Jump to content

Acer AT3705-MGW 37" LCD TV


Recommended Posts

Hi, guys!

Saw this baby at DJ Chatswood on saturday! I am terrible at writing reviews...so here's just what i saw and bit of opinion:

When I saw it, it was playing TV programs from built in SD input, the picture looked very nice....sharp and clear.

then I asked a guy there to hookup a HD set top box via component (they dont even have DVI cables there!! :blink: ) playing the same channel and it looked so terrible to my surprise!! Colour washed out...huge amout of noise.....don't know why.

Then the sales connected a 100 bucks sony DVD player to it(again via component) playing Finding Nemo(576i), the PQ was very good- fine details and rich colour, however when there's any fast moving scenes somehow the picture is all kind of making me feeling dizzy...anyone knows what it is?? I always thought i couldnt tell the difference with high response time, is that what it is??

Hopefully someone can answer, thanks :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Replies 1.6k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Does anyone know where else in melb to have a look at one...

I have seen the one at DSE but they werent very helpful in setting a digital set top box for me to look at...

I saw one at DJ's in the Melbourne CBD today and it looked pretty darn good with a DVD player running on component video. The sales lady there was most helpful, but there were no antenna points nearby to set up a HD STB for a decent evaluation. I'm thinking I'll commit to one of these and be done with it now, I'm fed up with watching TV on the 24" Dell, and I want it back on my PC!

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, guys!

Saw this baby at DJ Chatswood on saturday! I am terrible at writing reviews...so here's just what i saw and bit of opinion:

When I saw it, it was playing TV programs from built in SD input, the picture looked very nice....sharp and clear.

then I asked a guy there to hookup a HD set top box via component (they dont even have DVI cables there!! :blink: ) playing the same channel and it looked so terrible to my surprise!! Colour washed out...huge amout of noise.....don't know why.

Then the sales connected a 100 bucks sony DVD player to it(again via component) playing Finding Nemo(576i), the PQ was very good- fine details and rich colour, however when there's any fast moving scenes somehow the picture is all kind of making me feeling dizzy...anyone knows what it is?? I always thought i couldnt tell the difference with high response time, is that what it is??

Hopefully someone can answer, thanks :P

I have seen this TV hooked up via the following inputs:

DVD via AV composite: looked really bad. Fuzziness in random spots.

DVD via HDMI: look bloody fantastic. Best picture I have ever seen playing a DVD (plus it was lord of the rings)

HD STB via component: Looked passable but nothing special.

HD STB via DVI: very good at all resolutions.

HD STB via HDMI: somehow it looked better than via DVI, not sure why. Colours looked more realistic or something.

SD via inbuilt tuner: At 576i it was ok, but was already spoiled by seeing 1080i and 720p via STB.

When I pick my unit up on Wednesday I'll give you a full review. Unfortunately I don't have a new fancy PC graphics card so I can't test 1080p possiblities. I am glad to hear that 1920x1080i is possible from a PC via DVI and someone in this forum had proven it from their laptop.

I'll see if my mate with his fancy nvidea 7800gtx can come over with his dual link DVI cables (he has a 30" dell the lucky fella).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dam I'm really tempted to get this TV now. The only thing holding me back is I'm thinking maybe I should get the HD Panasonic 500A plasma instead. Its a bit bigger and the picture quality is a bit better I think (better colours and darker blacks).

I must admit, the ability to run my PC at 1920x1080 is pretty impressive and keeps drawing me towards this TV. Inbuilt SD analogue tuners are also a bonus. So I guess that does it. I'm getting this TV. Now all I have to decide is whether to get the standard version or the media center version for $400 more. I don't think I'll use any of the media center functions because they TV will either be attached to the HTPC or an Xbox.

Now heres the deal

I've been quoted the MTW version for $3200 (inclusive of 5 yr warranty) and 5 years interest free with 1/3 deposit. Or I can get the DTV version for $2800 but that will only have 3 years warranty.

