HDTV Audio and Anti-Glare

In article ,
says...

3) My wife abhors the sound of any kind of 'home theater sound system'.
She
is somewhat hard of hearing and has some trouble with conventional TV
speakers and hearing conversations in all cases. So a TV with a good,
built-in sound system is a priority (even though there are FAR better
solutions IMHO - she just isn't receptive to them)

With the requirement for a good but, apparently, unobtrusive audio
setup, you might consider getting a powered sound-bar. Not one of the
ones that tries to simulate multichannel but just an array of decently
sized and directly aimed speakers. This can be mounted directly below
the TV and can appear to be a part of it.

Is there such a thing where some reasonable amount of base is included.
Based on my "shopping to date" (and my info is what I was getting from
various sales-types) it seemed that only a sound bar would pretty much
totally exclude any sound below a few hundred hertz. Maybe I misunderstood
or maybe they didn't understand, but...

ps. I AM NOT looking for some kind of couch-shaking base. I just don't want
to have a speaker system with no response below 500 hz.

The OP can respond too, but I think the soundbar suggestion is a good one
when you compare their sound quality to many onboard TV speakers. You should
listen in the store to both and see if a soundbar improves things.

whosbest54
--
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"whosbest54" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

3) My wife abhors the sound of any kind of 'home theater sound system'.
She
is somewhat hard of hearing and has some trouble with conventional TV
speakers and hearing conversations in all cases. So a TV with a good,
built-in sound system is a priority (even though there are FAR better
solutions IMHO - she just isn't receptive to them)

With the requirement for a good but, apparently, unobtrusive audio
setup, you might consider getting a powered sound-bar. Not one of the
ones that tries to simulate multichannel but just an array of decently
sized and directly aimed speakers. This can be mounted directly below
the TV and can appear to be a part of it.

Is there such a thing where some reasonable amount of base is included.
Based on my "shopping to date" (and my info is what I was getting from
various sales-types) it seemed that only a sound bar would pretty much
totally exclude any sound below a few hundred hertz. Maybe I misunderstood
or maybe they didn't understand, but...

ps. I AM NOT looking for some kind of couch-shaking base. I just don't
want
to have a speaker system with no response below 500 hz.

The OP can respond too, but I think the soundbar suggestion is a good one
when you compare their sound quality to many onboard TV speakers. You
should
listen in the store to both and see if a soundbar improves things.

whosbest54

Now that I think about it, the best solution might well be a 2.1 soundbar
with a woofer behind my chair where my wife is unlikely to hear it.

dave

"Dave Lee" wrote in message
m...


"Deke" wrote in message
news

"iws" wrote in message
...
"Dave Lee" wrote in message
m...
| My wife and I will be purchasing a new HDTV set soon. A true "Home
Theater
| Experience" is not our goal. We have the following priorities (in no
| particular order).
|
| 1) Minimum "muss/fuss" setup. We will be using Time-Warner cable as
our
| primary source.
|
| 2) Our TV room is pretty bright (lots of windows, although they do all
face
| north -but still pretty bright). We have to use a glare filter to be
able
to
| use our conventional CRT-technology TV in the afternoons.
|
| 3) My wife abhors the sound of any kind of 'home theater sound
system'.
She
| is somewhat hard of hearing and has some trouble with conventional TV
| speakers and hearing conversations in all cases. So a TV with a good,
| built-in sound system is a priority (even though there are FAR better
| solutions IMHO - she just isn't receptive to them)
|
| 4) Our viewing distance is 8-12'. But we are willing to put up with a
37"
| HDTV set simply because it would fit into our existing TV cabinet (see
#1
| above)
|
| My fundamental questions a
|
| 1) I am assuming that, given a very bright room, LCD is the obvious
choice
| (over plasma, etc). Is that right? If there is a priority in the above
| requirements, this is it.
|
| 2) Are there any differences in the base TV audio among the
manufacturers.
I
| am guessing no, since Home Theater is the direction here. But there
are
| various "sound level controls" that deals with differences in show vs.
| commercial volume levels, LG has their "Clear Voice" technology, which
(in
| theory) would be helpful in hearing voice-range frequencies when the
'other
| frequencies' were all over the map, etc. And maybe some speakers are
better
| than others. It is tough to judge these things in a showroom with tons
of
| ambient noise and no control over what show you are hearing.
|
| 3) "LED sets" typically seem to "be LED" in the technology that
provides
the
| LCD a backlight. In principle you might get a better "true black" in
these
| cases as you could dim the LED's in that area (assuming a 'large area
of
| black'). But really true blacks is not a priority for us. However the
| lifetime of the backlight source might well be an issue for us. Is LED
| backlight lifetimes better than whatever "not LED" LCD sets use?
|
| Any comments would be appreciated - thanks.
|
| dave
|
LCDs are still best for bright rooms. 37" is kinda small for your
viewing
distance IMHO. It might be worth your while to peruse the Consumer
Reports
for August and October 2009 at your library for detailed comparisons.
They
have some info at their website but most is by subscription. As for
sound,
none are rated "excellent" and the few that are "very good" seem to fall
down in some other category.


