NTL HD Ready?

paragp

HI All,

Does anyone know when NTL are planning to trasmit signals in HD?
This would help in making a decision on what type of new TV to buy.

thank

Pete.g

Next couple of months I was told by NTL rep a few weeks ago. I am just not willing to pay sky £300 for 1/2 dozen channels when NTL's will be free.

Hope this helps.

penrhyn

The best info I have is that the NTL TV Drive (like a Sky + box) won't be available until 2007.
If the pricing is anything like Telewest it will cost between £10 and £15 a month extra dependent upon which package you have. As to what channels will be available I guess that apart from their own it will be dependent upon what deal they do with Sky.
The current NTL digital has no interactivity(red button) so I wont hold my breath for more advanced services.

BexTech

Pete.g wrote:

Next couple of months I was told by NTL rep a few weeks ago. I am just not willing to pay sky £300 for 1/2 dozen channels when NTL's will be free.

Hope this helps.

The box maybe free, but the subscription will be higher.

BexTech

paragp wrote:

HI All,

Does anyone know when NTL are planning to trasmit signals in HD?
This would help in making a decision on what type of new TV to buy.

thank

Pay close attention to the TV you go out and buy, HD Ready doesn't mean quality.

Many TVs are just old computer panels being sold off, and are not true HD spec, be very careful.

I'd advise waiting for the price of true HD spec displays to come down in price.

Basil_Fawlty

Is HDTV due to be transmitted via broadband at all?

paragp

BexTech wrote:

Pay close attention to the TV you go out and buy, HD Ready doesn't mean quality.

Many TVs are just old computer panels being sold off, and are not true HD spec, be very careful.

I'd advise waiting for the price of true HD spec displays to come down in price.

what should i be looking for when I go out to by a "HD Ready" TV?

cheapaschips_2

we're looking for a 26" lcd and apparently you cant see the difference between HD and standard until you go up to about 32" and above. so in my case it shouldn't bother me.
but from what i saw on 'click' on the bbc (and this info is available on their website)
you should be looking for the HD ready symbol, HDMI inputs, DVI inputs HD component inputs (yellow red white and green) and it must be support HDCP (high def compatiblity protocol), and for true high def
you need a resolution of greater than 720 vertical lines
hope this helps

paragp

cheapaschips wrote:

we're looking for a 26" lcd and apparently you cant see the difference between HD and standard until you go up to about 32" and above. so in my case it shouldn't bother me.
but from what i saw on 'click' on the bbc (and this info is available on their website)
you should be looking for the HD ready symbol, HDMI inputs, DVI inputs HD component inputs (yellow red white and green) and it must be support HDCP (high def compatiblity protocol), and for true high def
you need a resolution of greater than 720 vertical lines
hope this helps

what about things like brightness, contrast ratio ec. it seems the brightness varies from 400cd/m2 to about 1500cd/m2 and also the contrast from about 800:1 to 10000:1?? what does all this mean in real terms?

also to be able to view HD, do yo need to connect via the HDMI interface?

BexTech

Many HD Ready TVs are 1336 x 768, 1024 x 768 or 1024 x 1024 which is really just a panel that was to be used for a computer being used in TVs as they want to get rid of the stock.

The 1024 x 768 and 1024 x 1024 you can through out straight away, don't even think about one of those.

HD broadcasts will be it two versions:-

1280 x 720
and
1920 x 1080

Though at the moment the broadcasts have been 1920 x 1080 so far.

So you don't want a TV with a horizontal resolution less than 1280.

Really you want a screen that matches it's input.

With a 1024 x 1024 screen the screen has to downscale 1280 to 1024 and then upscale 720 to 1024, similar for the other screens.

The picture quality will never be the best, the same as a computer LCD screen, the picture only looks right when using the native resolution of the screen.

There are true HD spec machines out there (1920 x 1080 and some 1280 x 720) and not just 'HD Ready' but at the moment they can be a little expensive compared the the screen they are trying to get rid of.

I'd wait until true HD spec screens come down in price.