Hdtv And One Crazy Wife

[LANCASTER]

My wife and i will move into bangkok from lancaster ,california next month for 4years .We love MBK and thai food. But my wife keeps bugging me about TV in thailand . She addited to HDTV , is anyone have any idae about HD system available in bangkok?

[britmaveric]

Don't thinking they are broadcasting in HDTV - might be a problem for you.

[Chiuey]

Sorry to burst your wife hopes but HDTV is still a few year away in Bangkok. We only just got digital cable recently...

[Nordlys]

HD ready TV set is available from Sony in Thailand though.

[OldAsiaHand]

And on top of that, if she's a TV addict, you'd better prepare her well for UBC. Having nothing to watch but a few old Steven Segal movies, endless repeats of Fear Factor, and CNN/BBC/CNBC is likely to plunge her into culture shock pretty quickly.

[Crossy]

HDTV, no chance, low bit-rate digital satellite (UBC) is the best you will do.

Bring a LOT of DVDs (buy a player here, most will play NTSC Region 1 disks no problem).

Look here for programming details of UBS, just to break it to your lady gently

http://www.ubctv.com/default.aspx?

Click the download schedule link in the black area on the right.

Prepare for an ear-bending

[LivinLOS]

HD DVD Your only options..

[taxexile]

...... and you lose ubc when it rains.

[Chiuey]

HD DVD Your only options..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

HDTV is more High Def than DVD's it's almost insane.....

[corkscrew]

My wife and i will move into bangkok from lancaster ,california  next month for 4years .We love MBK and  thai food.  But my wife keeps bugging me about TV in thailand . She addited to HDTV , is anyone have any idae about HD system available in bangkok?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Of course, our air in BKK is not up to the optical clarity standards that your wife is used to in California. So, you could easily lie to her that BKK does in fact have HDTV...but it's because the intervening air (between the screen and her eye balls) deteriorates the picture that she sees.

Another option: leave the wife in Lancaster and spend the next four years in BKK sans her. Many American husbands would spring for that option.

[LivinLOS]

HD DVD Your only options..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

HDTV is more High Def than DVD's it's almost insane.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I said HD DVD !!!

I work with HiDef codecs and compression I am acutely aware of the difference.. As a Microsoft MVP I have been testing and working with the media division on their HiDef WMVHD releases for a few years.. The 1080p versions are far and away better than you will have seen on the 1080i or 720p broadcast HiDef in the US !!!

[OldAsiaHand]

...... and you lose ubc when it rains.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And that's the GOOD news.......

[george]

My wife and i will move into bangkok from lancaster ,california  next month for 4years .We love MBK and  thai food.  But my wife keeps bugging me about TV in thailand . She addited to HDTV , is anyone have any idae about HD system available in bangkok?

Another option: leave the wife in Lancaster and spend the next four years in BKK sans her. Many American husbands would spring for that option.

Excellent! The Quote of the Day!

[Chiuey]

I said HD DVD !!! 

I work with HiDef codecs and compression I am acutely aware of the difference.. As a Microsoft MVP I have been testing and working with the media division on their HiDef WMVHD releases for a few years.. The 1080p versions are far and away better than you will have seen on the 1080i or 720p broadcast HiDef in the US !!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My Bad.... But that sounds really sweet though!!! know of any films that are released in that format yet?

[muldoon]

I said HD DVD !!! 

I work with HiDef codecs and compression I am acutely aware of the difference.. As a Microsoft MVP I have been testing and working with the media division on their HiDef WMVHD releases for a few years.. The 1080p versions are far and away better than you will have seen on the 1080i or 720p broadcast HiDef in the US !!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My Bad.... But that sounds really sweet though!!! know of any films that are released in that format yet?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yes, you can get wmvhd on amazon, although the online drm may prohibit playback outside usa.i think there are a few offline drm titles.

dvd hd and blueray are still duking it out. so not much, if any, content in these formats available on the mass market yet.

divx hd is available, but i've only seen trailers.

you can also get pirated,compressed high def in .ts format online if you have enough bandwidth.

but, AFAIC, dont even bother with high def if you dont have good gear in the first instance to play it(high def plasma, surround system etc....)

[Chiuey]

yes, you can get wmvhd on amazon, although the online drm may prohibit playback outside usa.i think there are a few offline drm titles.

dvd hd and blueray are still duking it out. so not much, if any, content in these formats available on the mass market yet.

divx hd is available, but i've only seen trailers.

you can also get pirated,compressed high def in .ts format online if you have enough bandwidth.

but, AFAIC, dont even bother with high def if you dont have good gear in the first instance to play it(high def plasma, surround system etc....)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well I switching from my 42" Projection to a new 50"+ HD TV end of this year prob, and my DVD player is set up to view Region 1 DVD's (Denon, region programmable) with 6.1 sound....

Lookig forward to see some of this crazy shit out on DVD.

[LivinLOS]

Most plasmas are not really High Def anyway.. a good 1280x720p (bare min for High Def) runs at many multiples of a 480 or 576p plasma.. There are a few good ones out there but they are big bucks currently.

