Before I buy my next whizz-bang T.V. there are some very basic questions I would like to ask, and believe me, the local HiFi place or the local Retravision places are not where I will find the answers.
I'll list some of these questions, and I hope the resident experts can point me to a publication that can answer them for me. (Silicon Chip isn't it.)
Are the terms HDTV and digital TV pretty much synonymous? In other words, are all HDTVs digital, and are all digital TVs high definition?
What is the pixel definition of a HDTV? For comparison, if our current analogue standard has 625 lines, how many vertical pixels has a HDTV set? Is there more than one standard? I have seen the figures 720 and 1080 mentioned.
Is broadcast digital TV, through a settop box, displayed on an analogue TV screen, much of an improvement on the same content broadcast as an analogue signal displayed on the same screen? If so, why? Does it have more than 625 horizontal lines? I believed that this was impossible because of the way a CRT screen is made.
Will HDTV sets receive analogue signals without any kind of set-top box?
Today's paper said that HDTV sets WILL need a set-top box to receive digital signals. Surely this can't be true. Is it?
Will a HDTV set accept input from a current DVD read by a standard 0 DVD player. If so, will it look any better than the same DVD played on the same DVD player displayed on an analogue TV set?
Will a HDTV set accept input from one or both of the new DVD formats? Will my existing, big, expensive, CRT set do so?
Are these questions simple enough to have simple answers?
**It depends. At my last home, I had superb (analogue) reception. Adding a STB was virtually no improvment, except for those times when reception was marred by interference. At my present home, reception (despite the use of a high quality, prefessionally installed antenna) is crap (with analogue). Ghosting is (depending on material being watched) appalling. Using a STB (SD type) provides virtually perfect reception.
If so, why? Does it have more
**Not necessarily. Reception is better, due to the inherent rejection of interference by the digital system.
I believed that this was impossible because of
**Not necessarily. SD (Standard Definition) STBs will improve an analogue TV in most circumstances.
**I have yet to see one which can, but they probably exist. Somewhere.
**No. SOME HD (the minority) sets incorporate a digital tuner. Most do not. I susepct that the number of sets incorporating HD tuners will increase of the next few years.
**Sure.
If so, will it look any better than the same DVD played on the
**Maybe. Maybe not. I rather like my old Sony Kirrarabasso (analogue, CRT set) as it provides a superb picture (whilst watching a DVD), compared to many of the LCD and plasma sets I've seen. Or course, my Sony cannot do HD though.
**Possibly. Probably.
**Possibly. Probably.
**Some are. Some aren't.
**Maybe.
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Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au
*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***
Mate 'o mine has been steadily filling his house with plasmas - about 6 months ago he bought a couple of LG screens that came with both an analogue and digital tuner inbuilt - at the time he said LG were the only ones that were doing the built-in tuner.
I have yet to see a plasma that does as nice a picture as a half-decent CRT - by nice I mean devoid of posterisation/banding in subtle colour gradients and nasty sharpness. The only genuinely good picture I've seen on an LCD is on the Sony professional units.
Thank you for your responses. I am a little better informed, but still have a question or two. Phil, you mention "semi widescreen format". Is that not a true 16:9 widescreen?
When I look at offerings in the local shop, there are LCD screens that seem to be standard analogue receivers, standard analogue aspect ratio. There are LCD screens that are much wider but still seem to be analogue receivers. There are LCD screens similar to these but with "an inbuilt set-top box". Is that what a digital TV set is? A wide, standard definition, 625-line screen with an inbuilt digital tuner?
Lots of snotty nosed kids with chips on their shoulders...
Lot of stuff on the net that people are likely to post on this thread
Lots of sales talk, some say a monitor with 1280x768 is hdtv - no it aint though it will show a 1920x1080 image it loses a bit.
So 'HDTV ready' is a sales psuedonym for "it aint HDTV but will show it at lower res'
Digital TV is only really a digital signal, your choice if you display it on an analog TV or a digital (DVI type) monitor for best display.
True HDTV is 1920 x 1080 pixels, so a 240T samsung 24" LCD monitor will be more than capable of showing a true HDTV signal as its native resolution is 1920 x 1200. I have one and although it is reported as slow (20mS response) I havent noticed any issues at all with fast acting graphics etc And these days you might find one for less than $1000, though if I now had the cash I'd wait for the Dell 1920x1200 LCD monitors to drop a bit first...
One particular TV station has an 'HDTV channel' such as 70 but its only
720 x 576 but is at 50 frames per second, there normal stuff appears to be 720 x 576 but 25 frames per second interlaced.
