tv not HD ready

quoia

Wig wrote:

Doesn't sound right to me. TVs used to be 576 lines (visible) from a 625 line signal.

It used to be 405 lines.

Mind you PAL is probably the best format prior to the latest HD specs.
NTSC (Never Twice Same Color) is poor in comparison and the US are behind us in this market.

Zippy123

The analogue signal is being turned off so that the government can sell the spare frequencies to other companies and give us more channel choice.

As far as the HD service is concerned, some of this saved bandwidth will be used up by the extra data needed to transmit the HD pictures – if it ever makes it to terrestrial TV.

Just remember watching old 405 line programmes like Steptoe and Sons on a modern 625 line TV and see the difference. HD promises to be the same. Unfortunately the only likely provider is going to charge a minimum of £10 per month for the privilege.

The US has had HD tv for some time now.

wobbley

Quincy wrote:

Who cares its all a con job anyway.

I mean whats wrong with the picture we have nowadays, talk about the Jones's.

Quincy __ Jones's Nice one !

Astaroth

Quincy wrote:

P.S trying to put Radio against Tv is a ridiculous analogy as they are two different types of media.

But when TV first came out it wasnt seen as a rediculous analogy - my grandmother didnt have a TV for a very long time after it came out because she could get everything she wanted out of her radio and just saw TVs as a fancy radio which as you put it was "Its just another must have that you dont need."

In years to come when HD is the normal there will be some people that still have SD TVs and they will be seen in the same light as someone these days that still only have B&W TV.

It is still relatively new at the moment so yes there is a price to pay for it just as when widescreen TVs came out they were twice- four times the cost of a conventional ratio screen and plasma screens were even more expensive. Now you can buy a HD plasma screen for the RRP of my 3 year old CRT.

quoia

Zippy123 wrote:

The US has had HD tv for some time now.

Yes but they can't make their mind up. They think ALL of it is HD because of what they had before.

Depending upon which network you get HD from, you might receive it in 480p, 1080i or 720p.

Some of these are only marginally better than our standard PAL 625 UHF, especially when the broadcast is not in the native resolution of the HDTV you are watching it on.
If the broadcast is "not native" then much of the benefit is lost in converting the image within the TV - eg making a 1080i or 480p programme fit on a TV with 720 lines !!

timbouk

Quincy wrote:

Who cares its all a con job anyway.

I mean whats wrong with the picture we have nowadays, talk about the Jones's.

Have you actually seen a good HD picture?
We were in Debanhams at Meadowhall a few months back, walked past a small 26" lcd tv. My wife (who is not a gadget/techie like me!) stopped in her tracks and said, wow look at that picture its excellent! It was just a picture of a fireplace burning. BUT in full HD. I was extremely impressed with it!

movieman

Have you actually seen a good HD picture?

I think that's the real issue: there's a lot of _BAD_ HD pictures out there. Take a 1080i video and play it on a 1080i display and it will look vastly better than PAL. Take a 1080i video and play it on a cheap 720p display and it will probably look crap because it will throw away alternate fields so you only get 540 lines in the first place.

It's a real shame they didn't just standardise on 1080p in the first place, and created all these barely-compatible standards instead.

Astaroth

But then how would they sell the new 1080p sets to the gadget people who bought their 1080i sets shortly after they came out :rolleyes:

timbouk

movieman wrote:

It's a real shame they didn't just standardise on 1080p in the first place, and created all these barely-compatible standards instead.

They did not because of the huge bandwidth requirement of this!

Astaroth

But the bluray will be 1080p and its specs have been around for a long time... if the tv manufactures had wanted to they could have introduce 1080p at least a few generations ago. I am sure closer to the release of bluray we will suddenly see a load of TVs to make use of this become available and a lot of people will then have to decide if to upgrade or not make the most out of a new dvd player.