HDTV's
11-29-2005, 06:06 PM
#31
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the analog stations being broadcasted by dbs will show a lack of resolution, at worst, causing the signal to look very soft. This effect varies from channel to channel. But due to the digital compression, the signal is free from other artifacts, such as ghosts, snow, etc.
I hope I didn't confuse anyone and if I am not up-to-date, I hope someone will chime in.
Hugh
[/quote]
I don't think that's the case anymore. Consider the source but here's what the DirecTV website indicates:
Every channel is digital quality ALL THE TIME
All DIRECTV? channels ? even local channels ? are 100% digital quality, so you're assured of the best viewing and listening experience available.
State-of-the-art DIRECTV technology is superior to cable's older analog signal. Surprisingly, in most areas even "digital cable" isn't always digital. Even if cable companies place digital equipment in your home, you may not have access to 100% digital programming all the time.
I can only say that from personal experience, DirecTV is MUCH better than cable.
I also love the fact that you can change your programming options on-line (say I want to add a sports or movie tier) and it will be activated within minutes on my tv. Of course, I can always purchase pay-per-view etc on my tv directly as well.
And did we mention NFL Sunday Ticket??? That alone (though not cheap for the HD signals) is several months of pure High Definition entertainment.
I hope I didn't confuse anyone and if I am not up-to-date, I hope someone will chime in.
Hugh
[/quote]
I don't think that's the case anymore. Consider the source but here's what the DirecTV website indicates:
Every channel is digital quality ALL THE TIME
All DIRECTV? channels ? even local channels ? are 100% digital quality, so you're assured of the best viewing and listening experience available.
State-of-the-art DIRECTV technology is superior to cable's older analog signal. Surprisingly, in most areas even "digital cable" isn't always digital. Even if cable companies place digital equipment in your home, you may not have access to 100% digital programming all the time.
I can only say that from personal experience, DirecTV is MUCH better than cable.
I also love the fact that you can change your programming options on-line (say I want to add a sports or movie tier) and it will be activated within minutes on my tv. Of course, I can always purchase pay-per-view etc on my tv directly as well.
And did we mention NFL Sunday Ticket??? That alone (though not cheap for the HD signals) is several months of pure High Definition entertainment.
11-29-2005, 07:10 PM
#32
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the analog stations being broadcasted by dbs will show a lack of resolution, at worst, causing the signal to look very soft. This effect varies from channel to channel. But due to the digital compression, the signal is free from other artifacts, such as ghosts, snow, etc.
I hope I didn't confuse anyone and if I am not up-to-date, I hope someone will chime in.
Hugh
I hope I didn't confuse anyone and if I am not up-to-date, I hope someone will chime in.
Hugh
Every channel is digital quality ALL THE TIME
All DIRECTV? channels ? even local channels ? are 100% digital quality, so you're assured of the best viewing and listening experience available.
State-of-the-art DIRECTV technology is superior to cable's older analog signal. Surprisingly, in most areas even "digital cable" isn't always digital. Even if cable companies place digital equipment in your home, you may not have access to 100% digital programming all the time.
I can only say that from personal experience, DirecTV is MUCH better than cable.
I also love the fact that you can change your programming options on-line (say I want to add a sports or movie tier) and it will be activated within minutes on my tv. Of course, I can always purchase pay-per-view etc on my tv directly as well.
And did we mention NFL Sunday Ticket??? That alone (though not cheap for the HD signals) is several months of pure High Definition entertainment.
[/quote]
Same old spin. The channels ARE ANALOG compressed and transmitted DIGITALLY. Unless you have a HDTV AND subscribe to their HD package, you cannot see the difference between REAL digital channels and analog channels. Big difference...480i vs. 480p, 720p and 1080i!
As I posted before, if you can receive HD over the air on your HD TV, then you can see the difference between analog 480i and digital 480p broadcast...like night and day! And you will see that except for the HD package, ALL other programing in DTV is NOT digital! It's a matter of semantics, DIGITALLY COMPRESSED. And that's where they get their DIGITAL in their advertising!
If you or anyone else is intereted in learning more, I invite you all to log on to avsforum.com and search in the forums.
11-30-2005, 06:40 AM
#33
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Originally Posted by HughH' post='205086' date='Nov 29 2005, 11:10 PM
the analog stations being broadcasted by dbs will show a lack of resolution, at worst, causing the signal to look very soft. This effect varies from channel to channel. But due to the digital compression, the signal is free from other artifacts, such as ghosts, snow, etc.
