Things I am still confused about(tv content)

Home Theatre

So I am buying a new tv and I have have chosen DLP 1080 with HMDi.
Things I am still confused about.

1080I This is what my cable box says.
1080p


Besides a HDTV and digital cable is there anything else I need to get HDTV.
I have a hdtv and dont see major differences bewteen hdtv and normal.



Any help would be great.

MikeC78

Confused, do you have an HDTV or do you plan on purchasing one? Sorry, I don't seem to understand your ebonics?;)

MikeC78

I also don't consider cable HD. Looks better than SD of course, just low quality and filled with noise.

If you really want HD quality, look into a BD or HD DVD player. That will give you the best HD content out there to date.

bobman1235

I also don't understand what you're saying.

Things you need for HDTV :

-an HDTV, like the DLP set you were talking about
-an HDTV SERVICE, ie a cable box that can receive HDTV
-a connection from said cable box to said TV that can support HDTV signals - either COMPONENT cables (the red / green / blue ones) or HDMI.
-actual HD channels to tune to - ther'es only a handful of stations that actually broadcast in HD, so despite having all of the above, 95% of your programming isn't going to look much different. But the 5% that IS in HD ... well, you'll know.

MikeC78 wrote:

I also don't consider cable HD. Looks better than SD of course, just low quality and filled with noise.

That's just ignant. I'm sure HD-DVD and BD are wonderful, and probably better than cable, but to say HD cable is low quality is just ... absurd. Get a new cable provider if you're not seeing anything good through yours.

MikeC78

Ditto, what Bob said.

Home Theatre

MikeC78 wrote:

Ditto, what Bob said.

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I was just asking for an explaination
of 1080I(what my digital cable box says) and 1080 P.


I have a HDTV TV but I am selling that one and buying a DLp 1080P tv with HMDI.

MikeC78

bobman1235 wrote:

I also don't understand what you're saying.

Things you need for HDTV :

-an HDTV, like the DLP set you were talking about
-an HDTV SERVICE, ie a cable box that can receive HDTV
-a connection from said cable box to said TV that can support HDTV signals - either COMPONENT cables (the red / green / blue ones) or HDMI.
-actual HD channels to tune to - ther'es only a handful of stations that actually broadcast in HD, so despite having all of the above, 95% of your programming isn't going to look much different. But the 5% that IS in HD ... well, you'll know.



That's just ignant. I'm sure HD-DVD and BD are wonderful, and probably better than cable, but to say HD cable is low quality is just ... absurd. Get a new cable provider if you're not seeing anything good through yours.

Bob,

HD cable is low quality, what part of that do you not see? What provider and cable box are you using? It sure is better than SD, I will agree with you on that. Obviously, you have never seen BD or a HD player?

Your statement is like telling an audiphile he is crazy for not listening to or enjoying an Ipod. Pretty much the same thing you are telling me for thinking HD cable is low quality.

MikeC78

Home Theatre wrote:

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I was just asking for an explaination
of 1080I(what my digital cable box says) and 1080 P.


I have a HDTV TV but I am selling that one and buying a DLp 1080P tv with HMDI.

1080i is interlaced and 1080p is progressive.

Read this. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449-6361600-1.html

Refefer

Home Theatre wrote:

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I was just asking for an explaination
of 1080I(what my digital cable box says) and 1080 P.


I have a HDTV TV but I am selling that one and buying a DLp 1080P tv with HMDI.

A quick google search will yield you a wealth of information on the two formats, so will this forums search.

Here are two good links:

For 1080p - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080P
For 1080i = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i

Home Theatre

Refefer wrote:

A quick google search will yield you a wealth of information on the two formats, so will this forums search.

Here are two good links:

For 1080p - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080P
For 1080i = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i

I probably should have done that from the start, but thank you for the help.

bobman1235

You're right Mike, I haven't seen HD-DVD or Blue-Ray, so I will reserve judgement until I do. But to say broadcast is LOW quality seems a bit of a stretch, that's all. LowER, maybe, but I have had my breath taken awya by some HD broadcasts.

I have Comcast, with the Motorola 6412 III HD DVR box.

Ricardo

I went "Off the air" HD with a less than $100 antenna; I get all the HD programming I need with superb picture and sound quality.....and I don't need to pay any provider for it.

Schwingding

Mike, I'm with you on not being thrilled with the quality of the HD content on cable (and sat), but it does technically fit the description of HDTV. The problem is that the HDTV specs are low enough that you can wind up with the less than stellar picture the cable and sat companies are pumping through their respective veins.

Want to see beautiful, crisp, gorgeous HD the way it was intended? Put up an antenna and bring it in over the air. No or almost no compression, just glorious HDTV.

read-alot

You guys need to consider that some of us were around before color TV so telling us that what we are seeing on any 720p or 1080i broadcast is not HD is like trying to tell us the sun is not hot.