[Nordlys]

Most plasmas are not really High Def anyway..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How about LCD TV? I heard they have detailed enough resolution that they are all HD ready, is that true?

[LivinLOS]

In theory yes.. In practice maybe..

HDTV ready is a marketing trick to mean it will accept a HiDef signal out of a HiDef decoder... Does noty mean it will actually display that HiDef signal in its true Hief glory..

Check the TV's specs for native resolution.. Thats the important thing with these fixed pixel display devices..

[muldoon]

Most plasmas are not really High Def anyway.. a good 1280x720p (bare min for High Def) runs at many multiples of a 480 or 576p plasma.. There are a few good ones out there but they are big bucks currently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i bought a 50 inch high def pioneer plasma in nzl for 9000 nzd(261,000 baht)

[muldoon]

yes, you can get wmvhd on amazon, although the online drm may prohibit playback outside usa.i think there are a few offline drm titles.

dvd hd and blueray are still duking it out. so not much, if any, content in these formats available on the mass market yet.

divx hd is available, but i've only seen trailers.

you can also get pirated,compressed high def in .ts format online if you have enough bandwidth.

but, AFAIC, dont even bother with high def if you dont have good gear in the first instance to play it(high def plasma, surround system etc....)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well I switching from my 42" Projection to a new 50"+ HD TV end of this year prob, and my DVD player is set up to view Region 1 DVD's (Denon, region programmable) with 6.1 sound....

Lookig forward to see some of this crazy shit out on DVD.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

a single dvd does not have enough storage capacity for hd.that is why standards such as dvd hd and blueray are emerging/competing.they allow for more data to be stored on a disk. these will require a compatible player ie:your current dvd player can not pay blueray or dvd hd disks.

[LivinLOS]

That depends entirely on the comprsssion codecs used..

I can compress well over 2 hours of 1280x720p WMVHD or DIVX HD content onto a dual layer disc and unclude a multi channel high rez audio track also..

Now getting a 1920x1080p onto a disc and having a multi channel audio track I would not be able to use DTS or DD very often for a feature film.. I might be able squeeze it in (just) if it was sub 1 hour or I was using WMA pro multi channel compression.. In both of these setups I doubt that a untrained eye on a normal (high end) display device would be able to see the compression work done..

Of course it helps that a 2.35:1 ratio film will not use the full 16:9 pixel array so often you can use 1920x816p (for 2.35 ratio film) which already has just bought you a large additional slice of storage capacity..

Of course I am not advocating this over HD-DVD or Blue Ray as long as these technologies dont have horribly restrictive DRM (I also play with creating whole house media servers and content distribution in the home) which I suspect they will.. The next high end format should have room for lossless encoding of perhaps up to 12 tracks of audio and a high bitrate video space..

[LivinLOS]

Most plasmas are not really High Def anyway.. a good 1280x720p (bare min for High Def) runs at many multiples of a 480 or 576p plasma.. There are a few good ones out there but they are big bucks currently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i bought a 50 inch high def pioneer plasma in nzl for 9000 nzd(261,000 baht)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you know which model ???

I like pioneers range.. they tend to have faily good blacks which creates good depth and they do have a lot of models that are 1280x768.. Thier elite models run up to about 20k MSRP though (thats what I mean about high def panels being lots more than the rest) from about 9k entry on thier high end lines, well outside my comfort zone compared to what I would get in a projection technology at that money.. Thier 'affordable' one in the purevision line according to the webste is 12k USD in 50 inch size.. The Elite line is even more painful.. Those are MSRP's of course and they dont get that if you shop hard..

If you scan ebay.com theres entry 42 inch plasmas at 1000 - 1200 USD on clearance and name brand stuff like pioneer / LG / Samsung etc starts at around 2k - 3 for very good sets.. With a price of 80 - 120k baht that kinda puts to shame any deals I see in Thailand by a major margin..

My advice with plasma is make sure you demo the type of panel.. The early designs were low brightness and high black level leading to a fairly flat image like earlier LCD projectors... I would take a lower rez (say 1024x768 in 16:9 format) vibrant bright image with high contrast over a higher rez one with less image fidelity (like having superb but not very loud electrostat speakers).. To be honest at viewing distances over 10 feet or so my eyes are less able to resolve the res over the color / blacks etc.. Hence why I prefer front projection as a display solution..

[LivinLOS]

Most plasmas are not really High Def anyway.. a good 1280x720p (bare min for High Def) runs at many multiples of a 480 or 576p plasma.. There are a few good ones out there but they are big bucks currently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i bought a 50 inch high def pioneer plasma in nzl for 9000 nzd(261,000 baht)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you know which model ???

I like pioneers range.. they tend to have faily good blacks which creates good depth and they do have a lot of models that are 1280x768.. Thier elite models run up to about 20k MSRP though (thats what I mean about high def panels being lots more than the rest) from about 9k entry on thier high end lines, well outside my comfort zone compared to what I would get in a projection technology at that money.. Thier 'affordable' one in the purevision line according to the webste is 12k USD in 50 inch size.. The Elite line is even more painful.. Those are MSRP's of course and they dont get that if you shop hard..