What should I do?!@!?

Also, when I synced the TV @ 1920x1080 @ 30Hz, is 30Hz bad? The picture didn't appear shakey or anything, and my divx movies played fine. I'm afraid that I might go blind or something because of the low refresh rate. Please someone put my mind at ease.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What should I do?!@!?

Also, when I synced the TV @ 1920x1080 @ 30Hz, is 30Hz bad? The picture didn't appear shakey or anything, and my divx movies played fine. I'm afraid that I might go blind or something because of the low refresh rate. Please someone put my mind at ease.

Watching the 1080i (30Hz) was very nice on this panel. It had no flicker and I was really looking for it as most people 'poo poo' 1080i so I wanted to make sure I would be happy with it as I want to run at highest res whenever I can. The LG DVD player was upscaling to 1080i lord of the rings and I didn't want to stop watching it! I guess I'll have to watch all my DVDs again when I get this thing.

If you worry you know you can run at 720p. I couldn't really tell the difference between 1080i refresh and 720p refresh, both looked really solid. Go and check this thing out at DSE, David Jones or Clive Peters. Clive Peters were the most helpful (best service) as they were very happy to setup top end DVD players and STBs through all different inputs (HDMI, DVI, Component) for me plus they were very good on price.

Meanwhile back to my 51cm borrowed TV until I can pick it up.. My 12yo Bang and Olufsen 81cm (damn good picture) AND my Samsung 68cm blew up over Christmas :blink:

Edited by mrangryfish
Link to comment
Share on other sites



So are you guys 100% sure abou the MGW only having a builtin SD tuner? According to the Ingram Micro wholesale site, the standard version has a builtin SD tuner and the MGW version has a builtin HD tuner?

Apart from this (if it's correct) what other features does the MGW verison offer over the standard version, and is it worth the extra?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So are you guys 100% sure abou the MGW only having a builtin SD tuner? According to the Ingram Micro wholesale site, the standard version has a builtin SD tuner and the MGW version has a builtin HD tuner?

Apart from this (if it's correct) what other features does the MGW verison offer over the standard version, and is it worth the extra?

Mate, re-read this post in full, it answers all your questions.

Yes both models only come with a SD tuner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mate, re-read this post in full, it answers all your questions.

Yes both models only come with a SD tuner.

Yep, I concur. The sales lady at DJs today was quite deliberate in stressing that it only had an SD tuner built into it.

In terms of the extra features of the MGW, the spec sheet on Acer's website:

http://www.acer.com.au/acer/akc/marcom.nsf...?open&current=&

have them clearly listed. You are the only one who can decide if it's worth the extra $400 or so :P

I for one will be getting the MGW, it provides an easy way to feed MP3's into my loungeroom.

Tim

PS. I can see a rush on these items at Ingram Micro in the next few weeks :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the MGW version we are getting is the RJ45 connector (typical ethernet). But im sure that i saw in the manual a wireless version?

Its not the end of the word. If u need wireless, the RJ45 can be adapted with a gaget like this:

http://www.dlink.com.au/Default.aspx?ArticleID=367

Mybrains:

The Aussie spec is defiitley the WLAN MGW as states in the spec sheet on Acer Aus website.

So you do not need an adapter...

BTW, saw you at Benq DV3750 forum over at avsforums;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites



There is not much point chasing 1080p over component or VGA dsub connectors. These are analog inputs (ie signal loss). Also HDMI cant do 1080p till v1.3 hits town, so rule it out.

There is only one connector on any set that you should be looking for 1080p support- yep DVI

Wrong!

