Help!

Posted by: Deeply on 27 November 2004

Hi,

I have a through lounge which is predominantly used for music. However, my old 21” TV has now given up the ghost and I am looking to replace it. Trouble is that my loudspeakers are either side of a 66” wide opening into the far room, in which the rest of the equipment resides. So, for it to be of any use for a cinema system, the display has to fit within the 66” space, bearing in mind that the loudspeakers have a large magnetic field which the display may not like, also we still have to leave enough space to get into the other room.

I have a fireplace on an adjacent wall, which is 50” and perfect to mount plasma, but then it wouldn’t be central to the loudspeakers!

The other problem is that all of the LCD displays that would otherwise fit the bill, are pretty awful compared to a CRT.

I have a cable TV box, and so don’t really need a built in tuner, and I don’t really need built in loudspeakers or amplifiers either. The other equipment is a Pioneer DV-717 DVD player, and a new JVC DR-MV1 combo DVD/VHS recorder.

Maybe a small conventional TV for everyday use, and a projector/screen as suggested elsewhere? Or plasma mounted on the adjacent wall with a separate satellite loudspeaker system, but I certainly don’t want to spoil the sound of the music system!

Deeply.
Posted on: 27 November 2004 by SimonJ
Pioneer DV-717 is an awesome DVD player. I used to have one. I donated to my sister when I replaced rather than sell it. This was one of the first UK DVD players to offer progressive scan component output (albeit NTSC films only). If you bought yourself a new Plasma TV or projector, the visual results from this DVD player will not disappoint. I Hope you manage to solve your placement issue. Maybe a conventional TV or Plasma with built in speakers for day to day use and a projector with a screen that rolls down between your speakers may be a good option.
Posted on: 28 November 2004 by Steve2701
Plasma & LCD have no objection to speakers right next door to them.. different technology from a crt.. I have one of the most powerfull magnets available within 8" of my display.

You can get EXCELLENT results from your Digibox into a plasma panel without any problems, even better if you can switch it to RGB output.

If you demo a plasma make CERTAIN it is being fed the signal they deserve, as they can be incrediably revealing of a naff source. (Where have I heard that before?)
Posted on: 28 November 2004 by Deeply
quote:
I'm not sure whether I understood you correctly. Your speakers would be left and right of your firespace, where you could/would be hanging a Plasma/LCD?


No, I didn't say that, I said that my loudspeakers are either side of a 66 inch wide opening, which is roughly half way down a 20 odd foot long room. The problem is that this doesn't leave a lot of room for the display without blocking entry to the far end of the room. I could fit the display on the fireplace wall, but the stereo pair would not be on the same wall.

quote:
Plasma & LCD have no objection to speakers right next door to them.. different technology from a crt.. I have one of the most powerfull magnets available within 8" of my display.


Yes, that is a big advatage over the older CRT types.

quote:
I personally so far (same as you) have not seen a convincing Plasma,


Again, I didn't say that, I said that I didn't like LCD displays, plasma is different altogether, but I do agree that the displays in the shops are not working at their best.

I do have a room layout - I'll have to look into how I go about posting it!

Deeply.
Posted on: 08 December 2004 by Frank Abela
How about putting a motorised projector screen attached to the ceiling between the speakers, and a projector behind you?

Stick a telly in the corner...

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.
Posted on: 09 December 2004 by Deeply
quote:
How about putting a motorised projector screen attached to the ceiling between the speakers, and a projector behind you?

Stick a telly in the corner...



Yes, that's pretty much what I have decided to do. TV's are pretty ugly things, so for me it’s a huge advantage not having one of those widescreen monstrosities in the room. I was hoping to find a sexy little 20" LCD for regular stuff, but the decent ones are pretty expensive, and the cheaper ones pretty naf.

It’s been a while since I last checked out LCD / DLP projectors, they were pretty awful when they first appeared, and I guess that the technology has moved on now? If I hung a screen in the opening between the two rooms, my seating position would be about 10 feet from the screen. I would imagine that the quality of the screen is going to have a big impact on the picture quality as well?

So, any recommendations on a small TV + a projector and screen?

Deeply.
Posted on: 19 December 2004 by Deeply
Well, after much tramping around the shops, in the end I decided to go for a standard CRT 21” set for the TV function, and will review the Movie set up later. I bought a JVC Interi Art 4:3, which I found had a much superior picture quality than any LCD this side of £1.5K and beyond.

I’ve been flicking through some of the specialist magazines, and it seems the decent quality projectors start from around £1K to £2K, add to that cost of a good quality screen and then there is the issue of lamp life and running costs. If I mounted the projector on the ceiling some 10 to 11 feet from the screen, what size of display could I expect? How would the picture quality compare to large screen Plasmas and LCDs?

Deeply.
Posted on: 19 December 2004 by Geoff P
Deeply

Check out what Allan probin and others(myself included have to say about PLasma. Allan also has a projector.

Plasma vs LCD

regards
GEOFF

"Just trying to make a NAIM for myself"
Posted on: 19 December 2004 by Deeply
Hi Geoff,

Yes, some interesting posts. I was hoping that I could make do with a 20” LCD for normal TV use, but the problem is that they are all such poor value for money. You can pick up a 20” 4:3 LCD for around £500, but they are really basic; very poor brightness levels and contrast, absolutely hopeless sound quality and minimal interconnectivity – normally only one scart. Compared to that, the JVC was only £179, and it has excellent PQ with acceptable SQ.

Interesting to read Allan’s views on front projection, to a degree this mirrors my own concerns, the problem is that I just can’t fit a widescreen TV between the loudspeakers, else there would be no room to get by into the other room where the equipment is! I have seen some real bargains in large plasmas.

The comment on poor demos in shops certainly rings a bell. If you go into any of the large chains you’ll find hundreds of sets all hooked up to a common low grade signal, with the result that they all look terrible. It is near enough impossible to judge PQ in such an environment, I suppose just as with hi-fi equipment, this is justification enough to go to a specialist retailer and pay a few bob more.

Again, the importance of the source signal cannot be impressed enough. I was in a retailer recently, two large screen LCD’s from the same manufacturer were sitting side by side, one with a signal from a clean source (satellite or cable?) which was absolutely superb, the other from a terrestrial TV station was really very, very poor.

I’ve also been impressed with the results obtained from progressive scanning. My JVC DR-MV1 has such capabilities, though I can’t use it at the moment; I would be looking to utilize it in the future.

Deeply.