Hi,
Though I agree with your suggestions, I do not agree with all your points. I also feel that there are some factual errors in some of your statement. This post is just to correct some misnomers. Some of my sources are:
DVD Player Benchmark - Introduction
NTSC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
when you think of lcd, you have to think of full system (ie concept of hd).
More you understand hd more it is easy to decide.
If you have decided for lcd (for some reason)
1. check minimum vertical resolution is minimum 780. This is dvd resolution. our normal resolution is very less (almost 340 )and most of dth channels are coming up to 468 or so. full hd has 1080 vertical pixels.
1a, buy lcd has hdmi connection.
1b. more brightness the better (8500:1 is really good)
1c. check for response time less than 8ms. without this your lcd is only a monitor not a video panel.
1d. check for viewing angle both horizontal & vertical has to be 160 minimum
(1) DVD resolution is *NOT* 780 vertical lines. DVDs can be in NTSC format (480vertical x 720horizontal) or PAL (576vertical x 720horizontal). Upscaling DVD players just interpolate and generate 720 vertical lines (720p) or 1080 vertical lines (1080i/1080p) from the 480p data.
(2) TV (whether from Tata Sky or Cable distributor) is in interlaced (generally called 480i/576i) while DVDs are generally in progressive format (generally called 480p/576p). However, Tata Sky (and generally all DTH or set-top box based solutions) are better than cable because they rely on digital transmission where the intermediate noise is reduced drastically.
(3) Contrast ratios have become a marketing hype as all do not use the same notion. Samsung uses dynamic contrast - What is the brightest picture possible in one frame followed by the darkest in the next frame? Sharp uses a different measure which tells what is the darkest and the brightest possible in the same frame. Hence, it is worthless to compare contrast ratio. However, be assured that the contrast ratios of all TV are adequate.
(4) There are many picture processing techniques which makes you feel that the picture is good while actually taking away some of the details. (DNie used in older Samsung TV was reported in avsforum.com to take away the details from darker scenes - something called as black crushing). Beware of such processing as they make the dark scenes (generally encountered in most Hollywood movies) unwatchable.
Having said this, I second all the above suggestions.
(a) Go for a LCD TV which has minimum of 720 lines of vertical resolution.
(b) HDMI connections (possibly 2) is a must for future expandability
(c) Response time 8ms (preferably 6ms) or less.
(d) Horizontal and vertical viewing angles greater that 160deg. Nowadays, you get horizontal viewing angles of 178deg.
2. when buying lcd, go for dth or else no point in having lcd.
3. buy dvd player which has hdmi and upscaling
No comments on (2).
(3) Depends upon the processing in your TV. LCD display is inherently a progressive type display. Hence it will have an in-built de-interlacer. Also to convert the input format into the native display format, it will have upscaling/downscaling capabilities. For eg. the processing the in the Pioneer Kuro plasmas is so good, that it beats most dvd players in the video processing capabilities (see link 1 above for more details). The four brands that I have mentioned above have decent video processing capabilities. However, the video processing improves in the higher models in case of Sony and Samsung. While, it was the same in all the models for Panasonic when I bought it. Not sure of panasonic now or Sharp.
4. always view your dth tv through upscaling dvd player.
5. if suppose you buy full hd, invest in blu ray player or hd-dvd player or buy playstation-3 or xbox-360.
i would suggest wait another 2 years, whatever you are seeing in market are obsolete technology except full-hd & hd ready lcd panels. dont buy anything less than this.
My comments above applies to (4). No comments on (5).
My viewpoint is that its worth investing in an LCD for just the amount of space it saves as against a CRT. Also, the LCD technology has advanced enough that the actual difference during normal viewing is miniscule. You will be happy with whatever you buy.
Regards,
Prasad.
happy with the TV's inbuilt re-sizing of 4:3 broadcst images to 16:9. Have a dekko at the link 