Only channel 9 (90) and as far as I know ABC (20) have true 1920x1080 images but they are also interlaced, so 25 frames per second but not at all a problem on most LCD/Plasma monitors which have deinterlacing, and interestingly, having seen an LCD with 8mS vs one with 20mS response trying to show a 25 frame/sec interlaced transmission - I prefer the slower one, it seems to have a little less flicker. So all the hype about faster response is likely not all its cracked up to be...
The Analog signal into a bog standard old analog TV is roughly equivalent to a 640 x 480 image but you lose some lines, so 400 lines is proba the best you'd expect from older analog sets. Given the SDTV transmission is
720x576 25 frames per sec interlaced then you lose a heap by going from set top box to some analog output for an analog TV.
You mean an HDTV monitor with 1920 x 1080 minimum native resolution (?) then yes most up to date monitors have analog inputs but its pointless feeding these with composite or S-video as these wont do much more tha 640 x 480 with any sort of crispness. Best to have VGA or better DVI into a digital monitor. ie Although VGA is analog its far better resolution than S-video or composite (guh!), Component is between S-video and VGA and although (afaik) will do 1920 x 1080 is not as good as DVI or HDMI.
Nope they can show a low res signal but why do it. a true HDTV set is
1920 x 1080 and any analog signal from composite or S-video will be bad and nowhere as good as the component output from a SDTV or HDTV set top box.
Might be a bit better as less analog stages and less losses but it depends on how good the sales people say the HDTV set is and how much you convince yourself (after you have paid heaps) that the HDTV is really really good when you find out its native resolution is only 1280x768 etc...
More than likely the HDTV set will easily accept component or DVI, dont know anything about your CRT - did you tell us what it was ?
Depends on your assumptions,
Probably, go to aus.audio-visual.home-cinema or aus.dvd aus.tv.digital
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Regards
Mike
* GMC/VL Commodore, Calais VL Turbo FuseRail that wont warp or melt !
* High grade milspec ignition driver electronics now in development
* Twin Tyres to suit most sedans, trikes and motorcycle sidecars
http://niche.iinet.net.au
Definitely, as long as the interface is compatible, ie Same type. I have seen a set top box put out VGA which of course is usable, also you can get convertors which go from Component, which seems the most common Set top box output, to VGA - or rather SVGA etc. Some SDTV only set top boxes have DVI out.
Also the newer hdtv set op boxes have dvi, all the new large format LCD's I've seen for PC's have VGA and DVI input and some component :)
Been using my Samsung 240T to watch HDTV for a couple of years now, only minor issue is that for hdtv you really need a fast processor, my lowly athlon 2800+ and 9250 radeon card can just keep up, though I cant do much else at the same time, like burn dvd's or do large backups without the hdtv skipping a frame now and then. But for SDTV, I can watch, record, play divx's all at the same time quite comfortably. Though I wouldnt recommend it you can record dvd's and do some dvd authoring transcoding in the background whilst watching sdtv full screen. A 720 x 576 sdtv image does look better on a 1920 x 1200 monitor than on a 1280 x 768 one, but only just and depends on how well the video card and player software can upconvert, the type of colour settings, how close you are to the screen etc etc
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Regards
Mike
* GMC/VL Commodore, Calais VL Turbo FuseRail that wont warp or melt !
* High grade milspec ignition driver electronics now in development
* Twin Tyres to suit most sedans, trikes and motorcycle sidecars
http://niche.iinet.net.au
Didn't make myself clear, did I. Once again. What I should have said, is this: Can a STB connect directly to a computer monitor, no computer anywhere, and display broadcast digital TV?
I do. I don't know anything about STBs. I don't know what comes out of them. I don't know how a broadcast digital signal is dealt with in order to satisfy various LCD TV layouts. I don't know what is the resolution of a "widescreen" LCD computer monitor, or what use it is other than to play movies. I live in the bush. My only contact with such matters is with semi-literate counterjumpers in a Retravision, or in Silicon Chip with its battery zappers, computer-controlled burglar alarms and doorbells that sound like a V8. I would like to know, and this is why I come to this newsgroup.
Most computer monitors have VGA, some STB have VGA *therefore* you can show the signal on the monitor and I might add at a much higher resolution than any most ordinary analog TV crts can display.
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Regards
Mike
* GMC/VL Commodore, Calais VL Turbo FuseRail that wont warp or melt !
* High grade milspec ignition driver electronics now in development
* Twin Tyres to suit most sedans, trikes and motorcycle sidecars
http://niche.iinet.net.au
Which I had already stated, but tonyt92 doesn't know enough to understand apparently.
show
Or you might have a DVI, HDMI, composite video, Svideo, or component connection depending on the STB and the monitor. Not all computer monitors are limited to VGA connector, and the number of cheap SD STB's with VGA out is limited.
OK, the number of cheap STB's with component out is still limited. But I certainly agree there are often more ways than one to connect many devices. Scart adapters being a common requirement with many STB's for example.
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