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Basket of Kittens
Feb 22, 2008

Across the Rio Grande

Aphrodite posted:

According to HDMI.org...





The device on the other end also has to be ARC compatible.

How infuriating.

So if I were to hook the HDMI of the TV to this thing:

http://sewelldirect.com/HDMI-toHDMI-Audio-Spdif-35mm-Extractor-Adapter-with-ARC.asp

Which claims to have ARC, then run a SPIDF to the soundbar (running PCM since the zvox doesn't have a dolby decoder) it should work right?

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UnfortunateSexFart
May 18, 2008

𒃻 𒌓𒁉𒋫 𒆷𒁀𒅅𒆷
𒆠𒂖 𒌉 𒌫 𒁮𒈠𒈾𒅗 𒂉 𒉡𒌒𒂉𒊑


Bonobos posted:

If you are gaming that's no contest, get the Sony. The w802a reportedly one of the smallest input lags of any tv in its size. You want this for gaming. Otherwise you will get annoying delays before your button presses are registered.

Do any new higher end tvs really have bad input lag anymore? My new Samsung UN65H7150 is supposed to be mediocre according to rtings but it's just as good as my Sony XBR, and I play lots of twitch games (FPSes/sports).

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

Basket of Kittens posted:

How infuriating.

So if I were to hook the HDMI of the TV to this thing:

http://sewelldirect.com/HDMI-toHDMI-Audio-Spdif-35mm-Extractor-Adapter-with-ARC.asp

Which claims to have ARC, then run a SPIDF to the soundbar (running PCM since the zvox doesn't have a dolby decoder) it should work right?

That's probably a question for a different thread. I have no clue.

burnsep
Jul 3, 2005
Can anyone comment on whether Amazon Prime instant video will play in any location outside the US without VPN?

Aronodachi
Mar 27, 2010
I'm looking for a new TV 50-55 inches under $1000. It'd mostly be used for gaming and sometimes streaming video. I think i've settled on the Vizio M501D-A2R which is available at Best Buy for $800. Does anyone have any experience with this set or have any other recommendations?

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

burnsep posted:

Can anyone comment on whether Amazon Prime instant video will play in any location outside the US without VPN?

It works with Unblock-US so that usually means yes on VPNs.

Premium US-only services like that usually don't bother to actually block VPN or anything because they require a US credit card to register, which tends to be a big enough block on its own.

Richard M Nixon
Apr 26, 2009

"The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker."
Can I ask about projectors in here? The 'suggest a cheap projector' doesn't have an OP and isn't really active. I'm looking for a projector 101 article somewhere that I can use to learn about all the factors I need to consider when looking at projectors. Stuff like what is throw distance, how does zoom affect quality, and does it matter that my living room has an entire wall made out of windows?

I was hoping AVS forums would have a good thread on projector 101 stuff, but I couldn't find one. Any good primer material would be great.

Bonobos
Jan 26, 2004

Richard M Nixon posted:

Can I ask about projectors in here? The 'suggest a cheap projector' doesn't have an OP and isn't really active. I'm looking for a projector 101 article somewhere that I can use to learn about all the factors I need to consider when looking at projectors. Stuff like what is throw distance, how does zoom affect quality, and does it matter that my living room has an entire wall made out of windows?

I was hoping AVS forums would have a good thread on projector 101 stuff, but I couldn't find one. Any good primer material would be great.

Benq w1070

Bonobos
Jan 26, 2004

leidend posted:

Do any new higher end tvs really have bad input lag anymore? My new Samsung UN65H7150 is supposed to be mediocre according to rtings but it's just as good as my Sony XBR, and I play lots of twitch games (FPSes/sports).

You'd be surprised. A lot of the LG tvs are not so great for input lag. Even game mode not so great. Samsung is hit or miss depending on what forum you visit. Again, all this is anecdotal. I've never seen / used these tvs, your experience may may be different.

As far as I read the sony 2013 tvs are better than the 2014 versions, but I can't substantiate that at this moment.

Input lag is a subjunctive thing, some don't notice at all. I'm super sensitive to it, hence why I did some reading on which perform better towards this aspect.

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

Sony changed the panel for 2014 or something, and people think the 2013 was better.

Bonobos posted:

Input lag is a subjunctive thing, some don't notice at all. I'm super sensitive to it, hence why I did some reading on which perform better towards this aspect.

Eh, that depends on the game.

Everyone will notice lag in a rhythm game if it's bad enough.

8-bit Miniboss
May 24, 2005

CORPO COPS CAME FOR MY :filez:

Bonobos posted:

You'd be surprised. A lot of the LG tvs are not so great for input lag. Even game mode not so great. Samsung is hit or miss depending on what forum you visit. Again, all this is anecdotal. I've never seen / used these tvs, your experience may may be different.

