Do I want to buy a Plasma, LCD or LED TV?

This seems to be the biggest debate amongst consumers and also TV sales people these days – what technology to buy? First off before I get started, I want to set something straight regarding LED TVs. They are not a new television technology, LED TVs are just LCD TVs using LED lights, which we’ve all come to know as being more energy efficient in this time of going green – keep in mind that you’re going to pay for it though. You’ll discover quickly I’m a big fan of plasma, for numerous reasons that you will see below.

Let’s get into the technologies:
LCD/LED – LCD televisions can deliver a great image in screen sizes upwards of 70″, but are really best suited for screens under 42″. The basic way LCD TVs work is that they have a backlight behind the screen that consists of long CCFL or LED light bulbs – some will be on the edge of the screen, these are known as Edge-Lit screens. In front of the bulbs are a series of what we’ll call ribbons of Red, Green and Blue Liquid Crystal that act like “shutters” in front of the lights. These shutters open and close together to allow various shades of light to come through at a given time on the screen. To create white they open all the way; to create black they completely close. This is where I have a problem with the LCD/LED technologies – the motion that occurs from the opening and closing of the LCD panels themselves is not as sharp or clear as other technologies. Yes, they can deliver an amazing picture, but if you’re a sports fan or hardcore movie buff then the LCD screen may not be best for you. Also, due to the before mentioned lighting and shutter technology implemented in LCDs you will also see that the viewing angles on LCDs are not as strong as Plasma sets – currently its not that big of a deal, but when 3D products start hitting the market this summer that will be a huge deal. I realize that LCDs are outselling plasmas at a high pace, but this is also do to the fact that there are hundreds of companies making LCDs in screen sizes from 7″ to 70″. For smaller screen sizes LCDs are great because the motion blur that occurs is more difficult to see, and because its the only technology you can get at this point. LCD televisions are also having to add a lot more “gimmicks” to the sets to keep up with the picture quality of plasma, and even DLP screens. When you see 120 Hz, 240 Hz, and Vizio is even claiming a 480 Hz screen, this is all something that the companies are adding to “enhance” the picture to meet the speed that plasma offers. Anytime you see these numbers in the LCD specs it comes from an adding of frames that aren’t actually there to either double, or in some cases quadruple the frame rate on the screen. This is also why the motion on LCD sets can look a little cartoonish at times because you are seeing created frames.

Benefits of LCD:
- Screen sizes that are available 7″ – 70″
- Price points available – with the amount of third and fourth tier companies making LCDs these days prices are bottoming out
- LCD/LED products are slightly more energy efficient than some plasma brands
- Small enough to put in a kids room or office to be used as a TV and a Computer Monitor
- Extremely bright (only really beneficial on the sales floor, you’re not going to watch it in vivid mode at home)
- Matte Screen tends to absorb light instead of reflect it. However, many of the LCD products are adding a shiny/plexi type screen to enhance the contrast – this creates a ton of glare.
- 50,000 – 60,000 Hour Life Expectancy (6 Hours per day will give you about 15 years of life)

Negatives of LCD -
- Larger screen sizes get very expensive
- Motion blur can make it difficult to watch favorite events
- Viewing from an angle will cause colors to change
- Response times are 1/4 as fast as 5 year old DLP and Plasma sets (important for gamers)
- Cost more to operate than some plasma brands once you get around 46″ and up
- Screens are very easy to damage – if you have kids, large dogs, or a Wii of which I have all this can be very important
- Are also capable of having burn in – check the first page of every manual they all say don’t leave static images on screen for long periods of time, but let’s get something straight none of our TVs are being used as Airport monitors so burn-in isn’t going to be a problem unless you abuse your TV, or leave the menu from a DVD movie on screen for a week or so.