The LG ClearVoice works very well by boosting mid range, but not much
bass. Very popular among the older crowd. If you find a LCD with analog
audio out (good luck!) the sound can be improved greatly by adding a set
of 2.1 (w/subwoofer) computer speakers.

D

I assume that the 'analog out' requirement is to get the actual "TV sound"
(from the ClearVoice technology) sent to the external speakers. Or is
there another subtlety that I have missed here.

Thanks.

dave
Nope, you are exactly correct. The problem with current models is that
audio out is going to be
digital out via TOSlink (fiber optic) and not analog out via RCA jacks.
Analog out is easy
to adapt, TOSlink is a PITA, requiring digital processing (expensive).
As for sound bars, youre talking in the 200-300 dollar range for an
inexpensive one, and they STILL have to have an external subwoofer to get
any bass.
As I said, if you can find a LCD with analog audio out, you can buy a good
set of 2.1 computer
speakers, they can be very small, some have adjustable tone controls, and
cost under $100.
The TV remote will control the volume, with sound bars, you need another
remote. BLEH!
HTH!

D

"Deke" wrote in message
et...

"Dave Lee" wrote in message
m...


"Deke" wrote in message
news

"iws" wrote in message
...
"Dave Lee" wrote in message
m...
| My wife and I will be purchasing a new HDTV set soon. A true "Home
Theater
| Experience" is not our goal. We have the following priorities (in no
| particular order).
|
| 1) Minimum "muss/fuss" setup. We will be using Time-Warner cable as
our
| primary source.
|
| 2) Our TV room is pretty bright (lots of windows, although they do
all
face
| north -but still pretty bright). We have to use a glare filter to be
able
to
| use our conventional CRT-technology TV in the afternoons.
|
| 3) My wife abhors the sound of any kind of 'home theater sound
system'.
She
| is somewhat hard of hearing and has some trouble with conventional TV
| speakers and hearing conversations in all cases. So a TV with a good,
| built-in sound system is a priority (even though there are FAR better
| solutions IMHO - she just isn't receptive to them)
|
| 4) Our viewing distance is 8-12'. But we are willing to put up with a
37"
| HDTV set simply because it would fit into our existing TV cabinet
(see #1
| above)
|
| My fundamental questions a
|
| 1) I am assuming that, given a very bright room, LCD is the obvious
choice
| (over plasma, etc). Is that right? If there is a priority in the
above
| requirements, this is it.
|
| 2) Are there any differences in the base TV audio among the
manufacturers.
I
| am guessing no, since Home Theater is the direction here. But there
are
| various "sound level controls" that deals with differences in show
vs.
| commercial volume levels, LG has their "Clear Voice" technology,
which (in
| theory) would be helpful in hearing voice-range frequencies when the
'other
| frequencies' were all over the map, etc. And maybe some speakers are
better
| than others. It is tough to judge these things in a showroom with
tons of
| ambient noise and no control over what show you are hearing.
|
| 3) "LED sets" typically seem to "be LED" in the technology that
provides
the
| LCD a backlight. In principle you might get a better "true black" in
these
| cases as you could dim the LED's in that area (assuming a 'large area
of
| black'). But really true blacks is not a priority for us. However the
| lifetime of the backlight source might well be an issue for us. Is
LED
| backlight lifetimes better than whatever "not LED" LCD sets use?
|
| Any comments would be appreciated - thanks.
|
| dave
|
LCDs are still best for bright rooms. 37" is kinda small for your
viewing
distance IMHO. It might be worth your while to peruse the Consumer
Reports
for August and October 2009 at your library for detailed comparisons.
They
have some info at their website but most is by subscription. As for
sound,
none are rated "excellent" and the few that are "very good" seem to
fall
down in some other category.


