Why no HDTV?

Why no HDTV?

by kpruppel Mar 31, 2006 5:34AM PST

In 1987, Panasonic ran an HDTV demo in the lobby of the Time Warner Bldg where I worked. The lobby was always full of people, hypnotized by the fishtank (that was the ONLY thing ever shown for a week). To this day, I have yet to see an HDTV picture that came close to the quality of that demo. It's as if Japan took the "real" HDTV that we were promised that day, and kept it to themselves. I have NEVER seen an in-store set that impressed me, that I said "I have to have THAT" and plunked down my plastic.

And ALSO, the price of HDTVs is still WAAAAAAYYYYYYY too high. My house sprouted a DISH years before the neighbors knew it wasn't a broken bird feeder, so my problem is NOT embracing "new" technology suppliers. Include me in the market by lowering the price and I'll buy. Do you think television is REALLY that important to me that I will spend the ridiculous prices these units carry?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -

Mr KPRUPPEL CHECK THIS OUT

by stewart norrie Mar 31, 2006 8:31AM PST

Hi_def t.vs are not set up propperly when you see them on display also they are fed a very bad signal , Go to a hi-end home theater store and you will see them set up perfectly and fed a true 1080I input and the picture will amaze you, and as far as cost goes You can pick up a good quality 46" set for about $1000 install a hi-def cable or satellite system and you will be in hi-def heaven have a nice day stewart

- Collapse -

A little HD info

by Dan Filice Mar 31, 2006 8:52AM PST

I would venture to say that what you saw was raw, UNCOMPRESSED video being fed into that TV. I work in the TV broadcast biz, and the NTSC standard-def picture we get on our $10,000 20" CRT Sony Broadcast monitors would blow you away. The HD signal we all see on our home HDTVs has a ton of compression. This signal MUST be compressed to fit in the bandwidth for broadcasting. If you took your home HDTV and plugged it into a broadcast D5 HD tape deck and watched uncompressed HD video, the picture would knock your fillings out! But we mere mortal consumers don't have $65,000 D-5 VTRs at home, so we live with a compromise. But, HD channels are WAY better than regular TV, so there is that benefit.

- Collapse -

I ALSO SAW ONE OF THE FIRST DEMOS

by stewart norrie Apr 2, 2006 3:30AM PDT

But there are channels out there that broadcast in 1080I and the picture is as good as your demo experience discovery h.d. theater, ,cnet, cnet movies and some network programs look beautiful .I would say t.n.t. does a horrible job with there hi-def transmission and it still looks pertty good Like I said before go to a home theater store and check out there t.v.s you will be blown away with the picture quality

- Collapse -

compression,,, hum bug,,

by jcrobso Apr 2, 2006 9:38AM PDT

But we are stuck with it!!
I remember the first time I was at the WGN studios for a tour about 25 years ago and saw a studio camera on a broadcast monitor!!! Wow!! It was realy good, I had trouble watching TV at home for a few days. John

- Collapse -

its kinda like the first time u drove a car by yourself

by masterying01 Mar 31, 2006 1:35PM PST

you get excited, but you'll get use to it. when you first saw the HDTV demo....you never thought tv can look that good. but now when you walk into a store, every tv worth looking at is in HD with other HD feeds all around it.....you kinda get use to it.

- Collapse -

Yes, I saw a demo back then also,,,

by jcrobso Apr 2, 2006 9:33AM PDT

I saw a Demo at the CES show in Chicago around the same time, they did have other source material there,,,thankfully.
It was an anlog system with 1050 scan lines, NO COMPRESSION on the video!!!!! It did look great!!!
On some of the PBS HD broadcasts I have watched, some scenes that reminded me of that demo. ANY COMPRESSION IS A COMPROMISE!!! But we are stuck with it. John

CNET Forums

Other Forums

Forum Info