Is HD over the air really this bad?

savemoney

When I had my Humax HDR installed back in November the guy who fitted lnb and cable said it was better HD picture than what he had seen on sky HD and he fits them all time. He did only see a test though as HD on BBC during day is only test.

Apparently the chip that Humax uses which is latest one, is capable of receiving 1080p and decoding DivX. Unfortunately DivX isn't support on the box at mo and no one broadcasts 1080p as yet

Leopard

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As yet.

savemoney

It would be good it if was, possibly a firmware hack

Inactive

savemoney wrote: »

at mo and no one broadcasts 1080p as yet

Nor are they likely to broadcast in that format in the foreseeable future.

gjchester

rotti1967 wrote: »

Ive just got myself the Humax Foxsat-Hdr i think its good but am disappointed in that there is only BBC HD and a channel called Luxe HD so far, and i thought the likes of Dave/Virgin/SSN would be on like they are on Freeview, but no doubt this is to do with Sky Tv.

Yep

A lot of channels signed up to Sky to broadcast it via there encryption system to the UK, (and hece not to France, Spain,etc, or at least not legally, I'm sure many peoiple there have UK subscribed cards.) It comes down to where channelscan be broadcast and the price they have to pay to do so.
The thought is once Freesat was launched then as channels end contracts with Sky they'll become available on Freesat. No doubt Sky will be charging a premium to the channels. Five has already become available on Freesat whereas it wasn't at the start

samhale

Hopefully the same happens to Sky HD as did with plus- so many people bought PVR boxes, they got rid of the £10 a month fee. Hopefully Freesat makes the same with HD on Sky.

moonrakerz

Only this morning I was in Tesco in Salisbury, where they had a range of HD TVs on display, all tuned to the BBC HD preview channel.
To be blunt, the quality of the picture on all of them was awful - as the OP says, far worse that SD.
Actually I lie - one TV had a good picture ! This TV also has 3 price reduction labels on it.
I may be getting cynical in my old age but this was a blatant attempt to "push" a particular TV - a very shoddy trick !
They even had my Panasonic (of 6 weeks) there - with a dreadful picture. I felt like complaining to Panasonic about Tesco's misrepresentation of their product.
The one in my lounge produces a stunning picture.

The TV they obviously have lots to get rid of was an LG.

Before I got my TV I tried most of the big retailers, all of them use some trickery or other to push one TV over another or to show how good HD is. Ask them to put an SD signal into a TV they all refuse or make excuses - except John Lewis.

Be warned if you are looking for a new TV !!

samhale

I think most TV sale shops are crap in that respect. They never seem to show of the true quality the TV's are capable of, which you'd think they'd push to sell them.

In one shop I went, they had 4 TV's all connected through a different connection, showing the same picture. The HDMI tv did in all honesty look a lot better, then the TV's there but also our own.
If I owned a TV shop I'd have 4 Same TV's with same settings, with different connections. Then there would have to be no frauding the buyer

rotti1967

I watched something with David Attenborough and it was amazing in HD yet today i watched the Swansea F.A. Cup game and to tell you the truth i didnt think the HD picture was much better than the normal one.

moonrakerz

Most people tend to look at their TV from a distance. To get the best from HD you need to sit a lot closer than you have been used to with SD.

Viewing ranges should be about twice the diagonal measurement of the screen: so for a 40" TV you need to view from about 80" - even the football looks good !

(If you are watching ITV on Freesat you need to select HD after you have selected the channel)