardest people to get on board are those that are mixing TV spots, and their come down is going to be very painful...very painful.

Sorry for the length, but that's at least a little of the history behind the stupid "improvements" put into TVs and media players.