HDTV w/ no converter box: regular TV looks like crap!

[LordJezo]

Odd.. buddy just got an hd tv and now when he watches regular tv on it everything looks like total crap.. it's as if the tv is filling in the extra 500 lines with it's own information and now everything looks all washed out.

Will this be fixed once he gets an HDTV converter box?

 

[Praetor]

only on the HDTV broadcast/cable signals. Regular SDTV (analog, whatever) will still look like crap.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Regular cable looks like ass on my 54" compared to a smaller tv. With DTV though its almost as good as dvd on most channels.

 

[LordJezo]

anyone else knwo what to do about regular cable, or, is the hdtv just not going to be able to show regular cable that well?

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge
Regular cable looks like ass on my 54" compared to a smaller tv. With DTV though its almost as good as dvd on most channels.

So are you saying that standard cable or digital cable (not HDTV though) will look like crap on a large HDTV screen, whereas Satellite TV will look good?

Or, are you saying that HDTV OR digital Cable or satellite (since sat is all digital) will look good, but regular analog cable looks like crap?

 

[dman]

I could live with that problem. If you'd like I'll swap my 27" Sony, it gets std.TV in just fine.

Anyway, interesting problem. Much like the issue of watching 4:3 programming on 16:9 sets...

 

[edro]

My dad just got a 36" Sony HDTV, and he has Dish Network. DVDs look incredible (of course), but a lot of channels on regular TV and about 1/3 of them on Dish Network look weird as hell... all pixelated and sh|t.

 

[LordJezo]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Or, are you saying that HDTV OR digital Cable or satellite (since sat is all digital) will look good, but regular analog cable looks like crap?

DVDs look fine.

Regular cable looks like crap.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: LordJezo

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Or, are you saying that HDTV OR digital Cable or satellite (since sat is all digital) will look good, but regular analog cable looks like crap?

DVDs look fine.

Regular cable looks like crap.

edro13 just said that some dish stuff looks bad too though...if this is a major problem it would make me think twice about buying a bigscreen soon. I do want to, but not if they look junky with non-dvds.

 

[edro]

It's like playing a newer computer game without anti-aliasing... The edges of stuff ar jagged and stuff... And he is using a $40 Monster S-Video cable... so it's not that.

 

[LordJezo]

So then if you want to watch regular cable on the set (not the HD channels) an HDTV is not the way to go..

Then HDTVs are only good for people who watch a lot of DVDs?

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: LordJezo
So then if you want to watch regular cable on the set (not the HD channels) an HDTV is not the way to go..

Then HDTVs are only good for people who watch a lot of DVDs?

DVD's, HDTV compatible console games, and then OTA and Cable & Satellite HD content. If you spend the high entry price to get into an HD capable TV, then spend the money and get an HD decoder for at least OTA HD content.

 

[LordJezo]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: LordJezo
So then if you want to watch regular cable on the set (not the HD channels) an HDTV is not the way to go..

Then HDTVs are only good for people who watch a lot of DVDs?

DVD's, HDTV compatible console games, and then OTA and Cable & Satellite HD content. If you spend the high entry price to get into an HD capable TV, then spend the money and get an HD decoder for at least OTA HD content.

Well, they are going to get the decoder soon, but, according to what I am reading here it wont do much for watching non-hd channels....

 

[MaxDepth]

Originally posted by: edro13
It's like playing a newer computer game without anti-aliasing... The edges of stuff ar jagged and stuff... And he is using a $40 Monster S-Video cable... so it's not that.

I didn't know my best buy Sony's s-video didn't work until I bought an A/V receiver. Of course, after the warranty had expired. The satelite stations look like ass when it comes to darkened scenes, pixilated layers of black. Just as bad with the RGB setup. But now, I wonder if it really is worth it now to buy a new TV?

 

[vi edit]

Well, they are going to get the decoder soon, but, according to what I am reading here it wont do much for watching non-hd channels....

