Modern TVs and ‘audio out’

[Petrushka]

This is a timely thread as I have exactly the same problem. I have a Samsung 40'' Smart TV and while it looked huge the day I bought it last January, I soon ceased to notice it so I'd recommend as big a set as you and your wallet can manage.

My Panasonic DVD recorder is connected to my 1990s amp so I can listen to R3 via Freeview without any problem but cannot have the sound on for example, the BPO Digital Concert Hall, youTube, i-player or internet radio coming through my speakers. The instruction manual isn't very helpful but thanks to this thread I can now sort this out. Thanks!

[Resurrection Man]

This link on optimum viewing distance vs size of screen might be of use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum...ewing_distance

[Stunsworth]

This link on optimum viewing distance vs size of screen might be of use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum...ewing_distance

I sit around 9 feet from a 42" Panasonic plasma TV, and if I'm being honest, I wish I'd bought a larger set. HD - TV and Blu-Ray - look so good in comparison to SD and DVD.

However, the set's only 2 years old, so I'm not going to change it soon. I'll probably wait and see what happens on the OLED front, and get one of those when they get to a reasonable price.

[JFLL]

Quite an interesting thread this. ...

Thanks, Dave, for this very comprehensive and useful post. I must say I hadn’t thought of buying an AV receiver or upgrading my hi-fi, but I suppose that might be the logical thing.

We went along to John Lewis’s and had a look at what they’d got, and there were two 32” sets we thought might fit the bill, the LG 32LM620T and the Samsung UE32ES6540, both of which are full HD ‘smart’ LED TVs with internet capability, including the very useful feature of access to the BBC iPlayer. (The LG needs a separate wi-fi dongle for this.) They’re also 3D-capable, which doesn’t really interest us.

The business I mentioned about possible problems with a DAC is this, from a poster somewhere on the web:

‘… if the TV puts out a Dolby Digital signal on the digital output, a DAC intended for use with PCM signal (which is virtually all 2-ch audio DACs) will NOT work. Be sure to check to see if your TV will allow you to set it to output/downmix to 2-ch PCM otherwise you may be disappointed in what happens with a plain old stereo DAC.’

The trouble is that this information isn’t usually given in the ‘product specifications’ on websites like John Lewis or Amazon. I did, however, hunt out the owner’s manual for the LG on the web and found that in the ‘digital sound out’ settings you can apparently switch between ‘Auto’, which outputs PCM or Dolby depending on the input source, and ‘PCM all’ which outputs PCM whatever the input. So I hope that means that a DAC should work if ‘PCM all’ is selected. I haven’t chased up the Samsung manual yet.

Wonderful thing, new techology, you know it makes life simpler - that's after all surely what it's for.

Too true, SA.

[Stunsworth]

The business I mentioned about possible problems with a DAC is this, from a poster somewhere on the web:

‘… if the TV puts out a Dolby Digital signal on the digital output, a DAC intended for use with PCM signal (which is virtually all 2-ch audio DACs) will NOT work. Be sure to check to see if your TV will allow you to set it to output/downmix to 2-ch PCM otherwise you may be disappointed in what happens with a plain old stereo DAC.’

I think what that person was referring to were potential problems with HD content that had discrete surround (5.1) output. Such output cannot be decoded by a standard two channel DAC.

However, I don't believe that the TVs available in the UK 'pass through' a multichannel soundtrack via the digital output. They only output a stereo soundtrack, regardless of the original.

When I bought my current TV I tried connecting it to my surround sound receiver. I was disappointed that the signal was always stereo, even if the broadcast I was watching had a multi-channel soundtrack. When I raised this on a specialist audio-visual forum - http://www.avforums.com - the consensus was that that's what TVs did, they were unable to output a surround sound digital signal.

I solved this problem by taking the digital output from my cable box, which _did_ output a multi-channel signal.

That was two years ago, and it's possible that things have changed, but I would guess that they haven't.

[Dave2002]

Just had confirmation from someone who has very recently bought a very expensive (over £2k) TV that some of the latest sets will push out a multi-channel signal over HDMI. It's called ARC - Audio Return Channel - see http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/hdmi_1_4/arc.aspx It could be worth checking to see if the proposed purchase has this. I guess I still feel that 32 inches is too small. Possibly sets that size won't have this ARC feature.

How big is the room it's going to be used in? I think ours is about 12' by 18', and yes, I'd probably agree that if your room is smaller than that, that even a 40 inch TV could seem very large. However, one feature of some of the newest ones is that they have much smaller surrounds, and are likely to be thinner front to back than models from a few years ago. The modern day equivalent of our 42 incher might look a lot smaller, with a couple of inches shaved off the sides, and maybe 4-5 inches taken off at the bottom.

[teamsaint]

This an interesting discussion. Didn't know lots of this stuff.
I had no idea you could pay over £2k for a telly. For £299 you can buy one that no normal man could carry on his own.
Anyway, there'e nothing decent on.

[Resurrection Man]

....
I had no idea you could pay over £2k for a telly. .....

It's called quality, ts.

Anyway, aren't you too busy washing sackcloths to watch any TV ?

[teamsaint]

It's called quality, ts.

Anyway, aren't you too busy washing sackcloths to watch any TV ?

I like a trip down to the river , if that is what you mean, RM. And it saves on washing powder!(and with all my kids its regular trips, I can tell you !!)

Quality ? TV? doesn't compute. Seriously, only watch it for footy . In truth , just today, I took out 4 months completely free SKY, which we can watch on an inherited 19" set. I get 4 months footy, and the kids get movies etc over Xmas.
honestly, music gives me all the (non football)entertainment i need, if I run out of inspiration from my stuff, there is youtube and spotify.

And seriously, WHAT has happened to Sky Arts? I was thinking a little bonus from my freebie would be a bit of decent telly music. This weekends schedule is just dreadful. If I had paid, I'd complain. !

[MrGongGong]

And seriously, WHAT has happened to Sky Arts? I was thinking a little bonus from my freebie would be a bit of decent telly music. This weekends schedule is just dreadful. If I had paid, I'd complain. !

Now where is the Elgarian cyclist when you need him ?

[teamsaint]

Now where is the Elgarian cyclist when you need him ?

I was hoping he would pedal into view and tag some schedule goodies for me....

[Stunsworth]

And seriously, WHAT has happened to Sky Arts? I was thinking a little bonus from my freebie would be a bit of decent telly music. This weekends schedule is just dreadful. If I had paid, I'd complain. !

We're getting near Christmas, it must be Andre Rieu day soon <grin>.

I think most people get Sky Arts bundled in with something else, I know that I get it as part of my Virgin package - which sounds naughtier than it really is.

[Dave2002]

I just can't figure out the now long trend for siting flatscreens high up on the living room wall. I suppose it's to replicate the cinematic experience. I've always preferred being on a level with what I am viewing to looking up to God, so to speak.

I wonder if high up screens give problems for people (such as me) who use varifocals. Probably not, considering focal distances. However high screens could still give a crick in the neck, which can be very tiring and ultimately painful. My feeling is that the screen should be at normal eye level.

If the screen is mounted higher it may be neater and more convenient. Reclining chairs may help to overcome the effort of looking up, though there will be some slight geometric distortion in the image seen. Sometimes compromises are necessary.

We have ours on a table/bench, on a rotating turntable. In theory it's possible to swing the screen round to suit different viewing positions. In practice this doesn't work, as the many wires connecting it to other equipment always drag it back to the centre position in a few seconds. Maybe someone makes a turntable which doesn't have this problem. Smaller TVs don't have this problem. They can simply be moved/rotated.