I hope I didn't confuse anyone and if I am not up-to-date, I hope someone will chime in.
Hugh
I don't think that's the case anymore. Consider the source but here's what the DirecTV website indicates:
Every channel is digital quality ALL THE TIME
All DIRECTV? channels ? even local channels ? are 100% digital quality, so you're assured of the best viewing and listening experience available.
State-of-the-art DIRECTV technology is superior to cable's older analog signal. Surprisingly, in most areas even "digital cable" isn't always digital. Even if cable companies place digital equipment in your home, you may not have access to 100% digital programming all the time.
I can only say that from personal experience, DirecTV is MUCH better than cable.
I also love the fact that you can change your programming options on-line (say I want to add a sports or movie tier) and it will be activated within minutes on my tv. Of course, I can always purchase pay-per-view etc on my tv directly as well.
And did we mention NFL Sunday Ticket??? That alone (though not cheap for the HD signals) is several months of pure High Definition entertainment.
Same old spin. The channels ARE ANALOG compressed and transmitted DIGITALLY. Unless you have a HDTV AND subscribe to their HD package, you cannot see the difference between REAL digital channels and analog channels. Big difference...480i vs. 480p, 720p and 1080i!
As I posted before, if you can receive HD over the air on your HD TV, then you can see the difference between analog 480i and digital 480p broadcast...like night and day! And you will see that except for the HD package, ALL other programing in DTV is NOT digital! It's a matter of semantics, DIGITALLY COMPRESSED. And that's where they get their DIGITAL in their advertising!
If you or anyone else is intereted in learning more, I invite you all to log on to avsforum.com and search in the forums.
I hope I didn't confuse anyone and if I am not up-to-date, I hope someone will chime in.
Hugh
I don't think that's the case anymore. Consider the source but here's what the DirecTV website indicates:
Every channel is digital quality ALL THE TIME
All DIRECTV? channels ? even local channels ? are 100% digital quality, so you're assured of the best viewing and listening experience available.
State-of-the-art DIRECTV technology is superior to cable's older analog signal. Surprisingly, in most areas even "digital cable" isn't always digital. Even if cable companies place digital equipment in your home, you may not have access to 100% digital programming all the time.
I can only say that from personal experience, DirecTV is MUCH better than cable.
I also love the fact that you can change your programming options on-line (say I want to add a sports or movie tier) and it will be activated within minutes on my tv. Of course, I can always purchase pay-per-view etc on my tv directly as well.
And did we mention NFL Sunday Ticket??? That alone (though not cheap for the HD signals) is several months of pure High Definition entertainment.
Same old spin. The channels ARE ANALOG compressed and transmitted DIGITALLY. Unless you have a HDTV AND subscribe to their HD package, you cannot see the difference between REAL digital channels and analog channels. Big difference...480i vs. 480p, 720p and 1080i!
As I posted before, if you can receive HD over the air on your HD TV, then you can see the difference between analog 480i and digital 480p broadcast...like night and day! And you will see that except for the HD package, ALL other programing in DTV is NOT digital! It's a matter of semantics, DIGITALLY COMPRESSED. And that's where they get their DIGITAL in their advertising!
If you or anyone else is intereted in learning more, I invite you all to log on to avsforum.com and search in the forums.
I hope none of this is news to anyone... really. AVSForum is the place to look for info though for sure. DirecTV actually passes lower-than-spec HD signal, in terms of resolution and bit rate for some channels (lower than cable). If they ever finish gettng the new birds up and convert their many subs they should be be able to remedy this, but in the end the cable plants operated by TWC and Comcast are just mammoth and should continue to be a better transmission medium. Verizon's FIOS TV is entering the market and should be pretty amazing as well. Nearly limitless capacity. True VOD, Tivo on the cable DVR (next year), and gobs of Internet capacity (along with triple and quadruple play) will make cable and/or future Verizon/SBC offerings very hard to beat.
12-01-2005, 10:41 AM
#34
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Well guys thanks for all your replies. I've learned a lot and frankly didn't expect that getting this TV would be so much "work" in terms of learning/figuring things out/understanding technologies. I'm a techie geek myself but this was all new to me! The analog channels still look like crap but I think that's just the way it's going to be. I watched lost last night on channel 707 in HD, awesome! 
Regular channels, 2,4,5,7 look awesome on the digital HD channels, DVD's look awesome, and my PS2 looks awesome too. 90% of me is happy. I just wish CNBC, weather channel, and all those other channels were not analog!
