HDTV - will analog cable look ok?

[RossMAN]

CostCo B&M has the beautiful Panasonic 47" HDTV (the 2004 model) for $999 out the door.

We have basic analog cable, will it look decent/ok or crappy?

I'm sure that DVD's will look superb but I'm wondering about TV.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

When we got our hdtv it looked a little sharper, so it shouldn't be any worse than on the tv you have now, if anything, better

edit: we have analog cable

 

[MrHappyMonkey]

it'll be OK, but I'd look into satelite or Digital Cable. Analog cable will look very grainy when stretched that large.

 

[RossMAN]

AgaBooga - Thanks, that's the kind of feedback I'm looking for. Which model/size/price did your family buy?

MrHappyMonkey - I would love to have DirecTV satellite but the property management makes it a hassle, so we're sticking with cable for now.

 

[StageLeft]

If by ok you mean awful, why yes!

 

[spidey07]

Ross,

Be very careful in your TV selection if you watch a lot of regular TV. Some models do very well while others are absolutely atrocious.

I don't know the panny's very well but they're kinda known for having terrible SD performance/line doubler/stretch modes.

 

[StageLeft]

OK I'll elaborate. Part of the reason I was so reluctant to buy an HDTV earlier this year is because 70% of my viewing is not dvd movies, but rather a standard satellite signal of non-hdtv format. Most stores only show you quality content, but in a couple of cases I managed to get them to go to a regular non hdtv or dvd feed, and really it's just fvcking brutal. Seriously awful. The tv ends up just magnifying the crap you'd normally see, because standard broadcasts were not originally intended to be running at such a resolution. To me it looked like a highly compressed mpeg, or a 320X240 video on your comp that you run at 640X480.

Maybe my experiences were limited and wrong, but I would definitely want to see it in person before buying that

 

[RossMAN]

Hmmn.

Most of our TV watching involves regular cable channels (ABC, NBC, FOX, CNN, etc.).

Hmmn.

 

[Papagayo]

Digital looks pretty good with HDTV..
We bought 46h83 (Toshiba 46 inch) HDTV in January.. Love it..

Analog channels do come up blurry, not really sharp..

But the High def is awesome..

They showed Superbowl, NCAA final, Masters on highdef and it's great..

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Our HDTV is a Hitachi Ultravision, we got a very good deal so brand/quality couldn't matter, not sure about size but probably slightly smaller than that 47". Before that we had a slightly larger Mitsubishi projection screen.

We kept both side by side for a few days and came to the conclusion that even though the HDTV seemed smaller, the quality was the same or slightly sharper. Before you buy find out about their return policies just incase you change your mind because of the quality. One thing you can try is video taping a small segment on a VCR and playing them on both, that should help in deciding.

 

[ElFenix]

it'll look just like it did on a 42" or so big screen 5 years ago...

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
OK I'll elaborate. Part of the reason I was so reluctant to buy an HDTV earlier this year is because 70% of my viewing is not dvd movies, but rather a standard satellite signal of non-hdtv format. Most stores only show you quality content, but in a couple of cases I managed to get them to go to a regular non hdtv or dvd feed, and really it's just fvcking brutal. Seriously awful. The tv ends up just magnifying the crap you'd normally see, because standard broadcasts were not originally intended to be running at such a resolution. To me it looked like a highly compressed mpeg, or a 320X240 video on your comp that you run at 640X480.

Maybe my experiences were limited and wrong, but I would definitely want to see it in person before buying that

No, you're right. The problem is that sat and cable are compressing the crap out of their SD digital channels, thus causing those artifacts. If you look at an uncompressed SD signal like the digital signal of an OTA broadcaster, it looks pretty good.

 

[divinemartyr]

When you take into account that standard analog broadcasts are only 330 lines of resolution and you are putting that onto a 47 inch monitor, you be the judge as to how good it will look. Digital cable looks halfway decent on these sets, increasing resolution as high at 480 lines of resolution, or close to DVD quality. Keep in mind though, that some stations are still broadcasting only analog. Lucky for us, the initiative set forth by the FCC states that analog broadcasts will cease completely by 2007 I believe is the year. Could be 2006, I don't recall. People with analog only sets will have to purchase digital to analog convertors to even watch TV.

Also, by 2006 most stations will be broadcasting mostly HD content. Of course some of your lower budget stations will probably not come around for a while, most normal programming will be HD. Already, almost every national station's broadcasts between 7-10 pm are all in HD with only a couple exceptions.

To answer the ultimate question from this thread, you need to sit at least 8 feet back (screen to eyes) for this TV (or any similarly sized 47-inch HDTV) to look half way decent. As stated, analog broadcast artifacts will only be exemplified more easily on a larger television.

Chad

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
OK I'll elaborate. Part of the reason I was so reluctant to buy an HDTV earlier this year is because 70% of my viewing is not dvd movies, but rather a standard satellite signal of non-hdtv format. Most stores only show you quality content, but in a couple of cases I managed to get them to go to a regular non hdtv or dvd feed, and really it's just fvcking brutal. Seriously awful. The tv ends up just magnifying the crap you'd normally see, because standard broadcasts were not originally intended to be running at such a resolution. To me it looked like a highly compressed mpeg, or a 320X240 video on your comp that you run at 640X480.

