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Re: OT: HD or not HD Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Mon, 1 May 2006 09:34:59
In Reply to: OT: HD or not HD, OKSaabs, Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:42:04 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
My usual answer for just about anything - it all depends.
Get yourself down to any one of the many electronics stores - Circuit City, Best Buy, those places. Then look at a bunch of sets, both HD and non-HD. It'll be a little confusing; there is a range of quality in HD sets just like there is a range of quality in everything else. And hit a few different places. Don't judge HTDV (or non-HDTV sets) based on the subject matter - I've seen some stores where the signal source is lousy, and it makes the sets look lousy.
To my eye, a good-quality HDTV is a clearly better signal. Is it worth the money? Depends. It's my impression that adding HDTV functionalty to a set isn't that expensive. Maybe a couple of hundred bucks, if that. It's much easier to get caught up in the LCD/Plasma/DLP/CRT/Smoke&Mirrors debate.
It's easy to get sucked in by the lovely, large, flat-screen sets out there. That's probably more of a driver.
Some sets come with HDTV tuners; others are just "HDVT ready" - no tuner, but capable of showing HDTV. As the others have stated, it all depends on your signal source. If you use an antenna to get your TV, you'll need a tuner. The amount of HDTV signal out there varies from place to place - your mileage will vary. Unless you're in a major city, I don't expect you'll get more than a couple/three stations, and that will be network programs, only some of which are HDTV.
If you have cable or satellite, you don't need a tuner-equipped TV - the cable box handles it all. If you want to know how much HDTV stuff is out there, contact your cable/satellite company. I know my cable company has lots of HD programming for no additional cost (over my already outrageous fees).
It also depends on what you watch TV for. If it's for the weather channel, and CNN to see who we've attacked recently, you don't need HDTV. If you have a bunch of movie channels, HDVT is nice. If you watch sports, ESPN HD and the like are really nice. I think that's where HDTV is best - sports. Lots of detail.
My next set will probably be HDTV. It will probably also be a decent 27-30" CRT. Old technology, but arguably still the best picture for the least money. The HD part is cheap. As to becoming obsolete, it all depends (again). If TV is that important to you, you'll want the latest and greatest. Chances are, if it was that critical to you, you'd have it already. So you should be just fine with a set-top converter if you choose not to go HD.
But the proof is in the looking. DOn't take my word for the quality, or anyone else's. Go look for yourself. Not trying to be flip, but it all depends on your eyes. My mother-in-law doesn't have the sharpest vision in the world. HDTV would not provide any value to her. And it may not to you, either.
posted by 192.249....
, Wed, 3 May 2006 20:04:45, Mon, 1 May 2006 09:34:59 <-- Viewing This Message
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