Overall i'm extremely happy though!! I have a tech comming to fix a vibration/rattling problem inside the TV, when loud sounds play like gun shots and things, on Monday (sounds like a door seal problem, haha, kidding). I'll ask him about the analog channels, maybe there's some settings somewhere I'm missing that might improve them atleast a little bit.
Thanks again!!
Regular channels, 2,4,5,7 look awesome on the digital HD channels, DVD's look awesome, and my PS2 looks awesome too. 90% of me is happy. I just wish CNBC, weather channel, and all those other channels were not analog!
Overall i'm extremely happy though!! I have a tech comming to fix a vibration/rattling problem inside the TV, when loud sounds play like gun shots and things, on Monday (sounds like a door seal problem, haha, kidding). I'll ask him about the analog channels, maybe there's some settings somewhere I'm missing that might improve them atleast a little bit.
Thanks again!!
12-01-2005, 10:52 AM
#35
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That's good news.
One final thing to consider checking would be the picture format mode settings on your cable box. What box did they give you? Nearly all of them are capable of upscaling content, which might help improve the lower channels. I know my cable box helps a great deal in this regard on the lower channels.
One final thing to consider checking would be the picture format mode settings on your cable box. What box did they give you? Nearly all of them are capable of upscaling content, which might help improve the lower channels. I know my cable box helps a great deal in this regard on the lower channels.
12-01-2005, 12:24 PM
#36
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Well ... since you mention it! The box is a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4200 HD. There's an option in there called "Set: Picture Format" with 4 options:
Fixed
Upconvert-1
Upconvert-2
Auto DVI
I have no idea what those because I was given no instruction manual for the box. The current setting is "Auto DVI". I do have the box plugged into my TV with a DVI to HDMI cable and a digital coax cable for sound.
Fixed
Upconvert-1
Upconvert-2
Auto DVI
I have no idea what those because I was given no instruction manual for the box. The current setting is "Auto DVI". I do have the box plugged into my TV with a DVI to HDMI cable and a digital coax cable for sound.
12-01-2005, 01:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Lomag' post='205786' date='Dec 1 2005, 04:24 PM
Well ... since you mention it! The box is a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4200 HD. There's an option in there called "Set: Picture Format" with 4 options:
Fixed
Upconvert-1
Upconvert-2
Auto DVI
I have no idea what those because I was given no instruction manual for the box. The current setting is "Auto DVI". I do have the box plugged into my TV with a DVI to HDMI cable and a digital coax cable for sound.
Fixed
Upconvert-1
Upconvert-2
Auto DVI
I have no idea what those because I was given no instruction manual for the box. The current setting is "Auto DVI". I do have the box plugged into my TV with a DVI to HDMI cable and a digital coax cable for sound.
Fixed allows you to select the resolution manually and change between several resolutions that you must configure in the setup mode. All formats are sent at the selected fixed resolution.
Upconvert-1 sends 480i and 480p to the set as 480p. 720p and 1080i are sent as 1080i
Upconvert-2 sends 480i and 480p to the set as 480p. 720p and 1080i are sent as 720p
Auto DVI is used when the TV is connected via DVI. (for component this is "passthru" in the menu) All programming formats are automatically formatted to the scan rate supported by your TV. *I feel that the information regarding this is rather vague. DVI equipped monitor interfaces actually communicate several supported resolutions. I don't know if the cable box would output just one, or select the one closest to the original content resolution, switching as needed.
Experiment, but you might see the best standard def by setting the picture format to fixed 1080i.
12-01-2005, 03:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Lomag' post='205786' date='Dec 1 2005, 04:24 PM
I have no idea what those because I was given no instruction manual for the box.
http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ExplorerC...ted/4001344.pdf
http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ExplorerC...ed/4003114B.pdf
12-01-2005, 04:25 PM
#39
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Yeah, I searched right after submiting the prior post and found the PDF with the description of those modes -- played with them all -- but dont notice any difference. I left it in Auto DVI mode. Perhaps using Upconvert-1 would technically be the best, based on the descriptions. There's an info button on the TV which tells me exactly what signal its getting and anytime I check its 1080i during all kinds of different shows. I was flipping through and hit The O.C. now and it says 720p. With that said I went back and changed ithe setting to Upconvert-1 and now the TV says 1080i. The picture does seem sharper but the difference is very slight. I'll leave it this way I guess. Just like the dvd player, forced to 1080i.
End of discussion! My brain hurts from all this. Hehe
End of discussion! My brain hurts from all this. Hehe