[NOS2Go4Me]

At AnthonyD's request, the "offiical" HD thread. All HD-related discussion goes in here - sports, movies, sitcoms / TV shows, documentaries you've watched on HD or have heard about on HD.

Also, when you reply for the first time, list your provider, equipment for display, resolution watched and overall impressions - as below. I'll start. :P

Provider: Cogeco

Equipment: Acer PD-120D projector (DLP), 92" 16:9 aspect ratio manual pull-down projection screen, ceiling-mounted.

Resolutions watched: 1920x1080i for "true" HD channels, 720x480p for upconverted analogue / digital channels.

Impressions: the upconverted channels shown to me by my Motorola box are worth the $10/mo rental fee alone. My boss came over, saw the HD channels and had it on order 2 weeks later. Then he realized that the box upconverts the rest of the channels. Double SOLD!

It doesn't matter whether it's Leafs hockey, a documentary on Mars or monkeys on PBS or my favourite new guilty pleasure - Heroes on NBCHD... it's absolutely stunning. I've never had a single person leave our house without saying wow or I want one or that's amazing! - and I'm not kidding.

[darkpuppet]

Chances are pretty good that your 1080i is just being converted to something closer to 720p... t'is the nature of fixed pixel displays like Plasmas, LCDs and DLPs.

of course, it'll still look crisp, and most people wouldn't notice the difference on anything 50" or less.

While 1080p seems to be the holy grail, consider as well that it may offer higher pixel densities (that you'll only see on larger sets), but it still has to convert 1080i broadcasts to 1080p

And when you get into the whole interlaced-vs-progressive scan thing, things get even more complicated.

Because interlaced broadcasts (thank you NTSC) displays at 60 fields per second, or 30 frames per second (1 field = 1/2 the screen).. and progressive scan (thank you PAL!) is 24 frames per second. Which means you lose 5 frames/second during conversion... I wonder if fixed pixel displays would actually display 30 frames per second in progressive...

The biggest thing when buying hi def is to make sure the box you run has great upconversion or just plane good conversion/telecine deinterlacing... it'll probably make the biggest difference.

I'm still aiming for my 1080p DLP ... $3200.. almost there!

[scoobasteve]

What do you guys think of this TV...

I've been looking into

Sonys Grand Wega (non sxrd)

JVC D-ILA sets.

But i think i'm gonna settle on this set here

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-HL-S6187W-10...8&s=electronics


Pro's ? Cons ?

[meford4u]

My suggestion Steve.
Buy the best you can afford.
My Sony has never let me down over the 6 years now. And I still love the tv.
JVC makes a decent tv too.
Samsung not so much.
But buy the best you can afford.
I have to look at tv's myself in the next 18 months. First on my list is a 32" wall mount and then a 46" DLP........maybe.
Just to make puppet jealous.
And a sound system. I am starting over again. This Christmas starts the rebirth of my new system. Don't ask me what as I am just starting the hunt now. But I do have an amp, brand new in the box still waiting for the right speakers.(Harmon Cardon) And I bought it last year.

[scoobasteve]

I'm a big fan of this samsung so far... i've heard nothing but good things.

I allready walked away from a sweet deal on a toshiba 61... apparently they have bulb issues. not to mention their HDMI inputs only accept 1080i.... they upconvert to the TV's native 1080p.

I'm considering a Sony SXRD 60... but i'm not sure its worth the extra 500 usd.

[darkpuppet]

The Sony SXRD is a very nice display. Truthfully, it's very much like DLP, but I think they run 3 separate elements (something that costs an extra 15 grand for DLP technologies).. . Technically speaking, you may lose a bit of brightness, but you can gain gamut.. So you have all of the benefits of DLP, without the drawbacks of spinning colour wheels... at the expense of a bit of response time, viewing angle and possibly convergence accuracy.

Both DLP and SXRD are pretty much neck in neck... and while DLP may still have the slight dollars:performance edge, the SXRDs are very competitively priced. Go check them out side by side and see which one you like better.

Just don't be fooled by the shops that don't calibrate their sets. DLPs tend to come off brighter, but the colors border on cold, while LCDs may look duller, but warmer colour wise... it's akin to people putting blue tinted in their bulbs to make them look 'brighter'.

