dualman7

I am getting a nice 30' Philliphs wide HDTV next week. I have cablevision which offers quite a few HDTV channels. I know in order to get them, I'll need to upgrade to HDTV cable box. But what else would I need to be able to watch national HDTV events offered on CBS, ESPN and etc? I keeps eeing ads for HDTV receiver, not really sure what that's for and whether I need it? Any info would be greatly appriciated. Also if I do need 1, is there 1 that's known as very good for all HDTV's, or do I need to match one with my specific TV.

Thanks alot guys and gals.
-Len.

:::OshnSoul:::

actually, my in-laws just got a new hdtv and digital cable- we saw what hdtv looks like, and I don't think it's worth it, because it stretches out the edges and makes people/things on the edges look flat. There's only certain channels (special channels) that can be viewed this way, but it does look funny. Although there is a difference I guess in HDTV and True Hi Definition (which apparently won't stretch it out) but I wouldn't be particular to having that.

Halx

All you need is for your cable company to come put in the HD receiver for you.. they'll supply the component cable and plug it in correctly... and you're good. The HD channels are usually different than the basic ones. For my cable service, my HD channels are in the 900 range, usually depending on what channel they are in the normal range. 902 (cbs2), 904 (nbc4), 907(abc7), 911(fox11), 928(kcet), 939(espn), and 961(hbo).

Also, don't listen to OshnSoul. There is a little button on your remote that says "Aspect" or "Wide" that will adjust the screen depending on what you're watching. The beauty of component cables is, you can watch regular TV in "Normal" aspect ratio, you'll have two bars on the sides of your screen, but everything will look normal, and when you switch to an HD channel, your TV will automatically switch to wide mode.

It annoys the hell out of me when people watch regular channels on their HDTV in wide mode. The fact that people don't know that there is a better way to do it annoys me even more.

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Xepidemic

yeah well some people dont have a choice, like me. i have a 44" widescreen plasma that has a 4:3 aspect option but im afraid if i leave it there for too long ill have burn in.

Redlemon

The industry really needs to do a better job of explaining HDTV if they expect anyone to buy it.

And Halx, that's one of my peeves as well; I understand the concern as Xepidemic noted, but the industry shouldn't have designed a system that is so broken in the first place.

gcbrowni

'HDTV" receiver is a pretty generic term. It could mean the special HD cable box from your cable company (which they should/will provide.)

It can also mean an over-the-air (OTA) receiver will can let you pick up HDTV with your antenna, the same way you might do with a 'normal' Tv signal from an antenna (the antenn's are the same, the same one for both normal Tv and HDTV.) (HD over the aur looks PERFECT, you either have a perfect picture or you have none; there's none of the goofy signal quality isssues you have with analog/normal Tv.)

It can also mean the HD Sat decoder box your Sat service provides. Most of the big Sat sevice now have HDTV services, some with PVR's. Voom is a new Sat service that offers something like 45 HDTV channels, the most of anyone.

The 'stretch' effect you sometimes see can come from several places. The GIANT HDTV sets are CRT based. The picture can burn in to these so some Tv stations broadcast their 'normal'/analog Tv signal over HD in stretch mode so the black/grey 'bars' on the side of the set woun't show burn in. The people that run those stations are idiots. All HD sets will have a menu/remote option to strecth the picture yourself, then you can decide to stretch the picture or let it remain in it's 4:3 mode. True HD programs will always come in 16:9 format, so it should fill your 16:9 screen completely.

You can find out loads more at avsforum.

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Kazic

Just bought a Sony HD 34in widescreen. Its great. On Wide it does change the aspect to fit normal t.v to the screen. And I don't get any kind of stretch on most channels. I am looking at getting the HD box its still pretty pricey for me @ $500 - minus a $100 rebate and a bunch of ppv movie credits. It works out to be only $350 or something like that. My only concern is that there are only a few channels that are HD but damn is this t.v worth it.

I also got a component DVD which looks sweet. I just need a component cable for my Xbox thats gonna be off the hook.

and thanks for the info gcbrowni!

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TheFu

It annoys the hell out of me to have the bars down the side. It does change your perspective though. I got my HDTV back when Ally McBeal was on and I never knew why people made fun of her being too thin.

TheFu

Crap forgot to add. After you get HDTV and the HD cable box the next step is Dolby 5.1 surround sound. If you don't already have DVD with component video then get that first. But surround sound is part of HD. Fox has done a good job with crowd noise in HD football games. Almost puts you in the game. I have the HD kit for my Xbox too. When I got my TV and saw 2 sets of component video I chucked thinking it was overkill. Ha, I quickly used both and had to make sure my home theater sound system had component video switching so I could add more shiz to the mix.

Halx

If you bought a TV that gets burn-in from the side bars, you bought the wrong TV. That's all I gotta say.

35" Sony Wega HDTV ... use the side bars ... no issues at all. They don't bug me one bit.

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JJRousseau

As Kazic said, make sure you spend the money on component cables. It will make a huge difference. The worst part of having a HDTV is that after you see a good picture (PBS) you can't go back to regular channels. So prepare yourself to watch a lot of documentaries. Also, most of the network HD channels are very compressed so the pic, though bigger, isn't that much improved. Another year or two...

Don't forget a nice progressive scan DVD player!

gcbrowni

Component/Progressive is no longer rlevant. It's best to use the DVI/HDMI port on your Tv (if it has one) along with a DVI/HDMI DVD player. That gets you a perfect image; all good cponent gets you the 'the least loss possible'

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