Digital TV

ggustar

I want to buy a new TV in January sales. about 28/32 inch. All my friends say get digital but no one can say why.
Whats the difference? the price of digital seems to be about 3 times dearer than ordinary TV so there must be a reason.
I have Sky TV, full package without films. does this make a difference?
THANKS Gordon

derrick

Anologue t.v is going to be phased out,no one seems to know when,but it could be as soon as 2110, the only way then to get t .v progs will be via digital and if you still have an anologue t.v you will need a set top box (Freeview).

The sales shouild bring down the cost of a digital t.v and discount vouchers bring the price down even further.
I didn`t think the digital t. vs where that much dearer,it seems a lot!

Dan29

Are you talking about a digital tv, or a widescreen tv? if you have Sky, you're already digital..!

ggustar

Thanks for replies.
I want wide screen TV and I need only go for Anologue if I have Sky then? Maybe I'm wrong on prices. I'll have to check again.
If Anologue is phased out in 2010 I presume this would be gradual over next 5 years. I might be better off getting digital wide screen now.
I might be thick, I still don't see the difference between Anologue and Digital.
Gordon

irnbru_2

Thanks for replies.
I want wide screen TV and I need only go for Anologue if I have Sky then? Maybe I'm wrong on prices. I'll have to check again.
If Anologue is phased out in 2010 I presume this would be gradual over next 5 years. I might be better off getting digital wide screen now.
I might be thick, I still don't see the difference between Anologue and Digital.
Gordon

It sounds like your friends are confusing you and themselves.

You have the choice of a (widescreen) CRT, what you would call ordinary TV or what your friends call a digital display: LCD or Plasma.

In either case you'll be able to watch all your existing programming whichever you choose by means of a conversion box. Your probably connecting SKY via a SCART or an SVideo connection?

An LCD or Plasma has a fixed resolution - that is, its so many pixels high and so many wide. A layperson will buy a one of these displays either because they have the money or want a flat display. A videophile will buy one these displays because they may have the video equipment to get the best out of it - in this case its the resolution (number of pixels) thats important.

As to the transmision signal - analogue or digital. Analogue will be phased out and this means that people will have to buy set-top boxes like Freeview to use their existing (ordinary) TVs while replacement TVs would have this integrated into the set.

Finally, merging the digital display and transmission signal will be important when High Definition TV transmission begins which means the resolution of the LCD or Plasma will then be very important - if your display is lower than the transimission resolution a conversion must be done (some loss of quality). If it matches then you'll view the transmission as intended.

If your happy with a widescreen CRT buy that, if you want a flat panel display buy an LCD or Plasma.

Poppy9

Anologue t.v is going to be phased out,no one seems to know when,but it could be as soon as 2110, the only way then to get t .v progs will be via digital and if you still have an anologue t.v you will need a set top box (Freeview).

The sales shouild bring down the cost of a digital t.v  and discount vouchers bring the price down even further.
I didn`t  think the digital t. vs where that much dearer,it seems a lot!

I wouldn't worry about buying a Digital TV in readiness for 2110 (or even 2010) as the TV will have stopped working long before then LOL

robnp

Gordon, It seems to me that as of this date, you're better off buying a conventional widescreen analogue TV. You already have a satellite conversion box that will change the analogue broadcast into digital on your screen. In 5 years time,as has already been suggested everybody may be into LCD or Plasma TVs. At that time you may want to get one of them too, which would mean you would have wasted the extra money if you had decided to get a more expensive digital set at this time.