In this episode we cover HDTV options in Canada, check out a 100 foot HDMI cable from Monoprice.com and review a 32" Samsung LCD HDTV.
HDTV Options in Canada
We received an email from listener Mark in Victoria British Columbia
asking for a little HDTV content for Canada. So we decided to do a
brief discussion about what options our Canadian listeners have for
HDTV.
You have the same basic options that we have here in the US. Over the Air OTA, Satellite and Cable.
As far as OTA goes, Canada is just a little behind the US in
providing OTA HD signals. There is a great resource for information
about your city and OTA at the Digital Home website. We are providing a
link to a
Knowledge Base Article about OTA reception of HDTV.
This article is a good resource for anyone who is interested in OTA
reception of HDTV signals regardless of where you are in the world. The
is also a forum you can search for reception reports for your city (
Canadian OTA Reception Reports).
For Satellite you basically have two players,
Star Choice and
Bell Express VU. Bell has over
30 HD channels including the US networks (both East and West Coast feeds). Star on the other hand has
14 HD channels which also include the US networks (both East and West coast feeds). See the websites for pricing and included channels.
The
last choice you have is cable. Cable companies can vary widely on what
they offer in the way of HDTV. The best thing to do is check your cable
company's website to see what they offer. If you want to discuss or
read what others are saying about your company we are providing a link
to a
Digital Cable Discussion forum.
Other Canadian resources
HDTV Discussion at Digital Home
What's on in High Definition
One Hundred Feet of HDMI
A hundred feet of HDMI cable? Well sort of. Today we take a look at a hundred foot HDMI cable sold at
Monoprice.com for $131.34. Its a heavy and well constructed cable that worked flawlessly. But its important to say that the cable needs
$27.90 HDMI extender
to work properly. The extender is about half the size of an iPod Nano
and needs to be connected between the source and TV or projector. The
100 foot cable is connected to the source. That brings the total price
of the cable up to $159.24 which is the price of some four foot high
end cables. In fact a local big box retailer has a 16 foot HDMI cable
on sale for $275 that won't produce a better picture than this Monoprice HDMI cable. You can find other 100 foot cables online for
$450. At that price the extender is not an issue as far as we are
concerned!
Samsung LN-S3251D 32" LCD HDTV
Today we take a look at a 32 in Samsung LCD (
LN-S3251D). At 32 inches its the right size for a bedroom, office, or small family room and can be found online for about $1200.
Features:
- DNIe (Digital Natural Image engine) - Digital Noise Reduction circuitry
- 4000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio - The TV adjusts the back light intensity to improve contrast in dark scenes
- S-PVA (Super Patterned Vertical Alignment) - This feature provides a wider viewing angle without washed out colors
- Enhanced Game Mode - speeds up image processing for gaming needs
- 720p
- ATSC Tuner
We
were expecting a lot from this TV. It looked great even before we
turned it on. The only issue we saw with the cabinet is that its black
color will show dust and finger prints. Other than that it will enhance
any room its placed in. It comes with a stand but it is also wall
mountable. Now this is 720p TV but at this size it is not an issue. It
has two HDMI inputs so if you have an upconverting DVD player and a set
top box you are covered. It only has one component input so you can
connect 3 HD sources without a switch. The 8 ms response time is
excellent for sports and gaming. For speakers the TV has what Samsung
calls DACS (Dual Acoustic Chamber System). Its a fancy name for what we
would call stereo sound. This is not a criticism but more of a
statement of fact. The menus are easy to work and do not require many
levels of navigation to find what you are looking for.
So
how do all these specs translate to what you see on the screen? We
would give it a solid B+. The colors are good. especially in high
definition. Skin tones looked realistic. Standard Definition look
pretty good too. But we find smaller screens typically do better with
SD material. We hoped with a contrast ratio of 4000:1 this TV would do
a great job in darker scenes, and it did. But there is a caveat to this
statement. You need to set the backlight to match your environment. If
you are watching in the light of day you need to set the backlight to
the brightest level. If the backlight was at its brightest in a
darkened room the picture would be washed out. Fortunately there is a
dedicated button on the remote that makes switching the backlight
levels simple. The TV did a very good job producing deep blacks when
the backlight was at its lowest setting.
An
issue we have with LCDs is their off angle viewing. Most LCDs advertise
a large viewing angle but the colors will wash out when you get past
about 130 degrees. This TV produced good colors well beyond that
range. The TV has good detail but again we were expecting more.
Football and hockey looked good. We did not see any motion
related artifacts. Pretty much any artifacts you see today will be due
to compression.
We did not play games on this TV. But with its
fast response time it should do just fine. Many gamers have reported
that TVs that have a game mode typically do not do well in that mode.
Its better to just leave it in the mode that you watch TV in. A lot of
manufacturers create these modes as marketing gimmicks. If you own this
TV and use it for games please let us know if you prefer the game mode
over the regular TV viewing mode.
One last thing. If you plan on calibrating the TV, and you
should, you can not calibrate each input separately. We found the
preconfigured settings looked pretty good. Play around with the
combinations and you'll find something that looks good with minimal
fuss. But if you would like to help the Elf Foundation go to the AVS
Forum site and buy the Monster Calibration DVD. From Sept. 1-Dec. 31,
$10 of the Proceeds from Each Purchase of the
Award-Winning Monster/ISF Calibration Wizard Via the ISF and Monster
Cable Web Sites will be Donated to the Elf Foundation
Pros:
Good Picture (color, blacks, and detail)
True 178 deg viewing angle
Two HDMI inputs
Variable Backlight levels
Cons:
One Analog HD input
Price
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