Satellites aim HDTV at U.S. TV screens

[John Corn]

NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The long-promised television technology that boasts sharp pictures and sound quality could finally come into focus in U.S. living rooms, with a cable company and a satellite operator making moves recently.

Cable provider Cablevision Systems (NYSE:CVC - News) is promising multiple new channels and satellite operator PanAmSat Corp.(NasdaqNM:SPOT - News) has launched a craft carrying the high-tech TV programming.

High definition television (HDTV) has been hyped as the next big thing for years. It promises movie-theater style wide views, sound quality similar to compact discs and pictures with the sharpness of a 35-millimeter photograph.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/031006/media_hdtv_2.html

 

[Cyclone]

I can't wait for the Articles once HDTV begins to catch on touting it as the "new" thing.

 

[Stargazer]

There is still much improvement to be made over HD in the future for televisions. Someday the HD moniters we see now will be considered low definition just as our analog televisions today are considered low definition.

 

[Guest]

I would just like to be able to watch standard definition programming from satellite on an Hdtv monitor. If you can do this and watch the hd programming then it would be great. You should see the open box items at Best Buy every week reduced ; mostly hdtv monitors. When I asked the manager why there were so many hdtv monitors that were open box , and he said people were disappointed with the sat or cable picture over the hdtv monitor.

This is the same thing that happened to me last Fall when I bought a hdtv monitor. The sat picture from my 721 looked god awful over the hd monitor. Less than 5 days I had them come and pick it up and I bought the same tv in analog.

Until these hd monitors can make the sat picture look as good as a standard def tv ,I will not buy one. There is really not enough on tv to justify a hdtv in my future.

 

[Stargazer]

I know someone that had bought an HD television that looked good with a 301 receiver. It looked better than it did with the analog HD television that he had. They are both 46 inch tv's.

 

[davhol]

I would just like to be able to watch standard definition programming from satellite on an Hdtv monitor. If you can do this and watch the hd programming then it would be great. You should see the open box items at Best Buy every week reduced ; mostly hdtv monitors. When I asked the manager why there were so many hdtv monitors that were open box , and he said people were disappointed with the sat or cable picture over the hdtv monitor.

This is the same thing that happened to me last Fall when I bought a hdtv monitor. The sat picture from my 721 looked god awful over the hd monitor. Less than 5 days I had them come and pick it up and I bought the same tv in analog.

Until these hd monitors can make the sat picture look as good as a standard def tv ,I will not buy one. There is really not enough on tv to justify a hdtv in my future.

The "problem" here is the same with computers: garbage in, garbage out. The HDTV monitors tend to be much more precise in their display properties and you are seeing just what you've been "missing" with the old analog monitors. Also, with satellite and digital cable, the digitization of the analog source and the MPEG compression introduces artifacts that only show up on larger screens (and HDTVs being more "precise" you'll see those artifacts more readily). If TVs are adjusted (think ISF) properly (and not just "out of the box), you'll be pleased with the results -- but you also have to have a good signal source! As the saying goes, "Don't shoot the messenger!" ;-)

 

[YuriLuzr]

What is really funny is I've had an HDTV for about 2 years and have now just started watching HD shows. I just love the clarity. But my wife complains that the detail is too good. :shock: She doesn't like seeing all the wrinkles and make-up on her TV characters. She likes the blurry TV shows.

I'm trying to convince her we need to move up to a 921, and I'm not sure she is buying into it. :x

 

[TheaterWizard]

I would just like to be able to watch standard definition programming from satellite on an Hdtv monitor. If you can do this and watch the hd programming then it would be great. You should see the open box items at Best Buy every week reduced ; mostly hdtv monitors. When I asked the manager why there were so many hdtv monitors that were open box , and he said people were disappointed with the sat or cable picture over the hdtv monitor.

This is the same thing that happened to me last Fall when I bought a hdtv monitor. The sat picture from my 721 looked god awful over the hd monitor. Less than 5 days I had them come and pick it up and I bought the same tv in analog.

Until these hd monitors can make the sat picture look as good as a standard def tv ,I will not buy one. There is really not enough on tv to justify a hdtv in my future.

Look into a high quality scaller, or line doubler, the in board doublers that come with most TV's just dont cut it. If you have seen a progressive scan DVD player on a HDTV ready monitor, then you will know what you are missing on regular analog broadcast run through a crappy internal line doubler. :shock:

The real issue is that analog broadcast is interlaced(line one, three, five is painted, then sandwithed with two, four six etc.) while HDTV ready sets paint the picture progressivly(one after another). When the later set try's to display analog it has to make up fake information as it goes to fill in the scan lines to produce 1080 lines on your screen from only about 300 or so available from analog broadcast. See where the problem lies? With a high qualitly doubler it processes this information much quicker, thus loosing the edgy look especially durring fast motion like sports.

Please dont correct me on numbers here, because they are vague to make a point, input resolution can vary as well as output depending on the source, or TV. Point being you CAN get a great picture now with the right equipment. FAROUDJA comes to mind in this case.

 

[DVDDAD]

Look into a high quality scaller, or line doubler, the in board doublers that come with most TV's just dont cut it. If you have seen a progressive scan DVD player on a HDTV ready monitor, then you will know what you are missing on regular analog broadcast run through a crappy internal line doubler. :shock:

Adding the iScan Pro to my set did wonders for my LD's and for my 508. It was like night & day. It wasn't HD, but it was much better than what the set was doing on its own! I would highly recommend one before returning your set.

 

[TheaterWizard]

Adding the iScan Pro to my set did wonders for my LD's and for my 508. It was like night & day. It wasn't HD, but it was much better than what the set was doing on its own! I would highly recommend one before returning your set.

iScan Pro is also a great product for the $$

 

[Guest]

Thanks, next time I get a hdtv monitor I will look into the iScan Pro for my tv.

Of course that will be probably about 5 years from now as I just upgraded all my tvs. I bought 4 new ones in the last year; 3 of the old ones died a slow lingering death and then black screen.

50 inch Mitsibishi tv - Living room

27 inch Advent tv - Master bedroom

20 inch Toshiba tv - Computer room

20 inch Panasonic tv - 3 year olds room

So every company got a little piece of the pie.

I do plan to upgrade to the 921 receiver this year so I will be ready for hd when I do upgrade again. Till then I will have a 180 hours worth of hard drive for standard def.

 

[Stargazer]

How much does iScan Pro cost?

 

[TheaterWizard]

You should be able to pick up a new one for about $400 and used for $2-300. Check out flea-bay they usually have a few.