New TV: Questions  #
Thursday, 24 Sep 2009 01:10PM
Update: Some extra notes on what I've found:

  • Plasma TVs are apparently much better at displaying the kind of panning motion I've described. The recent new LCD TVs (with 200hz refresh and tech to fill in the gaps to make the image smoother) are fixing a problem that doesn't exist on Plasmas.
  • But Plasmas use more energy than LCDs
  • But the extra computing power of the new LCDs to overcome the motion problems use lots of energy, wiping out that saving.

So I'm leaning toward a Plasma at the moment, probably a Panasonic. Unfortunately you can't seem to get Plasmas at 32", at least not at JB Hi Fi. I'll keep looking. If we HAVE to we might get a 40" but I really think it'll be too big.


We're looking to get a new TV. Our only rules are:

  • 32 inch
  • Under $1500
  • At least three inputs

Shouldn't be hard, but looking around JB HiFi and Myer on the weekend we found that every single one of the TVs looked rubbish.

Still images looked fine, great even, but any panning shot was about as smooth as my face after three days. Jitter jitter jitter.

The video playing appeared to be HD (probably a Blue-Ray), and I've heard HD can suffer a fair bit with jitter... but why do people put up with it?

I'm aware for example that jitter can be introduced when you convert NTSC to PAL. I've seen it on some cartoon DVDs from the US. I suppose the clarity of the LCD image makes such artefacts more obvious... But why would the store use a Blue-Ray that looked so darn bad as their example?

It's not just the refresh rate. Some 100hz TVs looked OK while some looked terrible. I hear 200hz TVs are just coming out, but they're very very expensive, and won't necessarily fix the problem...

With a bit of digging I've discovered some TVs actually make the image look smoother by filling in the gaps between frames with interpreted frames. Sounds good to me, but it seems it's looked down on in the TV community.

Why should I be asking for to prevent these problems? Am I just "blessed" with the ability to notice this stuff, like the way I tend to notice the refresh rate on my friend's projector (probably something to do with my not-quite-stereo-eyes)?

Personally, smoothness of image is more important to me than sharpness.

Tell me how to get it. What should I be looking for / asking about?

As it currently is, I've yet to see an LCD TV I like.