HDTV

Thanks for the info lightwizard and all :-D I had a lot of qustions on this subject that have been answered here and I really appreciate the help :-)

Timberland has provided the most thorough and correct answer. The only thing I would disagree with is that if you are going to purchase a TV, don't purchase anything over $300 that isn't digital and HD ready. You'd be wasting your money.

I live in an area where most of the stations broadcast in HD as well as NTSC. Don't worry, your old analog sets will work for years to come precisely for this reason. HD broadcasting equipment is an add on, they aren't going to throw out the NTSC equipment and lose 90% of their viewership overnight. Trust me on this.

Most HD sets currently sold do not contain an HD tuner, you have to buy it separately. Currently, most HD signals are broadcast over the airwaves. DirecTV only offers a few signals in HD, and none of the satellite feed "local channels" are. You need a good antenna. There are HD tuners than can handle both antenna and satellite signals so you only need one, and they are dropping in price. It's still expensive, and you need a special dish too, so, unless you really want to watch the Sopranos in HD, the ideal setup right now is an antenna, combo sat/ant HD decoder (for future sat use) and a standard one or two room dish.

You can now get a very high quality HD ready set for about $2000, which used to be the break in pricepoint for big screen TV's. If you'd like specific recommendations let me know.

First, welcome cjhsa!

My local cable is digital and there are seperate channels being added for HDTV signals. In other words, there's a CBS and a CBSHDTV channel.
Still, with the 500 lines of resolution of digital images on cable and DVD, I'm not jumping the gun to buy HDTV until the programming becomes more available.

Hello Lightwizard, a newbie here, an old timer on Abuzz. Thanks for the welcome!

I recognized you and I like your High Definition Avatar!

cjhsa
First I'd like to welcome you here and hope you enjoy it as much as the rest of us do. Thanks so much for all the information you've given here. It it very much appreciated :-)

Thank you all for your help. I'm feeling much better about things :-D

geez, they sure grow them pretty up there in Canada.
I'm not going to repeat anything that has been said here, except to say that if you ever do get the hdtv, you will love it and wonder why you didn't get one sooner. it is really great, it's as clear as DVD,

I don't have HDTV yet, but I just got digital cable. I was talking to the tech. He was telling me that where I am only 6 channels are broadcast in HDTV. The regular stations are not even in digital, still in analog. He told me that a lot of his customers are furious. They have paid 6 grand for a TV, and only a few stations are in high definition. He suggested that I wait a bit, before taking the plunge!

The technology is changing so rapidly, and the prices are starting to come down. I have my eye on an LCD TV, but I want to wait until they make larger ones at reasonable prices. I have an LCD computer monitor, and it is just great!

Good point phoenix, when the vcr first came out, sony (beta) had one for $1600. that didn't do one tenth the one I have now that I paid $49.00 for @ best buy.
As soon as the stations go full swing with HD broadcasting, the market will be flooded with HD sets from all over the electronic world and the prices, as you say, will come down.

Don't get your hopes too high regarding full HD 1080i resolution broadcasting. The majority of Digital Television program material available will be DVD-comparable 480P resolution for the foreseeable future. Digital Television, when it becomes mass-market, will not be exclusively, or even significantly, HDTV. The biggest practical difference will be a migration from the 4:3 aspect ratio to the 16:9 aspect ratio.

it's important to distinguish between analog tv, digital tv (aka dtv) and hdtv.

analog tv is what every tv picks up over the air and what non-digital cable uses.

digital tv is what is used in digital cable and satallite. you use your regular ol tv and the box provided by your cable or satellite provider. though picture quality may be better due to less noise, resolution-wise it's no better than analog. you can use any tv. in fact on the user side, it's no different than analog tv. but it's a more efficient use of bandwidth which is how they can provide so many channels.

hdtv is the new high definition tv which is also digital. it is provided over-the-air, via cable, or satellite. to view it you need an hdtv set as well as an hdtv box from your cable or satellite provider or an hdtv receiver for free over-the-air broadcasts. some hdtvs have built-in receivers. there are currently only a handful of channels available in hdtv.

if you don't have an hdtv but need to view it (which won't be necessary for years), you'll need a downconverter that converts hdtv to analog tv displayable by your analog tv. cable and satellite users have nothing to worry about.

since the FCC's mandate does not cover cable and satellite providers, they can continue broadcasting non-hdtv content indefinately so you may not even need a converter 10 years down the line. and even if they do decide to end non-hdtv broadcasts some day, i'm sure they'll provide the necessary converter.

i would hold off on any purchase of hdtv's. though the broadcasting standards have been set, the connection standards have not. there are currently 3 competing connectors for connecting an hdtv to an hdtv receiver or box and there is talk about inserting a piracy protection flag which would render some of today's hdtv equipment obsolete. then there's the pod card which would allow you to receiver digital cable without a cable box. like everything else the fcc touches, it's been delayed.

