Now I can watch those HD feeds for real....

[Anole]

MONOPRICE yourself !

6' HDMI, video + audio, blue, $3.21 each , today special (always pays to have spares!)

3' RCA Component cable $3.74
6' RCA Component cable $5.17
12' RCA Component cable $7.47 - These are 5-wire (with sound)
3' RCA Component cable @ $2.82
6' RCA Component cable @ $3.00
12' RCA Component cable @ $4.90 - These are 3-wire video only.
- I don't recommend Premium versions (waste of money)

And in case Granny's cabinet doesn't suit ya, here are wall-hanging brackets.

Product ID: 3612
Product ID: 3397
I think I bought one or the other of these silver models.
Probably the smaller, as it fit my 90 lb. 42" LCD better than the big one.

Product ID: 3724
Product ID: 3337
These black ones were on my list, too.
I think I chose the silver one for no particular reason.
Either would be fine choice.

 

[IcEWoLF]

6' HDMI, video + audio, blue, $3.21 each , today special (always pays to have spares!)

3' RCA Component cable $3.74
6' RCA Component cable $5.17
12' RCA Component cable $7.47 - These are 5-wire (with sound)
3' RCA Component cable @ $2.82
6' RCA Component cable @ $3.00
12' RCA Component cable @ $4.90 - These are 3-wire video only.
- I don't recommend Premium versions (waste of money)

And in case Granny's cabinet doesn't suit ya, here are wall-hanging brackets.

Product ID: 3612
Product ID: 3397
I think I bought one or the other of these silver models.
Probably the smaller, as it fit my 90 lb. 42" LCD better than the big one.

Product ID: 3724
Product ID: 3337
These black ones were on my list, too.
I think I chose the silver one for no particular reason.
Either would be fine choice.

QFT, Monoprice is my backyard shopping for anything to do with home entertainment cables, I've ordered from them at least 2 HDMI cables, and 1 component, great price, lowest out there, and fast delivery.

 

[Woofle]

Congrats!

Congrats on your new toy, and keeping consumer spending afloat.

HDMI is 100% digital from end-to-end and carries both digital and audio, as others have pointed out. DVI is its predecessor, and carries only video. DVI is a pure subset and there are adapters to take HDMI down to DVI, or DVI to HDMI (sans audio). Confusing.

Still, I have tried both component and HDMI inputs to my 65" projection TV, and quite honestly, can't see any clear winner in terms of video quality. Maybe others with sharper plasma sets can see a difference, but I can't.

Yeah, PBS-HD looks great here too!

Enjoy your new TV, Tony! You earned it.

 

[Anole]

better connections = better picture

Well, I'm sure Ice knows this, but for others readingi the thread, here is the connector order of decreasing video quality:

[FONT=Courier New]=
[U]HD [/U] [U]SD [/U] [U]Digi[/U] [U]Analog[/U]  [U]Conn[/U]  [U]Comments                      [/U]
 X       X     -     HDMI - all digital picture, nothing lost, best possible connection
 X  X    -     X     Component - analog, great quality, but not 100%
 -  X    -     X     Svideo - analog, standard def only, quite decent
 -  X    -     X     Composite - analog, quality can vary between good and garbage
 -  X    -     X     RF modulator - well, it's better than no TV at all, but doesn't hold a candle[/FONT]

My experience with a Syntax 542i TV shows that HDMI provides a significantly better picture than component HD, from the same hi-def DVD player!
Now, it's quite possible that the DVD player in question doesn't have very high quality component outputs, but I have only the one data point.

As for DVI, I wouldn't go out of my way to use those ports without more research.
They would likely be a good choice for hookup to your computer, but I'm uncertain I'd want to use 'em otherwise.
Both digital and analog have been defined, but I don't know what's really out there in quantity today.
And I suspect it's analog, so about equal quality to Component.

 

[Tron]

"Not sure with the plasma, but with my LCD I saw a difference in quality for SD channels and espeically FTA ku band channels from a 27" tube TV to a 27" LCD. I think the fixed pixel TV brings out the compression flaws in dish (alot more)."
My experience , too. My dish sub looks mostly like crap on the LCD screen, but then again, I only watch it as a last resort .

I think this is because of the refresh time on LCDs being relatively slow. This brings out the motion artifacting that compression causes. The newer LCDs seem to be addressing the problem somewhat, however.