As far as I read the sony 2013 tvs are better than the 2014 versions, but I can't substantiate that at this moment.

Input lag is a subjunctive thing, some don't notice at all. I'm super sensitive to it, hence why I did some reading on which perform better towards this aspect.

The LB6300 series from LG have low input lag right behind the 2014 Sony's. You have to set the input to game mode and change the name of the input to PC.

http://www.displaylag.com/best-hdtvs-gaming-2014-introduction/

Ouhei
Oct 23, 2008

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:
I currently have a 40" Insignia 720p plasma (which I'm 95% sure is a rebranded Samsung panel) and I'm looking to upgrade in the fall, I want to move up to 1080p and I'd like to get a Panasonic so utilize VIERA link on the sound system I picked up late last year. I was looking at this: http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/TC-50AS530U

Which seems like a pretty good deal, not high end for sure but 120hz rate, 1080p and LED?

I'll be using it for mostly Hulu/Netflix and PS4 gaming.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Woot is selling a bunch of refurb Vizios for cheap. Good prices, but only a 90 day warranty.

big mean giraffe
Dec 13, 2003

Eat Shit and Die

Lipstick Apathy

Ouhei posted:

I currently have a 40" Insignia 720p plasma (which I'm 95% sure is a rebranded Samsung panel) and I'm looking to upgrade in the fall, I want to move up to 1080p and I'd like to get a Panasonic so utilize VIERA link on the sound system I picked up late last year. I was looking at this: http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/TC-50AS530U

Which seems like a pretty good deal, not high end for sure but 120hz rate, 1080p and LED?

I'll be using it for mostly Hulu/Netflix and PS4 gaming.

Pretty sure viera link is just their name for hdmi-cec.

Hoopaloops
Oct 21, 2005
Anyone have any experience with this set? All the reviews I've found on it are pretty good, and it fits my requirements on a new TV pretty much to a T (50" or under and $1000 or under). It's also on sale today on Amazon, so that's a plus. Just wondering if I'm missing the boat on a better TV out there in my price range - my current set is mostly for TV and movies, so nothing too fancy.

Hoopaloops fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Jun 19, 2014

mune
Sep 23, 2006

Ouhei posted:

I currently have a 40" Insignia 720p plasma (which I'm 95% sure is a rebranded Samsung panel) and I'm looking to upgrade in the fall, I want to move up to 1080p and I'd like to get a Panasonic so utilize VIERA link on the sound system I picked up late last year. I was looking at this: http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/TC-50AS530U

Which seems like a pretty good deal, not high end for sure but 120hz rate, 1080p and LED?

I'll be using it for mostly Hulu/Netflix and PS4 gaming.

I'm also interested in this - I'm looking to get a great 60" TV that will mostly be used for Netflix and PS4 gaming and looking to spend <$1200. Is this feasible?

mune fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Jun 23, 2014

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

mune posted:

I'm also interested in this - I'm looking to get a great 60" TV that will mostly be used for Netflix and PS4 gaming and looking to spend <$1200. Is this feasible?

It's not terrible, but you do get what you pay for - according to this review:

http://reviews.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/panasonic-lcd-tv/panasonic-tc50as530u.html

Sorry, that review is pretty barebones, some of their others are much more in depth.

mune
Sep 23, 2006

GreenNight posted:

It's not terrible, but you do get what you pay for - according to this review:

http://reviews.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/panasonic-lcd-tv/panasonic-tc50as530u.html

Sorry, that review is pretty barebones, some of their others are much more in depth.

What about the Vizio M602I-B3? I've heard really positive things about it.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

mune posted:

What about the Vizio M602I-B3? I've heard really positive things about it.

That's the one I'll probably be buying next week. I've heard some terrible things about the remote, but that's it. AVSForums has a bunch of people who purchased it.

mune
Sep 23, 2006

GreenNight posted:

That's the one I'll probably be buying next week. I've heard some terrible things about the remote, but that's it. AVSForums has a bunch of people who purchased it.

I, too, looked at those forums while these were down and came to the same conclusion. I was interested to see if these guys agreed too.

My Best Buy story: I went to Best Buy and they kept trying to tell me I needed to buy a 240HZ TV (I did some independent research and found that wasn't the case), tried to sell me a $1600 TV, and then tried to sell me a $2000 TV when I told them it was way over my budget. gently caress Best Buy.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

I haven't been able to find that specific model at Walmart, Best Buy or Target. They seem to only have the 2013 models at the moment.

mune
Sep 23, 2006

GreenNight posted:

I haven't been able to find that specific model at Walmart, Best Buy or Target. They seem to only have the 2013 models at the moment.