Plasma – I can’t believe how many misconceptions and myths are still out there regarding this technology. Think of a plasma TV as that CRT tube that you’ve had your entire life, only that it’s recently had gastric bypass surgery and lost a lot of weight. A plasma television is the replacement of the old CRT tubes in regards to delivering the best picture possible. A plasma TV image is created by the ignition of a plasma pixel by electricity. There are millions of red, green and blue pixels that make up a plasma screen that are lit up or turned off when necessary to create the colors of the image. To create a bright white every pixel is illuminated to full power, and to create black the opposite occurs. It is because of this that Plasmas create the best contrast of any TV out there today, and also part of the reason there is still so many myths as well. Most people see the power supply on these sets and think that they are constantly drawing a ton of power, and that’s simply not the case. This is one the aspects of plasma people are unaware of – the power of the set goes up and down based on what is occurring on the screen, unlike an LCD TV that uses 100% power all the time. So that I don’t spend a lot of time on this, just check out Consumer Reports or CNET or Home Theater Magazine for power ratings and you’ll see that the difference in price for yearly operation is $2-$10 difference for same size products and in a lot of cases the plasma screens from Panasonic are more energy efficient than LCDs that are smaller!
So moving on from power – let’s get into more aspects. Plasma sets come in at screen sizes of 42″ to 65″ for general consumer use, but can also get much larger. 2 years ago if you were to walk into a retail store you would see a plasma TV cost quite a bit more than a LCD of the same size, but now that’s not the case at all – you can save a dramatic amount by purchasing a plasma and get a much better picture. I mentioned earlier the way plasma works and how they can create a great black level and how the pixels are lit up when necessary, this also lends to the speed of the plasma sets themselves. You’ll see a few manufacturers saying 600 Hz for plasma – this isn’t a gimmick like LCD, its more of a push back at LCD companies clever marketing. Due to the response time of plasma screens being less than 1ms, adding frames is not necessary. So to explain the 600 Hz as easy as possible – the TVs do what is referred to as sub field processing. They take the one frame of signal that is 60 Hz and break it into tenths (1/10), then analyze each of the tenths at 60 Hz each, thus making 600 Hz. Its done just to clean up the picture even more, giving you the best picture possible. The other benefits of all this technology is an amazing picture for everything you’re watching, a fantastic viewing angle from anywhere in the room, great speed for gamers – especially if you play online (you’ll actually be ahead of other players on other technologies), and in the case of Panasonic very energy efficient. If you look at reviews from trusted sites like CNET.com, Home Theater Mag, Sound and Vision, and even Consumer Reports – they all recommend buying a plasma over an LCD.

Benefits of Plasma:
- Biggest Screens for the best price
- Fastest image creation for sports, movies and games
- Widest viewing angle with every person seeing the same image from everywhere in the room
- Very strong screens
- Anti-Reflective coating on some panels that reduce or eliminate reflections and glare
- Some brands are more energy efficient than LCD sets (primarily Panasonic as they are the industry leader in Plasma)
- Best contrast ratio of any technology
- Cost and Performance best of all technologies
- Have eliminated burn in concerns for everyday users

Negatives of Plasma:
- Still have a bad reputation from early generation companies that are no longer around
- A little heavier than similar sized LCD sets (5 – 15 pounds)
- Not all plasma sets are created equal – Panasonic, LG and Samsung are the only three making plasma. (Panasonic leads the way by far in all technologies – LG would be second, and Samsung really focuses on LCD products but also makes plasma)
- Can have issues with reflections in bright rooms (most people have blinds and/or curtains though)
- Do not come any smaller than 42″
- Not recommended to be used as digital signage or where the same image will be on screen all day for weeks at a time

As you can see, I definitely favor plasma as the best picture technology, and if you talk to anyone that really knows what’s going on in the market, and that understands the differences they will always recommend a plasma television to you. As a current owner of plasma and LCD sets, and a previous owner of DLP sets I can assure you that the best picture on my plasma screens, whether I’m playing games with the kids, watching a broadcast sitcom or a blu-ray disc.

I hope this helped a little with some of the questions that you may have had, and maybe to eliminate some of the misconceptions you may have had regarding plasma. Here’s a little food for thought: If you go into Best Buy right now, you can get the Panasonic TH-P50G10 (50″) for $1500 or less if its on sale (the TH-P58S1 for $2500), or you can pick up one of the comparable (feature wise) LED based LCDs from Samsung or Sony in a 46″ screen size for $2500 or 55″ for $3300. The only benefit of the LED product is that it will save you about $12 a year on your energy bill and will be a little thinner profile. It will take you up to 100 years to make up that cost difference!!!!

Is there a remote under $500 that will control my entire system and that I can program without a degree in remote programming?

