Topic: 32" LCD shootout

[akyatbundok]

I was at Edsa Shangrila today to scout the latest laptop prices, and right next to the computer stores at the basement was Abenson.  So I decided to check out the TV's before going to Bruno's.

There were 5 brands of 32" LCD tv's playing the same video next to each other --- Philips, Sony, Samsung, Hitachi and Toshiba.  The video being played was the familiar Samsung gaming demo.

Guess what, I had to struggle to really tell what was the best TV.  When you're right in front of one TV, it is always the best of the group (because the viewing angle diminishes the quality of the farthest TV).  So I was moving back and forth several times.  But still no definitive winner.  According to the sales people they were all set to default.  The Sony color was slightly lighter than the rest so its black background wasn't as black as the rest when the video is completely dark, though i liked the bright colors in normal scenes.  I bet the color, contrast & brightness can be easily adjusted to imitate each other.

Maybe I didn't spend enough time comparing, but I thought they were all good enough that I could be happy with any of them.  Price, features and service could be the tie-breaker.

See for yourself and tell us what you think.

[5Speed]

I've got Phillips 32" LCD TV....and still happy with it....

[motion55]

When you're right in front of one TV, it is always the best of the group (because the viewing angle diminishes the quality of the farthest TV).

I agree with you here. They all looked good from the front.

I also did a similar viewing comparison at Abenson's Galleria a few months ago.  However, the Samsung R71 looked the best (or least bad) of them when viewed from an angle. It looked less washed-out. This is despite the repeated attempts by the Philips sales guy to convince me they all looked the same.

I think this is the result of the higher contrast ratio of Samsung, even if the 5000:1 or whatever number Samsung cooked seemed incredible.

[akyatbundok]

i visited Abenson at Robinson Galeria this time, they had the Samsung M vs. Sony V series side-by-side....... and then the Samsung R vs. Sony S200 series..... the expensive models were very close, while on the budget models the Sony S200 had a little bit brighter mid-tones..... this particular Sony had blacker blacks than the one at Edsa Shangrila which looked gray.

i was told that the TV's settings are optimized by the brand's representatives, so this could be a contest of who makes the better adjustments for their own demo clips..... my assumption is that Sony is optimizing for the mid-tone colors because of their HD video clips, while Samsung is optimizing for their higher contrast ratio, i.e. deeper blacks and brighter whites which is apparent in their computer graphics racing game demo....... i wonder what will happen if they switch video clips?? 

[nels76]

Konting Ingat sa pag-post pre or you will be attacked by Samsung "fan boys" here. 

[akyatbundok]

di naman siguro pareng nelson, its actually a compliment to samsung that the PQ of their M series could be so close to sony's V series when playing the same non-HD content (Beyonce concert)....... the sony HD video clips are very impressive but i only see those clips on sony bravias....... i'm really curious how the other TVs would render such good HD material.

it just occurred to me that i keep comparing these TVs as if their settings can't be changed...... how do we confirm nga pala if the differences are only due to calibration or better technology?  On my CRT HDTV the color adjustments have a huge impact on PQ.

[joey]

di naman siguro pareng nelson, its actually a compliment to samsung that the PQ of their M series could be so close to sony's V series when playing the same non-HD content (Beyonce concert)....... the sony HD video clips are very impressive but i only see those clips on sony bravias....... i'm really curious how the other TVs would render such good HD material.

it just occurred to me that i keep comparing these TVs as if their settings can't be changed...... how do we confirm nga pala if the differences are only due to calibration or better technology?  On my CRT HDTV the color adjustments have a huge impact on PQ.

no wonder na di sila magkalayo. according to some sources 60% of sony is owned by samsung. is this true?

[nels76]

Nope. Samsung makes the LCD Panels for Sony LCD TV.

I don't think 60% of Sony is owned by Samsung.

Sony is so huge - the Computer Entertainment (PlayStation), Music and Movies, Electronics, Insurance, etc.

I have no idea how big is Samsung but I saw some heavy equipment with Samsung logo on them.

I believe you really can't make pictures the same of different TV brands no matter how you tinker with the picture adjsutment. Ginawa ko na ito before on CRTs - between panasonic and sony (on a friend's house). Di ko talaga mapaglapit. They really have different Color Tint. I just don't know on LCD and other TV brands.