From HDMI v1.2:

6.3.2 Secondary Video Format Timings

• 720(1440)x240p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 2880x480i @ 59.94/60Hz

• 2880x240p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 1440x480p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 720(1440)x288p @ 50Hz

• 2880x576i @ 50Hz

• 2880x288p @ 50Hz

• 1440x576p @ 50Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 50Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 23.98/24Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 25Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 29.97/30Hz

• 2880x480p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 2880x576p @ 50Hz

• 1920x1080i (1250 total) @ 50Hz

• 720(1440)x480i @ 119.88/120Hz

• 720x480p @ 119.88/120Hz

• 1920x1080i @ 119.88/120Hz

• 1280x720p @ 119.88/120Hz

• 720(1440)x480i @ 239.76/240Hz

• 720x480p @ 239.76/240Hz

• 720(1440)x576i @ 100Hz

• 720x576p @ 100Hz

• 1920x1080i @ 100Hz

• 1280x720p @ 100Hz

• 720(1440)x576i @ 200Hz

• 720X576p @ 200Hz

Adrian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pumbaa - it seems that we have the same laptop (although i'm being tempted by the 9400 at the mo)

given you can hook into the acer at 1920 x 1080i with the dell i'm pretty much convinced this is the one for me - especially as it's 2k under the bravia price which i very very nearly bought a couple of months ago, just couldn't justify spending over 5k on it. The Acer at these prices with these specs seems to be the clear choice now.

will head into DSE's this week with the lappy just to have a look and a play myself...before finally committing.

thanks for the reviews guys, they've been really helpful.

__________

Paul.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pumbaa - it seems that we have the same laptop (although i'm being tempted by the 9400 at the mo)

given you can hook into the acer at 1920 x 1080i with the dell i'm pretty much convinced this is the one for me - especially as it's 2k under the bravia price which i very very nearly bought a couple of months ago, just couldn't justify spending over 5k on it. The Acer at these prices with these specs seems to be the clear choice now.

will head into DSE's this week with the lappy just to have a look and a play myself...before finally committing.

thanks for the reviews guys, they've been really helpful.

__________

Paul.

I think I'm going to commit to buying one of these TVs today. I went in with my brother to have another look at the TV. Only thing was he wasn't impressed with it nearly as much as I was.

A few things that are putting me off with the TV are:

1) its ugly, might look better without the speakers, but still ugly (paying over 3k for something ugly hurts)

2) media center menus are very slow, I'd expect lots faster

3) remote isn't that easy to use

4) stb with the tv is OK, but no where as good PQ as a HD stb, so I have to fork out more $$

But the main reason why I'm considering such a unit is price. Hell a 1080i native resolution panal for the price they're asking is crazy. for $3200 I can get the MCW version with 5 years warranty and 5 years interest free!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I'm going to commit to buying one of these TVs today. I went in with my brother to have another look at the TV. Only thing was he wasn't impressed with it nearly as much as I was.

A few things that are putting me off with the TV are:

1) its ugly, might look better without the speakers, but still ugly (paying over 3k for something ugly hurts)

2) media center menus are very slow, I'd expect lots faster

3) remote isn't that easy to use

4) stb with the tv is OK, but no where as good PQ as a HD stb, so I have to fork out more $$

But the main reason why I'm considering such a unit is price. Hell a 1080i native resolution panal for the price they're asking is crazy. for $3200 I can get the MCW version with 5 years warranty and 5 years interest free!

It's just all personal preference really....

1) I personally like the look, maybe not as good as the Sony, but certainly pleasant to look at for me.

2) AS LONG AS it works! i.e. it can talk to your wireless router and etc...., who cares :blink:

3) bummer...

4) I dont watch TV as much....and am impressed by the SD PQ so...happy happy.

AND, i am definitely getting one too! Cant beat that price!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's just all personal preference really....

1) I personally like the look, maybe not as good as the Sony, but certainly pleasant to look at for me.

2) AS LONG AS it works! i.e. it can talk to your wireless router and etc...., who cares :blink:

3) bummer...

4) I dont watch TV as much....and am impressed by the SD PQ so...happy happy.

AND, i am definitely getting one too! Cant beat that price!!

OK guys, I've bit the bullet. I have ordered the Acer AT3705-MGW 37" LCD TV for $3200. It comes with a 5 year warranty and 5 years interest free. The sales dude said they should have it in store from their warehouse by Monday next week. I'll write up a hell good and detailed review after I get it and play with it. Stay tuned guys, this is proving to be very exciting!

