Who's got HD TV?

[ToddSchumacher]

I keep eyeing the big plasma displays at Best Buy, but my financial situation need to be better before I buy. I'm also waiting on HD-DVD players, and waiting to see how fast they replace regular DVDs. As I don't even have basic cable, there doesn't seem to be any reason to upgrade to HD until I either get an HD-DVD player, or can afford anything other than broadcast tv.

I figure at least 2 years before I invest in anything other than what I've got.

Student loans are a PAIN!

 

[John Crichton]

Yeah, student loans stink.

I can't wait until the plasma screens get down to reasonable prices. That's when I'll get one.

As for HD-DVD, there is a good article here: http://dvd.ign.com/articles/577/577955p1.html

I just want the industry to figure out what they want to use: Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Dual formats stink.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Right now, I can't afford to upgrade either TV or my cable service. I can barely afford, with other bills, standard cable service.

 

[Maraxle]

I have a TV that's capable of displaying HD, but I rarely watch it so I haven't upgraded my cable from the basic package. I wouldn't have purchased the stupid thing in the first place, but my other TV got struck by lightning. I wish I had downgraded to a smaller size, but the room it's in is big, so it would have looked funny.

 

[Uruk]

I've had HD DirecTV for over a year and I'm a little back and forth on it. If I could afford the $1000 for an HD TiVo then I'd say go for it however without it you're at the mercy of the 5 or so channels. Unless you're in New York, Chicago and another one of the top 10 markets then you have to get your local HD stations OTA which is hit-or-miss depending on where you're at. Otherwise you've got HBO, Showtime, HDNet, HDNet Movies, Discovery, ESPN and Universal HD as well as 2 PPVs (one of them adult). I'll go out of my way to watch Smallville on HDNet and every so often I'll catch the beginning of a movie on HBO and watch that, but otherwise I'm usually watching standard def on a DVR. Especially for the $11 a month it's a tough call, but I suppose if you're a sports fanatic the 2-4 hours a day of hi-def on ESPN might be worth it.

 

[Rackhir]

I have mixed feelings about the HD cable. Stuff that is done in HD is amazing, but a lot of the stuff like movies and such, I have been underwhelemed by. Very few of them seem to have gotten a good transfer into HD.

 

[MaxKaladin]

That bit about the 'Broadcast Flag' just killed any desire I had to go HD. I like my TiVo and DVR too much to ever want to go to a technology that will stop me from using them. I know they'll eventually force me to do it but as long as I can go with just a regular signal, that's were I'll stay.

I hate all this media copy protection nonsense.

 

[WizarDru]

I have mixed feelings about the HD cable. Stuff that is done in HD is amazing, but a lot of the stuff like movies and such, I have been underwhelemed by. Very few of them seem to have gotten a good transfer into HD.

True, 'dat. But by and large, the broadcasters are getting better. INHD 1/2 and are good showcase channels, for example. The stuff I've been most impressed with has the been the IMAX conversions, in particular. Many of the movie conversions are truly hit and miss. For example, I saw part of Strange Days, and was underwhelmed at the sloppiness of the transfer. By the same token, I saw a conversion of 'Victory' (which for some reason was labelled as Flight to Victory, or something) which amazed me with it's clarity and transfer quality.

For most primetime shows, it varies somewhat. The SuperBowl, House and American Idol on Fox, for example, looked really nice. Lost on ABC looks gorgeous. Medium on NBC and N3mbers on CBS all look pretty good....which they all should, as they were filmed in HD. With every passing season, more HD content appears. The real problem is that there aren't any standards. For example, most broadcasts are in 1080i (PBS, CBS, UPN, WB and NBC), but some channels broadcast in 720p (ABC, Fox). Some channels have very strong line-ups of HD material, but only over certain providers. For example, some cable companies didn't carry Fox's HD broadcast of the superbowl because a regional operator wanted money for it. Direct TV affiliate channels are not available in all markets, too.

And just because a show is broadcast in HD, doesn't necessarily mean it was recorded that way. In some cases, it just means the original material is clumsily 'up-converted' (something of a misnomer) to the format, so it doesn't look badly pixelated...but there isn't any additional picture data, so it's just an anti-aliased scaled version of the original image, in some cases.

It's kind of a mess, but worth the effort, IMHO.

 

[GlassJaw]

I've had HD for close to 2 years now and I love it. I have a 50" Toshiba RP (which I bought right after I got laid off ). I had a Panasonic 47" before that but I didn't like it so I returned it.

I've been using cable for my HD signal exclusively. I started with Comcast near Boston but I moved to RI about 6 months ago and now I have Cox. Comcast is a lot better with the number of channels than Cox is but Cox is a much smaller company than Comcast.

Monthly price is great - in both cases, you only have to spend about $5 more per month to rent a Motorola digital box. I currently get ABC, NBC, WGBH, ESPN, DISC, and INHD 1 & 2. There is currently a battle going on in RI between Cox and LIN Communications, who control FOX and CBS. Luckily, they made a one-day deal so I got to see the Superbowl in HD (awesome).

I watch MNF, Lost, Alias, Red Sox, and a lot of nature shows in HD.

Honestly, I would stay away from the plasmas. They are VERY high maintenance and a lot more susceptible to burn-in than even RP's.

If you have any questions, ask away!

 

[WizarDru]

Honestly, I would stay away from the plasmas. They are VERY high maintenance and a lot more susceptible to burn-in than even RP's.

As the proud owner of a plasma, I can tell you that the talk about burn-in for plasmas is highly-overrated. In fact, for this generation, burn-in is much more hype than anything else for all the TV technologies. Plasma's biggest drawback is cost, unless you're buying a lousy Gateway or Dell unit, which are mass produced low-quality units (and many of the low-cost plasmas aren't even HDTVs, they're EDTVs).

I play video games regularly, watch plenty of TV and DVDs and even occasionally use it as a PC monitor, and it hasn't been a problem. The only watchword is not to keep static images on the tv for long periods of time. I've heard testimony on avforums.com from folks who actually kept a paused image (accidentally) on their plasma units for hours, with no permanent damage. Many of the new TVs are designed to reduce burn-in using a variety of methods.

We also use a plasma screen here at the office for Customer presentations, and it also hasn't suffered any such problems. Which isn't to say they don't occur, but the danger doesn't exist as it did two generations ago. The only technologies that don't worry about burn-in in some form are LCD and front-projection.