It won't. It's not what it was designed to do. A 50+ inch HD capable TV is not intended to display non-HD content. It can. But it looks like crap.

Take a little 320x280 (or whatever the resolution is) mpeg movie and blow it up to a full screen 1024x768 resolution. Looks like crap doesn't it? Same concept. A TV can only display something as good as the orignal source that it is fed.

 

[vi edit]

I didn't know my best buy Sony's s-video didn't work until I bought an A/V receiver. Of course, after the warranty had expired. The satelite stations look like ass when it comes to darkened scenes, pixilated layers of black. Just as bad with the RGB setup. But now, I wonder if it really is worth it now to buy a new TV?

I've actually found that I get less jaggies watching SD content on my HDTV using a junk coax cable from my satellite box than an Svideo cable. It softens the picture a bit and doesn't show as many artifacts.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Well, they are going to get the decoder soon, but, according to what I am reading here it wont do much for watching non-hd channels....

It won't. It's not what it was designed to do. A 50+ inch HD capable TV is not intended to display non-HD content. It can. But it looks like crap.

Take a little 320x280 (or whatever the resolution is) mpeg movie and blow it up to a full screen 1024x768 resolution. Looks like crap doesn't it? Same concept. A TV can only display something as good as the orignal source that it is fed.

Well I've seen regular tv on massive screens and it looks OK. Obviously the detail is no better, but it's not a pixelated mess. Are HDTVs somehow inferior to older (say 5 years) big ole projection tvs people used to buy?

 

[vi edit]

Well I've seen regular tv on massive screens and it looks OK. Obviously the detail is no better, but it's not a pixelated mess. Are HDTVs somehow inferior to older (say 5 years) big ole projection tvs people used to buy?

May depend on the signal too. Different stations on my satellite vary greatly in quality. Some stations are quite watchable, while others have completely unintelligible text.

 

[StageLeft]

Well I'm findnig this all quite upsetting. I wanted to change out my 27" two year old tv with a 50+ HDTV soonish and it's going to be quite aggrivating for me if most of what I watch is not so great

 

[edro]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Well I'm findnig this all quite upsetting. I wanted to change out my 27" two year old tv with a 50+ HDTV soonish and it's going to be quite aggrivating for me if most of what I watch is not so great

It still looks great, but don't be pissed when regular TV looks weird... YOu get used to it though...

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: edro13

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Well I'm findnig this all quite upsetting. I wanted to change out my 27" two year old tv with a 50+ HDTV soonish and it's going to be quite aggrivating for me if most of what I watch is not so great

It still looks great, but don't be pissed when regular TV looks weird... YOu get used to it though...

Will everything still be forced HDTV by 2005 or 06 or whatever?

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Keep in mind that the optimal viewing distances for HDTV and SDTV differ as a function of screen size. The larger your screen, the farther away you will want to view SD material. The improved HDTV resolution means the view distance should not be as much as the view distance for SD to provide good visual field immersion.

This is a pretty decent FAQ on the subject of optimal viewing distance.

 

[Wingznut]

I've actually found that I get less jaggies watching SD content on my HDTV using a junk coax cable from my satellite box than an Svideo cable. It softens the picture a bit and doesn't show as many artifacts.

I gotta say that I wasn't prepared for my DirecTV to have fairly poor picture quality, when I got my HDTV. But thanks for the coax cable suggestion... I'll try it out later this afternoon. (The DTV guy is going to be here any minute to install TiVO. )

But no, I have no regrets whatsoever about getting my widescreen HDTV.

 

[ATLien247]

Also, keep in mind that some HDTVs upconvert signals automatically. You'll either have to disable this upconversion, or tweak it until it looks decent...

 

[CPA]

If it's widescreen, that's your problem. The picture is being stretched and will cause blurriness or fuzzy picture. If you have an OTA you should be able to get all of the local channels in HD, eliminating those as problem channels, but most other cable channels will be a problem until they convert to digital.