ND13

I have Insight Digital Cable w/HD and the picture is SUPERB, period. Insight sends out a 1080P signal, now...just a few months back it was 1080i. When I check the signal that the tv is receiving, it says 1980x1024. The difference between the HD channels and the SD channels is night and day. Same for the SQ.

Willow

FWIW my wife and I see a huge difference between SD and HD. I don't like watching SD and only do so if it's not in HD.

I read in HT mag. that 1080p is not going to make that much difference watching an average size TV at an average distance. But sit 2 feet infront of a 60" tv then you shall....If I remember the article correctly..

Emlyn

read-alot wrote:

You guys need to consider that some of us were around before color TV so telling us that what we are seeing on any 720p or 1080i broadcast is not HD is like trying to tell us the sun is not hot.

The problem with 1080i feeds from most cable and satellite providers is they compress the signal down to such a degree because of their bandwidth limitations that it may end up looking worse on an HDTV display than a good quality standard definition DVD looks on the same display. Regardless though, the HD channels look much better than standard definition channels. The degree of compression with cable and satellite may vary with the time of day and from one channel to another, with evening broadcasts over DirecTV usually looking better than other times of the day.

Over the air broadcasts are consistently much better in my area, but even those vary widely in quality because of compression, because stations will use the space they have been allocated to them to broadcast two to four digital channels instead of one, so they can put up a weather radar channel, and in the case of the local PBS station, showing additional children's educational material.

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray do not have compression problems. The difference becomes much more noticeable with the newer 1080p displays because they can show everything in the signal without masking digital compression artifacts, unlike the older CRT 1080i displays that are good at masking the compressed signals received but not capable of producing as sharp an image as the newer display technologies can produce with a good quality signal.

read-alot

Emlyn, I noticed the compression getting worse on the DirecTV setup and since they jacked me around on getting the new H20 I switched to Dish Net. I am sure that once Direct gets all their birds functioning they will be back on top but right now the quality and quantity of my HD channels is far better than before.
It still beats getting on top of the house to turn the VHF antenna for a better signal.:)

Ricardo

read-alot wrote:

It still beats getting on top of the house to turn the VHF antenna for a better signal.:)

Since I installed my antenna (Winegard), I have "touchless" great reception...
I am 18-25 miles away from sources. Reception is better than my SD Directv, since I don't miss anything even when storming.

read-alot

I was refering to back in the 60's when the NBC channel was due South in Greenville, SC the ABC one was in Ashville, NC-West and on good days Charlotte broadcasts from the North were possible. As long as dad could watch Amos and Andy we were good.

Ricardo

read-alot wrote:

I was refering to back in the 60's when the NBC channel was due South in Greenville, SC the ABC one was in Ashville, NC-West and on good days Charlotte broadcasts from the North were possible. As long as dad could watch Amos and Andy we were good.

Holydoc

ND13 wrote:

I have Insight Digital Cable w/HD and the picture is SUPERB, period. Insight sends out a 1080P signal, now...just a few months back it was 1080i. When I check the signal that the tv is receiving, it says 1980x1024. The difference between the HD channels and the SD channels is night and day. Same for the SQ.

ND13,

I suggest you check your connection. Currently NO stations broadcast in 1080p. Because of bandwidth issues, 1080i and 1080p cannot be broadcast on the same station at the same time. Therefore in order for you to receive 1080p signals, a broadcast station would have to be dedicated to 1080p broadcasts only. Since only a handful of TV's can accept 1080p signals, no stations have elected to service such a small audience at this time.

Also both 1080i and 1080p are presented in 1920 x 1024 format. This is why I am assuming that you need to check your connections for errors. I don't even think there is a decoder that can currently handle a 1980 signal.

ND13

I'm just going by what the tv says it's receiving.....1920x1024. I was just under the impression that, that was a 1080p signal. I have no need to check my connections, because I could care less, it's working and has an incredible picture and that's all that matters to me.

Holydoc

ND13,

Sounds like everything is great with your set. When you said 1980 instead of 1920, that is what got me worrying.

Enjoy the HD train!

danger boy

if you feed an HDTV a standard defination analog signal.. it's NOT going to look like an HDTV signal.

to view true HDTV, you need an HDTV signal.. either from your cable provider or sat provider or an HD DVD player.

to me.. 720 does not look nearly as good as 1080i.

danger boy

broadcast stations just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to go digital in either 480, 720, 1080i. I doubt any of them are now going to turn around and spend thousands more to send out a 1080p signal. it's to costly, and in their eyes not worth it. with so many people still watching standard definition TV.