HD - Really any good???

--Tony--

I have been in a few tv shops to ask to see an HD tv and see just how good it is.

I get the same story in evry store:

"these TV's" [points] "are hooked up to HD but as we have so many sets running the picture is not so good.

Well I can hardly see the difference.

If its so good why not have just one set running to show customers just how good it is (they can't answer that).

Quincy_3

They cant really have a HDTV on display showing a HDTV as it should be because a lot of TV or Electrical shops are not accepting HDTV signals just yet, what they will do though is have a HDTV demo disc playing on a standard DVD player.

I think its a joke anyway and keeping up with the Jones's I can see my TV fine and I dont see any point in swapping over, I think its just another way of conning the public into buying something they dont need. IMO

odowdchr

The demo disk with probably be shown on an 'upscaling' DVD player to show the best effect, or the HDTV itself will upscale standard images to fit it's higher res. screen. It should look better than normal SD tellies, but you might not notice that much difference.

The true HD picture is stunning, the difference is astounding and anybody call tell the difference easily.
A few months ago, it was probably true that a good CRT TV would better any LCD picture....not now HD LCD's are available. My dad bought a very good CRT last year, the HD totally blows it's socks off and he's very narked that he didn't wait.
The difference between SD and HD has been described as the biggest improvement since black/white changed to colour in the early 70's. Sounds far fetched, but not far off the truth.

Apart from the World Cup, Wimbledon and a few series, there's not much on. It just depends if you want to invest now or wait til later?

movieman

The other issue is that most 'HD' TVs are only 720 lines, vs 576 for PAL... so there's really not much difference. There's a much more noticeable difference with 1080 line HDTVs... I have a 1080 line HD camcorder and after using that for a while 576 line PAL looks awful.

This site has a comparison between DVD and 1080-line HD versions of one of the 'Lord of the Rings' movies, which makes the difference pretty clear:

http://www.cornbread.org/FOTRCompare/index.html

This is the reason why I rarely buy any DVDs anymore, I don't want to have to buy them again in HD.

--Tony--

Thanks guys its interesting. I wanted to be able to see exactly what I am missing.

Maybe before too much longer you will be able to go in and see what your buying!

ABH_3

Quincy wrote:

They cant really have a HDTV on display showing a HDTV as it should be because a lot of TV or Electrical shops are not accepting HDTV signals just yet, what they will do though is have a HDTV demo disc playing on a standard DVD player.

I think its a joke anyway and keeping up with the Jones's I can see my TV fine and I dont see any point in swapping over, I think its just another way of conning the public into buying something they dont need. IMO

AIUI, it's all supposed to offer a more vibrant viewer experience, better colours and whilst they are tinkering with that particular area of the electronic world, they saw fit to include some DRM (digital rights management) as well.

Also, to the OP Sony Centers according to a post on the avforums here http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331883&page=51 somewhere it seems are due to have some live hdtv's setup in the coming weeks. So if you have one near you, it maybe work keeping an eye out.

HTH

Quincy_3

ABH wrote:

AIUI, it's all supposed to offer a more vibrant viewer experience, better colours and whilst they are tinkering with that particular area of the electronic world, they saw fit to include some DRM (digital rights management) as well.

Also, to the OP Sony Centers according to a post on the avforums here http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331883&page=51 somewhere it seems are due to have some live hdtv's setup in the coming weeks. So if you have one near you, it maybe work keeping an eye out.

HTH

Sony + DRM :eek: keep well away

jimbobjones_2

I have SKY HD and a 37" LCD.

Believe me, it's the dogs b******s. The richness of colour and detail is truly amazing, especially for nature programmes. For instance, the quality of picture on the trailer for PLanet Earth on BBC HD is easily the equal if not better than eye quality. In the world cup games, on replays of goals you can see the reflection of the staduim on the ball, fans individual faces etc etc

Once you experience it you will not go back to SD. You do not realise how poor the picture quality is until you see the HD.

T4i

For 1.5k + HD subscription believe me not seeing the peoples reflections on the ball does not bother me in the slightest. Infact, I can quite happily sit here and chuckle at you getting ripped off!

jimbobjones_2

The cost doesn't bother me.

You will at some point in the near future switch to HD then you'll be kicking yourself for missing out. I will be sitting with a wry smile.

jonnydoe

Think I'll leave it until:

a) There's enough hd broadcasting to warrant spending 2 grand
b) prices come down.. lol

Not seen an hd demo and it's laughable to see the demo on sky's website and interesting to read about the "upscaling"

Cheers

JD