If you’re looking to spend up to $400 then you’ve got quite a few options, but as I’m sure you’ve heard in your research the Harmony remote is the way to go. As far as what you’ve got I have similar products, and own three Harmony Remotes, each in a different room of my house. I also do training for them Nationally, so I know the products very well.The coolest thing about a Harmony remote is that it truly will replace all of your remotes. Here’s a breakdown of how you program it and how it operates. You make a list of the products that you own (Brands and Models), then list how each device is connected to the other (inputs). Log into the programming site (included software). It will ask you’re knowledge level and walk you through the programming. Basically you tell it your model numbers for your products, and what inputs they are on for your receiver and TV. You tell it whether you want to control the volume through the stereo or your TV, then once you’ve done all that you download that information to your remote. If you want to watch a DVD, you hit Watch DVD on the remote, it will turn on your DVD, Receiver, and TV all to the correct inputs, all you do is hit play. If you want to watch TV, hit watch TV and your cable box will come on, DVD player will go off, and the receiver and TV will switch to the correct settings as well. One button for Off. And if something doesn’t operate properly when you turn it on, there is a help button that goes through a series of yes or no questions to fix the problem.Here’s the remotes:

Harmony 670 – $150. This is their newest remote. It will control up to 15 devices. Full universal control of Tivo, Cable, etc. Runs on 2 AA batteries.

Harmony 880 – $250. This is the most popular universal remote on the market today. Does everything mentioned above, plus has a color screen which you can customize to fit your needs (for instance I made the icons bigger for my father because he had trouble seeing them, for my son, I put in his favorite channel icons, so all he has to do is hit the Nick button to watch Nickelodeon), also has a rechargeable battery, and it glows when you pick it up.

Harmony 890 – $400. Has everything mentioned above, but also has RF capabilities, meaning that you can put all of your components in a cabinet and work it from pretty much anywhere in the house.

You may also want to try and find the 659, its last year’s model of the 670, but its a great price right now at $100.I know this was long, but I hope it helped, this is one of those products like Tivo that will change your life.

Why is my surround sound shutting off when loud explosions or volume increases occur?

It sounds like you’ve got a wire issue. Meaning that somewhere you’ve got a wire backwards, or touching together. To fix: Check all connections and make sure that the wires match at both the receiver and the speakers – meaning that the negative is to negative, and the positive is to positive.Check to make sure that all the bare wire is wound tightly before going into the speaker wire terminals and that no bear wire is out touching. Also make sure that you haven’t got more than an inch of bare wire stripped, this can also cause a problem.This happens to a lot of people, and most of the time is has to do with a wire being backwards. What happens is when the power increases – like you said for loud volumes, the system “clips” and power goes back to the receiver because wires are “out of phase” (flipped), or touching.

Hope this helps.

How do you stream video from a Media Center PC to a TV in another room? Options for wiring?

For what you’ve described there are a few wireless video transfer systems you may want to look at – specifically the Belkin Remote TV product. It works at higher frequencies than other brands, and won’t be interfered with by wireless networks and phones. It will connect to the media center PC and give you a high resolution component video output to connect to your LCD TV. This will get the signal to your TV, but as far as controlling it you’ll need to get control of the media center in your room. For this you can buy a Media Center PC remote at Best Buy and other stores, and then buy an IR Repeater/Blaster. The blaster will allow you to use this new remote in the other room to control the media center.I know this seems like a lot but other than running cables directly to it, that’s pretty much the only way. As far as direct wiring it, if you’re only going to be watching Divx movies then you can get an extra long S-Video cable, along with Audio cables and run from the A/V outputs on the media center to the inputs on your LCD TV, then get the remote and repeater as explained above for control.

Can an SDTV work with HDTV Broadcasts?

Absolutely. SDTVs were specifically created to receive HDTV broadcasts, but what they do is reduce the resolution for 480i which is basically what a standard DVD movie produces. (Done so that anyone can afford a digital television). You have a tuner built into the TV that receives HD broadcasts, but downconverts them to “analog” so that it can be displayed on the SDTV. Another thing a lot of people aren’t familiar with is that you can get HD Satellite or Cable boxes and connect them to any TV through a composite video cable (yellow). Say you had an HD in one room and an older analog set in another, or an SDTV in another room you can have an HD Satellite box in the main room, and have the same box in the other room, but just connect a coaxial or composite cable to the TV and still watch the HD channels, just not in HD resolution.

How do I get better sound out of my XBOX 360 through my DVD built in sound system without an Optical Input?

