why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

I check them out from time to time at the local Best Buy. It's almost always some repeating clip from ESPNHD or a scene from The Matrix. They look pixelated, and there seem to be shadows during much motion. The only exceptions are the ones that are $4k+. Is this a marketing thing? Does the video source they use suck? Are the TV's not calibrated? Are plasma/lcd's just not that great?

I've never owned one myself, and nobody I know has one for me to watch it 'in action'. Any ideas? Do they look okay with just regular cable?

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

Have you ever had a conversation with a Best Buy employee?

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

You need a HD TV and a HD source and it will be amazing quality, I was literally amazed when I saw a side by side comparison of a standard LCD TV next to a HD LCD TV

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

Have a look at a HD CRT and you will see a really good picture.

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

Consider standing more than a foot away as well.

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

High definition TV is way way better than standard TV. Particularly if you have true HD (1080i).

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

Because they suck. Try a DLP projection tv or standalone DLP projector. 20 times better.

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

My guess is that the strength of the source signal is attenuated due to its being split off many times to multiple TVs, causing things like pixelation, weak color, and flickering.

In order to overcome this, many shops use signal amplifiers which also, ironically, can make the signal so strong as to distort the picture (e.g. shadows and 'ghosting'.)

Ideally, they'd have one video source for each TV, but that just isn't economical.

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

Best Buy's TVs are:

a) abused (stuff like burn-in occurs often at BB)
b) have terrible settings
c) have terrible sources

With some work and a decent source setup properly, connected to your TV in the best possible way, HDTV can be awesome. The workers at Best Buy pretty much use the price tags to tell them which TVs are better than others and then read off the info card in front of the TV when a customer asks them for details about a set.

www.avsforum.com if you really wanna learn about this kinda stuff. Be prepared to put in alot of time reading before you become even semi-knowledgable.

If you wanna see some nice HDTV setups, find a smaller (and usually extremely expensive) electronics shop that looks very high end (not a chain, or at least not a big chain). These places will likely have the TVs setup closer to properly.

Re: why do the pictures in plasma/lcd TV\'s on display suck?
 

Yes, stores do screw up the pictures on the cheaper tv's so you will see the difference in the more expensive TVs.