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General discussion

What's the point... HDTV etc..

by sirroundsound Mar 28, 2006 2:45AM PST

A lot of discussion here about why should someone buy a new HDTV set, whats available to watch and the fact that most new sets look crappy with regular analoge signals.

One point that is missing in all of these threads.
A properly calibrated display will look good with regular cable signals, and stunning with HDTV content.

If your new TV looks awful with regular channels, that means to me that they looked bad before you bought your set. You may not have noticed it before, if you were watching a smaller screen, but now you have enlarged the picture and you will certainly see all the imperfections.
You are allowed to call the cable company and complain, there may be a couple of channels that are not good, but most of them should look fine.
Would you pay your phone bill if every time you made a call the line was noisey? Why are you paying for a bad signal?
I have installed many, many plasma and other new technology TV's with Cable or satellite connections all with good results after everything was set up correctly.
As I am not really a big fan of LCD TV's I can only comment on the couple I recently installed in a Exercise room at a condo. We used the Samsung 32" LCD TV's, Cable was fed from a splitter in a mechanical room about 75ft away and we were feeding 3 sets plus 2 plasma's in other model suites. Right out of the box the picture was acceptable, and would have been concidered very good by any average veiwer.

I think one of the issues I see here in the posts about this, some people are buying (or being sold) the cheapest sets, and expecting the best results. Not everyone needs the Ferrari or can afford it, but we all know if you bought the Hugo or Pinto you were going to be dissapointed.

The simple rule to think about, if you set things up right, and your DVD player looks good, then there is no reason why cable or satellite can't look good too.

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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SIRROUNDSOUND SET UP IS SO IMPORTANT
by stewart norrie Mar 28, 2006 6:17AM PST

I had a friend come over who just bought a new hi-def t.v. and was shocked when he saw the stunning picture my t.v. had And he just bought a new Sony l.c.d. t,v, He had no clue. I spent time with him so he got the dish hi-def system and thry up an outside antenna now he is so happy he is goiong to take the plunge and buy a new 5.1. system and Denon 2910/955 d,v,d, player. The problem is there is no information out there to explain the facts about hi-def I have seen folks buy a nice hi-def set and hook it up to there s.d. cable box and got mad and took the set back. When you buy a hi-def its like here it is now you go figue it out have a nice rainey day stewart

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(NT) (NT) Was That After The Bad Pixel and Green Cast?
by RoadRunner6 Mar 28, 2006 3:41PM PST
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Great expactions!!!!
by jcrobso Mar 28, 2006 6:49AM PST

Costco now has posted on all of the HDTVs saying that HD service is required to get the full HD picture. That just getting a HDTV will NOT make everyting HD. We know this but many people don't, this is one reason why many are unhappy when watching SD material on HDTVs.
Many of the low end HDTVs sadly do not do a good job on upscaling SD material.
A HDTV will show every flaw in SD material!!!! Yes if there is a problem with signal you will see it on a HDTV.
When I got my HDTV I had to go over all on my antenna connetions to make sure I had clean signal, I redid about half of the connectors, some were done 30 years ago. Not a problem for analog, but not good enough for HDTV. john

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jcrobso FOLKS FREAK OUT WHEN THERE HI-DEF WONT WORK
by stewart norrie Mar 28, 2006 12:32PM PST

When I bought my first hi-def Sony 6 years ago I new nothing, I had the dish 811 installed the next day and I almost cryed when I saw the horrible hi-def picture, My first thought was to take the t.v. back, But I called a hi-end home theater store and was told to replace my componit cables to a d.v.i. set up, and that was the problem, since then I joined this chat room and have learned so much and had so much fun with you all, Also most of my electronics I bought because on reviews I read here. Folks must do there homework before they invest in a hi-def set but they dont. always nice to talk to you stewart

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