High Def - is it worth it? (just got Virgin HD)

penrhyn

I agree don't believe the hype, 30 lines are all you need, can anyone recommend a freeview box that will work with my televisor?

missile

I would add you will only appreciate the benefit of HD on a larger screen quality TV. You get what you pay for http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews84081.html

ukcarper

I’ve had a HD TV for about 3 months now and would say that it all depends on the size of the TV and how close you sit to it. I sit about 10ft from my 37” and can’t see any difference but if I move to 5 ft away I can.

PaulJM

Thanks for the replies - they're all useful.
I might get myself a televisor as above...I wonder what they cost?

This virgin box does output at 1080i, it's not upscaled, but you can downscale it to 780. I think the only reason you'd do that is that the menu's on V HD are a bit blurry on one of their cr*ppy boxes, so 780 makes it look slightly better. Not much point though.

SD on a big screen, especially freeview, isn't good. I was shocked when I got my sony, esp on an older recording. But it just magnifies what was there before. Old CRT's were much better at coping with it.
XBOX through HDMI is shockingly good, and I take the point above, blueray is probably amazing.
It is a bit of hype though. When I got the Sony, I expected the picture to be amazing, but when it was worse then my old CRT Tosh, I was told that large LCD TV's will do that with SD. That was from a few independent sources too. So 18 months later, I've got HD, and frankly, it's not really that good (granted there may be a fault)
This is probably where the hype comes in to sell TV's - I should probably have reduced my expectations. I do know that a 40 inch Sony, 18months ago, cost me the same as a 28 in CRT Tosh, 11 years ago, so we're not being ripped off.

PaulJM

missile wrote: »

I would add you will only appreciate the benefit of HD on a larger screen quality TV. You get what you pay for http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews84081.html

Definately agree with is.
Probably for another thread, but I stupidly bought a Grundig freeview box a couple of years ago, without researching them. It was cheap though!

It was terrible to use, horrible interface, and had various glitches.
You can fall behind on your knowledge of this stuff really quickly - I had a job when I was a student, selling TV's, and Grundig were a decent German make.
When i delved a bit deeper into this, it looks like it was made by ALBA..which have never been any good. Shows how a brand can be bought for its reputation for a few quick sales.

zaffi

have to agree with alienrik, the difference between SD and HD is like night and day. If it's not you've not set it up right or your box or cable are faulty.

The best example currently is to watch the Australian open on eurosport then flick to eurosportHD, then flick back, the SD picture is shockingly bad.

The same can be said of ITV with football, although they have got better.

or I could just be believing the hype...

PaulJM

zaffi wrote: »

have to agree with alienrik, the difference between SD and HD is like night and day. If it's not you've not set it up right or your box or cable are faulty.

The best example currently is to watch the Australian open on eurosport then flick to eurosportHD, then flick back, the SD picture is shockingly bad.

The same can be said of ITV with football, although they have got better.

or I could just be believing the hype...

Thanks Zaffi -
If you got close to the TV, like within a foot, could you see much pixillation?
I know you wouldn't watch it that close, but on the XBOX - which I know is different from a broadcast picture - you wouldn't see any.

ukcarper

zaffi wrote: »

have to agree with alienrik, the difference between SD and HD is like night and day. If it's not you've not set it up right or your box or cable are faulty.

The best example currently is to watch the Australian open on eurosport then flick to eurosportHD, then flick back, the SD picture is shockingly bad.

The same can be said of ITV with football, although they have got better.

or I could just be believing the hype...

I think the main problem is that if you are 10ft from a 37” TV you won’t see any difference flicking between the HD and SD and that is very rarely mentions in the advertising blurb or sales pitch.

bosseyed

Anyone who can't tell the difference between a SD broadcast and the HD equivalent is either blind or being wilfully obtuse.

Watch football on ITV HD and then switch to the standard def broadcast on ITV - you can see the difference instantly, if you can't you need glasses.

almillar

Am I right in saying the Virgin HD boxes are a bit cack at the minute? You don't mention what youre TV is, but please don't downscale, scaling kills picture quality. All UK HDTV is broadcast in 1080i AFAIK so your box is hopefully outputting 1080 i or p to a 1080 set.
HD is better than SD, of that I have absolutely no doubt. Do your research, don't just goto Tesco and buy a Technika TV and jam it in the corner and then proudly declare that there's no difference - you would actually be better off keeping your CRT TVs.