Tv...........hd Or Hd Ready?

[sleepyjohn]

hi

I'm choosing between two Philips models.I have highlighted below the only bits that concern me....they're nearly identical otherwise.

Basically the first is cheaper and HD Ready. The second is Full HD.

I have started doubting if this means very much in day to day terms.

Someone told me today there are very few programmes transmitted on UBC, and certainly WE TV, which are HD.

This evening I asked in the quality videoshop on the corner of the airport entrance road if the DVDs there were HD. She categorically said no.

So when would I gain advantage from having the higher resolution? It seems possible to me, a non-expert, that by the time more HD has arrived the TVs will be half the price for a better spec anyway.

Am I wrong?

phillips tv 32pfl5409s

Aspect ratio Widescreen

Brightness 450 cd/m²

Dynamic screen contrast 50 000:1

Response time (typical) 5 ms

Viewing angle 178º (H) / 178º (V)

Diagonal screen size (inch) 32 inch

Diagonal screen size (metric) 81 cm

Display screen type LCD WXGA+ Active Matrix TFT

Panel resolution 1366 x 768p

Picture enhancement Pixel Plus HD, 3/2 - 2/2 motion pull down, 3D Combfilter, Active Control + Light sensor, Color Enhancement, Dynamic contrast enhancement, Jagged Line Suppression, Sharpness Adjustment, Dynamic Noise Reduction, 2D/3D noise reduction, 1080p 24/25/30Hz processing, 1080p 50/60Hz processing

Screen enhancement Semi-glare

phillips tv 32pfl5609s

Aspect ratio Widescreen

Brightness 500 cd/m²

Dynamic screen contrast 50 000:1

Response time (typical) 5 ms

Viewing angle 178º (H) / 178º (V)

Diagonal screen size (inch) 32 inch

Diagonal screen size (metric) 81 cm

Display screen type LCD Full HD W-UXGA Act. matrix

Panel resolution 1920x1080p

Picture enhancement Pixel Plus HD, 3/2 - 2/2 motion pull down, 3D Combfilter, Active Control + Light sensor, Color Enhancement, Dynamic contrast enhancement, Jagged Line Suppression, Sharpness Adjustment, Dynamic Noise Reduction, 2D/3D noise reduction, 1080p 24/25/30Hz processing, 1080p 50/60Hz processing

Screen enhancement Semi-glare

cheers

ps: While I'm at it, there's a USB port on the side.

He told me I could play movies from a thumb drive. Is this correct?

[dave_boo]

I went with the HD ready; as you've mentioned there is no (AFAIK) broadcast to actually take advantage of in Thailand.

HOWEVER, should you decide to get a Blu-Ray player you'll have shortchanged yourself. Furthermore if you hook up your 'puter the higher resolution will be better.

LivinLOS will chime in; he knows much more about this than I though.

[garyh]

Soon you may be watching TV programmes from the internet and movies are available this way. Also Blue ray movies are full HD, it will not be long there will be a lot of full hd content.

[khundon]

Go for the full 1080p, anything else is a waste of money if you are thinking of watching Blu-ray.

[surface]

Guys, he's getting a 32" set. Unless he is sitting 7 inches away from the TV he will never notice the difference in quality between the HD Ready and Full HD units. I have a hard time seeing the difference with 46" units at more than a couple feet away.

My suggestion is to get the HD Ready set if it is a good deal cheaper AND the image quality is comparable to the Full HD set. A quality plasma HD Ready set @ 32" will blow away a 32" Full HD unit. At that size, and larger sizes as well, the quality of the picture and other features such as inputs & outputs is much more important than the resolution.

Edited November 17, 2009 by surface

[garyh]

Guys, he's getting a 32" set. Unless he is sitting 7 inches away from the TV he will never notice the difference in quality between the HD Ready and Full HD units. I have a hard time seeing the difference with 46" units at more than a couple feet away.

My suggestion is to get the HD Ready set if it is a good deal cheaper AND the image quality is comparable to the Full HD set. A quality plasma HD Ready set @ 32" will blow away a 32" Full HD unit. At that size, and larger sizes as well, the quality of the picture and other features such as inputs & outputs is much more important than the resolution.

A HD ready will blow away a FULL HD, you may need to get your eyesight checked.

[Beggar]

HD Ready ist cheap because those TVs are history - hard to sell if not over the price. It means that they can handle HD contents. But it is not the full HD 1920x1080p. If you want to see the pixels 1:1 with HD there is no other option than full HD.

If you want that the TV calculates the picture down to 1366 x 768p then go with HD Ready. But I rather prefer the real picture and not the picture of whatever calculation. Just decide for yourself.

But if you decide to watch no HD contents anyway but the old standard - the old TV will be still the best for it.

Edited November 17, 2009 by Beggar

[sleepyjohn]

Thanx for all the (conflicting!) advice.