Congratulations, Iceberg! Looks like your Pansat 9200 will have a companion now

 

[TRG]

As for DVI, I wouldn't go out of my way to use those ports without more research.
They would likely be a good choice for hookup to your computer, but I'm uncertain I'd want to use 'em otherwise.

DVI is the same thing as HDMI without the audio.

 

[Mr Tony]

well I finally got everything hooked up. Havent got a HDMI cable yet but using component outputs on the 9200 and I never knew basketball could look that good (and I'm not really a b-ball fan)

PBS on AMC3 is DAMN!!! Very nice picture. Even the SD stuff is good. Although Doc Scott is still kinda eerie on a TV that big

 

[boomer_106]

well I finally got everything hooked up. Havent got a HDMI cable yet but using component outputs on the 9200 and I never knew basketball could look that good (and I'm not really a b-ball fan)

PBS on AMC3 is DAMN!!! Very nice picture. Even the SD stuff is good. Although Doc Scott is still kinda eerie on a TV that big

Hockey looks awesome too.

 

[Larry1]

PBS has to have one of the best hidef channels for picture quality. Looks like you will be all ready for the new HiDef RTN channels comming to G26 if you are able to lock onto them.

 

[Mr Tony]

yes PBS is awesome. We have a HD feed on -2 of our main PBS (the main PBS is the local version and doesn't take up allot of bandwidth)

The sports feeds are insane. The picture is nuts. Was watching college b-ball on the local CBS which they use the whole bandwidth here for HD and even found some feeds of b-ball too

 

[goaliebob99]

Ice what box are you using? What box do you recommend for FTA HD? I was waiting for the passion, or to see if their would be a release date but im getting impacent. I will be doing KU only for now.

 

[Mr Tony]

Pansat 9200 which has OTA and HD built in and blind scan

Im pretty much KU only right now too

 

[Anole]

After wallowing in the real HD for a while, this one may slip by you, but . . .
I've noticed some of the local OTA channels secondary carriers look awesome, too.
In fact, I have hit the info button on my TV a number of times, only to discover I'm watching 480p !

Congrats on a well-deserved toy.
We look forward to many more Iceberg exploits in the digital domain!

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah I'm kinda amazed how the SD channels look from OTA. Other than PBS (where HD is on -2) and CBS (where there is no other subchannels) and NBC (with weather plus) the rest of the networks here in Minneapolis have a SD counterpart on -2 but they all look good

oh and I did pick up a couple of hdmi cables at the link above

 

[IcEWoLF]

PBS has to have one of the best hidef channels for picture quality. Looks like you will be all ready for the new HiDef RTN channels comming to G26 if you are able to lock onto them.

I love to watch PBS-HD on Saturday mornings, Victory Garden in HD = winner!

 

[Khandurian]

Raises hand!!!

Um, did I miss on what TV you decided on?

 

[Mr Tony]

Panasonic 42" Plasma TV. Sears had a helluva deal. Buy a TV between 40-49" and get no interest for 18 months on their cc and it was 400 bucks off to boot.

Saw it in Best Buy ad this week for the same price on sale as Sears had it on regular price (400 more)

 

[Larry1]

Panasonic makes an excellent high quality tv. Very good choise. I'm anixious to know how that 9200 works with the RTN DVB-S2 feeds as G10R is going to change over to DVB-S2. The web sites are very vague about it. Some say expansion port for DVB-S2 tuner, but I think they must mean the 8PSK tuner, or is this the same tuner board? Is the Sata hard disk interface working and can you setup timers for both the digital OTA as well as the DVB... at the same time? Anyway of transfering the recorded programs off the hard disk to a computer?

 

[goaliebob99]

Panasonic makes an excellent high quality tv. Very good choise. I'm anixious to know how that 9200 works with the RTN DVB-S2 feeds as G10R is going to change over to DVB-S2. The web sites are very vague about it. Some say expansion port for DVB-S2 tuner, but I think they must mean the 8PSK tuner, or is this the same tuner board? Is the Sata hard disk interface working and can you setup timers for both the digital OTA as well as the DVB... at the same time? Anyway of transfering the recorded programs off the hard disk to a computer?

Thats what I have been wondering too.. Thats the only reason why I havent pulled the trigger.

 

[updatelee]

HD makes things more interesting. I just watched the state of the union adress and it was riveting !