What do I need to do

[fenwah]

I have a 15 year old TV that is about to die on me. I have the Dish Network with the 522 receiver/DVR. The TV that I was looking at had an integrated tuner. However, I have been told that I shouldn't worry about wasting my money on a TV w/ an integrated tuner that and just get an HDTV ready TV since I will have to purchase an HDTV receiver.

Questions:

1) Since I am leasing the 522 receiver, what costs will be involved on upgrading to an HDTV receiver?

2) Are you required to purchase the $9.99/month HDTV plan (5 or so channels)

3) My local channels say that they are broadcasting in HDTV. Does that mean that Dish Network carries these in HDTV format?

Thanks for your time.

 

[n0qcu]

#1 - You can most likely find a used 811 for about $200 - you will then own it.
#2 - If you own the HD receiver you do not need to buy the HD pak.
#3 - No, At this time NO satellite provider carries locals in HD. you would need to put up an antenna.

 

[fenwah]

#1 - You can most likely find a used 811 for about $200 - you will then own it.
#2 - If you own the HD receiver you do not need to buy the HD pak.
#3 - No, At this time NO satellite provider carries locals in HD. you would need to put up an antenna.

Thanks for the info. So it sounds that I really shouldn't rush into purchasing a HDTV for the time being if I use it primarily for broadcast TV. I know ESPN is saying that they carry some of their programs in HDTV (SportsCenter, Sunday Night Football, etc)...does that hold true if you use the Dish Network and DO NOT subscribe to Dish's HDTV programming?

Another question. If I purchase a HDTV ready TV (not enabled with the integrated HDTV tuner). Will my DVD movies be in the HDTV format on the TV?

Thanks again. I just came across this forum by accident this afternoon. I have a feeling that I will be doing quite a bit of reading on here tonight.

 

[KyDave]

......since I will have to purchase an HDTV receiver.

Actually, you would not HAVE to purchase an HD receiver. That is, unless you WANT to spend $10 for the HD pack or have movie channels where you could benefit from an extra free HD channel (like HBOHD).

If you dodn't care about any satellite delivered HD, then get an integrated tuner. You could enjoy all of your free OTA stuff and still use your 522 (hooked up via svideo).

 

[bryan92]

You will be overwelmed with the info you get here. Look it over tonight and ask questions tommorow. No body will give you greive over asking questions.

 

[ShadowEKU]

I would like to clarify a few things if i can. if this gets confusing i failed sorry.

Your local affiliates. ABC, NBC, etc,etc may be broadcasting HD. in about 75% of these cases they are not broadcastinga t full power yet and are sometimes incredibly hard to pick up without a giant directional antenna.

I personally receive 1 HD local via Antenna.

Currently not Satellite provider is broadcasting locals in HD at all.

Thats the HD OTA Schpeel

Now as fot HD cahnnels on Sat.

Say you see a program on ESPN that says they are broadcasting in HD. Well tuning to regular ESPN wont help at all. you would have to turn to ESPN HD whch is an entirely different channel. same with discovery and so on. They are on different channels. I hope that makes sense. But like someone said dissect this information and ask questions later.

 

[ajohnson]

A couple of things:

Go to http://www.antennaweb.org, punch in your zip code and house type, then on the next screen select "show digital stations only". This will give you an idea of what potential HD channels are available, how far and what direction, and what size antenna you might need if you wanted them. Some of us are luckly enough to get by with a very small & inexpensive antenna in our attic.

DVD's are not HD. They are 720 x 480 interlaced, or 480i. A progressive scan DVD player converts this to 480p, or non-interlaced. This will look very good on a big HDTV, but it's not HD, it's actually EDTV

There's an excellent article over at http://www.projectorcentral.com/hdtv_edtv.htm that explains all this if you want more info

 

[ShadowEKU]

A couple of things:

Go to http://www.antennaweb.org, punch in your zip code and house type, then on the next screen select "show digital stations only". This will give you an idea of what potential HD channels are available, how far and what direction, and what size antenna you might need if you wanted them. Some of us are luckly enough to get by with a very small & inexpensive antenna in our attic.

DVD's are not HD. They are 720 x 480 interlaced, or 480i. A progressive scan DVD player converts this to 480p, or non-interlaced. This will look very good on a big HDTV, but it's not HD, it's actually EDTV

There's an excellent article over at http://www.projectorcentral.com/hdtv_edtv.htm that explains all this if you want more info

I meant to point that out myself...

Something of note is that even widescreen DVDs are 90% of the time not 16:9 aspect ratio. Usually you will see bars at top and bottom (The bars are smaller than on a 4:3 tv though) but to me 480p does look signifigantly better than 480i (standard resolution 480 lines interlaced)

 

[nippjas]

Personally...I prefer http://www.checkhd.com