Greetings all fellow-Toshiba aficionados!
I have finally entered the brave new world of larger-than-27-inch-tvland with the purchase of a Tosh 51H84C which I have been very pleased with it for the month or two I've had it. As with many in the forum I am a repeat Toshiba customer, this TV replaces a seven year old 27" that has been great.
Having read the user manual, etc. on the unit, as well as most of the posts here (which have been very enlightening, especially JohnnyG's), I am interested in getting the most from my set (yeah, I know, kinda like every other tv geek here). I am currently feeding my tv with digital cable (a la Cogeco and a Motorola DCT2500 - I long for hdtv but am disillusioned by the limited content vs. the price increase), tv out on a htpc (NVidia card), and an older Panasonic dvd player (model number escapes my memory at the moment, but it is a mid-range model from three or four years ago).
My current DVD player is not progressive scan, though I was able to reconfigure it to output 16x9 instead of 4x3 and I did purchase some component video cables instead of the S-Video I had been using (I don't honestly think I could tell the difference, but I didn't do extensive a-b comparisons). From my understanding of what I have read, I think that the tv will upconvert the signal to 480p in order to display it - though I'm not 100% convinced. I have read that some tvs have decent upconversion chips while others have poor ones. I also understand that if the dvd player does the conversion to progressive scan, that it occurs while the signal is still in the digital realm. The manual indicates that the tv can be configured to upconvert 480p signals to either 540p or 1080i, but doesn't seem to say what it is capable of with only a 480i signal. The dvd picture quality is good, although I can now tell the difference between a good quality mastered disc and a low budget mastering.
So, finally, my questions
For others who have a 51h84 or similar model, did you notice a big difference in moving from a 480i dvd player to a 480p one? I am trying to decide if I should buy a progressive scan player now or wait until I can buy one with HDMI output.
Also, I did expect, based on what I read, that the SD picture quality would look poor, but, wow, it really looks bad. I'm sure that the quality of the signal is partially to blame - not sure what my options are there besides calling the cable company for a signal quality analysis.
And, finally, I know that the best picture quality would be from having a professional calibration, etc. but that isn't an option right now, so I am left with a diy job with a diagnostic dvd. Am I the only one that is too cheap to spend $40 or $60 for Avia or DVE when I know I'll only use it very infrequently? Anybody find either at their local library or blockbuster (I did read about someone in the states renting dve from blockbuster, but when I inquired at my local outlet they looked at me like I had three heads)? So if I decide I am not too cheap to just go buy one, which one do you prefer?
Thanks everybody for this great forum and community
I have finally entered the brave new world of larger-than-27-inch-tvland with the purchase of a Tosh 51H84C which I have been very pleased with it for the month or two I've had it. As with many in the forum I am a repeat Toshiba customer, this TV replaces a seven year old 27" that has been great.
Having read the user manual, etc. on the unit, as well as most of the posts here (which have been very enlightening, especially JohnnyG's), I am interested in getting the most from my set (yeah, I know, kinda like every other tv geek here). I am currently feeding my tv with digital cable (a la Cogeco and a Motorola DCT2500 - I long for hdtv but am disillusioned by the limited content vs. the price increase), tv out on a htpc (NVidia card), and an older Panasonic dvd player (model number escapes my memory at the moment, but it is a mid-range model from three or four years ago).
My current DVD player is not progressive scan, though I was able to reconfigure it to output 16x9 instead of 4x3 and I did purchase some component video cables instead of the S-Video I had been using (I don't honestly think I could tell the difference, but I didn't do extensive a-b comparisons). From my understanding of what I have read, I think that the tv will upconvert the signal to 480p in order to display it - though I'm not 100% convinced. I have read that some tvs have decent upconversion chips while others have poor ones. I also understand that if the dvd player does the conversion to progressive scan, that it occurs while the signal is still in the digital realm. The manual indicates that the tv can be configured to upconvert 480p signals to either 540p or 1080i, but doesn't seem to say what it is capable of with only a 480i signal. The dvd picture quality is good, although I can now tell the difference between a good quality mastered disc and a low budget mastering.
So, finally, my questions
For others who have a 51h84 or similar model, did you notice a big difference in moving from a 480i dvd player to a 480p one? I am trying to decide if I should buy a progressive scan player now or wait until I can buy one with HDMI output.
Also, I did expect, based on what I read, that the SD picture quality would look poor, but, wow, it really looks bad. I'm sure that the quality of the signal is partially to blame - not sure what my options are there besides calling the cable company for a signal quality analysis.
And, finally, I know that the best picture quality would be from having a professional calibration, etc. but that isn't an option right now, so I am left with a diy job with a diagnostic dvd. Am I the only one that is too cheap to spend $40 or $60 for Avia or DVE when I know I'll only use it very infrequently? Anybody find either at their local library or blockbuster (I did read about someone in the states renting dve from blockbuster, but when I inquired at my local outlet they looked at me like I had three heads)? So if I decide I am not too cheap to just go buy one, which one do you prefer?
Thanks everybody for this great forum and community