When it comes to Home Theater systems with DVD players built into them, this tends to be the number one complaint. Although you don’t have an optical input on the unit, you do have the analog audio inputs (Right , White ) which you can connect the XBOX 360 to. It will not produce the 5.1 surround sound that the system is capable of, but it should have a surround mode for gaming, or general purpose that will make the gaming experience more complete. If you want to enhance the sound even more check out upgrading the Audio/Video cables to Monster Game Cables from Monster Cable, they will maximize your picture and sound to its best capabilities. Also if you want more of the surround experience use the Level settings on the system to raise the level of the Surround Speakers so that there is more active sound from behind you. If it really gets down to you wanting the optical input, you can switch out the receiver, and more than likely keep the existing speakers, or switch out the speakers as well since you have the wires run through the wall. But if you do that you will either end up using the XBOX360 as your DVD player, or purchase a DVD player as well. There are some really good HTIBs out there now for under $500, one in particular from Sony, comes with an up-converting DVD player, and HDMI connectivity on the receiver for future use as well.

How do I connect my Television to my Surround Sound System?

Hopefully this isn’t as complicated as you feared. This depends on your TV and what else you will be connecting to the system. Here’s a few options for what you are trying to do.1) Direct TV Connection Option: If your television offers an audio output this will be the easiest of the connections, all you do is connect an audio cable from the TV’s audio output (white and red jacks), to the input of your choice on your receiver (TV/SAT, Video 1, AUX, etc). When you want to watch your TV through surround, you turn on your receiver to the correct input and trun on your TV, and you’re good to go. There may be an option in your TV menu as well to leave the audio output as fixed – choose this option if available, this means that as you adjust the volume on your TV, it won’t mess with the sound through the receiver.2) Using a Cable or Satellite Box: If you have a cable or satellite box connected to the TV, the sound quality will be better than coming directly from the TV. For this you will utilize the audio outputs on the back of the boxes, either Analog Audio (red and white), or a digital output (optical or digital coax). From the back of the box, connect one of the cables from the audio out (analog or digital) to your receiver to whichever input you choose, and now when you watch your cable or satellite, you will have sound from your receiver and/or your TV. (This is my preferred choice).3) Using a VCR: If your TV doesn’t have an audio output, and you’re not using a cable or satellite box this is pretty much the only other option (if you have a VCR that is). If you have a stereo VCR and your TV signal (basic cable/antenna) is running through the VCR, you will connect an Audio cable from the Audio output on the back of the VCR to whatever jack you prefer on your receiver. All you do is leave your VCR on when you want to listen to the stereo, and whatever channel the VCR is on, that sound will come through the Stereo as well.

I hope this helps in your quest, I know its a lot of information, but I like being thorough.

Can I use a New Upconverting DVD Player with my older Home Theater System?

The easiest way to answer this is that: yes you will need a new sound system if you want to take full advantage of the HDMI connectivity. However, if your receiver has an additional optical input on it you will be OK. The HDMI connection is most important for Video at this stage of its life anyway. Most receivers now that accept HDMI are having issues with the digital audio, so the HDMI will go directly to the TV, and then an audio or fiber optic/coaxial cable is then run to the stereo system. If you’re in the market for just an upconverting DVD player and not a Blu-Ray or HD DVD player then take a look at the Sony HT-7000DH for $500 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?… It’s an HTIB system with an upconverting DVD player and receiver with HDMI capabilities. Great buy for what you get.

I hope this helps.

What is the difference between “RIP” and “BURN” when dealing with CDs?

Most music programs like iTunes and Windows Media offer both of these features, so this should relate to all of them.Rip = means to put the music files from the CD onto your computer’s hard drive. For instance when you load a CD into your computer using iTunes or Windows Media player and you want to add the music to your “Library” you choose, Rip. This will take the music from the CD and “Rip” it to your hard drive.Burn = means to take the music files from your computer, and record them on to a blank CD. So when you select the music files that you want to put on a blank CD you would use the “Burn” option to record the music to the blank disc.

I hope this helps.

I’m looking to get a 5.1 receiver, but my source isn’t digital, what can I do for the best sound?

If you’re looking at a new receiver, all you need to do is make sure that the unit offers Dolby Pro Logic II (or IIx if its a 7.1 receiver), or DTS Neo surround capabilities. These features are specifically for listening to non digital sources and recreate a 5.1 – 7.1 experience for VHS, Cable, Satellite, whatever you connect to it. If the source is in Dolby Pro-Logic then the sound will be very good in Pro-Logic II mode. If its just a stereo signal it will still sound pretty good and give you more of an experience than a standard Dolby Pro Logic receiver, because more signal is sent to the rear speakers.

I Hope this helps.