Author Topic: The state of HD TV (Read 748 times)

JB73 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 24, 2005, 05:51:58 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Well, with the MP's about, I have a little time to actually get involved with the community, rather than being the big, ugly, stick which beats up stuff.

BWhahahahaha!!!

that's almost good enough to make a new avatar for you ; ) i bigh flashing stick! ; )

we miss this skuzzy that is for sure.

on the HDTV topic, supposedly in Milwaukee you can get all the local's in HD with digital cable (so the cable provider says)

Skuzzy · « **Reply #16 on:** June 24, 2005, 05:54:17 PM »

A friend of mine has HD cable and it is awful. But it is the converter box they are using in his neighborhood/node. Some cheap no-name thing.
He says his analog over cable looked better.

The best thing I like about my set, right now, is how good 16:9 DVD's play on it. I have yet to see any broadcast material which looks any better, but I have not gotten any HD material either.
I am thinking about putting an HD antenna in the attic to get the local channels HD signal, but the native HD material is so spotty, I just do not know if it is worth the hassle.

EDIT: Yes JB, the local channels can be had here over cable, but they look terrible. Much worse than over DiSH or DirectTV, all due to the cheapo converter box they are supplying (I hope that is what the issue is).

JB73 · « **Reply #17 on:** June 24, 2005, 05:59:37 PM »

yeah, i have not heard anything good or bad yet about that, though all my friends are too poor for it anyway lol one friend doesn't even have plain cable.

the local morning radio show has a sports guy on each day steve czaban, from the DC area. he has cable, sattelite, and an HD antenna, and thye talk about watching sports on HD ALL the time. he swears by it, and gets all PO'd when the major sports event of the day is not in HD, so i am guessing his picture is great

yeas that's all hearsay from a radio jock, but thats the best i have to contribute on the conversation ; )

Pongo · « **Reply #18 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:05:57 PM »

Lined up for a 40-50 inchish HDTV and NFL sunday ticket.
Saw the HDTV broadcast of an nfl game last year in the store and it nocked me on my butt.

Eagler · « **Reply #19 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:07:19 PM »

we even have several pay per view in HD down here

all the broadcast, hbo, showtime, discovery, espn, tnt, hdnet & hdnet2

biggun, you shouldn't care if they push the date, you are already getting what has to be gotten by the date if you are geting your broadcast chs in hd

SA box (Scientific Atlanta), it even have the dvr that records hi def and the picture is awesome - add it the 5.1 sound and it doesn't get any better. PACE makes a super HD cable box also

Skuzzy · « **Reply #20 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:09:19 PM »

The broadcasts are in HD, but most of the material being broadcast is just upconverted from the old format and not being produced in the native format.

The upconversion ain't that great. The native stuff looks really good, but it is a small percentage of the broadcasts.

BigGun · « **Reply #21 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:10:05 PM »

Well i notice a huge difference with HD & noHD...just flip between same show and the difference is huge.

Eagler · « **Reply #22 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:12:23 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by BigGun
Well i notice a huge difference with HD & noHD...just flip between same show and the difference is huge.

part of that is that the "HD" channel is a digital channel where the other regular broadcast is still analog.
analog is subject to a whole bunch of bad things resulting in crummy picture in cable plant that digital is not..

AmRaaM · « **Reply #23 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:22:08 PM »

A REAL MAN won't own HD digital tv, the slow channel surfing defies logic, if ya cant channel surf at a decent pace what good is HD ??

so who cares where HD ends up...

Furball · « **Reply #24 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:23:21 PM »

Skuzzy stop beating about the bush... you just want to know if you will get your pr0n channels on it, dont you.

Chairboy · « **Reply #25 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:26:59 PM »

I've had HD for a couple years now. HD Cable, via a Motorola 6000 box. It's not BAD... but I hardly ever watch HD content. I'm so spoiled by PVRs that I... just can't watch live TV anymore.

So I have a big HD compatible big screen that I always watch TV via analog Never The Same Color instead of digimatic, quadraphonic bit, high-fi super res mode.

Rolex · « **Reply #26 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:32:49 PM »

Ooohh, a topic I know a little bit about since one of my clients manufactures the broadcast side hardware/encoding devices here in Japan.

But no time

I have to do some work today...

First, there are 3 Digital standards:

European DVB system
The US ATSC system
The Japanese system ISDB which is related to DVB.

Technically, the Japanese system is better, but the US standard was developed just to be different, the same as 3G cell phone standards. The cell phone difference was more centered on IPRs, but the HDTV and DVB standards were set out of fear that the US would lose domestic market viability.

All can theoretically convert PAL and NTSC. Japan pioneered analog HDTV (1035i and called Hi-Vision, which is still around and looks great) in the earky 1990s. Yes, I said 1990s. I was shocked when I first came here and saw it. It's been around for over 10 years now and commonplace.

Japan started terrestrial digital 2 years ago. The market and approach is different, but I don't have time to explain why right now. Japan is already getting ready to jump a generation in technology and go to Ultra-High Definition TV, which is 16 times better than HDTV.

I've seen it and it's astounding. Most people in the US have never really seen 'true' HDTV (unless you've seen it in a lab) because the broadcast side cameras, coders and transmitters are not state of the art. They are mostly early generation stuff.

Got to go! I'm late!

Waffle · « **Reply #27 on:** June 24, 2005, 06:52:33 PM »

Been kicking around the idea of the digital cable....jus too damn expensive right now here..but it looks good on everything I've seen so far. With the prices of widescreen LCDs coming down ($900 for a 30") I'm really interested to see one with the HDTV.
Will give it some more time and see if the service prices drop any.

Chairboy · « **Reply #28 on:** June 24, 2005, 07:31:18 PM »

Remember, digital cable does not necessarily equal HDTV cable. Make sure that your cable company offers actual HDTV before springing for it. The vast majority of digital cable boxes are NOT HD.

Drifter1234 · « **Reply #29 on:** June 24, 2005, 08:07:57 PM »

Speaking of TV's

I got $1500-$2000 set aside for new TV.

Room is 14' x 20'

Figure I need 45-52ish" TV

What do I get for best results for the money?

Want HDTV etc.