The LG ClearVoice works very well by boosting mid range, but not much
bass. Very popular among the older crowd. If you find a LCD with analog
audio out (good luck!) the sound can be improved greatly by adding a set
of 2.1 (w/subwoofer) computer speakers.

D

I assume that the 'analog out' requirement is to get the actual "TV
sound" (from the ClearVoice technology) sent to the external speakers. Or
is there another subtlety that I have missed here.

Thanks.

dave
Nope, you are exactly correct. The problem with current models is that
audio out is going to be
digital out via TOSlink (fiber optic) and not analog out via RCA jacks.
Analog out is easy
to adapt, TOSlink is a PITA, requiring digital processing (expensive).
As for sound bars, youre talking in the 200-300 dollar range for an
inexpensive one, and they STILL have to have an external subwoofer to get
any bass.
As I said, if you can find a LCD with analog audio out, you can buy a good
set of 2.1 computer
speakers, they can be very small, some have adjustable tone controls, and
cost under $100.
The TV remote will control the volume, with sound bars, you need another
remote. BLEH!
HTH!

D


One last thing....if you use a cable box, it may have analog audio out, so
that would be usable with an external analog audio system. It would,
however, mean you couldnt use the ClearVoice feature on your TV.

D

On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 13:40:54 -0500, "Deke" wrote:

Nope, you are exactly correct. The problem with current models is that
audio out is going to be
digital out via TOSlink (fiber optic) and not analog out via RCA jacks.
Analog out is easy
to adapt, TOSlink is a PITA, requiring digital processing (expensive).
As for sound bars, youre talking in the 200-300 dollar range for an
inexpensive one, and they STILL have to have an external subwoofer to get
any bass.
As I said, if you can find a LCD with analog audio out, you can buy a good
set of 2.1 computer
speakers, they can be very small, some have adjustable tone controls, and
cost under $100.

Many computer speaker setups will accept a digital input.

Kal

On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 14:39:56 -0400, "Dave Lee"
wrote:

Now that I think about it, the best solution might well be a 2.1 soundbar
with a woofer behind my chair where my wife is unlikely to hear it.

The Boston Audio TVee Soundbar plus wireless subwoofer might suit you.
There are two models and both are heavily discounted. They both
require analog audio (2xRCA input).

There are others with digital input but, frankly, this (the original
TVee) is the only sub-$500 bar I have heard.

Kal

On Oct 8, 12:20�pm, Kalman Rubinson wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 14:39:56 -0400, "Dave Lee"

wrote:
Now that I think about it, the best solution might well be a 2.1 soundbar
with a woofer behind my chair where my wife is unlikely to hear it.

The Boston Audio TVee Soundbar plus wireless subwoofer might suit you.
There are two models and both are heavily discounted. �They both
require analog audio (2xRCA input).

There are others with digital input but, frankly, this (the original
TVee) is the only sub-$500 bar I have heard.

Kal

My Sceptre 42" Naga has analog audio out. I am using it to power two
Radio Shack speakers (via Sceptre internal 10W amplifier). They make
smaller sizes which may also have analog outs. Take a look.

