Designing my HDTV / Home Theater
Trying to capture my thoughts and requirements for building a home
theater.
- 60" or larger HDTV, probably rear projection
- PlayStation 2 with 1080i component out
- XBOX 360 with 1080p component out, maybe HDMI later
- Probably eventually a PS3 instead of PS2 with component out
- DishNetwork HD satellite receiver with PVR; HDMI out
- Home Theater PC: probably a laptop with VGA out to start with; also DVI
out
- OTA antenna for HD and digital locals
- A stand that will hold all this with glass doors for IR-controlled
components, and other doors that close to hide junk
Among other things, this means is that the TV
itself isn't going to be doing very much up-scaling or de-interlacing of 480i
content: the satellite receiver or DVD player/game system will be doing that.
Not sure yet about 3:2 pulldown, whether the players will do that or the TV
will.
This means the TV I choose has to have these inputs:
- Two component inputs on the back accepting 1080p
- Two HDMI inputs on the back with 1080p
- VGA or DVI-to-HDMI input that can accept 1080p and fill the screen with
it, ideally with 1:1 pixel ratio (why do these losers insist on
overcscanning and rescaling digital content that's already made up of
pixels?)
Which TVs meet these criteria?
- The Mitsubishi line passes, but 1080p isn't available on component, only
HDMI.
- The Samsung 61" passes these tests.
- Toshiba fails completely - no 1080p input at all.
- Sony XBR2 probably does fine. (But what about the Green Blob?)
Things to buy/prepare
- PS2
- PS2 component-out cable
- XBOX360
- Premium bundle with component cable, wireless controller, larger hard
disk, maybe HD-DVD player. Actually needs to use VGA to get 1080p from an
HD-DVD.
- DishNetwork equipment
- HD receiver $199 lease fee including a local installer's visit; HD
programming (pick a package!)
- HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) connections
- DVI to HDMI converter, for feeding DVI to display; otherwise just VGA
from laptop to display
- OTA antenna for digital and HD channels
- Radio Shack has indoor antennas, Samsung TV has an amplifier inside if
needed
Get cables at www.monoprice.com -
somebody said good prices and no performance problems.
Another vendor for cables that's well-regarded in the AVS forums is Blue
Jeans Cables.
Samsung HL-S6188W (WX?)
This is probably going to be the TV that I get in January.
- 2x component in on back (that take 1080p?)
- PC in
- 2x HDMI in, one of which takes DVI also and has separate audio inputs.
But the manual says this is not compatible with a PC ?!
- Analog audio out connectors are not active unless you mute the TV. This
is a shame: you can't connect to an external audio system but then use it
only when you want, just by turning the volume all the way down. The optical
audio out is always active.
Calibration
Here are the calibration packages ratings:
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/...ation_tools.htm
There is a $25 calibration disk that you download and burn as an image to a
DVD. GetGray's Calibration Disk. It's at
www.calibrate.tv and the thread about it is at or near
this posting.
See my notes in f:\apratt\hdtv\calibtraion.txt on the main computer.
AVSForum has a calibration DVD available but it might be too "easy" and not
"confusing."
There's another product at "Spyder" reviewed
here.
For those who wish to learn and perform their own calibration:
http://usa.gretagmacbethstore.com/i...Display%202.htm considered not a bad hardware and software package for $249 MSRP!
A posting on AVS about using the DVE disc for user calibration:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8986054&&#post8986054
The highest rated user calibration package is the ColorEyes Display
Bundle 3.2:
http://www.integrated-color.com/ced...rprofiling.html
http://www.mikemacdonald.com/Recommended-Links.shtml
and cost about $325 MSRP
If you can burn an HD-DVD, there might be something at by dr1394 in
www.avsforum.com, post6049851 (but I
didn't record what thread), with a link to a disc image here:
http://www.w6rz.net/hdtestpatterns.zip
This page was last edited
April 26, 2008. |