Let's Discuss HD Combo Players!

[Killer Meteor]

You guys calling me clueless, that's hilarious . Seriously it is, you're clueless about many things Salty.

You can from several brands actually

I didn't know that, cheers. Which brands?

OK wise guy, give us a list of what Salty is "clueless" about

Otherwise, shape up boy! Back straight, chest out, mouth shut!

[saltysam]

I did, and do regulary when I shit in front of my screen

dirty bugger,wear a nappy

[EvaUnit02]

I did, and do regulary when I shit in front of my screen ... needs cleaning a lot.

I imagine that it would.

[bradavon]

You sit less than 1m away from a 40" TV? Dude buy some glasses, that's seriously bad for your health.

I sit roughly 2.5-3m away from my 32" TV. I'd never sit only 1m away. Why on earth do you sit so close? Talk about IMAX experience .

If you can tell the difference between HD and SD on a 17 inch monitor (which I can easily)

I can too, based on QuickTime 720/1080p trailers. I'd be surprised if anyone cannot spot it. It's obvious, some may say the difference isn't staggering (depending how techie/how much of an AVphile they are) but the difference is obvious.

[romerojpg]

You sit less than 1m away from a 40" TV? Dude buy some glasses, that's seriously bad for your health.

I sit roughly 2.5-3m away from my 32" TV. I'd never sit only 1m away. Why on earth do you sit so close? Talk about IMAX experience .

Recenet figures released by THX for HD screens say optimal diatance for a 42 inch LCD 1080p screen is just over 4 foot, so no I am far from too close only by a few inches according to THX.

I sit that close as it looks far better, you see far more details and it fills you field of view. Its far better than sitting away from a screen and frankly wasting HD image quality.


Its like going to the cinema and sitting at the back of the cinema, pointless.

Before you slag it off at least try sitting closer for one film, I could never go back to 6 foot away or more as frankly you see bugger all at that distance on a 40 incher, never mind a 32 incher (and yes my eye sight is perfect).

Anyone saying its bad for your health is talking bull, many surveys are for old TV's not HD 1080p screens etc.. it cannot make you eyes worse thats for sure, an old wives tale. It may give you a headache as some people cannot sit that close to bright lights, but my screen if perfectly optimised and is not bright.

[bradavon]

Recenet figures released by THX for HD screens say optimal diatance for a 42 inch LCD 1080p screen is just over 4 foot, so no I am far from too close only by a few inches according to THX.

Are you sure? That's only 1.2m, which is roughly 1 yard. Okay I'm no optical expert (Salty take note, before you accuse me of claiming I said I was one of those too!) but that cannot be healthy for your eyes, surely not?

That's so close to the TV screen.

I sit that close as it looks far better, you see far more details and it fills you field of view. Its far better than sitting away from a screen and frankly wasting HD image quality.

I'm not suggesting everyone sits as far as I do but your talking the other end of the scale. For practicality I sit a bit further than I'd ideally like, which is why I usually sit in another seat to watch films.

Before you slag it off at least try sitting closer for one film, I could never go back to 6 foot away or more as frankly you see bugger all at that distance on a 40 incher, never mind a 32 incher (and yes my eye sight is perfect).

I wasn't slagging it off or what you're saying, honest. It just seems dangerously close to the TV.

it cannot make you eyes worse thats for sure, an old wives tale. It may give you a headache as some people cannot sit that close to bright lights, but my screen if perfectly optimised and is not bright.

I could well believe it's partially an old wives tale but likewise I'd be surprised to hear it's healthy for you.

Like you say I imagine some would get a headache too.

[romerojpg]

The old pulsing screens with Tubes were not good for you, but LCD and I think Plasma as well are perfect for close viewing (PC screen anyone, bet you get damn close to them with no probs).

It cannot hurt you from all I have read over the last few years (unless like Mobile Phones it rots your brain ), its like saying if you stick a magazine too close to your face when reading you may damage your eyes. Its whatever is comfortable, if I felt it was painful of anything I would stop, but its more than fine for me


Current TV's do no more damage than sitting to close to anything else

THX reccomends dividing the diagonal size of your screen by 0.84 to give you a good viewing distance. So 42 inches would be 4foot 2inches they say(if I read it right, it may mean 42 foot haha)

Damage can be done I know if you have you head at an angle to high or low mind you serious lback and neck problems from that sort of thing.

[bradavon]

The old pulsing screens with Tubes were not good for you, but LCD and I think Plasma as well are perfect for close viewing.

Fair point.

(PC screen anyone, bet you get damn close to them with no probs)

My LCD monitor isn't 40" , plus you need to to read the text. Text on a movie is rarely as small as it is on a PC monitor.

its like saying if you stick a magazine too close to your face when reading you may damage your eyes.

I don't buy that one, not that you'll likely be able to read it.

[romerojpg]

Hey if I go blind or my head explodes I will get back to you but remember I dont sit that close all day, just for a few films a week in HD, standard dvd looks a bit dodgy that close so I have to sit back, Freeview even more so

[gasteropod]

I didn't know that, cheers. Which brands?

A quick search on Amazon reveals that Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp do 8)

[bradavon]

Thanks. I hadn't looked for awhile and when I did they were all 37" or above. I bet it was "for marketing purposes".

[gasteropod]

Nah, it's because they were under the impression that 1080p wasn't particularly important on that small a size, which is quite correct really. When talking plasma though, it's because it took advances in technology to ram so many pixels into that size.

[bradavon]

Were you talking about Plasma TVs? That would be why I've never looked into Plasmas much at all.

[gasteropod]

Nope, LCD, only the last part of my last post is about plasma (hence 'When talking plasma though')

[bradavon]

Following the news that the LG BH200 can be made SD DVD Region Free, Support PAL and has the ability to switch BD Regions there is now a very healthy active forum thread over at AV Forums:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=756827

I've barely contributed to it but there are now plenty of BH200 owners, many new ones over the last few weeks too.

That's pretty damn good considering most considered the Player was doomed to fail before it was even released.

[bradavon]

Loads of people in North America complained the LG BH200 HD Combo Player wasn't Profile 2.0 and remarkably LG listened. There is now a firmware upgrade to make it Profile 2.0/BD-Live. I never bothered as I didn't see it coming and well BD-Live is overrated.

I doubt I'll use it much as you need to stick a USB Flash Drive in the front (except for the PS3 an annoying common occurrence, why?)

I must say this is impressive, given how long ago it was discontinued. I've yet to have any audio dropouts or problem discs too!

[EvaUnit02]

I doubt I'll use it much as you need to stick a USB Flash Drive in the front (except for the PS3 an annoying common occurrence, why?)

What are you saying? Are you talking about a one-off installation of the new firmware via USB pen, or having to have one inserted all of the time (to use the BD-Live)?

PS3 can update its firmware online via Wifi (it's got a built-in 802.11g receiver) or Ethernet. Else you can download the latest firmware off of the Sony website and dump into onto a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive or burn it to writeable optical media and update it that way,

[bradavon]

What are you saying? Are you talking about a one-off installation of the new firmware via USB pen, or having to have one inserted all of the time (to use the BD-Live)?

The latter. It doesn't have enough on-board RAM.

You can update the firmware via USB stock from the web or it's Ethernet port. It has no Wifi, you'd need to use HomePlug to get Wifi. I run a cable around the room (along speaker wire) right now but will likely invest in HomePlug when I move house.