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Nick Hopton
Guest
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 Posted:
Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:16 pm Post subject:
Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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Our old TV is on the way out and we're thinking about buying a new HD
one which would be used for Freeview, DVB-S (not Sky) and Freesat (when
it starts).
Am I right in thinking that what I need is an 'HD ready TV' with HDMI
and DVI connections able to handle 720 and 1080 line formats?
One other thing, at present I see that some of the German satellite
stations are transmitting HD test signals. If I took the feed from my
old satellite box and fed it into the new HD TV would it work, or will I
need a new satellite box too?
Any pointers, comments or advice would be appreciated.
Regards,
Nick.
--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton
Caversham, Reading, England
<hopton@dsl.pipex.com> |
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Nigel Goodwin
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:58 pm Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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In message <5s70IuDiB2VDFwaz@dsl.pipex.com>, Nick Hopton
<hopton@dsl.pipex.com> writes
| Quote: | Our old TV is on the way out and we're thinking about buying a new HD
one which would be used for Freeview, DVB-S (not Sky) and Freesat (when
it starts).
|
Freeview isn't HD (and can't be without drastically cutting the already
low number of channels), neither will Freesat be (at least for some
time), only specific Sky subscription channels will be HD - particularly
Sports, many of which are already recorded in HD by Sky.
| Quote: | Am I right in thinking that what I need is an 'HD ready TV' with HDMI
and DVI connections able to handle 720 and 1080 line formats?
|
You're obviously looking at LCD or Plasma - we've got a number of them
connected at work, the Sony ones look the best so far!.
If your old set is still working OK, I would keep it as long as
possible, LCD and Plasma prices are dropping all the time!.
| Quote: | One other thing, at present I see that some of the German satellite
stations are transmitting HD test signals. If I took the feed from my
old satellite box and fed it into the new HD TV would it work, or will
I need a new satellite box too?
|
You need a new satellite box, and a subscription card as well, for the
Euro1080 service.
Sky are currently taking customers names for the first people to get
their boxes when they are released (next year), it will be an updated
Sky+ box.
We have a demonstration Euro1080 box at work, it looks pretty good - if
you like watching test transmissions :-)
To be honest, in my personal opinion, it isn't really the HD that makes
the real difference, it's that the resolution of the picture more
closely matches the resolution of the display panel used in the TV. When
watching normal TV the resolution of the panel is higher than that of
the picture, and it looks really horrible with all the resulting
artefacts - with HD these disappear and the picture is excellent.
If you've every installed Windows on a laptop you'll see what I mean,
the initial 640x480 display is absolutely chronic!.
--
Nigel.
/------------------------------------------------------------\
| Nigel Goodwin | E-Mail : nigelg@lpilsley.co.uk |
| Lower Pilsley | Website : http://www.lpilsley.co.uk |
| Chesterfield | Homepage for WinPicProg |
| England | http://www.winpicprog.co.uk |
\------------------------------------------------------------/ |
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JF
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Oct 20, 2005 3:24 pm Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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X-No-Archive: yes
In message <5s70IuDiB2VDFwaz@dsl.pipex.com>, Nick Hopton
<hopton@dsl.pipex.com> writes
| Quote: | Our old TV is on the way out and we're thinking about buying a new HD
one which would be used for Freeview, DVB-S (not Sky) and Freesat (when
it starts).
Am I right in thinking that what I need is an 'HD ready TV' with HDMI
and DVI connections able to handle 720 and 1080 line formats?
|
Philips and Sony (and possibly others by now) make TVs that have
Freeview circuitry built-in, and even have a card slot for other
services such as Top-Up TV. My Philips TV has had these features for
several years.
--
James Follett. Novelist. (G1LXP) http://www.jamesfollett.dswilliams.co.uk |
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Jan Panteltje
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:08 pm Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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On a sunny day (Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:58:11 +0100) it happened Nigel Goodwin
<nigelg@lpilsley.co.uk> wrote in <RJYl4WBzo2VDFw8i@lpilsley.co.uk>:
To be honest, in my personal opinion, it isn't really the HD that makes
| Quote: | the real difference, it's that the resolution of the picture more
closely matches the resolution of the display panel used in the TV. When
watching normal TV the resolution of the panel is higher than that of
the picture, and it looks really horrible with all the resulting
artefacts - with HD these disappear and the picture is excellent.
If you've every installed Windows on a laptop you'll see what I mean,
the initial 640x480 display is absolutely chronic!.
I have been watching the Euro and the other HDTV experiments that were |
FTA on the PC (1280 x 1024 IIRC).
Yes, the demos have more detail.
***BUT THEY WILL PLAY THE SAME OLD LOW RES MOVIES***
Expect nothing.
If they transmitted 720x576 as they should, (BBC has good quality
for example), you would not even WANT HDTV.
I found that it makes hardly any difference if I did see a movie on
VHS or HD for the quality content...
But sales must happen.... |
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Nigel Goodwin
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:08 pm Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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In message <$iYV7+Euz5VDFwrD@dsl.pipex.com>, Nick Hopton
<hopton@dsl.pipex.com> writes
| Quote: | Thanks to all who replied. Nigel Goodwin <nigelg@lpilsley.co.uk> wrote.
[...]
You need a new satellite box, and a subscription card as well, for the
Euro1080 service.
[...]
I was thinking more about the time when HD transmissions become
available FTA on Freesat (assuming this is supposed to happen). I
wonder if my existing DVB-S box would cope with this.
|
I'm presuming it's not an HD box?, so I don't think it will, for one
thing does it have the correct output sockets on it?. Unless a box is
designed to do so, I'm fairly sure it won't work? - whereas an analogue
receiver essentially outputs what it receives, a digital receiver
actually 'creates' the output signal based on what it receives. If the
box isn't designed to output HD it won't be capable of it.
