Considering jump to HD & 942

bnewt

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Oct 6, 2003
1,457
496
Shepherdsville, Ky
but I was wondering how the non-hd channels look on a hd set? Are they fuzzy/blurry or does this receiver up convert them to sharpen the picture? I don't know of any vendors that have anything other than local cable set up for display. Sure wouldn't be satisfied with the cable picture. In hd looks pasty & analog looks bad. My parents have the analog cable and it always seems to have lines running through it. Any one care to comment on their set up & picture. Does any one know of a store in the Louisville, Ky area that has something decent set up for their display?
 
Non Hd channels will not look their best on an Hd set... they will be very soft looking... some are better than others as it depends on how much compression has been done to that particular channel. Should be a Sears, Best Buy or Circuit City around... have them put it on a non Hd Channel. Of the above My local Sears has E*, the others will likely have D*.
 
bnewt said:
but I was wondering how the non-hd channels look on a hd set? Are they fuzzy/blurry or does this receiver up convert them to sharpen the picture? I don't know of any vendors that have anything other than local cable set up for display. Sure wouldn't be satisfied with the cable picture. In hd looks pasty & analog looks bad. My parents have the analog cable and it always seems to have lines running through it. Any one care to comment on their set up & picture. Does any one know of a store in the Louisville, Ky area that has something decent set up for their display?
I went with HD for my HDTV over a year and a half ago. The SD channels look very poor (washed out) with the 811 receiver. When I use my 301 (non HD receiver) on my HDTV, the picture looks almost HD quality. It definately has something to do with the 811 and how it displays SD verses HD. I have seriously thought about hooking up my 301 again since most of the channels are still SD. However, football is coming and I do love to watch football in HD.
 
the hd sets will give you the best sd picture, but there are factors that help or hurt the picture. some sets like the new sony, for example, do signal processing to improve the sd picture, but it is still hard to watch after an evening of hd. you might want to call best buy in louisville to have them give you a demo. also research your locals and see how far away they are from you for over the air hd. you might need a special antenna. but it is worth it. monday night football in hd is the bomb.
 
I now have an antenna and stb that allows me to receive the hd signal. My present tv is not hd, so all I can view is 480i. I will have no problems receiving the local broadcasts. My concern is the quality of picture I will have if/when I upgrade to E* hd programming & receiver. The local best buy has the local cable signal on display. Circuit City may have D*, not real sure those guys are really up to snuff on this stuff. HH Gregg has the E* 811 on display, but not sure if it is operable. Is/would the hd content that I receive via ota better/worse/same as E* hd programming?
 
bnewt said:
I now have an antenna and stb that allows me to receive the hd signal. My present tv is not hd, so all I can view is 480i. I will have no problems receiving the local broadcasts. My concern is the quality of picture I will have if/when I upgrade to E* hd programming & receiver. The local best buy has the local cable signal on display. Circuit City may have D*, not real sure those guys are really up to snuff on this stuff. HH Gregg has the E* 811 on display, but not sure if it is operable. Is/would the hd content that I receive via ota better/worse/same as E* hd programming?
The OTA HD signal is not compressed and should be better.
 
if you haven't seen the voom programming yet, and you like hbo and showtime then the dish package is great. picture is outstanding. it is hard to notice the difference between the dish hd and over the air hd.
 
I am pretty much in the same situation as bnewt, except that I live on the Olympic Penisula (WA) and we have no or very bad OTA reception. I get my locals from E*. I have a new 510 DVR and would like to by a new 43" plasma TV but keep using the 510 untill things get settled a little with E* on the 942 and MPEG4 issues. Will my SD picture quality be better or worse?
 
jonasben said:
I am pretty much in the same situation as bnewt, except that I live on the Olympic Penisula (WA) and we have no or very bad OTA reception. I get my locals from E*. I have a new 510 DVR and would like to by a new 43" plasma TV but keep using the 510 untill things get settled a little with E* on the 942 and MPEG4 issues. Will my SD picture quality be better or worse?
All I can say is when I went to the 811 (HD) from the 301 (SD) the SD picture was worse but HD was fantastic.
 

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