[wurt wurt wurt]

konting ingat. me sony fan boy dito

[akyatbundok]

napadaan na naman ako sa edsa shangrila.

this time they were playing a documentary, and it seems that Philips and Hitachi are rendering it particularly well..... the 37" Philips was selling for 112k cash if you don't mind a display unit.

went over to the samsung area to compare their 3 models --- the S, R and M..... price difference between S and R is 16k for the extra contrast (5000:1 vs 3000:1)....... i asked the salesman to show me the settings ---- they were both at maximum contrast...... the difference was evident but i found them both to have too much contrast at max setting...... i would tone it down to about 70%, but its probably a good thing to have that extra allowance..... the sony bravias have 1300:1 contrast ratio on paper but i dont find it lacking.

between the samsung M and R series, an extra 30k gets you a wider color gamut.... the difference is very subtle and i struggled to see the difference with the HD animation sample (Ice Age teaser video)..... but the salesman pointed to the yellowish brown tint in the fur compared to a reddish brown in the R..... yup, the difference was there alright, maybe in a small sample about 3% of the image and only in a few instances....... strangely, skin tones are more similar between the cheapest S and the premium M, the R looked reddish which probably accounts for the reddish fur..... so i think i should have to look at their color balance setting to see if what i saw was really the wider color gamut or just a slight (adjustable) shift in color balance setting..... but no time!

went over to the sony side to compare the S200 vs V series, the S200 is a new series and V is their premium line...... both playing HD content, they practically looked the same, its like the M and R series of samsung, the wider color gamut and extra features will cost you 30k...... from memory i think their older S10 series has a different color balance which sometimes results in reddish skin tones so the S200 and V models are much better IMO.

[nels76]

Pre, balitaan mo ako pag nakabili ka na ha. At nang diyan ko mademo HD ng PS3.

Baka PS3 muna bilhin ko. 2 months na lang lalabas na eh.

Pag inuna ko LCD Next month, kakapusin pambili ng PS3.

[akyatbundok]

pre, we can use your PS3 on my CRT HDTV, it supports 1080i via AV Multi...... i think the "AV Multi" cable may be included in the PS2 and PS3 package but i'm not sure....... if rumors are true that a budget PS3 model has component output instead of HDMI, then we can use component also.

[nels76]

Sige bro. I-set natin.

Actually I have a PS2 game that can run on 1080i at 60 frames per second.
I have seen briefly this game on 1080i.
Knowing the hadware capabilities of the PS2, the PQ is not that good.

Try natin minsan diyan sa TV mo iyong PS2 game ko na 1080i.
And soon, PS3 naman. Text na lang kita. thanks.

Yup. the $500 PS3 has no HDMI. The HD Content can only be viewed through Component Cable.

[iceman90a]

Pre, balitaan mo ako pag nakabili ka na ha. At nang diyan ko mademo HD ng PS3.

Baka PS3 muna bilhin ko. 2 months na lang lalabas na eh.

gandang birthday gift nyan - Happy Birthday Nels76!

[Moks007]

Well to me the problem with this is maraming dayaan. My points are
1. some use power boosters, I dont know if this is what you call it but many of these places have these to make pictures look better.
2. They always use animated for their demo, because it looks better. Finding Nemo, Ice Age etc.
3. They always use their hd demo disc which is really clearer.
4. They rarely put different brands side by side for comparison.
My opinion or solution is  1. ok if Sony vs Samsung, side by side, same settings or settings by each brand technician to their optimum or best setting to them, 2. Same dvd players, also either both hdmi or both component. 3. Same movie disc playing. Example using movies like 5th element, Chronicles of Riddick, Jarhead chapter 16 in scene selection. 4. No power boosters.
I think one will really see the difference here, unfortunately they rarely do this. Just my 2 cents

[av_phile1]

It seems to me that LCD technology is fairly common accross the board.  With Samsung supplying the LCD panels to Sony and both of them collaborating in producing their respective models, I really doubt if dramatic differences exist between their models of similar specs, especially when using the same source.  Facade aesthetics and factory-calibrated color and brightness settings may be the only distinguishing factor - something users can tinker with to make the pics look nearly identical. I doubt if Samsung would allow Sony to have better models.  For sure Sony will price their models higher, because it has a more prestigious name than Samsung.  But otherwise, Samsung should offer better price/performance value due to its cheaper price tag compared to Sony between similar spec models. 