Do you think you might still be wanting to use it by the time HD comes
to Freesat (if ever?), you will probably have replaced it long ago.
--
Nigel.
/------------------------------------------------------------\
| Nigel Goodwin | E-Mail : nigelg@lpilsley.co.uk |
| Lower Pilsley | Website : http://www.lpilsley.co.uk |
| Chesterfield | Homepage for WinPicProg |
| England | http://www.winpicprog.co.uk |
\------------------------------------------------------------/ |
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Nick Hopton
Guest
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| Posted:
Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:08 pm Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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Thanks to all who replied. Nigel Goodwin <nigelg@lpilsley.co.uk> wrote.
[...]
| Quote: | You need a new satellite box, and a subscription card as well, for the
Euro1080 service.
[...] |
I was thinking more about the time when HD transmissions become
available FTA on Freesat (assuming this is supposed to happen). I wonder
if my existing DVB-S box would cope with this.
Regards,
Nick.
--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton
Caversham, Reading, England
<hopton@dsl.pipex.com> |
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Jomtien
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Oct 21, 2005 8:08 am Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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Nick Hopton wrote:
| Quote: | I was thinking more about the time when HD transmissions become
available FTA on Freesat (assuming this is supposed to happen). I wonder
if my existing DVB-S box would cope with this.
|
Certainly not.
HD requires a resolution that regular DVB boxes can't handle at all.
--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/7rm2m
UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
BBC reception questions? ; http://www.astra2d.com/
Fed up with on-screen logos? : http://logofreetv.org/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-) |
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Amnesiac
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:14 pm Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 14:34:38 +0100, Nick Hopton <hopton@dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Thanks to all who replied. Nigel Goodwin <nigelg@lpilsley.co.uk> wrote.
[...]
You need a new satellite box, and a subscription card as well, for the
Euro1080 service.
[...]
I was thinking more about the time when HD transmissions become
available FTA on Freesat (assuming this is supposed to happen). I wonder
if my existing DVB-S box would cope with this.
Regards,
Nick.
|
I doubt it for a couple of reasons.
1. If the signal were MPEG2 I doubt the analog output stages of your current
receiver could cope with the signal. They are designed for 625 line PAL 50hz
interlaced signal and the HD will be a 768 line component progressive signal (I
assume 25fps) the output stage will choke on it I think... as the timings and
bandwidth needed will be so out of spec... not to mention your TV not expecting
such a signal. So unless your receiver has component video out very very very
unlikely. There are apps for the PC DVB-S cards that pipe the MPEG video stream
from the tuner to the PC which can then render it onto the PCs video card but
this is done digitally and VGA can cope with the timings etc.
2. I think some/all the TV companies are using the opportunity to go MPEG4
compression (I *think* DVB-S supports it) to decrease bandwidth needed while
increasing the resolution. - Sky have gone on record as saying the limited
availability of MPEG4 chipsets have delayed their HD TV launch from end 2005 to
start 2006 (I imagine their marketing folks were pissed at not getting an HD
Xmas promotion!) So if you have an existing box you're not likely to get even
the digital stage for some HD stations. I have no idea if the existing tuners
can de-mux the MPEG4 stream for a PC can render it. That might still work.
A. |
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Jan Panteltje
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:08 pm Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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On a sunny day (Fri, 21 Oct 2005 10:14:25 GMT) it happened Amnesiac
<amnesiac@myplace.on_the.net> wrote in
<3sehl1t84jlkelhj2tn0jhq48tjj1gv6ek@4ax.com>:
I have no idea if the existing tuners
| Quote: | can de-mux the MPEG4 stream for a PC can render it. That might still work.
In case of PC, wintvnova DVB-S card has enough bandwidth, and mpeg4 |
decoding should be possible if the PC is a 1.6GHz AMD or higher.
More interesting the is 100% software decoding, I have strong reason to
believe that 100% CSA in real time will be possible on >2GHz AMD PCs too.
Given all that, the PC is the perfect receiver, not some box.
(Use VGA out).
I think the PC is the future in 'home media solution', as it will also
do movies and stuff via internet ethernet.
And it makes no sense to have YAOB (Yes An Other Box).
When coding systems change (mpeg2, mpeg4, mp2, ac3, .. .. .. what not,
simply start an other program...
And I want to add that MUCH MORE THEN HDTV I want original sound in my movies
(Ac3).
Do all these guys (ZDF PROSIEBEN VOX ZRD RTL SAT1) read thse groups?
LOL |
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Richard L
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Oct 22, 2005 11:06 pm Post subject:
Re: Advice sought on buying a new HD TV... |
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In message <$iYV7+Euz5VDFwrD@dsl.pipex.com>
Nick Hopton <hopton@dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Thanks to all who replied. Nigel Goodwin <nigelg@lpilsley.co.uk> wrote.
[...]
You need a new satellite box, and a subscription card as well, for the
Euro1080 service.
[...]
I was thinking more about the time when HD transmissions become
available FTA on Freesat (assuming this is supposed to happen). I wonder
if my existing DVB-S box would cope with this.
|
Nick, we've streamed the HDTV tests from our Dreambox to a PC -- and
it displayed the pictures very nicely but couldn't quite keep up with
them in real time. We think it might work properly if we had, say, a
6600 graphics card in the PC to provide an integral MPEG decoder. Of
course, the ordinary video output of the Dreambox is black while this
is going on.
--
Richard L. |
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