High Definition television

[Alan Hammond]

My present T.V is knocking on a bit and being a 32"er it is a bit of a massive beasty that weighs about as much as a small car. So I have been looking at the latest slim line plasma T.Vs that can receive the new high definition broadcasts. They sound really good and as the world cup is going to be broadcast in HD I looked into it a bit further. I am with Telewest and to receive their HD broadcasts it will cost me ten pounds a month for a new receiver box. Plus fifty pounds to have it installed. Sky was even worse. They charge four hundred pounds for the box and a monthly insurance premium on top. Something which the retailers of these sets are a bit coy about telling you.

But it is still under consideration as the present set is getting past its sell by date. I was wondering if anybody has had any experience of HD? and is it worth the extra money yet?

Edited May 15, 2006 by Alan Hammond

[Alan Stubbs]

My present T.V is knocking on a bit and being a 32"er it is a bit of a massive beasty that weighs about as much as a small car. So I have been looking at the latest slim line plasma T.Vs that can receive the new high definition broadcasts. They sound really good and as the world cup is going to be broadcast in HD I looked into it a bit further. I am with Telewest and to receive their HD broadcasts it will cost me ten pounds a month for a new receiver box. Plus fifty pounds to have it installed. Sky was even worse. They charge four hundred pounds for the box and a monthly insurance premium on top. Something which the retailers of these sets are a bit coy about telling you.

But it is still under consideration as the present set is getting past its sell by date. I was wondering if anybody has had any experience of HD? and is it worth the extra money yet?

 

 

At present HDTV isn't worth paying the premium....

 

Nobody is regularly broadcasting in HD - one or two trial broadcasts is all at present.

 

Moreover, at present HDTV is based upon a compression protocol, which means that there is an in-built delay in processing the image. What results is a greater clarity of the imperfections in the image you'd get from a digital image, and even worse from an analogue image.

 

Personally, I'd wait until the prices start to plummet - they will.

Edited May 15, 2006 by Alan Stubbs

[Ken L]

I agree that the prices are OTT at the moment but if you want to see what HDTV can deliver, pop into your local Dixons, most of their stors have ongoing demos.

[Paul_D]

If you're referring to the TVDrive box from Telewest, then that product on its own is worth getting at that price. I've had one installed and it's basically made my HD equipped DVD recorder redundant. It has three separate tuners incorporated i.e. you can record two separate cable channels on its 80Gb HD and watch a third. It really is good and, of course, you can hook it up to your HD TV when you get one.

 

Sorry, I think it's actually a 160GB Hard Disk allowing up to 80 hours recording.

Edited May 15, 2006 by Paul_D

[argyll]

Definitely worth waiting. The picture is an improvement but not enough to get too excited about and as already mentioned, there are not too many choices of channels at present. As with all technology, its worth waiting until the prices tumble. Anyone want to buy a record player, I'm going over to cassettes

[DavyR]

Anyone want to buy a record player, I'm going over to cassettes

 

Only if it plays 78s.

[Alan Stubbs]

If you're referring to the TVDrive box from Telewest, then that product on its own is worth getting at that price. I've had one installed and it's basically made my HD equipped DVD recorder redundant. It has three separate tuners incorporated i.e. you can record two separate cable channels on its 80Gb HD and watch a third. It really is good and, of course, you can hook it up to your HD TV when you get one.

 

Sorry, I think it's actually a 160GB Hard Disk allowing up to 80 hours recording.

 

 

Paul, the TVDrive box isn't HD television device per se. It merely records a digital image, but that isn't HDTV.

Telewaste have, over the last couple of years, slightly reduced the resolution of their image to copmpensate for the bandwidth requirements of the extra channels and the additional broadband capacity they offered from the middle of last year. The result is a poorer quality picture than you would have got, say, 12 months ago.

[Paul_D]

Paul, the TVDrive box isn't HD television device per se. It merely records a digital image, but that isn't HDTV.

 

I appreciate that Alan. I think I may have added some confusion when I referred to my HD equipped DVD recorder, by that I meant it had a hard drive. What I'm saying is TVDrive is a good product to rent at that price now and you could set it up already today (if you had a HD compatible TV) to view the various test programmes being broadcast currently on Teleport and, of course, the upcoming World Cup etc, via either Scart or HDMI.

[Alan Stubbs]

I appreciate that Alan. I think I may have added some confusion when I referred to my HD equipped DVD recorder, by that I meant it had a hard drive. What I'm saying is TVDrive is a good product to rent at that price now and you could set it up already today (if you had a HD compatible TV) to view the various test programmes being broadcast currently on Teleport and, of course, the upcoming World Cup etc, via either Scart or HDMI.

 

Now that DOES make a lot of sense.

 

Telewaste's TVDrive is a great idea, and IMO better than Sky+ - it's more flexible for a start, and has a larger storage capacity.

 

It's interesting to note that such is NTL's faith in the platofrm that they've opted to retain Telewaste's system rather than their own.

[Cranfield]

Finding myself in a very similar position with the old TV on its last legs and needing replacing, I thought it would be foolish to invest in a new TV, that wasn't HD ready.

 

I did quite a bit of research, listened to recommendations and finally homed in on two possible Makes and Models, apart from the tech specs, I wanted a black frame, not silver (that cut the options down tremendously).

 

I finally purchased a 27" TFT flat screen (windows and lights no longer reflect on the screen ).

Whilst price comparing, I was surprised to find Play.com was the cheapest for model I had chosen ( £247 cheaper than Currys Online).

 

Sky come the week after next to instal the box and I will enjoy the World Cup in HD.

Edited May 15, 2006 by Cranfield