[Dracula]

Well to me the problem with this is maraming dayaan. My points are
1. some use power boosters, I dont know if this is what you call it but many of these places have these to make pictures look better.
2. They always use animated for their demo, because it looks better. Finding Nemo, Ice Age etc.
3. They always use their hd demo disc which is really clearer.
4. They rarely put different brands side by side for comparison.
My opinion or solution is  1. ok if Sony vs Samsung, side by side, same settings or settings by each brand technician to their optimum or best setting to them, 2. Same dvd players, also either both hdmi or both component. 3. Same movie disc playing. Example using movies like 5th element, Chronicles of Riddick, Jarhead chapter 16 in scene selection. 4. No power boosters.
I think one will really see the difference here, unfortunately they rarely do this. Just my 2 cents

I saw the sony bravia v series and the PQ was really better but for me wasn't enough to justify the difference in price...guaranteed no cheats..I brought my own dvd player and movie...we even used basic video connections (no hdmi or component).....

[Kratos]

I saw the sony bravia v series and the PQ was really better but for me wasn't enough to justify the difference in price...guaranteed no cheats..I brought my own dvd player and movie...we even used basic video connections (no hdmi or component).....

How can you justify it when you are compromising the HDTV's PQ by not using any of its HD-compliant connections (Component or HDMI)?

[tambutsoo]

OT:
Has anyone seen this 42LX196 model Toshiba LCD? ok po ba?

[Lantis]

I auditioned a couple of 32"s yesterday and voila!  Feeling ko nga parang daya yung sa Sony Bravia kasi naka hi-def nga ang input nila.  Pero tinry ko side by side Sony, Samsung and Toshiba from component and hdmi using a toshiba HDMI player and I brought some of my dvds for the comparison.  Parang gusto ko na ibenta yung mga dvds ko at bumili ng hds kasi di ko ma-appreciate yung PQ parang hinahanap-hanap ko yung full HD output talaga.  kaka-frustrate!    Baka mag 29" CRT na lang muna ako 

[av_phile1]

I auditioned a couple of 32"s yesterday and voila!  Feeling ko nga parang daya yung sa Sony Bravia kasi naka hi-def nga ang input nila.  Pero tinry ko side by side Sony, Samsung and Toshiba from component and hdmi using a toshiba HDMI player and I brought some of my dvds for the comparison.  Parang gusto ko na ibenta yung mga dvds ko at bumili ng hds kasi di ko ma-appreciate yung PQ parang hinahanap-hanap ko yung full HD output talaga.  kaka-frustrate!    Baka mag 29" CRT na lang muna ako 

It would seem "daya" if the other HDTV sets are not using HD sources. But strictly speaking HDTVs are really meant to be used with HD sources.  The larger an HDTV screen is(up to a certain point),  the more gorgeous HD sources will look and the more miserable 480i sources will look.      

Maybe at 32" hindi pa saying yung HDTV with 480i sources, provided they are upscaled and de-interlaced properly.  But at 42" and above, I think you really should get a high def player either HD DVD or BluRay. 

[snicky11]

I would like to know how is the pq for cable tv signal on lcd compared to plasma? I'm thinking of buying sony x series or hitachi 42PD8900 kasi. kindly give your input on this na rin.

[iampoch]

Sige bro. I-set natin.

Actually I have a PS2 game that can run on 1080i at 60 frames per second.
I have seen briefly this game on 1080i.
Knowing the hadware capabilities of the PS2, the PQ is not that good.

Try natin minsan diyan sa TV mo iyong PS2 game ko na 1080i.
And soon, PS3 naman. Text na lang kita. thanks.

Yup. the $500 PS3 has no HDMI. The HD Content can only be viewed through Component Cable.

The $500 PS3 is HDMI-capable as well  po problem is there's no bundled HDMI cable (same goes for teh preium version) ang wala lang po sa core version are WiFi and Flash Card reader.  The HDD is also smaller at 20GB (compared to the 60GB of the premium) then again, the HDD of both versions are user-upgradable (it uses a standard 2.5" HDD, those that are available for laptops) Sony also included instruction on how you can upgrade your HDD in the manual