The bank account currently has a nice surplus so as I am the only person I know who hasn't made the change yet to HD should I? Reason I haven't changed as yet is that my current set up seems to be quite good (Phillips CRT, Sky+ and Pioneer DVD) and having watched bluray films on friends TV's and HD broadcasts through Sky my opinion is, it's ok but not yet seen anything that is really WOW.

If it is that good what TV, what bluray and Sky or Virgin for HD broadcasts? TV max 40" screen and £1k max.

Also, will I need to replace my AV Reciever or do bluray players have digital/optical outs for sound?

Another question is would I be better not getting a bluray player and instead download movies via my xbox 360?

Blu Ray should have digital out although a lot of them now do 7:1 so you might want to upgrade but if there is no problem I wouldnt say you would need to change.

I would go for Sky HD much more content than Virgin with sports and movies. I find that some of the BBC programs are the best I have see in HD as they only tend to broadcast HD stuff (i.e. it doesnt just mirror BBC1 or 2.

I'd say with Sky at least it's at the stage now it's worth it. You do get used to it fairly quickly though and it loses the wow factor, these days it's just the odd nature program and cycling on Eurosport HD I find way better on HD.

Not sure what the best models are atm, I bought a Samsung about 18 months back. Sony and Panasonic normally rate highly to.

Not got a bluray player myself yet, been waiting for a decent range of bluray home cinema packages to come along and drive the prices down but it doesn't seem to have happened yet.

TV wise Samsung LCD, Sony LCD, Panasonic LCD/Plasma spend all day arguing if LCD or Plasma is better truth is very little in it now. HD wise go for Sky yes they charge £10 per month for the HD channels but there's loads and they are stunning some programmes and films just look amazing in HD.

Blu-ray well why not look at a PS3 is you like your consoles they're a great player and get updated regularly so you'll always keep up with the latest blu-ray data.

Be very surprised if there's a blu-ray player out there without opitical output as it does help the sound.

if you're happy with current set up, and not overly impressed with mates hd… havn't you answered your own question???!

Depends on what your friends have bought TV-wise – budget options are never going to give you the best impression. I've been thinking about the upgrade too and settled on the Panasonic L37V10B – just need to work out how to fund it now.

In my opinion there isn't an LCD or Plasma TV out there that can compete with even a cheap CRT televsion (for the overall viewing experience that is).

Overall viewing experience without HD, I'm sorry but there is just no comparison even more so with a cheap CRT. Yes there are some crappy LCDs and Plasmas out there that don't do the whole thing justice and are no better than CRT.

HD is a remarkable step up from standard def, but it still in it's infancy. I find that there are quite obvious problems with keping the audio in sync with the picture at times, on SkyHD. In the middle of a film, it will just sort of drift out of time by about half a second, then drift the other way.
It seems quite random. However, I'm quite picky with things like that, and several people have never noticed it.
Neer seen a cable setup, but maybe someone here who has can confirm or deny that they suffer the same issue?

Yeah Sion they can be prone to that there is a reason for it and can't remember what it is, think it was to do with they are broadcast separate. There is an option in you sky setup to adjust the sync, I've not needed to do it though.

no – still hold off IMHO. let the early adopters go through the pain and expense. after all, it's only TV.
if you really can't help yourself take a look at the new samsung LED backlit TVs, as they're supposed to be the Next Big Thing.

Early adopters? They've been out for years now and don't go LED just yet it's well too early they're not doing too good.

Rockhopper – you must have never seen a decent plasma screen then – either that or you've only seen panels that are too big for the room they are in. A good quality panel at an appropriate viewing distance for the size is amazing compared to even an expensive CRT – I've got an SD Panasonic plasma that will be pushing 7 years old this winter – picture quality is amazing compared to the near top of the range (when bought) Sony Trinitron it replaced.

I'd recommend that if you do get one; don't skimp – Pioneer / Panasonic are the best if you go down the plasma route; make sure it's got "True" HD; that is that the native resolution of the panel is 1920×1080 – you can pick up the TX-P42S10B for about 700 notes and it's a belter. If you haven't already got one I'd also buy a decent AV amp and a set of 5.1 speakers – but that'll add a considerable amount to your budget. Don't buy a £100 amp and speaker package – it'll be awful.

My dads sony HD system is amazing, but not amazing enough for me to splash out!

I've got an SD Panasonic plasma that will be pushing 7 years old this winter – picture quality is amazing compared to the near top of the range (when bought) Sony Trinitron it replaced.

Comparing a brand new plasma to an old CRT isn't really fair though is it. I've yet to see a plasma that was better than a CRT either. Plasmas almost always appear to bleed colours and have apoor contrast ratio, it's almost as though they've gone for size over quality in most cases.

