Blu-Ray and HDTV questions?

Question

Help, i'm looking for some tech pro's in the home theater department.

Basically I'm looking to upgrade from a 52inch RCA rear projection TV to a Plasma or LCD television. At my local Wal-Mart I was interested in the Vizio brand. They had a 46 inch in plasma and LCD the LCD was cheaper by 10 dollars. Both are 720p TV's Is Vizio a good brand and is it worth the $735 it was listed at?

I do NOT want to spend over $1,000 on a TV I know people keep talking about 1080P and all that but what if I just got a 720p tv and a Blu-Ray player. Would I be able to notice a difference really??

And since Im looking for a Blu-Ray player, how do I achieve HD sound? Such as DTS HD or Dolby HD? Do you achieve this THROUGH the Blu-Ray player and INTO your audio receiver? Or, do you have to have a receiver capable/with DTS HD, Dolby HD, etc.??

Thanks!

Answer 1

Both are 720p TV's Is Vizio a good brand and is it worth the $735 it was listed at?

The prices of TVs are falling all the time. No matter what you buy in 6 months the price will be lower. In a year for sure. So in that sense no TV is worth what you pay for it. Vizio is a moderate quality bargain brand. Compare it to other sets of the same quality and judge for yourself if it is worth it.

Would I be able to notice a difference really??

With a 46" screen you would be able to tell the difference between 720 and 1080. It is not that huge a difference but it is visible.

And since Im looking for a Blu-Ray player, how do I achieve HD sound?

To get high definition sound you need BOTH a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player AND a receiver that is Dolby-TrueHD and/or DTS-HD capable to decode that sound, as well as speakers good enough to show off the better sound. You will need to set the Blu-ray player to use the highest quality sound but it is a one time setting. Your receiver if it is set to auto should automatically choose whatever sound the player is sending to it. Also you need an HDMI cable to transmit HD sound. No other type of hook up will do it.

And in case you are curious there is quite a difference between HD sound and standard sound. Standard sound is 16 bit compressed, and HD sound is 24 bit lossless.

Answer 2

At the price point / equipment quality level you are aiming for I don't think you will benefit appreciably from Blu-ray. Sure, it will be a bit better than upconverted DVDs ... but not that much and it will cost you a lot to get what improvement you do.

It really doesn't make much sense to me to have to spend $300 or more on a Blu-ray player you will watch on a budget TV. And if you want to benefit from lossless audio tracks -- one of the main reasons to upgrade to Blu-ray -- you are going to need a pretty good audio system, including a receiver with capability to decode lossless audio (or a player that does it ... which are hard to find and expensive).

Frankly, I'd put money into the HDTV and audio system and ... for now use DVDs.  Wait a year before buying Blu-ray ... players will be more mature (Profile 2, built in HD audio decoders, more choice of models), prices will be lower and, in the long run most important, choice of Blu-ray movies will be better and disk prices will be a lot lower.

But re your specific questions.

Visio is popular but there have been quality/reliability problems with the brand. $735 is a good price, but prices will continue to come down so buy on the basis of quality/features ... not just price.  Plasma uses more power but is better with ambient light in the room and (usually) has better blacks (more "pop" to the images).

Resolution is the 4th most important determinant of picture quality (after dynamic range/contrast, colour saturation and accuracy), so keep it in perspective.

See the link for advice re whether 1080p is worthwhile.

HD audio formats can be decoded in a receiver (newer ones with HDMI inputs are increasingly capable of this) or in a player (although few exist yet ... so most players require an external receiver to provide advanced sound formats. See the 2nd link for an overview.

Answer 3

Since you're going to be getting a Blu-ray player, if you want the most out if it, you'll want to get an LCD TV that can display 1080P.  I have seen it in the stores, and it blows away 720P and even 1080i.