You know, I'm not a real TV addict, hence the modest 32 inch rather than some room-filling big black lump.

The price diff is 22k opposed to 27k baht, not a huge amount, but hey.

It seems that for a couple of years at least there will be little or no difference in my viewing.

If I download from the net hey it may not be HD but that hasn't killed me in the past!

Perhaps my choice is nearer......but not quite made.

Questions:

1 As for net downloads, will they stay available in a playable-for-HD-Ready format for some years do we think?

2 There's a USB port on the side.

The man told me I could play movies from a thumb drive (which presumably I could load from my laptop having downloaded from the net). That sounds good. Does this sound correct?

Edited November 17, 2009 by sleepyjohn

[garyh]

1 More and more will be available off the net as time goes by, movies on demand etc, internet tv channels, there is a lot of free content already on the net, not much is HD but that will come.

2 As long you have the correct file format you can play off the thumb drive, another option is to plug the computer into the tv and use it as a monitor.

[surface]

A HD ready will blow away a FULL HD, you may need to get your eyesight checked.

I think you have that backwards, and besides, we're talking 32" here. If you can see the difference on a 32" TV from less that 12" I commend you on your eagle vision.

Regardless, for 27k vs 22k get the Full HD simply for the resale value alone. With 99% of people out there thinking they will see a difference on a 32" set (as is evidenced by this thread) then you're sure to have an easier time unloading it if the time comes.

Edited November 17, 2009 by surface

[garyh]

A HD ready will blow away a FULL HD, you may need to get your eyesight checked.

I think you have that backwards, and besides, we're talking 32" here. If you can see the difference on a 32" TV from less that 12" I commend you on your eagle vision.

Regardless, for 27k vs 22k get the Full HD simply for the resale value alone. With 99% of people out there thinking they will see a difference on a 32" set (as is evidenced by this thread) then you're sure to have an easier time unloading it if the time comes.

I stand by what I said you said "A quality plasma HD Ready set @ 32" will blow away a 32" Full HD unit" How can hd ready 1366 x 768p be better than full HD 1920x1080p ?????? Have you tried reading text as a computer monitor on a hd ready and full HD, there is no comparison.

[damole]

When I was buying my LG 37" HD ready LCD a couple of years ago I read this article, at that time the price differential was huge so the decision to go with the lower res was easier. I live in Chiang Mai and have WETV also which to be honest looks better on my friends 29" CRT TV. I use it to game and it's makes an excellent monitor and I don't really think 1080p would add that much to my overall gaming experience.

I think the only way to know for sure, assuming you care enough, would be to download some film trailers in 720p and 1080p, find a laptop with hdmi out, take it along and actually see for yourself with your own eyes.

[surface]

A HD ready will blow away a FULL HD, you may need to get your eyesight checked.

I think you have that backwards, and besides, we're talking 32" here. If you can see the difference on a 32" TV from less that 12" I commend you on your eagle vision.

Regardless, for 27k vs 22k get the Full HD simply for the resale value alone. With 99% of people out there thinking they will see a difference on a 32" set (as is evidenced by this thread) then you're sure to have an easier time unloading it if the time comes.

I stand by what I said you said "A quality plasma HD Ready set @ 32" will blow away a 32" Full HD unit" How can hd ready 1366 x 768p be better than full HD 1920x1080p ?????? Have you tried reading text as a computer monitor on a hd ready and full HD, there is no comparison.

Nobody mentioned using the monitor for reading text. The OP wants to know if there is a difference with TV, DVD, etc., content. All of the replies said Full HD is so much better, but I'm saying that the quality of the image varies greatly from model to model to such an extent that Full HD vs HD Ready doesn't mean much. In the case of the OP, he's choosing between 2 models of the same brand, so there is likely not much of a difference in image quality to be concerned with, especially as the price difference is so small.

If the OP plans to use the TV as a 32" monitor and have it 12" from his face then 1920 is will obviously give more real estate than 1366, but the text will not be any more readable, just a bit smaller. Windows does quite well at rendering fonts. If you're sitting 2+ meters away from the TV, you'll likely find reading text at 1920 on a 32" TV is near impossible, except for people like you with eagle eyes. I find it hard on my 40" unit from such distances at 1920 unless using larger fonts.

I don't think there are many people that would claim a Full HD LCD produces a better quality image than a good 1366 plasma, even running 1920 source material. Not anyone that has actually seen both side by side at least.

[monty]

If you want to watch TV, then go for HD ready. There won't be be full HD TV programming here anytime soon!

If you're into watching movies, then definitely go for full HD. A playstation 3 is not that expensive anymore and plays Blue-ray disks.

I have seen 2nd hand blue ray discs in Pantip plaza already. Additionally, with the speed of internet slowly creeping up, downloading full HD content is getting feasible.

Along with cheap big hard drives to store them

Full HD content watched on full HD equipment is literally stunning!