Overall viewing experience without HD, I'm sorry but there is just no comparison even more so with a cheap CRT. Yes there are some crappy LCDs and Plasmas out there that don't do the whole thing justice and are no better than CRT.

Whenever i've had a look at flat screen TVs in shops i've come to the same conclusion.

Also, why do some people put their plasma and LCD TVs high up on the wall like a picture (above the mantle piece, for example)?

hold out for HD SED tvs, 100,000:1 contrast ratio and CRT performance.

seen a demo one and it is truly amazing

no idea on timescale though

SED is basically CRT but with an emitter for every subpixel, imagine a screen made up from millions of tiny crt tellys

No idea Capt maybe if you lacked room it would be good but don't see the sense myself.

Rockhopper – Member

In my opinion there isn't an LCD or Plasma TV out there that can compete with even a cheap CRT televsion (for the overall viewing experience that is).

Having had a decent LCD for about a year now I can't watch a CRT screen without the flickering giving me a headache now…

My pennies worth would be a Samsung or Panasonic 1080p LCD screen hooked up to SKY+ HD 🙂

Comparing a brand new plasma to an old CRT isn't really fair though is it

er.. I wasn't – the 7 year old plasma is in the living room; the CRT it replaced is about 2 years older and spent 5 years in the sitting room until we moved house and gave it to my Gran – I think that's a reasonable comparison.

i didn't beleive in HD that much till i downloaded a movie onto my X-box, although i became used to it quite quickly it certainly enhanced the viewing (and sound) quite a bit – even my wife was impressed and she would normally be the person to say "I don't see the difference)

I'll be upgrading to Sky HD very soon and mabye buying a blu ray player

In my opinion there isn't an LCD or Plasma TV out there that can compete with even a cheap CRT televsion (for the overall viewing experience that is).

Yeah, and a40" CRT telly would look fantastic bolted halfway up the big wall in my living room 🙂

Whenever i've had a look at flat screen TVs in shops i've come to the same conclusion

That's cos in a shop you always have to stand way too close. With ours, if you sit in the middle of the floor you can see the digital compression artefacts (which again aren't the fault of the telly). If you sit on the sofa you can't see them at all. The colours are lovely, looks better than CRTs I've seen, and when you use a HD source it really starts to kick the crap out of CRT. No contest.

To the OP – long considered the upgrade to Sky HD, and after having seen some of the cricket on HD in a shop (you can even stand close up to HD, you just see more detail!) I decided to upgrade.. Mrs Grips expressed concern, shall we say, until I reminded her that we are getting NFL in HD in time for the season 🙂

I think sport is one of the best applications for HD as you can see the players' faces quite well, which helps following the game and the whole sport greatly I feel.

EDIT: the reason for putting them on the wall is that they look good as a centrepiece; they take up very little room that way and you can use the rest of the space for nice stuff; if you put them in the middle of a wall you can have the surround sound in the corners of the room which works well; you have furniture underneath them which adds to the room's usability; or you can have nothing underneath them which gives an ace feeling of space. Ours isn't high up like above a mantlepiece – it's just below eye height when standing. It means that when you're on the sofa or lying down you look up slightly, which is easy on the eyes/neck etc.

To go HD I'd have to replace my very good, but not HD ready, 42in NEC plasma panel and my AV amp and my DVD player. Would probably cost me £2.5k and todays HD experience vs my already excellent standard def set up is not compelling enough to make me to spend that amount. If I look at HD broadcasts all I see are compression artifacts. I'll wait until either my existing equipment breaks or HD is improved.

tbh, I wouldnt change yet either (and I want to sell you the kit!)

It seems, at the moment your happy but wish to watch a little HD stuff. a £1k screen will *just* about buy something that is 'alright' and 40" is harder to buy (as in there are less of them available) then say a 42 or 46" screen. Anything less than 42" and the silly numbers game those idiots have you believe is just that, sillyness.

If you really do want to upgrade, my personal opinion would be:

Buy a 2nd hand Pioneer Kuro – fantastic, beautiful, immersive picture quality. buy GOOD interconnects (a good HDMI cable) and look at a playstation 3 for bluray.

I wish I were able to take you to some of the property we've worked on, all these naysayers or people who've found image artificats, you'd be absolutely blown away by the sheer immersive nature of a well sorted system.

