Westinghouse HDTV LCD, speaker crackle, and HDMI cable BS

[c***@yahoo.com]

We s-canned the Sharp Aquos I posted about last week. The wife was
disappointed with it in every way, especially bang for the buck, and
the silver appearance too.

So we find this new all black 32" LCD HDMI 1366x768 HDTV integrated
Westinghouse (LTV 32w6 HD):

https://www.westinghousedigital.com/pc-52-2-32-lcd-hdtv.aspx

All good so far, except the sound crackles. The bozos at Best Buy tell
me "It's your too-cheap Toshiba 1080i DVD player." I buy the
progressive scan LG DVD with 1080i on the HDMI output, and a way
overpriced Accoustic Research HDMI cable, also recommended. I grumbled
over the cable.

Sound from the TV still crackles. Odd thing is, it isn't on every
movie. But when it does, it is awful. Tried to watch "Pride and
Prejudice" last night, my wife is now disgusted with the sound. So I
dragged my Fostex PM-2 powered monitors out from my studio, plunked
them down, in front of the console, hooked them up with the RCA cables
directly to the DVD audio outputs, powered 'em up, adjusted the volume
controls on them and the sound is *PRISTINE*. No wonder people are nuts
about good sound with a movie.

So I return to Best Buy, and Bozo says "It's that cheap 54.00 AR cable
you bought. You need an even better cable, like this 125.00 HDMI cable
from MONSTER." I tell him "It's a digital signal. At this point, isn't
it more likely that it's in the DAC or DSP in the TV that's failing? Or
some compatiblity issue with the CODECs betwen the devices?"

Bozo says "No sir. It's probably the cable. The digital cables are
susceptible to noise, and you need a high quality cable."

WTF? First they sell me the overpriced 54.00 one, now they tell me it
isn't good enough and I need the 125.00 one!

Is there something new I need to learn about "special magical freaking
cables", or do they send them out there with orders to screw-over
customers seeking help?

Cisco

[Keith]

Post by c***@yahoo.com
We s-canned the Sharp Aquos I posted about last week. The wife was
disappointed with it in every way, especially bang for the buck, and
the silver appearance too.
So we find this new all black 32" LCD HDMI 1366x768 HDTV integrated
https://www.westinghousedigital.com/pc-52-2-32-lcd-hdtv.aspx
All good so far, except the sound crackles. The bozos at Best Buy tell
me "It's your too-cheap Toshiba 1080i DVD player." I buy the
progressive scan LG DVD with 1080i on the HDMI output, and a way
overpriced Accoustic Research HDMI cable, also recommended. I grumbled
over the cable.
Sound from the TV still crackles. Odd thing is, it isn't on every
movie. But when it does, it is awful. Tried to watch "Pride and
Prejudice" last night, my wife is now disgusted with the sound. So I
dragged my Fostex PM-2 powered monitors out from my studio, plunked
them down, in front of the console, hooked them up with the RCA cables
directly to the DVD audio outputs, powered 'em up, adjusted the volume
controls on them and the sound is *PRISTINE*. No wonder people are nuts
about good sound with a movie.
So I return to Best Buy, and Bozo says "It's that cheap 54.00 AR cable
you bought. You need an even better cable, like this 125.00 HDMI cable
from MONSTER." I tell him "It's a digital signal. At this point, isn't
it more likely that it's in the DAC or DSP in the TV that's failing? Or
some compatiblity issue with the CODECs betwen the devices?"
Bozo says "No sir. It's probably the cable. The digital cables are
susceptible to noise, and you need a high quality cable."
WTF? First they sell me the overpriced 54.00 one, now they tell me it
isn't good enough and I need the 125.00 one!
Is there something new I need to learn about "special magical freaking
cables", or do they send them out there with orders to screw-over
customers seeking help?
Cisco

I use a $7 cable on my 37 LCD and it works just fine..


Keith
Http://www.eHDMI.com

[c***@yahoo.com]

I searched online, and found out that I don't need to use the HDMI -
and it's probably the issue, as the standard is not yet a "standard".

Good news: both the LG DVD 1080i player, and the LCD TV support
component video for the 1080i mode!

I connected the DVD player with the L/R audio cables to the TV, and it
sounds great (for 10w per channel). So, I am going to get component
video cables from radio shack, and call it a day. I certainly don't
want to spend my life at beast buy arguing with bozo.

Cisco

[EF in FLA]

Post by c***@yahoo.com
sounds great (for 10w per channel). So, I am going to get component
video cables from radio shack, and call it a day.

So the man who said "no wonder people are nuts about good sound with a
movie" is going to settle for TV speaker sound?

Dammit Jim!!!

ef

[David R. Hendrickson]

why are you even wasting your time with the crappy tv speakers? almost
any receiver/speaker combo is going to sound better than that...

Post by c***@yahoo.com
All good so far, except the sound crackles. The bozos at Best Buy tell
me "It's your too-cheap Toshiba 1080i DVD player." I buy the
progressive scan LG DVD with 1080i on the HDMI output, and a way
overpriced Accoustic Research HDMI cable, also recommended. I grumbled
over the cable.
...
WTF? First they sell me the overpriced 54.00 one, now they tell me it
isn't good enough and I need the 125.00 one!
Is there something new I need to learn about "special magical freaking
cables", or do they send them out there with orders to screw-over
customers seeking help?