"Kalarama" wrote in message
news
"Dave Lee" wrote

3) My wife abhors the sound of any kind of 'home theater sound system'.
She is somewhat hard of hearing and has some trouble with conventional TV
speakers and hearing conversations in all cases. So a TV with a good,
built-in sound system is a priority (even though there are FAR better
solutions IMHO - she just isn't receptive to them)

Do you ever use closed-captioning? Indispensible, sometimes.


My wife uses it on occasion. Would love to get rid of it.

dave

Howard Brazee wrote:
On Wed, 7 Oct 2009 18:21:03 -0400, "Dave Lee"
wrote:

1) Minimum "muss/fuss" setup. We will be using Time-Warner cable as our
primary source.

This is the variable that seems hardest to resolve. I want my TV to
automatically pick the optimal display - which means true color and
best resolution with absolutely no stretching of the picture.

I have Comcast, so YMMV. Maybe you can ask questions based upon my
experience.

My Cable Box has Comcast's HDTV stations in the channel 400 range. The
old versions of the channels are down in single digits. This sucks.

My wife's TV doesn't use a cable box. But it still uses Cable. She
has to remember to change from channel 7 to 7-1 and from 13 to 30-1.
Worse, she watches The Food Channel 95% of the time, and we haven't
been able to find the HDTV version of that without using a cable box.

It may vary depending on hee you are located:
Try 75.5


But she can watch picture-in-picture if she chooses. I have set up
the main TV so we can switch to cable only (like hers), which would
enable us to do picture-in-picture as well. But the premium channels
are not available in HD without using the cable box.

That is because the premium channels are encrypted, and you cannot buy a
black box on ebay to decrypt it.

Dave Lee wrote:
My wife and I will be purchasing a new HDTV set soon. ...

All new sets come with a digital tuner built in, so for the Basic TV
stations you will not need a cable box - at all!


1) Minimum "muss/fuss" setup. We will be using Time-Warner cable as our
primary source.

That would be needed for the Premium Channels because they are encrypted.


2) Our TV room is pretty bright (lots of windows, although they do all
face north -but still pretty bright). We have to use a glare filter to
be able to use our conventional CRT-technology TV in the afternoons.

LCD screens are quite anti-glare. (Plasma screens are glass and so have
lots of glare problems.)


3) My wife abhors the sound of any kind of 'home theater sound system'.
She is somewhat hard of hearing and has some trouble with conventional
TV speakers and hearing conversations in all cases. So a TV with a good,
built-in sound system is a priority (even though there are FAR better
solutions IMHO - she just isn't receptive to them)

Get her headphones - and/or a wireless audio system.


4) Our viewing distance is 8-12'. But we are willing to put up with a
37" HDTV set simply because it would fit into our existing TV cabinet
(see #1 above)

Should be perfect.


My fundamental questions a

1) I am assuming that, given a very bright room, LCD is the obvious
choice (over plasma, etc). Is that right? If there is a priority in the
above requirements, this is it.

yes.

2) Are there any differences in the base TV audio among the
manufacturers. I am guessing no, since Home Theater is the direction
here. But there are various "sound level controls" that deals with
differences in show vs. commercial volume levels, LG has their "Clear
Voice" technology, which (in theory) would be helpful in hearing
voice-range frequencies when the 'other frequencies' were all over the
map, etc. And maybe some speakers are better than others. It is tough to
judge these things in a showroom with tons of ambient noise and no
control over what show you are hearing.


Not much!


3) "LED sets" typically seem to "be LED" in the technology that provides
the LCD a backlight. In principle you might get a better "true black" in
these cases as you could dim the LED's in that area (assuming a 'large
area of black'). But really true blacks is not a priority for us.
However the lifetime of the backlight source might well be an issue for
us. Is LED backlight lifetimes better than whatever "not LED" LCD sets use?

YES! LED backlight is much less prone to catastropic failure! ANd it
uses less power too.