HDTV Questions

[Jeff C]

Well, last week I posted about how the TV I have has kinda lived its life. I want to get a HDTV, since I got the Xbox360 and I want to enjoy it even more, as well as get HD hookups for the rest of my systems. I am reading, and some of the tv's have built in digital receivers. Does this mean that if I plug in my cable, shows like CSI that are broadcast in HD will appear in HD? Or will I still have to order HD channels and get a seperate HD cable box? I'm currently looking at a Philips refurbished 30" HDTV, and it says it has an integraged QAM digital receiver. That's the only difference I can find in the two TVs I'm looking at, and it's about $150 difference. I don't plan on ordering HD channels, so I'd prefer just to wait and get an external HD cable box in the future when I can afford the HD channels, but for now, I just want the games and movies to come in HD? Does that make any sense?



Oh, BTW, I came here to ask questions b/c I trust the opinions of people on this board, so please be honest. I'm trying to redo the whole entertainment center for under $1k.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

If you buy an HDTV without an HD tuner, it is basically just a fancy computer monitor. You won't be able to tune in any HD channels. Your normal Cable TV will not provide HD programming unless you are paying extra money for HD service, which includes a Cable TV HD tuner. I am pretty sure that even with your XBox360, you cannot get HD quality without the HD tuner.

 

[Mike akaRedsfan]

The only way you can achieve HD signals without an HD source (Cable Box, Satellite receiver, etc) is with an over the air antenna. Even with this, you won't get all available HD offerings, just what your location can pick up.



If you have a built HD source on your tv, it will still need to be connected to a HD source. Either way, you will need to subscribe to your local cable or satellite provider, and have a HD box to achieve a high def signal. And, as I posted before, it is likely that the tv you are looking at is not a true high def tv. You require something like a 1080x1080 resolution for true HIGH Definition.



Hope this helps a bit, someone may have more info then me im sure.

 

[James FreemanJr]

doesnt the 360 have a VGA port? probably get the best look outta that and into the HDTV. My HDTV (42" dell plasma) looks great and we got free HDTV for 1 yr through signing up for cablespeed digital cable and it looks amazing. The TV has a HDMI (sp) port and we have a HDMI dvd player and it is amazing the Q of it plus add the bose ss and its like being in a theater but no annoying ass kids

 

[Jeff C]

The cheaper version says it offers 1080i with HDMI input, since it has one on the back, and 480p progressive scan. It has cable, RGB component, HDMI, S-video, and standard composite inputs on the back of the TV. The Xbox360 is a Hi-def source, and you can select what HD mode you want to display in via the dashboard, and I guess that using the HD component cables that came with the 360 would go into the back of the TV.



I don't plan on subscribing to HD cable any time soon, but I do have a "progressive scan" DVD player, also a Philips, so I think the picture should look pretty good.



In the future, if I want to get HD cable, then I will need the HD receiver, correct? Since I'm getting this mostly for movies and games, I don't care about the HD cable. I can watch TV through my computer's TV card, so that's good enough for me.





Basically, I'm making sure that I don't NEED the tuner to experience HD from the 360 and DVD player, since there are HD inputs on the rear of the TV.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Regarding "integraged QAM digital receiver", depending on whether or not your Cable company is using "real time encryption", a QAM tuner can come in handy.



Digital Video On-Demand uses QAM frequencies and channels so that each settop viewing on-demand content gets its own dedicated channel. With the tuner/receiver you can effectively "tune to" all the channels that your "neighbors" are watching. So, if you have a porn-freak neighbor, you can watch him wathing porn, all with his freeze-frames and fast-forwards. BTW, I keep saying "neighbor" because a single QAM has only so many channels, not all are lit up at once (thus on-demand), and they are hard-wired to your cable headend which has a rather small footprint (town/small metro block).



VOD is in its infancy in many locations so QAM receivers are kind of a bleeding-edge technology as far as it not being as "protected and restricted" as they should be.



If your cable company encrypts everything with real-time encryption, then only the intended settop box or TV can decrypt, but few are doing this at this point.



One of VOD's "dirty little secrets" is crosslinked streams; whereby the streamed movie for whatever reason doesn't go to its intended settop but to an unintended one. This happens for a variety of reasons, but Murphy's law kicks in and it usually happens when 5yo Johnnie is trying to watch Barney but instead gets Barely Legal 18. Encryption will help this from happening.



Oh, BTW, I work for a VOD hardware and software vendor as my FT job.



TJR

 

[Mike akaRedsfan]

Unless you have a High Def DVD Player, you won't get your DVD's in High Definition. You need each source (DVDS, X-BOX, Satellite, Cable) to be High Definition to achieve that signal. DVD movies do play quite well on my Plasma tv, but not quite high def quality.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Mike-aka Redsfan,



I haven't looked for High-Def DVD players, because there isn't a publically available Hi-Def DVD standard out there yet. The upcoming Blue-Laser standard is one such standard, but it isn't out yet. When Hi-Def DVD players hit the market, so will a new DVD format.



If one of today's DVD players "claims" to be Hi-Def than it is upconverting a 480p signal to something higher, which really won't give you any noticeably better picture than a standard DVD player.



On a high-def TV just make sure you have a progressive scan DVD player and have cabled accordingly. Most DVD players are progressive scan these days, but just a few years ago that was a pricey option (prog scan players then cost over $300). The difference is that with a progressive scan, the picture is NOT interlaced (interlacing mean that every other scan line is rendered, and the entire screen rendered in two passes). Interlacing on a high def screen makes for a fuzzy, often chromatic (funny looking glare where it shouldn't be) picture.



TJR

 

[Michael Hale]

High definition is 1280x768, or greater. If an HDTV says "HD Ready" you will need a separate HD decoder such as a DirecTV/DISH Network HD capable receiver, a free standing OTA HD decoder, or cable provided HD capable box. In your particular case you would need to subscribe to the available HD package through your cable provider IF you wish to receive HD through your cable provider. The only way a built-in HD decoder would help you would be with an OTA signal. In my case I have an HDTV ready Samsung DLP, subscribe to DirecTV (without HD programming), and use my attic antenna to receive my local HD signals which are then decoded through my HD-TiVo.