How do I know if HD is working?
 

I had the V+ installed 3 weeks ago with SD TV, and I then purchased a HD TV last week, but I can't see any difference between SD and HD broadcasts.

The V+ and TV are connected via HDMI cable (scart cable removed)
Changed the output on the V+ to HDEF (tried both 720p & 1080i)
V+ front displays HDTV

How can I tell if my V+ box or TV is faulty?

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

I'm going to take a stab that neither is faulty. What size TV do you have and how far away do you sit?

And are you sure the programmes you are watching are native HD, not upscaled? Try the HD On Demand.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

The TV is 22in. and we sit around 7 feet away.

I flicked between Doctor Who on BBC1 and BBC HD, I'm assuming this was proper HD.
However haven't tried any HD on Demand - Will try later.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

It would be far harder to notice the difference on a 22in TV, if you had a 37in you would see the difference is like night and day. Also sitting 7ft away is a very very long way away for such a small screen, so it's not surprising you can't see the difference.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

Makes no difference even if you are much closer to the TV.
I would expect to at least some difference between SD and HD.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

It's down to the screen size, for example if you press the HOME button for the guide on the V+ it puts up a tiny picture of whats on TV, now on my 40in Sony that picture looks fantastic on SD compared to what the full size 40in picture looks like.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

So if you need a very large screen to see the difference, why sell TV's with HD that are less than 40in?
It's like a car have a sixth gear, but going no faster than 5th gear?

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

have you set the output correctly on the tv ? , cycle through av1,av2 etc till you get to hdmi, some tv's do not automatically go to it , only thing i can think of , you would still notice the difference on a 22"tv

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

Probably a sales gimmick but your TV can probably be used as a PC monitor too which would be in HD.

What you have to remember is that with the V+ the SD picture is upscaled so that will make it look closer to HD too and the screen size again will make it hard to notice the difference.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

Yes, HDMI is selected and have removed the scart cable from the V+ and TV


Didn't know that SD is upscaled, so probably explains why picture doesn't look too different. However have noticed the picture is brighter than using the scart cable on SD.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

HD is a tad over rated in my humble opinion. The V+ box does an excellent job of upscaling SD.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

I have often asked myself the same question on this, I have a 32in HD tv, and l cannot tell the difference either, l have been to Comet and Curry's and have seen it there, and you can tell the difference, BUT you can't at home, maybe there is a tech problem with Vm, we don't do we.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

The difference you see in Comet and Currys is always SD over composite, vs HD over HDMI. There is a WORLD of difference between them, composite is extremely noisey.

At home you're seeing upscaled SD over HDMI, vs HD over HDMI, which isn't noisey, and as such there's a much smaller difference.

Even SD over RGB scart on a TV with a decent upscaler isn't really that much of a difference.

Essentially the store demonstrations show you absolute worst case against absolute best case.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

Do you have the make and model number to hand? As far as I know there are very few 22" full HD (1080p) TV's out there.

The problem these days is every TV seems to say HD ready on the box but this terminology is too vague

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

When you get a new hd / hd ready tv and you get it home it says store demo / home viewing when you set up the tv and that is why you notice the difference on the tv !

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

You're not going to see much difference on such a small screen size. HD in my opinion is only for the benefit of large screen displays. You'll clearly see when watching HD content on a screen 32" and above. The screen you using will have a sharp picture displayed on it but so does my old 14" CRT portable when hooked up to my analogue areal connection.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

There's a simple reason for that. When showing displays for comparison, some electrical stores deliberately set up the standard def display to look bad. Remember, they are trying to sell you an HD display. They aren't going to sell many if the difference between HD and SD is not that obvious.

Don't believe me? I have seen it done (when you are next in Currys, check the wiring on the back of the sets), and can offer this as evidence..

---------- Post added at 23:48 ---------- Previous post was at 23:26 ----------

If it helps, the BBC have published instructions on how to access and use their HD test card..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcintern...rom_the_h.html

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

Well you are not on your own with your opinion. Either HD is well overrated or VM HD is crap, but I see no difference in HD and standard scart at all.

Re: How do I know if HD is working?
 

I think the biggest solution would be for someone on this forum who has SkyHD and to judge it with VMHD.

I have seen the difference in shops etc, but when l have watched HD on ESPN via VM, and be quite honest, l cannot tell the difference, although the HD picture is supposed to be much clearer.