If you scan ebay.com theres entry 42 inch plasmas at 1000 - 1200 USD on clearance and name brand stuff like pioneer / LG / Samsung etc starts at around 2k - 3 for very good sets.. With a price of 80 - 120k baht that kinda puts to shame any deals I see in Thailand by a major margin..

My advice with plasma is make sure you demo the type of panel.. The early designs were low brightness and high black level leading to a fairly flat image like earlier LCD projectors... I would take a lower rez (say 1024x768 in 16:9 format) vibrant bright image with high contrast over a higher rez one with less image fidelity (like having superb but not very loud electrostat speakers).. To be honest at viewing distances over 10 feet or so my eyes are less able to resolve the res over the color / blacks etc.. Hence why I prefer front projection as a display solution..

[muldoon]

Most plasmas are not really High Def anyway.. a good 1280x720p (bare min for High Def) runs at many multiples of a 480 or 576p plasma.. There are a few good ones out there but they are big bucks currently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i bought a 50 inch high def pioneer plasma in nzl for 9000 nzd(261,000 baht)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you know which model ???

I like pioneers range.. they tend to have faily good blacks which creates good depth and they do have a lot of models that are 1280x768.. Thier elite models run up to about 20k MSRP though (thats what I mean about high def panels being lots more than the rest) from about 9k entry on thier high end lines, well outside my comfort zone compared to what I would get in a projection technology at that money.. Thier 'affordable' one in the purevision line according to the webste is 12k USD in 50 inch size.. The Elite line is even more painful.. Those are MSRP's of course and they dont get that if you shop hard..

If you scan ebay.com theres entry 42 inch plasmas at 1000 - 1200 USD on clearance and name brand stuff like pioneer / LG / Samsung etc starts at around 2k - 3 for very good sets.. With a price of 80 - 120k baht that kinda puts to shame any deals I see in Thailand by a major margin..

My advice with plasma is make sure you demo the type of panel.. The early designs were low brightness and high black level leading to a fairly flat image like earlier LCD projectors... I would take a lower rez (say 1024x768 in 16:9 format) vibrant bright image with high contrast over a higher rez one with less image fidelity (like having superb but not very loud electrostat speakers).. To be honest at viewing distances over 10 feet or so my eyes are less able to resolve the res over the color / blacks etc.. Hence why I prefer front projection as a display solution..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

PDP505HDE PIONEER 50" PLASMA

50" (127cm) Plasma TV

HDMI (High Definition Multi Media Interface)

16:9/XGA, Resolution 1280 x 768

Contrast Ratio 1100:1, Peak Brightness 1000cd/m2

I have been very impressed with it to date.The only other plasma I have seen that comes close is the Marantz.

[LivinLOS]

That is a nice set.. I think its Thai price would be a lot more painful..

I hear through dealer channels that we are likely to see some serious competition from the LCD panel makers n the next 12 - 18 month product cycles.. LCD's incresing in contrast and brightness.. Sizes up to the 40 inch range and prices a lot lower..

I would like a 36 inch or so flat panel set for the bedroom.. Needent be the most superb display in the world..

[muldoon]

That is a nice set.. I think its Thai price would be a lot more painful..

I hear through dealer channels that we are likely to see some serious competition from the LCD panel makers n the next 12 - 18 month product cycles.. LCD's incresing in contrast and brightness.. Sizes up to the 40 inch range and prices a lot lower..

I would like a 36 inch or so flat panel set for the bedroom.. Needent be the most superb display in the world..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dont even know where to get Pioneer in Thailand. NZL prices aren't too bad. I'm toying with the idea of getting 2 wide LCD's to use as a wrap around duplexed computer monitor (with my PC running dual dvi outputs).

[LANCASTER]

Another option: leave the wife in Lancaster and spend the next four years in BKK sans her. Many American husbands would spring for that option.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Excellent! The Quote of the Day!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This option sounds really good .

[corkscrew]

Another option: leave the wife in Lancaster and spend the next four years in BKK sans her. Many American husbands would spring for that option.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Excellent! The Quote of the Day!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This option sounds really good .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Leave her with lots of money for buttered popcorn and a 4 year subscription to all the premium channels. Tell her you'll call home once a month if you are not too busy with work. And, remember to send a card on her birthday.

[SiamOne]

That is a nice set.. I think its Thai price would be a lot more painful..

I hear through dealer channels that we are likely to see some serious competition from the LCD panel makers n the next 12 - 18 month product cycles.. LCD's incresing in contrast and brightness.. Sizes up to the 40 inch range and prices a lot lower..

I would like a 36 inch or so flat panel set for the bedroom.. Needent be the most superb display in the world..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I saw a demo yesterday of a LCD versus a plasma display, both high end latest models

the LCD was worlds better, no contest