HDTV Question?

[FoSsiL]

Hi! im thinking of gettin an hdtv and i wanna know if you get weak broadcasts signal will that effect image quality, like analog tv.
I dont want to get a hdtv if i end up getting bad reception like my old tv set.

 

[Khayman]

Some one correct me if i'm wrong but my understanding is the TV station has to trasmit HDTV signals otherwise its just the same as any other TV, and there are very few that do

 

[Herkalees]

There are a couple of answers to your question, based on the way you asked it:

1) If you're asking about weaker than average non-HD signals, than yeah, it still won't look so good. A million dollar t.v. will still look like butt if your source signal sucks.

2) If you're question is "If the HD signal is weak in my area, will it look bad?" The answer is no. An HD t.v will either pull in full 1080i (HD) or nothing. Unlike analog, a HDTV tuner will never settle for anything less, because it's digital, the signal is either on or off. If you live in an area where the terrain is all over the place, and you get a fuzzy ANALOG channel 4, the HD version of channel 4 just won't come in at all, not even fuzz.

3) Last and most important, all HDTV's (whether they're upgradable or intergrated) have line doublers built in. In english, this means that no matter what you watch, it will look better on your HD t.v. than any non-HD t.v., whether its a VCR tape, cable, satellite, DVD or HD. The quantity of horizontal lines across the t.v. are doubled, which means they're smaller = you see more image, and less t.v. hardware.

You could possibly consider me the resident Home Theater man around this joint.

 

[Herkalees]

Originally posted by Khayman
Some one correct me if i'm wrong but my understanding is the TV station has to trasmit HDTV signals otherwise its just the same as any other TV, and there are very few that do

Nah, because of what I mentioned in #3 above, no matter what the signal, an HDTV will still look better than an analog t.v.

Also, telling someone the quantity of available HD channels from their cable provider is a tough call. Every town is different (at the current time) unfortunately.

My town finally picked up HD over cable 3 weeks ago and started off with 6 channels. While my DirecTV has had it for well over 8 months now...

 

[Khayman]

Ah well Better not give up my day job then

 

[Krux]

Originally posted by Khayman
Some one correct me if i'm wrong but my understanding is the TV station has to trasmit HDTV signals otherwise its just the same as any other TV, and there are very few that do

your right but I know fox does and lucky me thats what I watch

 

[Krux]

Originally posted by Herkalees
There are a couple of answers to your question, based on the way you asked it:

1) If you're asking about weaker than average non-HD signals, than yeah, it still won't look so good. A million dollar t.v. will still look like butt if your source signal sucks.

2) If you're question is "If the HD signal is weak in my area, will it look bad?" The answer is no. An HD t.v will either pull in full 1080i (HD) or nothing. Unlike analog, a HDTV tuner will never settle for anything less, because it's digital, the signal is either on or off. If you live in an area where the terrain is all over the place, and you get a fuzzy ANALOG channel 4, the HD version of channel 4 just won't come in at all, not even fuzz.

3) Last and most important, all HDTV's (whether they're upgradable or intergrated) have line doublers built in. In english, this means that no matter what you watch, it will look better on your HD t.v. than any non-HD t.v., whether its a VCR tape, cable, satellite, DVD or HD. The quantity of horizontal lines across the t.v. are doubled, which means they're smaller = you see more image, and less t.v. hardware.

You could possibly consider me the resident Home Theater man around this joint.

In case you don't understand quite what he said he means that the black lines (scan lines) in older TV's that aren't HD are less visible or smaller and on say plasma tv's there almost impossible to see unless you put your face like right upto it.

 

[FoSsiL]

hdtv technology is the same technology used in crt/lcd monitors right? dvd displayed on computer is the same quality as watched on hdtv. am i correct?

 

[Herkalees]

Originally posted by FoSsiL
hdtv technology is the same technology used in crt/lcd monitors right? dvd displayed on computer is the same quality as watched on hdtv. am i correct?

Sorta: in the end, for a display or signal to be correctly coined "HDTV", it has to be able to show or produce 1080 horizontal lines in an interlaced format (odd lines created first, then even lines created after). A CRT monitor, even an old one, is fully capable of displaying an HDTV signal, because our resolution capabilities have been above 1080 X whatever for while now (1600 X 1200 resolution for instance). The problem is, there's barely anything out there meant for computers which can deliver 1080i to the monitor.

In case you don't understand quite what he said he means that the black lines (scan lines) in older TV's that aren't HD are less visible or smaller and on say plasma tv's there almost impossible to see unless you put your face like right upto it.

Kinda, plasma's don't have scan lines, because there is not a beam of electrons scanning the tube (phosphors) from top to bottom. Plasma's are coined "fixed pixel displays". The individual glass tubes which hold the plasma gas simply turn on or off. [Oh, I also think you have it backwards, the scan lines in a non-HD t.v. are more visible than in a HD t.v.]


God, what has work done to me!