They have it at my local Costco. The last thing I need to make sure is that it's a good TV for playing games on because I can't seem to get a straight answer re: input lag.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

mune posted:

They have it at my local Costco. The last thing I need to make sure is that it's a good TV for playing games on because I can't seem to get a straight answer re: input lag.

From everything I've read, it's pretty good as long as you change the mode to GAME on the HDMI port where you are gaming on. Goes from 300ms to around 25ms.

Incredulous Dylan
Oct 22, 2004

Fun Shoe
Trip report with the Sharp lc-70tq15u after two weeks. I am extremely pleased with the picture quality of this set. I don't know how all the sub-pixel stuff plays out exactly but the result is an awesomely crisp picture with an impressive color range. Watching that Amazing 4K Flowers youtube really shows off that range. Upscaling of 1080p sources is impressive and I'm having trouble finding a reason to switch over to my Blu Ray player vs Netflix. It comes default with an absolute ton of jacked up blues for that sort of bright, modern picture people can be attracted to. Imagine if the opening zoom shot in The Godfather looked like it was in a florescent lit room and you would have an idea of what the default settings for this TV can be like :/. Great settings for sports, games or more "modern" looking TV shows but not much of a look for a good movie imo. I personally tossed all that out of the window and went with the calibration settings AVS forum has experimented with. There are some adjustments to these in the following posts by that poster (mainly changing the color gamut to expanded and active contrast to standard as far as I have read) but it is a great starting point that I would recommend anyone with the Q+ line take a look into. This gets things back to normal and just focuses on delivering a proper picture.

You can't really escape light bleed with edge-lit TVs I guess but I am a bit unlucky in that I have two small areas of it that happen to be in the corners of the bottom black bar in films. Not really noticeable but one of those if you see it you can't un-see type of things I guess and it never interferes with the actual picture. With active contrast on standard the blacks are impressive but won't be beating a plasma or anything. I've never had a problem with what some call the "soap opera" effect but if you do have an issue with that you will want to avoid the AquaMotion 240hz setting (which I use despite the calibration guide). Ultimately, viewing a 70 inch across my living room seems to result in a fake 4K picture that rivals the 4Ks I saw at Best Buy. Getting the set for $2099.99 instead of some ridiculous 4K price tag didn't hurt, either!

ssb
Feb 16, 2006

WOULD YOU ACCOMPANY ME ON A BRISK WALK? I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU!!


Incredulous Dylan posted:

Trip report with the Sharp lc-70tq15u after two weeks. I am extremely pleased with the picture quality of this set. I don't know how all the sub-pixel stuff plays out exactly but the result is an awesomely crisp picture with an impressive color range. Watching that Amazing 4K Flowers youtube really shows off that range. Upscaling of 1080p sources is impressive and I'm having trouble finding a reason to switch over to my Blu Ray player vs Netflix. It comes default with an absolute ton of jacked up blues for that sort of bright, modern picture people can be attracted to. Imagine if the opening zoom shot in The Godfather looked like it was in a florescent lit room and you would have an idea of what the default settings for this TV can be like :/. Great settings for sports, games or more "modern" looking TV shows but not much of a look for a good movie imo. I personally tossed all that out of the window and went with the calibration settings AVS forum has experimented with. There are some adjustments to these in the following posts by that poster (mainly changing the color gamut to expanded and active contrast to standard as far as I have read) but it is a great starting point that I would recommend anyone with the Q+ line take a look into. This gets things back to normal and just focuses on delivering a proper picture.

You can't really escape light bleed with edge-lit TVs I guess but I am a bit unlucky in that I have two small areas of it that happen to be in the corners of the bottom black bar in films. Not really noticeable but one of those if you see it you can't un-see type of things I guess and it never interferes with the actual picture. With active contrast on standard the blacks are impressive but won't be beating a plasma or anything. I've never had a problem with what some call the "soap opera" effect but if you do have an issue with that you will want to avoid the AquaMotion 240hz setting (which I use despite the calibration guide). Ultimately, viewing a 70 inch across my living room seems to result in a fake 4K picture that rivals the 4Ks I saw at Best Buy. Getting the set for $2099.99 instead of some ridiculous 4K price tag didn't hurt, either!

Glad to hear all of this, since I got the LC-70uq17u and decided to pick up a crazy overpriced waste of money Blu Ray player after reading a bunch of reviews of it, the Oppo BDP-103. I'm definitely going to screw around with the 4k upscaling, as I'm almost positive my receiver will handle it (Onkyo TX-NR709) and do all the processing with the Oppo, using the receiver as pass-through. I'm hoping it looks fantastic and I'm thinking it will. I won't know until July 10 at the earliest, since that's when things start getting delivered after we close on the 9th, but I'm getting pretty excited about everything.