Link to comment
Share on other sites



OK guys, I've bit the bullet. I have ordered the Acer AT3705-MGW 37" LCD TV for $3200. It comes with a 5 year warranty and 5 years interest free. The sales dude said they should have it in store from their warehouse by Monday next week. I'll write up a hell good and detailed review after I get it and play with it. Stay tuned guys, this is proving to be very exciting!

Woohoo~~

Good on you Pumbaa!! :P

I will eat my bullet next month, hehe :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wrong!

From HDMI v1.2:

6.3.2 Secondary Video Format Timings

• 720(1440)x240p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 2880x480i @ 59.94/60Hz

• 2880x240p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 1440x480p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 720(1440)x288p @ 50Hz

• 2880x576i @ 50Hz

• 2880x288p @ 50Hz

• 1440x576p @ 50Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 50Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 23.98/24Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 25Hz

• 1920x1080p @ 29.97/30Hz

• 2880x480p @ 59.94/60Hz

• 2880x576p @ 50Hz

• 1920x1080i (1250 total) @ 50Hz

• 720(1440)x480i @ 119.88/120Hz

• 720x480p @ 119.88/120Hz

• 1920x1080i @ 119.88/120Hz

• 1280x720p @ 119.88/120Hz

• 720(1440)x480i @ 239.76/240Hz

• 720x480p @ 239.76/240Hz

• 720(1440)x576i @ 100Hz

• 720x576p @ 100Hz

• 1920x1080i @ 100Hz

• 1280x720p @ 100Hz

• 720(1440)x576i @ 200Hz

• 720X576p @ 200Hz

Adrian

Well, I stand corrected! :blink:

Maybe the initial impression i got from HDMI was the first version? Anyways, untill PC cards ship with HDMI I wouldnt have a way to connect it at 1080p to my PC, so I still will focus on DVI for present.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Myself and a mate just got back from David Jones in Perth after having a play with the AT3705-MGW panel in a further attempt to squeeze out 1080p before dropping the cash.

We went in their armed with my mates Acer ferrari 4005WLMI notebook (the current one with A64, X700, 2gb of memory and 100gb hard drive).

Unfortunately our tests came to the same conclusions as Pumbaa's test, in that we could only get the display to show 1920x1080@30hz. Even forcing 30 interlaced, 60, 75, 100 and even 120hz in the display properties yeilded the exact same results. There was no noticeable picture variations between any of these different modes. The next interesting point was that even after we increased the refresh rate to 120hz, the picture would still display, we could not get the monitor to display the "Out Of Sync" message when in normal viewing mode. An even more interesting point is that the X700 was showing the max refresh rate of the monitor as 85Hz!

I have very little knowledge on this subject (and feel free to correct me if i'm wrong), but from what we saw, the monitor seems to be accepting higher refresh rates, but the internal hardware is forcing whatever is input back down to 30Hz. I then went diving through the menu to see if there was anything I could adjust to "disable" the internal image processor and hopefully stop this (as I heard this could be done on other models) but all to no avail. In fact, unless I was missing something here, the internal menu's seemed to be very lacking all together, as there wasn't a great deal that could be adjusted at all. Maybe acer have been nice enough to include a service menu that allows aditional configuration, which may even allow us to override the image processor and use 60hz.

All our HD testing was done with the 1080p Terminator 2 preview from Microsoft, and even if the monitor was only showing it at 1920x1080i, it still looked stunning. So top marks there. HD from some yumcha STB over component still looked quite impressive as well, albeit not as good as the T2 preview. SD was crap in general.

Also had problems getting PBP to work when the DVI connector was accepting a 1920x1080 signal, so anyone with hopes of PBP and 1920x1080 will be dissapointed. Not sure if this was the same for PIP as we din't try.

