HD on NTSC Sony CRT television?????/

Thanks Pedro!

Not arguing with a thing you said, but where I am still a little baffled is that I DO own another HDTV, so I'm quite familiar with the differences between the appearance of SDTV and HDTV.

Where I am astounded is that the my Sony Wega is showing a comparable image to what I get from my HDTV panel..... albeit somewhat smaller.

On the Sony Wega itself, for example, I can switch between cable CNN, and HDTV cable CNN ... and notice the dramatic difference. The HD version letterboxes the signal and gives me full widescreen visibility on my old Wega tube. The cable box says it is sending a 1080i signal.

My curious-ness is that I never knew you could even view an HD Encoded signal on an SDTV, nor that it would display through an S-Video cable.

As I said, it's a huge surprise and I'm elated at what I am seeing on my Sony Wega ..... the picture is fantastic .... but it just baffles me because it challenges a lot of what I thought I knew about HDTV, and makes me question a lot of what we've been told about "needing to buy an HDTV set" to take advantage of the new HD technology. It may not be at the same level as true HDTV .... but what I am seeing on this set is a lot closer to HDTV than SDTV. And I'm not fully convinced it isn't as clear as HD.

What you are really enjoying is the 16:9 enhanced mode on that set. It minimizes the black bars and probably gives the effect of a slightly sharper image as well. But this is not the same as an HD source properly displayed(!) Again, what you are seeing is a very clear SD signal since your set does not have the capability to display enough pixels for HD. An S-video cable cannot pass all the required information of an HD source to display in all its full glory. Out of curiosity, what is the make/model of your HD display and how do you have that one hooked up? It really should look a heck of a lot better than what you see on the Wega, regardless of the Trini's reputation.

-Pedro

"Out of curiosity, what is the make/model of your HD display and how do you have that one hooked up? It really should look a heck of a lot better than what you see on the Wega, regardless of the Trini's reputation.

-Pedro"

Please tell more about your HDTV setting and the connections you have going into/out of the TV.

http://hthut.spaces.live.com

hyghwayman

I always thought 640 x 480p was only EDTV by a technicality since the pixel count was the same as 480i(?)

cheers,
Pedro

Thank all for the replies.

Pedro/Highwayman .... my HDTV is a 42 Panasonic Viera, connected via HDMI. My earlier point was that I've seen a ton of HDTV, so I do know what it looks like. My new image on the older Sony Wega is stunning NOT in that I've never seen a picture that good, but merely in the fact that I didn't know my tube was capable of more.

I think John hit it on the head. I'm giving it a better signal, so I'm getting a better picture. I just always was under the assumption that progressive scan DVD would maximize what the set was capable of. I never knew I could get more out of it.

And to enjoy a better a picture I would need a better signal AND a higher resolution TV. Additionally, I never knew that a cable box would allow an HD signal to pass through to an older SD set, and show ANY type of image.

What I am seeing is undoubtedly not true HD, but it is still far superior to the image received when watching lesser sources. My curiosity was, and still is, what resolution am I seeing? I know I'm not capable of true 1080i (even though that's the identifier on the cable set top box), but where in between am I?

It also confounds me, as a marketing/advertising type person, that HD offerers haven't done anything to promote the fact that their HD content can be viewed on older sets, and people without HDTVs can still enjoy a superior image and have access to the content that is only available in HD (like UnivHD, Mojo, etc). I guess the HD transition is confusing enough, that they don't want to confuse it more by indicating older sets can still enjoy some benefits from HD. I'm proof positive of confusion!

THANKS AGAIN TO ALL!

...but keep in mind that even though a cable box could receive/decode HD content there's a chance that it might not look right (or even be visible) after being passed along to a SD CRT display. Hypothetically, yes, it should be visible but if not this may be related to the cable provider/hardware differences. For example, I have a friend who cannot view the downsampled HD feeds from Comcast on his 32" CRT, but I can using a similar Motorola box. AFAIK, my box contains a digital/analog tuner while his only digital. That's the only difference I can discern. Perhaps the cable system where he lives is just different enough, or the box not providing the correct set of instructions to downrez to 480i(?)

FWIW, I believe the main reason they won't promote it is they don't want to cut off the revenue stream for folks desiring additional HD channels & newer DVR boxes . Also, many folks don't even have component inputs on their old TVs for improving the PQ let alone S-video. YMMV. Also, from the example I gave above there's no guarantee it will work.