[c***@yahoo.com]

Yeah, it's sad and true. The sound through good speakers is awesome.
However, I tried a few yesterday, and the fact is there aren't many
that sound like a 600.00 studio monitor pair. I spent too much money
already. I was hoping to make it all work for now. I really like the
uncluttered look too, and the ugly little computer style speakers don't
cut it either. Part of the sale of this whole thing to the Minister of
Finance (aka wife), was the improved low clutter look in the living
room. Less is more.

Besides, for movies that I really want the jaw-dropping sounds, I have
discovered I can just drag out my monitors and hook them up. I did this
last night for Kong. Wow. What surprises me is that nobody makes
powered speakers on stands for hometheatre - at least I haven't found
any. Maybe I'll just build a couple of powered monitors, in quality
furniture cabinets, at some point. That way I can control the volume
with the television volume control (the other thing I despise - having
multiple remotes, which I still do).

Anyway, at least with the LG DVD player, the component video does not
carry 1080i on any copy protected DVD. Isn't that like every DVD now
made? Is this just the LG player?

However, when using the HDMI, if you get crackling sound, I found the
fix for this TV/Player combination. Change the resolution to 480p, then
720p, then 1080i. Crackle is gone. I imagine it gets out of sync
somehow, when you first load a DVD at 1080i. This method works
perfectly. I was pretty upset that the component video cables only
carry 480p when copy protection is on. That's lame.

Here's an idea: Does anybody make a stereo receiver/dvd player unit? Or
am I opening a whole other can of worms.

[GuessWho]

I've seen the receiver/DVD player combo units at places like BestBuy,
CircuitCity, Tweeter, Target ,etc. but there are several here several of
them here:
http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/catalog.jsp?activeCategory=HOME_AUDIO_VIDEO_GR_US_CONSUMER&fhquery=fh_location%3D%2F%2Fconsumer%2Fen_US%2Fcategories%3Ccatalog_us_consumer%2Fcategories%3Chome_audio_video_gr_us_consumer%2Fcategories%3C%7Bhome_theatre_systems_ca_us_consumer%7D&clickEventData=fh_location%3D%2F%2Fconsumer%2Fen_US%2Fcategories%3Ccatalog_us_consumer%2Fcategories%3Chome_audio_video_gr_us_consumer%2Fcategories%3C%7Bhome_theatre_systems_ca_us_consumer%7D&fredhopperpage=index.jsp&language=en&country=US&catalogType=CONSUMER&proxybuster=BQMXSSPOSOYVFJ0RMRCSHQVHKFSESI5P

These are not audiophile/videophile units but they also aren't very
expensive. In fact, you can usually find the Philips units on their outlet
site. These are usually remanufactured units but the sell for about halh the
cost of a similar new unit. You can get an extended warranty here:
http://www.electronicsnation.com/en/index.php

WayneP

[c***@yahoo.com]

SCORE!

I walked into circuit city, hoping to find a sale deal for a
DVD/surround sound player. I found the Samsung HT-P1200 for 499.00.
Now, I really didn't want to spend that money... but I can return the
other DVD player.

This one is vertical, on a pedestal, with the slide open glass cover,
and Ipod style thumbwheel volume control... LR front and rear,
subwoofer and centerspeaker. Fantastic sound. The DVD player is super
nice, and also HDMI with 1080i up, so I can still do the hi-res DVDs.

Okay, I couldn't pass up a deal like that.

I spent more on the original package than I intended, but I am happy
with this. Very highqaulity, all the way around.

Cisco

[jst]

Post by c***@yahoo.com
We s-canned the Sharp Aquos I posted about last week. The wife was
disappointed with it in every way, especially bang for the buck, and
the silver appearance too.
So we find this new all black 32" LCD HDMI 1366x768 HDTV integrated
https://www.westinghousedigital.com/pc-52-2-32-lcd-hdtv.aspx
All good so far, except the sound crackles. The bozos at Best Buy tell
me "It's your too-cheap Toshiba 1080i DVD player." I buy the
progressive scan LG DVD with 1080i on the HDMI output, and a way
overpriced Accoustic Research HDMI cable, also recommended. I grumbled
over the cable.
Sound from the TV still crackles. Odd thing is, it isn't on every
movie. But when it does, it is awful. Tried to watch "Pride and
Prejudice" last night, my wife is now disgusted with the sound. So I
dragged my Fostex PM-2 powered monitors out from my studio, plunked
them down, in front of the console, hooked them up with the RCA cables
directly to the DVD audio outputs, powered 'em up, adjusted the volume
controls on them and the sound is *PRISTINE*. No wonder people are nuts
about good sound with a movie.
So I return to Best Buy, and Bozo says "It's that cheap 54.00 AR cable
you bought. You need an even better cable, like this 125.00 HDMI cable
from MONSTER." I tell him "It's a digital signal. At this point, isn't
it more likely that it's in the DAC or DSP in the TV that's failing? Or
some compatiblity issue with the CODECs betwen the devices?"
Bozo says "No sir. It's probably the cable. The digital cables are
susceptible to noise, and you need a high quality cable."
WTF? First they sell me the overpriced 54.00 one, now they tell me it
isn't good enough and I need the 125.00 one!
Is there something new I need to learn about "special magical freaking
cables", or do they send them out there with orders to screw-over
customers seeking help?
Cisco

When those Whizzo wannabee's tried to sell me the $54 cable I told him I
would buy one from EBAY. I paid $17 and the HDMI cable works fine...