HD and the pitfalls

DuncanMiller

the majority of the extra cost is in being able to get these resolutions to the larger screen format and the other issues which come with having a screen that large (like back lighting and video processing etc...)

I have been playing "high Def" games on my pc for about 6/7 years hehe - one of the reasons why i never bothered with consoles as they looked so rubbish!

DuncanMiller

In theory you could get yourself a nice HD quality small "TV" for very little money - so long as it had a DVI input. Just by a high res widescreen PC monitor!

The thing is you would only be able to run it off of 1 maybe two inputs and it would have no tv tuner, remote, speakers etc... in there - I guess the TV manufacterors dont see much profit in producing smaller HD "TVs"

chrispyphillips

ckerrd wrote:

At the moment I think you are still better with CRT.
There is also an issue with where you source your HD pictures from.
Cable, BSkyB or DVD.

Don't expect to see HD on Freeview for a good while yet as it will ake up a lot of bandwith.

En Contre ( ) my friend, read on http://www.trustedreviews.com/multimedia/news/2006/11/28/Evesham-Unveils-Sub-300-HD-Ready-Media-Centre/p1

Okay, so its on the expensive side, but its a step in the right direction for those who dont want to buy Sky, and it has an HDD so is ideal. Might wait for the price to come down or competition to force the price down, but its the best alternative i've seen to SKY HD, since telewest isnt available everywhere.

I personally dont see the point in getting HD TV unless you have at least 1080i/p since thats what most of the new games consoles (excl Wii) are using to get the most out of HD gaming. I need to buy one as I got an old bulky toshiba in the corner of my room, and if we're all going 'digital' soon, i dont see the point in buying a SD TV, when I can stick a nice HDTV on the wall, even if Standard def piccies arent as good as they are on a CRT. Technology like the iplayer and PS3 for example will mean that SD TV will be in a thing of the past, in the very near future!!

amcluesent

No broadcaster gives a damn on quality, they just want more and more shopping channels squeezed into the available bandwidth.

Lots of people were fooled into paying £££ on DAB radios for 'CD quality' sound - now every commercial DAB channel is 'AM radio' quality and even, shamefully, BBC Radio 3 is pretty shoddy on DAB.

So I can't see the point in having HD as we know the broadcasters will use massive compression on the signal so you'll see mpeg artefacts in all the dark scenes and ghosting on fast moving stuff in footie etc.

I'd save my money unless you were also a film-buff going for a DVD player with quality upscaling to 1080. (Upscaling DVD as blu-ray will be a flop like SACD and DVD-Audio)

deanos

Our FIL just bought a new HD Samsung TV , Sky looks pants all blocky and pixely , i think consumers are getting caught up in the HD hype and think that normal sky + tv will look good when in fact it looks alot worse, often technology gets better in think in this case its a backward step

ckerrd

chrispyphillips wrote:

En Contre ( ) my friend, read on http://www.trustedreviews.com/multimedia/news/2006/11/28/Evesham-Unveils-Sub-300-HD-Ready-Media-Centre/p1

Okay, so its on the expensive side, but its a step in the right direction for those who dont want to buy Sky, and it has an HDD so is ideal. Might wait for the price to come down or competition to force the price down, but its the best alternative i've seen to SKY HD, since telewest isnt available everywhere.

I personally dont see the point in getting HD TV unless you have at least 1080i/p since thats what most of the new games consoles (excl Wii) are using to get the most out of HD gaming. I need to buy one as I got an old bulky toshiba in the corner of my room, and if we're all going 'digital' soon, i dont see the point in buying a SD TV, when I can stick a nice HDTV on the wall, even if Standard def piccies arent as good as they are on a CRT. Technology like the iplayer and PS3 for example will mean that SD TV will be in a thing of the past, in the very near future!!

not sure what bit you were getting at, however the problem with DTT is bandwith. If all the people who currently broadcast on Freeview wanted to have their programmes in HD then, eh well, it couldn't happen. There isn't enough space. Just because there is a machine capable of receiving HD DTT doesn't mean that that is what the broadcasters will start transmitting.

oizafed

HELP!! I am looking to buy a new television, purely because mine has broken. After 5 years with a Philips, which we really liked, the tube went and it has been deemed unrepairable. We only have freeview and dont intend paying an arm and a leg for Sky so please please can you suggest which would be a compatible plasma television as we have no idea at all, and we are just getting confused by all the jargon HD.SD.DTT etc. THANK YOU

irnbru_2

oizafed wrote: »

can you suggest which would be a compatible plasma television

Check if your Freeview box can output RGB over SCART. If not, buy one that does.

Determine which size of LCD/Plasma you want.

Determine your budget.

Ask to test them out with input from a Freeview box with RGB out.

Too many models to recommend anything .....

hendragon

nothing I have seen so far indicates to me that hd tv justifies its price. In addition CRT (cathode ray tube ie "big" not flat tvs) seem to be out of fashion and also VERY CHEAP. If you have the space, a good flat screen crt tv will give you and excellent picture for around 1/3 of the price of and lcd or plasma tv.

By the way thanks to all the contributors for an interesting debate.

mjr600

hendragon wrote: »

nothing I have seen so far indicates to me that hd tv justifies its price. In addition CRT (cathode ray tube ie "big" not flat tvs) seem to be out of fashion and also VERY CHEAP. If you have the space, a good flat screen crt tv will give you and excellent picture for around 1/3 of the price of and lcd or plasma tv.

By the way thanks to all the contributors for an interesting debate.

Well you haven't seen real HD then, HD Virgin+ with channels properly upscaled to 720p by the box on a good quality and very reasonably priced 32" LCD. A CRT just cannot compete when HD is done properly, even Coronation Street after it has passed through the box and emerged at 720p is full of detail a CRT would massage away.

Good quality HD does not have to break the bank with 32" LCD's starting at £300, they allow a modern family to run a HTPC and games machine in addition to TV viewing.

Electronics used as intended and with the correct media/input can be superb, the user requires the knowledge to get the best from their purchase, so often people complain their new LCD looks poor having plugged it into a 20yr old loft aerial and fed it an analogue signal.