Incredulous Dylan
Oct 22, 2004

Fun Shoe
You'll be able to find UQ specific calibrations in that thread as well!

ssb
Feb 16, 2006

WOULD YOU ACCOMPANY ME ON A BRISK WALK? I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU!!


Incredulous Dylan posted:

You'll be able to find UQ specific calibrations in that thread as well!

Cool, thanks. I have the Stearns and Munsil blu-ray as well, but honestly it's a bit above me and probably not worth the effort, haha.

mango sentinel
Jan 5, 2001

by sebmojo
My in-laws are in the market for a new TV. They're looking around 46", and prefer Samsung products, and have a budget of around $1k.

In some cursory research it seems like the 2013 UN46F6300 is probably what they want, but I'm concerned they would prefer a model they can see/pick-up in store instead of ordering on Amazon. I've heard some not great things about the Samsung 2014 models but, what should I be looking at as far as things I could see in a Best Buy or Fry's? From what I've read though, it seems like most Vizio models these days are comparable performance and picture quality to Samsung for a lower price.

I. M. Gei
Jun 26, 2005

CHIEFS

BITCH



Another question I have no idea where to post, but I'm pretty sure it goes in this thread.

My cable company uses QAM-256. My TV doesn't have a QAM-256 tuner. Which apparently means I might oughta think about getting a QAM-256 converter.

Does anyone here know anything about QAM-256 converters? Like, how it might improve the quality of my cable service, or whether using one could make it possible to see additional channels on my channel lineup that weren't visible before?

Gucci Loafers
May 20, 2006

Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?


Is there any reason why I wouldn't want to buy this Vizio M602I-B3? I don't really care for any of the Smart TV Features as I'll be using a HTPC or PlayStation 4. Screen quality is pretty important to me...

mune
Sep 23, 2006

Tab8715 posted:

Is there any reason why I wouldn't want to buy this Vizio M602I-B3? I don't really care for any of the Smart TV Features as I'll be using a HTPC or PlayStation 4. Screen quality is pretty important to me...

I literally got this TV about five or six hours ago and, except for dealing with a lovely mount, the TV is pretty loving awesome. There's my technical, scientific analysis.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

I also ordered that TV but won't be getting it for a few weeks. I scheduled delivery the same day I move into my new place.

1997
Jan 20, 2008

calmer than you are
I have the older version, e601i-a3, and I like it a lot. Black levels could be better but overall it has a great picture for the price and the bezel on the newer model is even smaller than the already small one on mine.

Edit: wait, I wasn't paying attention. You have the M series, I was talking about the E series. Disregard.

Gucci Loafers
May 20, 2006

Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?


mune posted:

I literally got this TV about five or six hours ago and, except for dealing with a lovely mount, the TV is pretty loving awesome. There's my technical, scientific analysis.

I can't exactly tell but is the TV Bezel or Screen glossy?

mune
Sep 23, 2006

Tab8715 posted:

I can't exactly tell but is the TV Bezel or Screen glossy?

The bezel appears to be glossy, yes. The screen is an LED screen so you can see reflections of direct light on it but the image is very clearly visible either way.

Gucci Loafers
May 20, 2006

Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?


mune posted:

The bezel appears to be glossy, yes. The screen is an LED screen so you can see reflections of direct light on it but the image is very clearly visible either way.

Eh, crap... Is there any other alternative that has roughly the same specs but with a matte-finish?

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Tab8715 posted:

Eh, crap... Is there any other alternative that has roughly the same specs but with a matte-finish?

Not with Vizio. All of their bezels are the same. I think some of the high end Samsungs are matte, but they are $2000+.

UnfortunateSexFart
May 18, 2008

𒃻 𒌓𒁉𒋫 𒆷𒁀𒅅𒆷
𒆠𒂖 𒌉 𒌫 𒁮𒈠𒈾𒅗 𒂉 𒉡𒌒𒂉𒊑


GreenNight posted:

Not with Vizio. All of their bezels are the same. I think some of the high end Samsungs are matte, but they are $2000+.

High end Samsung bezels are so small it doesn't even matter what they are.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Yeah for the $800 savings I'd run electrical tape over the Vizio bezel.

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big mean giraffe
Dec 13, 2003

Eat Shit and Die

Lipstick Apathy
The bezel is ~1cm thick on my e550i-b2 so it's pretty stupid to care if it's glossy or not I can barely notice it even exists fr 10' away.

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