Further investigation yeilded that the internal tuner seems to be SD and not HD as others have said. When selecting the internal tuner 576i was displayed in the top right hand corner. This is a bit dissapointing on acer's part as the internal SD tuner makes the screen look very ordinary at best.

Now for the important stuff. BF2 @ 1920x1080 (set to 60Hz in the menu although I believe the monitor was only showing it at 30hz) looks AWESOME. The res made the old X700 chugg a fair bit, but the picture was near on excellent and extremly sharp. Gone are the days of needing stupidly high AA to get a sharp picture. I can't wait to get one of these home and hook it up to a decent video card!

Quick summary:

Pros:

1. Excellent picture

2. 1920x1080@30hz was still more than watchable, Desktop was extremly sharp with easy to read text

3. BF2 @ 1920x1080 and 37 inches worth!

4. Detachable Speakers

5. IMHO best value 1920x1080 yet

Cons:

1. Built in SD tuner, where is the HD?

2. 1920x1080@30hz (we want 60 god dammit)

3. Onscreen menu's lacked configurability (well that was the one i saw, i'm not sure if you can enable a service menu with aditional functionality)

4. All the MGW really offers over the standard screen is a pretty crappy EPG, card reader and WIFI (i think). Nothing we can't do with Myth TV

Anyway, that's about it for now. On a side note, if anyone in Perth want's to buy one of these, I would HIGHLY suggest having a chat to Ryan D'Souza at David Jones in Perth. He was more than willing to cut us a good deal and was extremly helpful in letting us stuff around with this TV for a good hour or so. I will definately be returning to this guy in the future.

Here's some teasers:

Monitor shows 85hz as max refresh. What The?

Ati still shows 30hz no matter what is input

The Good Stuff.

Loading Daqing Oil Fields...

Some screenies

Note: This is not ghosting, but crappy mobile phone camera

The Setup (Note: there is a fair bit of play in this price)

Remote

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, that's about it for now. On a side note, if anyone in Perth want's to buy one of these, I would HIGHLY suggest having a chat to Ryan D'Souza at David Jones in Perth. He was more than willing to cut us a good deal and was extremly helpful in letting us stuff around with this TV for a good hour or so. I will definately be returning to this guy in the future.

LOL, he was the guy who let me have it for $3200. I got 5 years interest free and 5 years warranty as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites



None. But what comes close? Either the Whirlpool or benq, neither of which I have seen in AU.

LOL. Well that is a broad sample group then isn't it? :blink:

You can check out the BenQ DV3750 at pretty much any HN by the way. Just search these forums for info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

excellent review!!!

chances are that the 1080i signal is still being processed by the internal deinterlacer. The big question here is, is this internal deinterlacer turning a nice 1080 line signal into a deinterlaced 540 line signal? if you draw a graphic image in a program like photoshop that has every second line drawn, and then try to display it on the TV, it would show

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Myself and a mate just got back from David Jones in Perth after having a play with the AT3705-MGW panel in a further attempt to squeeze out 1080p before dropping the cash.

We went in their armed with my mates Acer ferrari 4005WLMI notebook (the current one with A64, X700, 2gb of memory and 100gb hard drive).

Unfortunately our tests came to the same conclusions as Pumbaa's test, in that we could only get the display to show 1920x1080@30hz. [ ... deletia ... ] An even more interesting point is that the X700 was showing the max refresh rate of the monitor as 85Hz!

[ ... deletia ... ]

Here's some teasers:

Monitor shows 85hz as max refresh. What The?

Ati still shows 30hz no matter what is input

[ ... deletia ... ]

If you have the chance to play with this again, I suggest you get Monitor Asset Manager 1.26 from Entech and check the EDID (you can use either the VGA or DVI connection). This will show what the monitor is telling the ATI card it is capable of. As has been discussed in quite a few fora, quite a few manufacturers don't properly implement the mandatory EDID data structure requirements of DVI/HDMI, and it can make properly connecting a computer up a real bugger.

Adrian

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...
To Top