Dummies Guide to HD TVs/HD READY

mark_steps

I am buying my parents a new TV. I intend to get a flat screen (LCD I THINK) approx 28" screen but when it comes to HD ready and HD i am confused. Now the parents have SKY, but not the few HD channels that are on SKY. I doubt they will subscribe to be honest. My dad thinks he is better to get the HD TV just now incase in a few years the old ones wont work etc.

HD ready - that means its ready for HD but you need to buy something for it is tat right??
HD means its all set up and ready, even if you just watch Sky Sports1, or ITV, their will be a better quality picture? Sorry but i dont wanna shell out loads of cash and choose the wrong thing.

I have a budget off approx £450...

Can anyone with the info on this help pls :beer:

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

Don't get confused with HD ready and the switch to digital.

When the normal terrestrial analogue signal is switched off, it won't matter if you have an HD ready TV or not. When it switches to digital and assuming you wanted to watch digital terrestrial, you'll need a Freeview box for each TV that doesn't have a digital tuner. They're as cheap as £25 each now. You may also require an aerial upgrade if yours isn't good enough.

HDTV simply provides you with a better quality picture. You don't need to buy an HDTV if you don't want to. The TV will probably break long before we are only provided with HD channels.
Obviously the number of HD channels at the moment are small, but it'll undoubtedly increase as the years go on. The choice is yours.

An HDTV won't make any difference to watching the normal SKY channels, only the HD channels will do that and at the moment a SKY HD box is £299 and an extra £10/month.

epz_2

if you buy an lcd now you will likely get ripped off, not because you dont know what you are getting but because the standards are still very much up in the air.

hdmi and gone form 1.0 to 1.3 which adds new features i cant remember

there are at least 3 hidef formats 720p, 1080i, 1080p and while many support some of them none are pixel to pixel ie a 1366x768 screen will upscale a 720p image, fudge a 1080i and downscale a 1080p one.

in my personal opinion the 1080p format will win since by the time the technology has matured enough for the mass market consumer base it will be the standard.

you also have to look at responce time(black to white &black), contrast ratio and brightness, not to mention the refresh rate is set to jump from 60-120hz by the end of the year on the better sets.

oh and for the real fun an games they are starting to produce SED and oled screens this year which are a superior technology.

im a bit of a home cimema bod(not a nutter who spends 27k on speaker like some people i know), i even read up on video codec and open source pvr projects and you want to know what i bought?

A second had 44" sony rear projector, i could have gone flat screen but since i bought it 3 months ago any set i would have gone down by over the 280quid i paid for mine and the technology still isnt sorted out enough for me to consider buying properly, it will be a few more years before theirs any proper programs out anyway so why pay a premuim now on the offchance it will be compatible later.

username

If you can, I'd simply get a 32" or slightly bigger widescreen CRT and a Freeview box, and that'll be pretty much all you need to have a reasonable picture and be ready for the digital switchover which will still broadcast at SD (standard definition).

It's not worth getting an LCD TV of any sort now (HD ready or not), as IMO, the picture quality on all of them is pretty rubbish and soft when fed with current SD broadcasts and even DVDs. Plus, any compression artifacts will show up even more on the LCD screen.

The only time when it'll be worth getting an HD LCD screen will be when HD actually becomes mainstream in the years to come, and when you can actually use proper HD material. Don't get me wrong, the picture quality on HD LCDs when using a proper HD source can blow you away, but at present, it's not really worth it since there are few HD broadcasts DVDs and equipment.

mark_steps

Ok to clear things up,

We have SKY in the Home, so we dont need to go Digital (ie get freeview).
LCD is that just the flat screens you see nowadays?? Or is it something else all together different?
Nipping up to Dixons to bug them lol, not buying just yet anyway. Looking to March for that.

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

mark_steps wrote:

We have SKY in the Home, so we dont need to go Digital (ie get freeview).
LCD is that just the flat screens you see nowadays?? Or is it something else all together different?
Nipping up to Dixons to bug them lol, not buying just yet anyway. Looking to March for that.

Obviously a few years away, but when the analogue signal is switched off, you'll rely on SKY as the only source of reception. With the standard box, you'll only be able to watch one channel i.e. you can't record one channel and watch another.

Yes, LCD's are the flat screens you see nowadays. There are also Plasma screens which are flat, but they are generally more expensive size for size.

DuncanMiller

you should get a better picture should CRT (normal tv) but if you want the space saving qualities of a LCD and i wouldn't be too put off by the whole HD thing.

I want a newTV for the bedroom and I have a choice of 28" Crt which takes up loads of space or a cheap LCD to hang on the wall and therefore free up room for other things!
im not expecting it to be fantastic but it is HD ready should I ever need it and also means i get the space compromise