Full HD on 32", worth it ?

[Ponch]

My tv is broken, quite early I feel (7 years, for a JVC). I'm watching a small box (19"?) since a few months now and it's almost time for something more confortable.

The JVC was a 24", 16/9 and I liked it. I now face several dilemnas, 26" or 32", and if 32, HD or not.

I read in different reviews and heard from vendors that sitting 3meter from the screen, you can't see any difference between full HD (1080) and 1366x768 on a screen as small as 32". But then some people say they do see a difference. Also I won't have HD TV before a few years. Any input on this ? I have very good eyes (for the moment) but I wouldn't spend 50%more for ...nothing. Anyone got one of those ?

Is this the slowest forum ?

[CoffeeFiend]

It's a size vs distance thing. I can VERY easily see a difference between 720p and 1080p on my 24" LCD monitor, but I'm like 2ft away. From 10ft it would be different. I don't think you'll see much of a difference on a 32" from that far either.

Anyways. If you're not going to have a HD source (something to watch in HD) for a good while, there's no real reason to spend more on a 1080p capable TV for now.

To get the extra detail, you need a TV that does 1080p, a 1080p source and also sitting close enough to it (relative to its size). In this case, the source and viewing distance don't play in your favor, so I see little point in spending extra for the 1080p TV (even though I love 1080p).

[Zxian]

My friend has a 37" Sharp LCD that's 1080p capable. We use various sources on the TV - DVD, Wii, PS3 - and while you can tell when something's running at 720... I've never really noticed myself saying "I wish that were in higher resolution". The couches are about 6 ft away from the TV, so we're also sitting relatively close compared to some setups.

I think that in most cases, the magic "cutoff" point at which you should definitely switch to 1080 comes in the mid 40" range. Again, like crahak said, it depends a lot on your setup and how far away from the screen you're sitting.

[Ponch]

Thanks both, I did read the answers at the time but had nothing to add. B) I'll probably get a Sony KDL32V4500, just wait a few months for the prize to fall a bit. Frustrated that the smaller model (KDL26V4500) is actually more expensive. Ridiculous.

[jcarle]

Unless you plan on spending nothing on your TV (which isn't going to happen), it would be foolish to buy a TV that is not 1080P capable. It takes little more then an small afternoon to compare prices between two or three major electronics retailers to see that you can purchase a Full HD 1080P capable television for the SAME price at the SAME dimensions as a 720P capable TV. The HD specifications rate 1080P as the maximum resolution, why get something that does half of what the future will bring when pricing doesn't justify a need to cut back?

[Ponch]

Typically, 32"LCD are at 500-700 euro, or 800-1100euro for 1080p. Not really the same.

[jcarle]

Typically, 32"LCD are at 500-700 euro, or 800-1100euro for 1080p. Not really the same.

Well, let's see, if you compare a 700 euro 32" 720P to a 800 euro 32" 1080P LCD... I'd say that's pretty close to the same price...

If you shop around enough, you can find prices for a 1080P screen that make the purchase of a 720P screen in the same size moot, even in Europe.

[Ponch]

My conclusion is... don't buy LCD TVs, they are absolute crap. Wait a few more years for the technology to come with something decent. They'll impress with brightness, contrast, color, design... but as soon as a big object moves on the screen, or there is a travelling, like when watching football, sharpness is totally lost.

[CoffeeFiend]

Wait a few more years for the technology to come with something decent.

You could say that about ANY technology pretty much. Next years' model will be better, faster and all that.

They'll keep lowering response times (and doing other related tricks like black frame insertion), better viewing angles, better color calibration, better backlighting, the gamut will become larger (more bits per pixel too), 120Hz is coming too, upscaling and processing in general will likely get better, extra connections should appear soon (like displayport) and adoption of more recent HDMI versions in some cases, you might get better tuners, eventually resolutions WAY past 1080p, etc.t

And by the time that finally gets mature, it'll likely get replaced by LCoS or something else, which will also need years to improve and mature, only to be replaced with something better at that point.

And they'll likely keep adding "other" features too, like showing JPEG images from SD cards or the like, and it wouldn't be surprising to see HTPC-like "appliances" built-in eventually (DVR & what not).

Just saying, if you want to wait, you could wait forever...

[Ponch]

Wait a few more years for the technology to come with something decent.

You could say that about ANY technology pretty much. Next years' model will be better, faster and all that.

Unfortunately, this time, last year's model was better.