Hd Tv

[shatto]

I'm going to buy a HDTV.
I have cable, and the programs are HD and analog.
I will not be upgrading to the 'High-Def' programming.

So...
Is 1080p or 720p best, for someone who wants to buy the least equipment?
Sort of along the lines of take out of the box, plug it in and watch TV.

[JanGeo]

1080p means the the number of pixels and P for Progressive scan verses I for Interlaced scan like the old TV standard that put half the picture up in 1/60th of a second (odd lines) and the other half in the next 1/60th of a second (even lines) of the 525 line image.

You can only probably get a 1080p TV anyway but try to get the ATSC tuner and maybe a cable tuner second input so you can get over the air stations and cable that may be in high def. Not much point in watching low def cable on a High Def TV except for the energy savings it looks louzzzzy. Once you see HiDef you will not want to go back.

[theholycow]

Can you see hi-def?

It seems that plenty of people work hard and spend a lot of money trying to get the best resolution possible who can't see the damn thing whether it's hi-def or not because of poor eyesight.

[shatto]

So.....I did it. I bought a Vizio VA320M 32" 1080p HDTV for about $340 from Costco.

And.......I still have no idea of how to tune the darn thing.

If it is left on the 'default' factory settings the picture is too red and dark. I can't adjust away the pasty-waxy look of peoples faces.

It only took all afternoon to stumble on how to make the friggin DVD player show anything and, when I follow the directions for setting the picture using the DVD picture, the live TV picture is worse.

It's tuner is neat. I've found a mess of high def stations my old TV couldn't pick up and I'm getting free, until I'm found out and they block them.

The HD lead-in video of Vancouver and vicinity are stunning and seem perfect. Then Al Michaels and Bob Costas come on, looking like they have 1st degree sunburns.

I sure could use some help before I lose it and put a boot through the screen.

[theholycow]

Was your previous TV a CRT? There are some differences, it seems, in how LCD/plasma HDTVs look compared to CRTs and you may get used to some of it with time. I've observed the sunburn effect, and also a green skin effect, on many such TVs.

Are you able to see the same channels at the store display model? If so, try to compare.

You probably aren't getting HD channels surreptitiously. Most cable services now come with a plethora of free HD channels. So, don't worry...you'll keep your HD channels.

[JanGeo]

There should be a setting for cable or Over the air tuners and you have to select which one you are using - apparently the channel frequencies are a little bit different for each and will give you bad reception if you are not using the correct one. Mine actually has some fine tuning in it also. You should also have some settings for the color adjustment and you want to set them to normal levels especially the color setting sounds like it may be cranked up all the way saturating the colors.

[shatto]

I called Astound, my cable provider, and told him I was planning getting a HDTV and asked if I would need to buy equipment and the technician told me plugging the cable into the set works fine and I'll get a mess of HD channels.

Well, I do get a mess, around 100, and many are HD and there duplicates. And, the the larger the number the clearer the picture. I watched 'Castle' and the picture quality and color was fantastic. Perfect. Then I changed to Vancouver on the highest number of the four NBC channels, and the skin tones, in studio, were crap.

[Mayhim]

Don't forget to read and re-read and re-re-read the instruction manual. They can be very helpful.

Our plasma TV is the best thing since sliced bread. There was a short time between getting the TV to the house and running on standard cable and getting digital cable. Regular cable sucked and digital cable is awesome on the 50" set.

It took a while to get it all figured out, and now I couldn't tell you what I did to get it right. If anything went wrong I'd have to go back and figure it all out again. Still, it's worth the aggravation.

When the camera takes a closeup of a pitcher getting ready to throw a pitch you can almost count the whiskers on his scruffy chin. The blades of grass on the field are beautiful and clean. The chearleaders are twice as pretty.

I'll never go back from HDTV without a gun to my head (or checkbook.)

[JanGeo]

Check to make sure you have the color adjustments on automatic - and sometimes the cable company may have an issue with the filters in the cable signals for certain channels... Digital TV usually gets the colors perfect unless your TV set is on manual color balance - there still are Hue Saturation and Balance adjustments in digital TVs so check your color settings again. I have a friend with a Sharp HDTV and it had the contrast set WAY TOO HIGH and it was hard to view (black blacks and blown out whites) until I cranked it down.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

So far, I've resisted getting an HDTV. I DON'T want to see the pitcher's nose hairs!