At the risk of seeming unkind, I'll offer the observation the The HDTV Revolution has about as much substance as the revolution that was to center on the Segue Personal Transporter. Its a media event with no market presence.

All of PBS and Discovery is 16:9 in full resolution HD, but NBC, CBS and ABC are only partially. Most of HBO and Showtime is also 16:9 with occassional lapses into sidebar conventional pics. We're getting some new HDTV channels in December. It really is being phased in like color was in the Sixties, but there is still a seperate bandwidth for just HDTV.

HD is awesome and you'd have to be nuts to buy anything that wasn't HD ready at this point.

Just make sure to do your homework. I have a 46" Sony widescreen with a Sony SAT-HD200 receiver, the latter of which receives both antenna (OTA) and satellite HD signals.

There is more and more HD content every day. In my area, after 8:00 PM on weekdays, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and even the WB broadcast in HD. Currently DirecTV only brings me four HD channels, HD Net, HD Net Movies, Discovery, and ESPNHD. ESPN often cheats and stretches non-HD signals, which stinks. Discovery is truly amazing, as is HD Net.

On the weekends, in addition to the prime time stuff, many sporting events are broadcast in HD. CBS does the best job of this. Tonight's Monday Night Football game is in HD, as all of them this year have been with the exception of the relocated San Diego game a few weeks ago.

If you're wondering why I haven't mentioned FOX, it's because FOX doesn't do HD. They offer "FOX Widescreen", which is 480p at best, and compared to 720p or 1080i, it looks like crap.

Not all of the network shows are actually full resolution HD and wide screen even after 8:00 on my local Time Warner Cable and they get only what the signals the network sends them -- I had mentioned elsewhere that it was curious that the Thursday night sitcom lineup on NBC including "Friends" is not HDTV wide screen when their new entries like "Whoopie" are. You are correct because even though "The OC" on FOX is in wide screen, it isn't full HD. Up until a month ago, including PBS KCET HD, there was a curious letterboxing of the transmission which I attributed to a 720p transmissions.

Here's a great resource for determining HD content:

http://www.titantv.com

Unfortunately, even some that is listed as HD isn't really. Most of those new sitcoms, like Whoopi, are filmed with cheap digital cameras then broadcast in 720p or 1080i, which locks your TV into that format.

Interestingly, some of the old shows that were filmed on film, like Hogan's Heroes and Charlie's Angels, transfer quite nicely to HD as evidenced by their reruns on HD Net. Really good quality.

That's an excellent site, cjhsa. I can't find where there is any info on what shows are using "cheap digital cameras." I don't believe they are taping "Whoopie," "Frazier" but are using 35 mm film and it does look better than the 350 lines standard broadcast even if they aren't using Hi Def cameras. It would be interesting to find out what shows are filmed and broadcast in HDTV. A film on Showtime or HBO looks better than in the theater but they still don't use Hi Def cameras. The best looking is the Hi Def digital cameras used with "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" which was show both ways in theaters -- the DVD is also from the digital camera original. When I was last at Burbank Studios and NBC, they were using 1080p extremely expensive digital cameras (couldn't even find how much they do cost as they are professional cameras on camera dollies -- not hand held). It's obvious that the Discovery channel and PBS are using the best pro camera as you can see every pore on a close up of a face.

As I've said before, CBS does the best HDTV of the major networks IMO. Check out CSI Miami sometime, if you get the HD version. I get it off my roof antenna, and it's amazing. So were the SEC football games this fall, done by CBS.

I agree, DISCHD and PBS are great too. HD Net is pretty amazing, though I seem to see a lot of flashes in their hockey broadcasts. I'm wondering if this is flashbulbs or just part of the arena lightshows interfering with the HD cameras.

1080p - there will be commercial TV's out using LCOS technology soon that can do this, however, I know of no one who plans to broadcast in that format.

I was watching ABC MNF last night and you could see the HD cameras on the sidelines, all hardwired back to the truck, with cable managers running around behind the cameramen. No WIFI there.