LCD TV...how to optimize it now?

[bcsst26]

Well last night I finally found a tv that fit in my cabinet and seems to have nice picture. I went with a vizio 26 inch led-lcd. Now I want to make sure that I am getting the most out of it. I know to get HD etc but does anyone know of a website that talks about all the settings and such? I am just wandering what to play around with to get the best picture possible. Right now I have no hd but am running most of my stuff through coaxial. Will components make that much of a difference? Thanks for the input.

[keltik]

for that small a TV Newegg.com or tigerdirect.com may have good deals. there is also places like Sam's Club, Costco, and BJ's. how much are you looking to spend?

[bcsst26]

I will check them out. 300-400 but cheaper is always better. Would consider refurbished if there is a good deal on one or if I could find a decent place to buy one from.

[keltik]

that's a good price range for that size. last year I bought a 26" Vizio (only 720p) for $300 at Sam's Club. I put it in the bedroom since I have a 50" Sony I got 5 years ago in the living room. Seriously give the big box stores a look. they have a great selection of all the current models. and take a look at "off" brands like Vizio. stay away from Sanyo. my dad bought a 20" flat Sanyo that lasted a month.

[homebrew]

I program touch screen kiosks for several national homebuilders' model homes and I primarily use 42" Vizios. They're pretty good tvs- so I assume the smaller ones would be alright as well.

[bcsst26]

Vizio was the main brand I have been looking at. I think it seems like a balance between price and quality. Now to find the cheapest place to get one

[bcsst26]

Well last night I finally found a tv that fit in my cabinet and seems to have nice picture. I went with a vizio 26 inch led-lcd. Now I want to make sure that I am getting the most out of it. I know to get HD etc but does anyone know of a website that talks about all the settings and such? I am just wandering what to play around with to get the best picture possible. Right now I have no hd but am running most of my stuff through coaxial. Will components make that much of a difference? Thanks for the input.

Any good places to buy component cables or HDMI cables?

[Lithicon]

If you're going to run any type of Hd audio and video on the tv. You're going to want to run at the very least component cables. HDMI is easier, as it runs both in one cable and they're about the same price now. And, NewEgg will have those as well.

[some call me...tim?]

go to monoprice.com for all your cabling/hookup needs.

[bcsst26]

go to monoprice.com for all your cabling/hookup needs.

Great site thanks.

Question for those out there. The amount of inputs are my tv are 2 hdmi, one component and one composite. Is is possible to run my dvd player which doesn't have a hdmi port to the hdmi port on the tv? I would use component out of the dvd player to the hdmi on the tv. I looked for this type of cable on monoprice but had no luck? Does this cable exist? Would this work. I am just trying to figure out a way to use the hdmi ports without actually having a device right now that also has hdmi ports.

[emiller3]

Check AVS Forum and search for your model for the best calibration settings and such.

[some call me...tim?]

You can get a converter but it's not worth it, IMO. http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2

You could pick up a new DVD player with HDMI for less. If you have component hookups, just go with those...make sure that it's actually component (red, blue, green) and not composite (red, white, yellow) though. If you do use component, be aware that you'll need a separate cable for audio.

[Lithicon]

You can get a converter but it's not worth it, IMO. http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2

You could pick up a new DVD player with HDMI for less. If you have component hookups, just go with those...make sure that it's actually component (red, blue, green) and not composite (red, white, yellow) though. If you do use component, be aware that you'll need a separate cable for audio.

I agree, you're much better off just running component cables, they're cable of the same quality video of HDMI. As Tim and I said the only draw back is that HDMI carries high quality audio in the same cable, component doesn't. You can either get Optical audio cable, or you can get the component audio cables, RED/WHITE to go with them component cables.

But, your best route is to just get the full set of component cables and just do that as there is no quality loss in this method. The HDMI is really only for the ease of one cable. The very newest components actually run better on the newer HDMI cables due to their slightly higher bandwidths. But, if your DVD player doesn't have HDMI, you won't see any quality loss as it's not going to look any better, or worse on component. You could get a Blu-ray player, and those will come with HDMI, as that would compliment the LED TV the best anyway.

[bcsst26]

You can get a converter but it's not worth it, IMO. http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2

You could pick up a new DVD player with HDMI for less. If you have component hookups, just go with those...make sure that it's actually component (red, blue, green) and not composite (red, white, yellow) though. If you do use component, be aware that you'll need a separate cable for audio.

I agree, you're much better off just running component cables, they're cable of the same quality video of HDMI. As Tim and I said the only draw back is that HDMI carries high quality audio in the same cable, component doesn't. You can either get Optical audio cable, or you can get the component audio cables, RED/WHITE to go with them component cables.

But, your best route is to just get the full set of component cables and just do that as there is no quality loss in this method. The HDMI is really only for the ease of one cable. The very newest components actually run better on the newer HDMI cables due to their slightly higher bandwidths. But, if your DVD player doesn't have HDMI, you won't see any quality loss as it's not going to look any better, or worse on component. You could get a Blu-ray player, and those will come with HDMI, as that would compliment the LED TV the best anyway.

Thanks. Hopefully I can get a blu-ray in the future but not enough funds right now. I just want to max out what I have right now. I also want to set the TV up to display the best possible picture. Man these things have a lot of things to mess with. I will check out the AVS forum and see what they say.

[kevind]

just bought a 48" vizio lcd about two moths ago and I would reccommend it to anyone. Of course cable looks way better in hd thats a given. On dvds my old hd dvd player had hdmi outs so it looked real nice before it took a crap on my last weekend. so i was at wally world and picked up a new blu ray on clearance for under a bill out the door. The blue ray doesnt look much better than my old hd but if your upgrading probally ought to bit the bullet and get the bluray.