[NOS2Go4Me]

I love these threads... I always learn something new :)

[NefCanuck]

I'm running a Sony Grand Wega XBR 50" circa 2003. No HD content (yet) but it makes DVD's look damn sweet and does a decent job with the sketchy analogue signals (Lots of macroblocking on certain channels a result of signal compression I'm told)

My only complaint with this TV is that blacks and browns can tend to blend together causing a loss of picture clarity. I have one PS2 game (on component input yet) where the muddy browns make it almost impossible to complete the level except by feel unless I futz with the calibration like crazy :(

Steve, while that Samsung looks sweet, I'd be leery of Samsung based on anecdotal evidence regarding their reliability, including a colleague who has had to take his set in twice for warranty repairs in the 6 months he's owned it. A lemon perhaps, but I've never seen a Sony do things like that...

NefCanuck

[imack]

Provider: Rogers, 3250HD cable box

Equipment: Sharp Aquos 32" LCD, sitting where the old tube TV sat (wall mount in the box for the last year!)

Resolutions watched: 720p for all HD channels, 480p for upconverted pirate satellite and LG HDD PVR, regular cable for shows not broadcast in HD and not broadcast in letterbox.

Impressions: Almost every major U.S. network show is on in HD, and most of the Candian ones. Even Dr. Who on CBC is in true HD this year. I've had the TV for almost two years now so I'm used to watching in HD. Anything not on in HD is a bitter disappointment.

At least for my TV, 720p looks much better than 1080i, especially for shows with lots of motion like the Leafs or NASCAR (F1 is still not in HD...). If only the stupid Rogers box would remember it's settings. It regularly reverts back to 1080i on power-up.

As NOS said, anybody who comes over and sees the TV is blown away.

[meford4u]

The Sharp Aquos is the 32" that I am looking at for the bedroom. Glad to hear a great review.

[ANTHONYD]

Bloody hell.

Jen and I are in the Market for a new T.V this winter. I'm going to wait for the Futureshop / Best buy boxing day sales.

All thius info makes my head swim. Isn't choosing a new t.v. as easy as standing in front of it and comparing pictures anymore????

:puke:

[meford4u]

ANTHONYD,Nov 10 2006, 08:58 AM Wrote:Bloody hell.

Jen and I are in the Market for a new T.V this winter. I'm going to wait for the Futureshop / Best buy boxing day sales.

All thius info makes my head swim. Isn't choosing a new t.v. as easy as standing in front of it and comparing pictures anymore????

:puke:
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And that's why you shop at best buy/Future s***. You get what you pay for.

[NOS2Go4Me]

I've got a line on 1080p InFocus home theatre projectors... I'm still checking into it for sometime after Christmas, but AFAIK they're DLP and with a quick colour wheel.

If anyone wants pricing, let me know.

[NefCanuck]

ANTHONYD,Nov 10 2006, 08:58 AM Wrote:Bloody hell.

Jen and I are in the Market for a new T.V this winter. I'm going to wait for the Futureshop / Best buy boxing day sales.

All thius info makes my head swim. Isn't choosing a new t.v. as easy as standing in front of it and comparing pictures anymore????

:puke:
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That's like saying isn't buying a car as easy as going to the store for a jug of milk.

Times and technologies have advanced like crazy when it comes to TVs these days but that just means more homework to get the best bang for your buck (Or having friends who read all this stuff and actually retain the important bits :P)

Of course I know someone who is perfectly happy running Bell ExpressVu off a 27" RCA ColorTrak Stereo TV circa 1988 that I donated to them... it's all in te priorities that you set for your TV watching ;)

NefCanuck

[NefCanuck]

Well, took the plunge with Rogers and grabbed me a HDPVR, the HD channel pack & Leafs TV ($90 a month all told now up from $56)

So first hassle is the box they give me has only component outputs or an HDMI connector. Since both of my component in are in use (The PS2 & my DVD player) I have to grab an HDMI cable and the dongle that converts the HDMI output to DVI (Thank you Wally Mart :P)

Get home and unpack everything, slicing my finger on the Rogers box deep enough to draw blood Which I should have taken as an omen <_<

Get everything hooked up, first thing I notice is no sound, puzzle through that (Turns out when I was plugging things into my receiver they weren't going where I thought they were)

So after I fix that I try to acess the PVR functions and I get a cheery message saying I'm not authorized to use the PVR functions... try turning to an HD channel and get the same cheery message, then try turning the box to the "default" channels (2 - 71) same FOAD message.

