Digital TV Tuners

[drfsupercenter]

Yeah, it's kinda annoying to me too.

Back in the day, you'd just have cable or satellite. None of these options. You could choose to pay for stuff like HBO, but that was about it.

Now there's the whole HD trend... Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD, ATSC vs. QAM, vs. whatever PAL uses... digital value, digital basic, on-demand, all this crap. I don't see the point of on-demand... with the use of DVRs, the whole world is on-demand I mean, I'm trying to learn as much as possible about it but they keep coming out with new stuff! Why can't they just make like a 50,000p that will never need to be improved and then we don't have to worry about all the different HD formats? LOL

[dr_ml422]

Believe me I had to take a breather the other day when I was reading about this in one of the forums admin moderates. I'm not sure who started the thread, but it was about purchasing a hdtv and what to look for as far as hdmi connections etc... Putting it simply the more posts regarding hdtv in that thread the more complicated it seemed to get. Even admin felt the posts w/quotes was feeling weird. It got so intrinsic and detailed w/so many formats, signals and connections I basically got frustrated and just started viewing something else. You have more input than me and now you're realizing how confusing and really complicated they're making this out to be. I'm w/you. Make the standard one format, legislate it and give the broadcast companies ample time to get their crap together and that's it.

My suggestion would be to not dive into anything serious as far as purchasing, especially regarding blu-ray which might not even survive. I have a toshiba dvr and a dvd stand alone along w/my sony wegas. I'm not making any serious moves unless my sets can't handle the down converted signals from digital anymore. Could you believe that the digital comb filters are down converting the digital signals to standard 480p.
So right there that should tell you how the signals are not pure digital, even though full conversion is in Feb of 2009. You could google all you want and cruise the forums concerning this. In the end it won't amount to squat if they're still doing what they feel like w/the broadcast signals pumped through.

P.S. It was your thread super. How do you like that. I knew I recognised your user name from somewhere. lol...

[MilesAhead]

I mean, I'm trying to learn as much as possible about it but they keep coming out with new stuff!

I guess it's still for the aficionado. A guy I worked for made an appointment
to listen to a component stereo system back in the 1980s. He ended up
spending about $3500 for turntable, FM Tuner, Amp and PreAmp.

125 W/channel stereo. Now you could probably get the same sound quality
for about $800 and the setup would come with speakers!!!

At least electronics is one thing that gets cheaper.

[dr_ml422]

At least electronics is one thing that gets cheaper.

You hit it right on the button miles. I just finished telling a friend the same thing recently. Mostly everything else goes up, but at some point, mainly when new updated or entirely different stuff comes out regarding electronics it always goes down. Then after a while becomes obsolete. ie; vcr.

Oh well, I'll hold out until the right time comes to dive in and at least go for a hdtv which probably be soon enough. The digital video formats is another different thing entirely.

[MilesAhead]

dr_ml422 I purchased one of those Sony WEGA crt type TVs a few
years ago. Looks like a conventional 27" color TV and priced about the
same but has 720p and 1080i res. with 16x9 mode. I bought an OPPO
upconverting DVD player and plugged it into the HDMI connection.

My OPPO finally died so I got a Philips dvp 5990 upconverting player.
Here's the curious part. When I was searching the web for
recommendations on the DVD player I came across this page where the guy claimed if you
plugged your DVD player into your TV using the composite connection, then
using the upconverted HDMI connection, you wouldn't be able to tell the
difference because your TV would upconvert it anyway!

I have to admit I tried it and I can't tell the difference!!!

But, I'm glad I got the Philips upconverting 5990 because it has Divx
Ultra support and plays avi/divx better than my OPPO did. You can press
Stop without it going back to the start of the .avi file and 16x9 divx/avi
is actually output in 16x9 mode. I think even more
important than resolution is 16x9 mode. I have another small Sony TV
that is SD but it has a 16x9 mode. When I play 16x9 stuff in the DVD
player and turn on the 16x9 mode it
looks very glossy, almost like an HD picture. The same DVDs and AVIs
look better on the same TV with this Philips player. For $50 - $60 it's
definitely a good buy. Only thing that bites is the brittle flimsy black
remote that comes with it. But the Silver remote from my old Philips still
works, so I use that.

So I would say from my experience if you don't want to break the
budget try something with good picture quality that has a 16x9 mode. The
smaller the screen the less you can see the flaws anyway so until you get up
over 30" I don't think you need to spend big bucks. A home theater is one
thing but just to watch TV with a decent picture you don't have to go
crazy.

[dr_ml422]

try something with good picture quality that has a 16x9 mode.

You mean put a dvd in my player that can be displayed in 16x9 mode and turn the 16x9 mode on my tv?

I have this>Sony FD Trinitron WEGA Model Number>KV-20FS120. I think it's 480i or p. Not sure. I went to Sony's site and checked out their recommendations for dvd, vcr, dvr hook-ups. Need to get component cables and maybe a composite one. Guess the upconverter will upconvert videos only? Pictiure don't look bad, but it is just a matter of time before I upgrade it to something. Not now though.

[MilesAhead]

That looks like the small Sony that I have. If you press the Menu
button on the remote in the Video menu there should be a setting for 16x9
enhancement ON/OFF. If you are playing a 16x9 DVD or .avi file it should
compress the picture from the top and bottom. It won't upconvert anything..
just show the 480i picture in 16x9 mode. It looks a lot
better than letterboxed. You have to tell the DVD player that it is
hooked up to a Widescreen TV. Then it will output 16x9 instead of
letterboxed when playing anamorphic discs.

My 27" Sony Wega has automatic 16x9 mode so you don't have to use the
Menu setting. That one will upconvert DVD and Avi input at least
through the composite input. I don't know if you can find them anymore.
I don't think they are using CRT tubes on anything with resolution above
480 now... but I could be wrong. My 20" Sony, that I think is the same
as yours, I have hooked up to my Philips DVD player through Component
cables. I just have the RCA audio cables. No optical or DTS.. but I
stuck a couple of audio cable splitters into the RCA cable connections
and ran a long RCA cable around to my Stereo system. I can turn on the
Video input in my stereo for home-made half-baked quadio sound or whatever.
It makes more of a difference when playing audio discs in the DVD player
than with movies but it sounds a little better than just the TV speakers.

[dr_ml422]

Thnx Miles. It's much better when you know what you have is fully capable of doing, whether a pc or anything else. That way you could make the best out of it. I did the same thing w/my dell mce 2005 until I realised I really couldn't upgrade it that much anymore and how xp home was so much quicker and w/a lighter footprint. Big lesson I learned in regards to pre-builds. Then again Chewy had suggested there's only so much you could do w/a pre-build way back. That w/the suggestions on using quality media from you guys like tys and verbs, which I didn't take until recently only further proves that experience not only best teacher, but trusting the experience of more knowledgeable members is even better.

That said, I'll hook up some component cables in due time and just make the best of it. You're right my 20" only kicks 16x9 mode in when using a player. It does look a tad better.