Just joined the 21st Century

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  • Ovation
    Super Senior Member
    • Sep 2004
    • 2202

    Just joined the 21st Century

    Well, it took awhile, but the old faithful 32” Sony CRT SDTV in my living room is nearing retirement.

    I’ve been looking at upsizing my external computer monitor for my laptop (currently a 24” 1080p LG monitor). Perfectly fine for ordinary computer use, it’s small for the purposes of my dissertation work as I need to have MANY PDFs open at the same time (old days it would have been many stacks of photocopied journal articles). Did some research and found an LG 4K 43” model that’s rated quite highly as a PC monitor for about the same price as a 32” dedicated computer monitor. My wife can expense it (she’ll take my 24” monitor—suits her needs just fine), so yay me.

    Coincidentally, it’s an exact fit for our current TV stand in the living room. So I decided to buy a second one to replace the old SDTV. It’s not a top-line model (LG 43UM7300) but it’s nicely suited for its intended purpose—wide angle viewing of TV shows, occasional movies, and sports in a well lit living room. Could fit a bigger size but the room is not the “home cinema” so a smaller screen is fine. My wife doesn’t want the TV to overpower the room (nor do I), she HATES watching TV with the lights off AND we need the wide angle view of the IPS panel. Not the OLED I’d have liked, but at about 1000$ CDN, tax in, for two 4K displays, I can’t really complain (especially when the old one cost 1800$ in 2003–for ONE). I might miss the old faithful (we’ve had it for 16 years of problem free viewing), but we’ll still have its 27” twin in the kids’ play room if I get nostalgic.

    The hitch is the living room won’t get the upgrade until Xmas (it’s our “family gift from Santa” this year—last year was a 20 day trip to Europe during the holidays, so the budget is a bit tighter this time around).

    Looking forward to an HD experience in the living room.
  • Alaric
    Ultra Senior Member
    • Jan 2006
    • 4143

    #2
    I read the thread title and shouted "Nooooo! Go back! It sucks here!". Then I read your post and felt a little better.

    Nice on the TV, though! :T
    Lee

    Marantz PM7200-RIP
    Marantz PM-KI Pearl
    Schiit Modi 3
    Marantz CD5005
    Paradigm Studio 60 v.3

    Comment

    • Ovation
      Super Senior Member
      • Sep 2004
      • 2202

      #3
      Temporarily installed the TV in my "cave" (my home office needs major reorganization before I put the TV in that space). Hooked it up to the main system. Was initially unimpressed. It works fine as a static computer display with documents (it's excellent in that regard) but it had lots of trouble with video (cable TV box, DVDs, Blu-ray, etc.), with strange "tearing" and other artifacts. It was supposed to be a 24p compatible display (as is my nearly 10 year old small 22" 1080p TV) but I was about ready to return it--until I tried one thing. Selecting the gaming option DRAMATICALLY reduces lag and all the problems disappeared. I suspect the TV is equipped with a bunch of features in its operating system that can only be properly enjoyed in higher end models with more powerful processing (easier than designing an OS for each level of processor). By choosing the gaming option, it activates the best processor available on this display (fortunately, that option can be tuned to look good). I don't have any 4K gear yet to see if the unprocessed image is fine (will eventually test that).

      I guess there is, in the end, something to the adage that "you get what you pay for". If it was going to be a replacement for my projector in the "cave", rather than a computer monitor, then I'd have gone with a much higher rated display re: processing (higher level Sony or something similar). It's decent for what I paid (once I found a setting that worked properly), but early impressions were not favourable. A bit reminiscent of feature rich but underpowered (both amp and processor) AVRs.

      Comment

      • Alaric
        Ultra Senior Member
        • Jan 2006
        • 4143

        #4
        That's a lot of gizmos in one TV. My TV is just a display, as my TV tuner is on a card in my computer. My computer does everything in my house, mostly for convenience and I just don't have the room for toys I used to. I have a 43" Toshiba 1080p @60 Hz that doesn't do anything else. Not a smart TV or anything. The lag is only 8 ms so it's suitable for my computer gaming and it has at least one HDMI input and that's the sum total of all my requirements. All the graphics processing is done "in house" by my graphics card and software. I picked up the TV at Best Buy for under $200 a couple years ago (leftover model). They made me a nice deal on it since it doesn't have any bells or whistles, which was handy because I was broke after building the computer! :rofl:
        Lee

        Marantz PM7200-RIP
        Marantz PM-KI Pearl
        Schiit Modi 3
        Marantz CD5005
        Paradigm Studio 60 v.3

        Comment

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