peytonbarclay
New member
Buying a new LCD HDTV, will be connecting it to a DirecTV HD DVR receiver, but my existing DVD library is all in standard definition (as well as...gasp...all my old VCR tapes), and I don't plan on instantly throwing all that media away in favor of Blu-Ray. I'm going to need (I assume) to buy a new DVD player that will upconvert my SD DVDs to 1080i (maybe there's a Blu-Ray that will do that too), doubt there's anything I can do relative to the VCR except hook it up via the appropriate connectors. Of course, I'll use HDMI cabling for the DirecTV and new DVD player.
At any rate, I've heard horror stories that SD content looks like crap on an LCD HDTV (in terms of graininess) compared to the picture I'd get on my old tube TV. I know about setting the format to 4:3 for non-widescreen HD stuff, just more concerned about general SD picture quality. Do some HDTVs do a better job of presenting a high quality SD picture, and if so, which ones? I'm looking at a "budget" model (Philips, Vizio, Toshiba, LG, Sharp) in the 42-47" range, preferably 120Hz, trying to keep the price under $900. I'd consider paying a little more for a Samsung or Sony if they will display a far better SD picture than the other brands. Does anyone have any recommendations (or want to steer me away from certain brands/models)? Am I worrying needlessly?
At any rate, I've heard horror stories that SD content looks like crap on an LCD HDTV (in terms of graininess) compared to the picture I'd get on my old tube TV. I know about setting the format to 4:3 for non-widescreen HD stuff, just more concerned about general SD picture quality. Do some HDTVs do a better job of presenting a high quality SD picture, and if so, which ones? I'm looking at a "budget" model (Philips, Vizio, Toshiba, LG, Sharp) in the 42-47" range, preferably 120Hz, trying to keep the price under $900. I'd consider paying a little more for a Samsung or Sony if they will display a far better SD picture than the other brands. Does anyone have any recommendations (or want to steer me away from certain brands/models)? Am I worrying needlessly?