Mind you, don't under estimate the role that basic calibration plays (think of it like sorting your shocks out on the bike … a rough ride can be had if not done right) … a copy of DVE (digital video essentials) can make a difference to an 'out of the shop' cheapy screen.

if you can get hold of an older fujitsu plasma too, they were sh*t hot image quality!!

where in the world are you based if you don't mind me asking?
jt

That's cos in a shop you always have to stand way too close. With ours, if you sit in the middle of the floor you can see the digital compression artefacts (which again aren't the fault of the telly). If you sit on the sofa you can't see them at all. The colours are lovely, looks better than CRTs I've seen, and when you use a HD source it really starts to kick the crap out of CRT. No contest.

Nope, I was watching them in viewing rooms in specialist AV shops, not standing in currys. Even from a distant sofa compression artifacts are perfectly visible, but thats down the source, but so is ghosting on even the best screens I saw. Granted I've not seen any of the newer 100Hz ones with interpolation etc. The colours and contrast is never quite right somehow. However I have seen a sony LCD running in HD and that is pretty damned awesome. Still has some issues I didnt like, and some dead pixels, but it was good.

I've never suffered any ghosting on my Panasonic Plasma it's a cracking TV.

Maybe I'm just picky. Maybe I'm deluded. You choose!

if you sit in the middle of the floor you can see the digital compression artefacts

That is one of the things that puts me off HD. I find that the increased sharpness makes the MPEG squares far more noticeable – to the point that some scenes are like looking through a net and it is really distracting.

Four friends have HD sets (various sizes and costs) and I've noticed this on each one, with a variety of HD sources (Sky+, Virgin, BlueRay).

It doesn't seem to bother anyone else though, so I just revert to standard definition (by taking my glasses off!).

Graham – yes, I see this too. It seems some people really just dont notice it despite looking. After I explained what I meant to a friend with one he was really cheesed off with me as he now finds it very distracting and can't stop seeing it lol

Maybe I'm just picky. Maybe I'm deluded. You choose!

Bit of each they're not perfect and what they do do is make a poor source look even worse. However, a good source and they show just what they can do. I stopped streaming lower quality MPEGs on my 37" as looked awaful they look not so bad on the 26" I use for a monitor though.

Mrs momo wasn't convinced by the whole HD thing for quite a while, but a couple of months ago I bought a BluRay player (Panasonic BD35) and the step up in quality from DVD is fantastic, the next step was upgrading to Sky+ HD (we only had standard Sky at the time and were looking to upgrade to Sky+ already, and they had an offer on HD boxes that meant we are effectively getting the HD free for a year) and again HD broadcasting is far superior to SD.

In fact she's so convinced by the whole HD thing that she's now looking at new 40" full HD TV's to replace my HD ready 32" panel!

jt – based in west mids, just south of brum

I don't knoiw if I've seen the mpeg squares on blu-ray, although I have on DVD plenty.

I paid slightly extra for a full HD telly over the most common prices when changing telly for a new room; I bought a ps3 for games, so the HD viewing didn't cost me much. TBH the £9.75 Sky are charging me is the biggest expense.

I got into this HD thing a couple of months ago.

I went initially for a "my mums" Tescso Technika 1080p LCD 37"screen, on the basis that LED TV is on its way in a couple of years and I did not want to spend a massive amount on an LCD screen in the short term.

Like a few on here I researched over a few months looking at loads of screens and have to say it stands up amazingly well.

Sky HD next was a no brainier, good HD programmes are simply stunning,the BBC Yellowstone series was a revalation.

Next was a blu-ray player, I went for a Samsung BDP2500, its got the latest BD-Live 2.0 which allows you to experience internet-based bonus material through the Ethernet network connection and 1GB internal memory as well as the capability to fit a network dongle for wireless streaming later.

Finally the amp and speaker package, loads to choose from but went for an Onkyo 577, 7.1 amp, it up scales to 1080 through HDMI pass through and has DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, Dolby TrueHDlatest sound processing (its stunning).

The speaker package is a TANNOY SFX5.1 all on custom stands with my old Mission 761's on SOUNDSTYLE Z2 stands for the front left and right (I run these in "pure" stereo for my IPOD and Maranz CD52 Mk2 player, very old school)

The final bits were a philips IPOD dock, some CAMBRIDGE AUDIO ULTRA 100 speaker cable with banana plugs, a Tacima CS929 mains surge protector and finally a PIXEL PXAV3237 rack.

To get the best out of the sky box I now run an HDMI for picture with a separate optical cable for sound.

I have to say it all goes together so well and I am made up with it.

The whole lot set me back £1,440.00 (jeez when you put it that way……….just too watch the telly)

The true HD audio with a blu ray player is stunning and the visuals, well you have to see it to believe.

Worth it you ask………….you bet ya