Maybe my experiences were limited and wrong, but I would definitely want to see it in person before buying that

Personally, I have a 65" HDTV (see "Other god Box" in sig) and I could care less how analog cable looks. It's not perfect and you definitely see more imperfections on a bigger screen, but considering how good the Sopranos look every Sunday night on HBO HD and how I don't have to have any letterboxes on my 1.85:1 aspect ratio movies anymore, I wouldn't ever go back. It's great. I bought this TV for nearly $3k, so I plan on having it for more than a few years. By the time it's old, HDTV will be all over the place. I've already got ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX in HD, along with Discovery HD, PBS HD, Showtime and HBO, I have lots of programming that looks great. Surely you can get the local HD channels with your cable connection, right?

 

[RossMAN]

Chad,

Great info, thanks!

I think we have about 7 feet clearance to view the TV, maybe not enough. I'd prefer 8-9.

Maybe I'll just do a small upgrade to the Panasonic 32" CRT for $449 and wait another few years before taking the HDTV leap.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: divinemartyr
Already, almost every national station's broadcasts between 7-10 pm are all in HD with only a couple exceptions.

Goddam you Simpsons.

 

[Heisenberg]

I have a 55" Mitsu and my analog cable varies quite a bit. Some channels look OK, some look really bad. Of course, even the OK analog channels look bad compared to an HDTV or even a 480i DVD signal. When I move later this year I'm seriously thinking of going to satellite.

 

[BigSmooth]

Ross, one other thing to consider: I know you have a ReplayTV, and even at the highest setting I'm sure you know the Replay can sometimes introduce artifacts of its own, which would of course be magnified by the big set. The way to avoid this is something like DirecTivo, but personally my Replay came with a lifetime subscription so I don't intend on replacing it soon.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: BigSmooth
Ross, one other thing to consider: I know you have a ReplayTV, and even at the highest setting I'm sure you know the Replay can sometimes introduce artifacts of its own, which would of course be magnified by the big set. The way to avoid this is something like DirecTivo, but personally my Replay came with a lifetime subscription so I don't intend on replacing it soon.

If we had DirecTV, I would buy this TV in a heart beat but I'm not sure since it's basic analog cable TV.

Damn you and your ReplayTV Hot Deal!

 

[Ilmater]

Oh, and one more important thing, if you don't have a progressive scan DVD player, you'll want one. On my TV, the difference was staggering. If anyone ever tells you that progressive scan is just a marketing ploy, they've never seen a 65" TV displaying 480i vs. 480p.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
Oh, and one more important thing, if you don't have a progressive scan DVD player, you'll want one. On my TV, the difference was staggering. If anyone ever tells you that progressive scan is just a marketing ploy, they've never seen a 65" TV displaying 480i vs. 480p.

Not necessarily true. Depends on the TV. Some are actually better with an interlaced signal (samsung DLPs come to mind)

 

[sillymofo]

Actually, analog cable is the absolute worst thing you can feed an HDTV (besides digital cable). Think of the resolution delivered, and then match that up to the TV's resolution, you'll get the picture.

You'll sure enjoy your DVDs a lot more though.

EDIT: Speaking of Progressive scan, you'll need one that has a good chip, otherwise, it's Progressive scam.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Ilmater
Oh, and one more important thing, if you don't have a progressive scan DVD player, you'll want one. On my TV, the difference was staggering. If anyone ever tells you that progressive scan is just a marketing ploy, they've never seen a 65" TV displaying 480i vs. 480p.

Not necessarily true. Depends on the TV. Some are actually better with an interlaced signal (samsung DLPs come to mind)

Yep, almost all HDTV monitors sold now have built in line doublers. Some are better than most DVD players. At any rate, progressive scan is becoming more and more pointless on DVD players.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I should check my HDTV because maybe it's not a "true" HDTV or something... i dunno

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Ilmater
Oh, and one more important thing, if you don't have a progressive scan DVD player, you'll want one. On my TV, the difference was staggering. If anyone ever tells you that progressive scan is just a marketing ploy, they've never seen a 65" TV displaying 480i vs. 480p.

Not necessarily true. Depends on the TV. Some are actually better with an interlaced signal (samsung DLPs come to mind)

I can't prove or disprove that, but I can tell you that on mine, I had a bunch of friends over watching Spiderman back when I first got my TV. I got the new DVD player because I heard it would work better, but it didn't look any different than the previous DVD signal, and everyone in the room mentioned it. So I wentinto the display properties, and that's when I realized you have to actually turn on the feature (there's something to be said for reading a manual). WOW! Everyone in the room said they noticed a HUGE difference. It looks amazing. It looks as good as Sopranos in HD! However, nothing - and I mean nothing - looks as good as a CBS football game in HDTV. It's as real as if you were there. Incredible. Fox is good, but CBS' football coverage is in a league of its own.