The TV in my living room was more than 9 years old while the one in the bedroom was closing in on five years. Technology marches on and I thought it was time to upgrade.
One gating factor was that 9 year old living room TV. It was a 36 (or 37?) inch Sony, the last of the big monster CRTs. It weighed 100 kilos (according to the published specs, I never tried to lift it). And while it may have cost HK$24,000 back in 2002, I couldn’t find anyone who would pay even $1,000 for it now despite the fact that it still worked. Well, it worked okay enough. One of my dogs, when he was a puppy, had chewed up the remote and a corner of the TV many years ago. I didn’t want to just toss it out in the trash and at this point I figured the best I could do would be for someone to take it for free. Finally after some online ads and Facebook posts and phone calls, someone came over and took it off my hands.
I’d pretty much made up my mind that I was going to get a Samsung. These days they seem to have equaled or surpassed Sony in terms of picture quality; they’re the ones manufacturing the panels that many other brands use. And I figured that since I want a TV to last many years, I’d go for the top of the line, which in this case I thought would be the Samsung Series 8. But in looking around in Times Square, I discovered that while Samsung lists a 47 inch Series 8 model on their web site, no one bothers to carry it. I went back to the web site and saw that the differences between the Series 7 and Series 7 were relatively minor so I figured okay, Samsung Series 7 47 inch.
At that point, it was over to Hang Hau, where there are 4 big box electronics shops all right next to each other in the East Point City mall. I figured they’d all be pretty much the same price and it would be a matter of which shop would give me the most extra stuff for free. The first three shops weren’t offering much and so finally, somewhat reluctantly, I went to the last shop, Fortress. (Li Ka-Shing. Or as I like to call him, Li Ka-CHING!)
Well, first off, Fortress’s sales people spoke the best English, including one sales guy whose English name was Cyber. Cyber didn’t want me to buy Samsung though. He wanted me to buy LG. I figured sure, the LG’s at the front of the store, it’s the promotion of the month, of course he’s going to push me in that direction. I asked him if he’d throw in a free 3D Blu-Ray player for me and he said no. I listened to what he had to say and told him I needed to go home and research a bit more first.
At home, I found out that the stuff he’d told me was basically the truth. LG’s beaten Samsung to market with the latest 3D technology. LG’s 3D is clearer and allows you to use the same cheapo plastic glasses they give you in movie theaters. Samsung’s is older, perhaps not quite as clear and also requires you to get these expensive glasses that use batteries. In terms of 2D viewing, the Samsung may have had a slight edge in the reviews but not enough that I thought I’d notice the difference.
So with two LG 47 inch models to pick from, I had my eye on their 6500, with a much faster refresh rate. But back to Fortress the next night, Cyber told me the faster refresh rate wouldn’t make a difference on TV or movies, only for computers and video games. It didn’t hurt that the 4500 series was also about 30 or 40% cheaper than the 6500 series. And then the kicker – Cyber told me that he checked his stock and today he could throw in a free 3D Blu-Ray player. Not to mention 10 pairs of 3D glasses, an HDMI cable, $100 in Watsons coupons and $400 in Park ‘n Shop coupons. So. Done.
Next day, while waiting for delivery, over to the DVD shop to see what 3D Blu-Ray discs are out there. 3D’s not a big thing for me – I got it because, as I said, I want the TV to last me for several years and so I figured I might as well get the latest and greatest. And since I’m getting the 3D capability, I might as well use it. Well, the 3D disc selection is pretty poor. It’s mostly animated films, as you might have guessed. And Drive Angry with Nicolas Cage. I already had the boxed set of both Tron films at home (which includes the 2nd movie in 3D) and so I picked up Despicable Me, which I recalled enjoying and seemed like the best of a bad lot. And then … yeah, I know some of you were waiting for this … the 3D Blu-Ray of 3D Sex and Zen. 3D porn at home!
So another day goes by, the TV is delivered and set up. I set up the new Blu-Ray. Put on the glasses. Yes, actual 3D at home, lying in bed. The guy who set up the TV did a quick & dirty job of it. The corners were far too bright and it was distracting the hell out of me. (These new Edge LED sets are actually LCD sets that use LEDs for their backlighting. If set too bright, they can wash out the corners and leave the center of the set looking dark.) So a lot of time tinkering with the numerous presets and adjustments (not finished yet) but eventually I got a fucking great picture.
LED sets look very different from previous sets. The higher brightness and contrast ratio make everything look, to my eyes, more like video than film. I watched the Blu-Ray of the restored version of Sergio Leone’s epic Once Upon a Time in the West today. Everything was sharp. Super sharp. Hyper sharp. And while I could still see the film grain, there was more of a 3 dimensional look to the thing that sort of made it look as if it was shot on video instead of on film. It takes some getting used to.
The TV also can up-convert 2D to 3D. That means, yeah, I confess, last night I watched The Big Lebowski in 3D. It didn’t make the movie better or worse, it was just a smidge different. I know, Roger Ebert would scream (if he could) but one of these days I might try watching Maltese Falcon in 3D. Or Buster Keaton. Simply because I can.
In terms of TV, I watched the latest episode of Louie, which I’d downloaded in HD. That show is shot on digital video using the RED camera and it looked amazing on this TV. But after that I watched the latest episode of Entourage, which I’d grabbed in standard definition, and that looked pretty amazing too. We also watched Return of the King (astonishing detail in the image) and a bit of Avatar – regardless of how you feel about the film itself, it is probably THE demo blu-ray disc. Nothing surpasses it in terms of video and audio quality.
One thing worth noting – my 5 year old A/V receiver is equipped with HDMI 1.3 and comes from an era when these things were built without internet connectivity or USB ports. So there’s no way to upgrade the sucker. And that means that if I route the new Blu-Ray player through the receiver, I can’t watch 3D. So I had to hook the HDMI from the Blu-Ray directly into the TV and use the Blu-Ray’s optical out so that I could use my surround sound set-up rather than just the TV’s speakers. Yes, I know, this makes me think about upgrading the receiver now. Except that with just 3 3D discs and hundreds (if not thousands) of 2D Blu-Ray and standard definition DVDs, I think I can wait and exist this way for quite some time.
Upcoming 3D Blu-Ray releases include Thor, The Lion King and a boxed set of all 3 Toy Story movies. Feh.
So, overall, 3D – not so much. LG LED TV? I’m really happy with it so far. But the very different look to the image takes some getting used to – and perhaps cinema purists will have a problem with it.