OT: HDTV Question

lennon3 · 02-01-2007, 09:32 PM

We just got a new HDTV tonight and mediacom is coming out on monday to hook up an HD Receiver. Now besides getting the HD Channels will a new receiver make the analog channels come in clearer? Because right now they are less than impressive! Thanks

jtd9046 · 02-01-2007, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by lennon3

We just got a new HDTV tonight and mediacom is coming out on monday to hook up an HD Receiver. Now besides getting the HD Channels will a new receiver make the analog channels come in clearer? Because right now they are less than impressive! Thanks

The channels themselves will not be clearer. Might appear so because of your new connection with better cables to an HD monitor. But saying that, it will appear to you that your analog channels will become worse because the HD will look so good!

CycloneDaddy · 02-01-2007, 09:47 PM

Once you have HD you won't watch a lot of analog content ... trust me. Once my wife asked me why I was watching a football game that was a blowout, my response, because I like watching it snow in HD.

aeroclone · 02-01-2007, 09:49 PM

Welcome to the lovely world of analog channels on an HDTV. They are probably not going to look any better coming through the HDTV receiver than they look now. The problem is that all of the abilities of the HDTV just expose all of the shortcomings of an analog signal. You didn't mention the size of your new tv, but when you take a poor quality picture and blow it up on a bigger screen, it just gets worse. And when you take a standard aspect picture and stretch it to fit your widescreen HDTV, it gets distorted.

Of course, once you have your hi-def cable, you may find yourself watching a lot less of the analog channels. Thats been my solution. The digital channels are very watchable if you have the digital package or any premium channels, but the HD channels blow it all away.

lennon3 · 02-01-2007, 09:52 PM

Also I am confused with HDMI what exactly is that? Also when mediacom comes out to hook up the receiver will everything I need for HD be included or do you think I will need to go get more cords. The tv is a 37 inch LCD tv. And we got an awesome deal at sears for only 800!

SeattleClone · 02-01-2007, 10:04 PM

That is a great price, now you don't have to feel bad about spending $$ on the cords. I picked up a 6' HDMI cord for $100. There are websites that you can get custom-length cords for about half the price (sorry, the name is escaping me right now but I'm sure you could just google 'hdmi cords') But of course, if you order a cord on the internet, you can't start watching HDTV right now! That's what got me :). Assuming your DVD player is hooked up to your current tv with S-video or RCA cables, you'll probably want to upgrade to a set of component video cables (3 seperate cables for each color stream). That will probably run you upwards of $50 as well...unless you have the patience for the internet!

Just to chime in on the other topic- my 37" HD is actually lower quality on analog channels than my old 25" tube was. I turn on the vertical black bars to squish the picture back to normal, but they're not quite wide enough - meaning my picture is still a little too wide. A little annoying, but I got used to it.

ripvdub · 02-01-2007, 10:20 PM

HDMI is like an S video cord, kinda. It gives you a much better picture/sound than an rca cable.
What brands of tvs do you all like? Ive had an HD ready 36" Toshiba for 4 year now. It has a good picture, no thanks to mediacom, but its a full screen tv. Now they are all wide screen. I think were gonna upgrade here in the summer/fall(consumer reports is always saying how they prices are falling, so i put off buying a new one). I think im gonna get a 42-47" Toshiba, good rating and no complaints on out old Toshiba. Definately getting 1080.

Angie · 02-01-2007, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by ripvdub

HDMI is like an S video cord, kinda. It gives you a much better picture/sound than an rca cable.
What brands of tvs do you all like? Ive had an HD ready 36" Toshiba for 4 year now. It has a good picture, no thanks to mediacom, but its a full screen tv. Now they are all wide screen. I think were gonna upgrade here in the summer/fall(consumer reports is always saying how they prices are falling, so i put off buying a new one). I think im gonna get a 42-47" Toshiba, good rating and no complaints on out old Toshiba. Definately getting 1080.

That's exactly what we just got about a week ago, ripvdub (LINK). It's absolutely beautiful - we mostly watch movies and stuff on it, because the analog channels do look AWFUL. The game last night was incredibly grainy. It was down to this and a Wega, but the Wega's have a bulb that burns out w/in a couple of years. The Toshiba is a little slow to turn from channel to channel, but it's gorgeous.

jtd9046 · 02-01-2007, 10:28 PM

An HDMI cable combines the best picture and audio capabilities into one cable. They can be expensive but you have to remember it is an all in one cable. It also saves a lot of clustering from not having multiple cables in you component area.

conmebol · 02-01-2007, 10:30 PM

i always use monoprice.com for hdmi cable. Their 15ft hdmi is only about $8. Their hdmi switch is also very good.

thunderdave · 02-01-2007, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by Angie

That's exactly what we just got about a week ago, ripvdub (LINK). It's absolutely beautiful - we mostly watch movies and stuff on it, because the analog channels do look AWFUL. The game last night was incredibly grainy. It was down to this and a Wega, but the Wega's have a bulb that burns out w/in a couple of years. The Toshiba is a little slow to turn from channel to channel, but it's gorgeous.

The slowness of changing channels drives me nuts.
It takes probably an extra 1/2 second, but dammit, I'm busy and want to switch channels NOW!!

conmebol · 02-01-2007, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by jtd9046

An HDMI cable combines the best picture and audio capabilities into one cable. They can be expensive but you have to remember it is an all in one cable. It also saves a lot of clustering from not having multiple cables in you component area.

That kinda depend on your tv though, hdmi cable is capable of carrying the video and audio digitally, but most hdtv are only capable of outputting stereo. I usually use hdmi cable in combination with digital optical cable for the audio.

jtd9046 · 02-01-2007, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by conmebol

That kinda depend on your tv though, hdmi cable is capable of carrying the video and audio digitally, but most hdtv are only capable of outputting stereo. I usually use hdmi cable in combination with digital optical cable for the audio.

Very true. For your surround sound system, you will still need an source to carry that signal to your audio system. Unless you have a new audio reciever that has HDMI connections like mine, then you can use it as follows. You will need 3 HDMI cables. One from the HD receiver and one from the DVD player. Those are both inserted into the audio reciever. Then there is one HDMI output on the receiver and you connect your 3rd HDMI cable to the TV. Follow that? LOL

conmebol · 02-01-2007, 10:42 PM

I haven't really upgraded my receiver, I haven't found any with 4+ hdmi input for my htpc, dvd, hd receiver, ps3 so I'm using hdmi switch from monoprice to basically do the switching. It's kinda inconvenient, but I'm waiting for a receiver that will have more hdmi input.

jtd9046 · 02-01-2007, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by conmebol

I haven't really upgraded my receiver, I haven't found any with 4+ hdmi input for my htpc, dvd, hd receiver, ps3 so I'm using hdmi switch from monoprice to basically do the switching. It's kinda inconvenient, but I'm waiting for a receiver that will have more hdmi input.

http://us.marantz.com/Products/1881.asp#

Great audio equipment!