astroglide's home theater: what i own, what i would buy today

[Costanza]

I don't think cable length has anything to do with it.

The way it was explained to me is that the receiver has to process the digital audio signal and your display has to process the video signal, and depending on the receiver/display this can be a slower process on one of the devices which causes the audio and video to get out of sync.

I used to have this problem relatively frequently with my Oppo and an HP DLP set. Pausing a DVD and restarting it would resolve it. I've since returned the HP (for other reasons), replaced it with a Samsung DLP and have applied 2 firmware updates to the Oppo and haven't had any issues since then.

[gusmahler]

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could lip sync issue be cable related -length or type (optical audio)?

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No. The signals travel at the speed of light, so cable length is pretty much irrelevant.

The reason for lipsync issues is because the processing for audio signals is simpler than the processing for video signals. So it takes longer to process video signals. There are boxes out there that will delay the signals such that they are synced up. The boxes are adjustable also.

Here's a link to one: http://www.lipfix.com/lip_sync_error_.html

[gusmahler]

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johnnycakes,
oppo dvd players are easily updated for features and/or fixes. see HERE, burn the cd and follow the instructions. sync is #3 on the release notes.

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Yeah, I check often. Have the latest updates...still have lip synch issues.

Blackize,
You cannot "upconvert" at standard DVD to HD. It only "upconverts" the SD signal. It does make a difference, but it is no where near HD quality.
Standard "upconverted" DVD vs HD/blu-ray DVD = no contest.

A video signal is only as good as it's source and DVD = standard def.

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Moreover, some people don't even notice a difference.

Here's a quick overview. DVD signals are 480i. Your HDTV is either 720p or 1080p. In order to properly display a 480i signal, the signal has to be converted from 480i to 720p (or 1080p). Your TV will do that conversion automatically.

The reason one would get an upconverting DVD player is because some people assert that upconverting DVD players do a better job at doing the conversion than your TV does.

There is no comparison to Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, both of which store the movies in 1080p.

That said, the difference between HD-DVD and DVD is not as great as you would think. E.g., I have two movies in both DVD and HD-DVD. You can hardly tell the difference between regular DVD and HD-DVD in the movie Terminator 3. But you can easily tell the difference between the two when viewing King Kong (which is also reputed to have the best picture quality of any HD-DVD).

[astroglide]

johnnycakes,
try flipping your upconversion output from 720p to 1080i or vice-versa. if it's currently 720p, your tv's built-in scaler is upconverting it to 1080p. if it's 1080i, your tv is deinterlacing it for progressive scan. one of those operations might be faster than the other, and picking the right one could solve the audio problem. if not, or if you don't like the resulting picture, play with the delay settings on the 971H's audio setup page. it can be adjusted in 10ms increments.

[Nortonesque]

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I'm a bit skeptical about DLP, though...

I found this Vizio 37" LCD for $899. Sounds like a good deal. Any experience with this one, anybody?

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I have the 32" version of this, and it does have some issues (notably the audio is occasionally temporarily quieter coming back from commercials and there's a buzzing sound when the backlight is turned down). Neither of these are dealbreakers for me, though I'll probably exchange the set at Costco if Vizio fixes these problems in newer ones.

I'd recommend finding the thread for your TV on avsforum.com.

[Shajen]

So...I'm severely torn right now:

Sony 60"

or....


Samsung 61"

thoughts please...

[PITTM]

if i was choosing i would take the samsung there in a second.

[Shajen]

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if i was choosing i would take the samsung there in a second.

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Why?

thanks.

[blackize]

The Samsung is bigger and in my experience their products are better than Sony's and cheaper since when you buy a Sony you're really paying a surplus for the brand name.

[TyFuji]

I have a samsung LCD and it has some problems like turning off randomly and using with a computer that are somewhat annoying. YMMV of course, but based on that I would say Sony might be a better choice.