Thus begins my journey to get things straightened out with Rogers tech support. First "BWAH?" moment is when they call up my file and it has a phone number attached to it that I haven't had in three years :rolleyes: After the first level tech sends a signal, the matter gets bounced to a second level tech who indicates theres some sort of "network issue" (The first one suggested that I go swap the HDPVR box as that might be the issue he says <_< )

So the second level tech says it has to get pushed further still up the chain and may take "up to two days to resolve" Let's see how long it takes before it gets fixed, my over/under says 5 days and one trip to return the HDPVR for another unit :wtf: :rolleyes:

Good thing I didn't actually buy the box...

NefCanuck

[paolo]

Not authorized is a provisioning issue with your account. Swapping the box has nothing to do with it, but a lot of retailers do this anyways because it re-pushes the settings to your box and can fix it up. But if you already had the box and got an error message, you could simply sign-in to http://www.shoprogers.com and re-authorize my digital terminal on the Rogers.com self service webpage would have probaly fixed it, not to mention, you avoid the frustration in dealing with CSR's too.

[NefCanuck]

paolo,Nov 13 2006, 09:00 PM Wrote:Not authorized is a provisioning issue with your account. Swapping the box has nothing to do with it, but a lot of retailers do this anyways because it re-pushes the settings to your box and can fix it up.  But if you already had the box and got an error message, you could simply sign-in to http://www.shoprogers.com and re-authorize my digital terminal on the Rogers.com self service webpage would have probaly fixed it, not to mention, you avoid the frustration in dealing with CSR's too.
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Would that work with a brand new digital service though? As this is my jump into the digital realm straight from analogue cable...

NefCanuck

[Kelowna_Focus]

Sexy cheap projector.

Optoma HD70.. $999.99 USD

_____________

- Supports HDTV and DTV signals, including 480i, 480p, 576i, 720p, 1080i and 1080p

- Native: 1280x720 Pixels

- Contrast Ratio 4000:1

- Inputs: S-video, component video, PC video, HDMI, composite video

- Native widescreen with 16:9 aspect ratio

- can have over 140 inch screen


Says it all

Projector Central

[NefCanuck]

The saga is over (For now)

After I came home tonight and I was still seeing jack & squat on the channels I was paying for, I gave Rogers another ring. The tech I speak to says that the ticket opened in my case as the matter was resolved... uh, not quite there sparky <_<

So the tech resends the signal and tells me to wait for an hour after shutting down the box. I thank the tech, end the call and on a lark five minutes later fire up the box and the TV.

Success!

However I notice that some of the HD channels I'm supposed to get, notablely TSN HD, ain't there, so back I go to call the tech, turns out that the CSR at the Rogers video store while correctly ordering me LeafsTV somehow left off the $5.95 HD pack that includes TSN HD. So a bit more shutting down and restarting of the magic box and voila I have everything I wanted (But at a price slightly higher than the Rogers Video CSR quoted but meh :rolleyes: )

Watched a bit of the Sabres/Sens game in HD and surfed around the other HD channels while recording something else with the PVR function as a test. Very nice 1080i output on my Sony.

One question I wonder about is why does Rogers see fit to have the HD channels in two different channel slots at the same time? :huh: It seems like the waste of a channel slot that could go to something else. That and the fact that the Music button on the Rogers remote points to a "broken" channel slot instead of the first music channel as the manual for the remote says it should...

Now all I have to do is bite the bullet and get a Harmony to replace my Sony RM-AV2100. The AV-2100 has seerved me well but its too limited to make up for the zillions of tiny function buttons that the Rogers remote has :(

NefCanuck

[paolo]

Rogers puts some HD channels on more than one channel assignment solely for the purpose of grouping channels for bundles and packages. Its not a waste of bandwith, cus theyre simply re-mapping it it doesnt take up extra space. When you tune up and down on your tv, you will notice a Range of channels is consistant with a Group or Package that Rogers offers.