The Great "Staying Behind The Joneses" Hunt
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I'd only ever watch 4:3 material in true 4:3 - always amazed at those who stretch the picture - it looks awful.superscaper wrote: »Not sure why it's a problem? Surely if anything you're spoilt for choice in displaying 4:3. True 4:3, 14:9, Zoom 16:9, stretch to 16:9 etc etc.
My question related solely to true 4:3 as the geometry of the picture can sometimes look a mess on some widescreen TVs.
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I hope this information helpsat least one person...then it has worked!
HDTV
Don't believe the hype. You only need HDTV if you currently have Sky or are thinking of getting Sky. Even then they only have about 5 or 6 channels which are High Definition; Sky Sports 1,2,3, National Geographic, Sky 1 (I think) BBC (again I think) is high def but only on SKy.
HD will NEVER make it onto freeview as the bandwith (think of this as the tube in which things arrive at your TV) is only so big. If anybody were to have an HDTV channel on Freeview, then it would take up about 5 or 6 other channel spaces...so you can imagine if a few did it, you've already lost 15 or so other channels.
Also, don't be fooled by the supermarkets selling a "good brand" at a cheap price. They can do this as they are selling old "generations" of the technology. So for instance they might sell a 32" Phillips for £500, sounds a great deal...but the reason it is so cheap is becuase Phillips have already improved the technology in their latest models and are on generation 5 or 6 of the screen...the one you will buy from the supermarket would be generation 3 or 4...maybe even 2.
Before buying an LCD or Plasma have a think of what you need it for. I did buy one and I got it cheap and cheerful for around £400 (Mirai 32") as I will only use the HD from my xbox 360. I will be watching normal freeview so new that a top quality picture output wasn't what I wanted, the picture quality isn't that much better from a standard CRT set. I will never own Sky as I simply can't afford it (24 yr old first time buyer...but that's another story!)
Personally a SONY CRT is a great buy...they last years and are dead sharp...only !!!!!! is my old one was 44" deep so they can be beasts!
try http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/televisions/0,39030216,1,00.htm it's a wonderfully easy sight to use and doesn't baffle you...it helped me
Hope this helps someone0 -
Or cable! I know they don't have much HD content yet but they do have some and hopefully more to come. Also what about if you have a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive, or Xbox 360 or PS3?I
HDTV
Don't believe the hype. You only need HDTV if you currently have Sky or are thinking of getting Sky. Even then they only have about 5 or 6 channels which are High Definition; Sky Sports 1,2,3, National Geographic, Sky 1 (I think) BBC (again I think) is high def but only on SKy.
HD will NEVER make it onto freeview as the bandwith (think of this as the tube in which things arrive at your TV) is only so big. If anybody were to have an HDTV channel on Freeview, then it would take up about 5 or 6 other channel spaces...so you can imagine if a few did it, you've already lost 15 or so other channels.It's my problem, it's my problem
If I feel the need to hide
And it's my problem if I have no friends
And feel I want to die0 -
I have an XBox 360, and I find that certain games are very annoying to play on my old 28in TV because the text is too blury to read. I've seen those games on HD TVs and they're much nicer.
Instead of buying a HD TV I bought a cable that allows you to plug the 360 into a computer moniter, and play it on an old CRT we had lying around - sure, the CRT is only 19in, so it's not ideal, but it means I can play those games without having to shell out several hundred pounds which we can't afford.
Having seen the difference, a lot of my friends are moving their 360s from the living room to their computer room, to play on the computer monitors as well.DFW Nerd No. 140
Status as of 30/11/12
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I'd only ever watch 4:3 material in true 4:3 - always amazed at those who stretch the picture - it looks awful.
My question related solely to true 4:3 as the geometry of the picture can sometimes look a mess on some widescreen TVs.
I know what you mean which is why I never watch it stretched on a widescreen, I always watch it in either true 4:3 or 14:9. The stretching is of course purely down to the end user either choosing it like that or leaving it to default to that. No widescreen TV I've ever used has HAD to stretch the picture to a different aspect ratio."She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
Moss0 -
HDTV
Don't believe the hype. You only need HDTV if you currently have Sky or are thinking of getting Sky. Even then they only have about 5 or 6 channels which are High Definition; Sky Sports 1,2,3, National Geographic, Sky 1 (I think) BBC (again I think) is high def but only on SKy.
HD isn't restricted to just sky you know. XBOX360 (with hdmi) games, PS3 games, HD-DVD, Blu Ray, DVD upscaling, cable. In fact terrestrial broadcast is just about the only current thing that isn't HD for the foreseeable future.
EDIT: I know I missed reading BillScarab's post but at least we're in agreement"She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
Moss0 -
Hi I bought a Panasonic 32" CRT tv, Panasonic DVD recorder and Nokia Freeview box off Ebay for the grand total of £118 earlier this year!! They were all 3 years old and had all instructions, stand and original remotes. Oh yes it had dolby 5 speaker surround sound too!! I bought them off a couple in their 80's who had just upgraded to a 50" Panasonic LCD.
I put in a speculative bid of £120 then went out for the night - when I came in the next day I found out I had won all that gear for £118. Only downside was that it was a 6hr round trip to pick it up!! lol
I also bought another Panasonic Dolby 32" flatscreen off Ebay for my girlfriends birthday for £80 - that came with a dvd player and video recorder!!
Only problem with that one was the tv weighs about 55kg and she lives on the first floor!!
You can turn your PS2 into a game jukebox. You need some software called hd advance or hd loader which is free on the net. A network adaptor available on Ebay - no longer stocked in shops, and an IDE hard drive - put the game in - load to the hard drive - then play. You must own the original game to be able to store it
For about £70 you can achieve all this with a 200 gig hard drive that holds around 60 - 80 games. Hope this helps some of y'all!!
Cheers0 -
Bought a 3 year old Sony 28" 100mhz Widescreen CRT TV a few months ago off Ebay for just under £50. The guy had paid over £800 for it.
Has an amazing picture and 3 scart sockets (so no more fiddling around the back changing leads for Sky. DVD or games console leads). Mortgage and totally Debt Free as of December 2008.
boy does it feel good!Thanks MSE for all the tips and advice0 -
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Never found it to be a problem, the menu is set to show everything in widescreen and i've never noticed a difference
If it's a 4:3 broadcast (and you're not noticing any stretching) then your TV is adjusting it by zooming and thereby cutting off the top and bottom of the picture."She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
Moss0
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