hdtv OR NOT
 

I am in the market for a new lcd tv and want to know if it is worth while getting hig def tv for ntl service or will I be wasting the extra cash these panels cost.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

moved from Other Telco Discussion :confused: to NTL TV Discussion
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At the moment ntl have no public plans, at least to my knowledge for HDTV. No doubt however it's something that is being looked into for future development.

How long do you expect your TV to last? Is it worth paying out now if it's going to do you for 5-10 years and you can't use the feature for 2 years of that. However as the pace of technology advances rapidly, in our throw away society, buy non HDTV now, and buy HDTV in a few years time, when manufacturing standards will have made your still young aged TV obsolete.

Simple answer in my book. Get one, if you are likely to upgrade your DVD to watch better stuff as and when that beomces available, you might use you TV with high quality next generation games consoles or whatever where you will see the difference. Also consider whether you might swithc to SKY when they do launch HDTV if ntl don't offer it. If you aren't going to use HDTV within say 2 years, don't bother paying throuhg the nose for it now.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

They do...
But that is 12 months out. Even when HD launches it needs material to watch. It will be a while before eastenders is HD, though most movies, sport and concerts are likely to be broadcast in HD.

How big a screen are you looking at, up to about 32in I personally thing regular def TV is perfectly fine, above 42in you start noticing the resolution. That assumes the channel is broadcasting full bandwidth, channels such as E4 don't.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

Watching a DVD over component inputs that come with HDTVs is a joy - colours are so much nicer, and the picture is sharper. I would go for it. Sky HD is coming out very soon so that may be another possibility

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Which is exactly why cable are the best bet for HDTV. With VOD, they don't have to wait for broadcasters to update their equipment in order to offer HD programming.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

Why is cable the best bet? Its the same deal - at first, NTL will only be able to show the VOD movies in hidef, and if sky are feeling happy, possibly sky sports / movies. Sky will have its box office channels in HiDef + sports and sky movies channels. Same deal really.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

My 5 yr old Panasonic flat glass 32 in widescreen is a joy to watch with the RGB component source from DVD, and pretty impressive when watching the STB also.

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If you're gonna buy either the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation3, there's a good case for buying an HDTV set now instead of waiting. I'm guessing Sony will also be pushing hi-def Blu-ray movies shortly after the PS3 launch.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

No.

NTL can negotiate with rights-holders directly for VOD content. So, for example, there's no reason that they couldn't have an entire series of Desperate Housewives (in HD) on their VOD service, regardless of what E4 were doing. See HBO's VOD service in the States to see what I mean.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

Hi Johnty

I bought a 27" Toshiba HD ready flat screen about 3 months ago and am very impressed. One or two issues (which I've posted on here a few times)

The smearing on the picture at times is a pain. Don't know if it's the ntl STB (Samsung BTW), the SCART leads or the TV on DVD it is really good

Watched the newly released Star Wars the other night and it looks the biz. Mine is HD ready I've checked the spec on it.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

Is it HD resolution though? Seems to be a marketing thing at the mo, sold HD ready in that it can input an HD signal, but has to drop information from the image to display it.

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As i said before - if you use the HDTV inputs (i.e. component), you get much better colour.

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I'm pretty sure that in order to use the "HD Ready" logo a TV has to have a minimum resolution of 1280x720.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

personaly i wouldnt bother for tv if your getting get it for playing dvds as they start to come on the market

i have widescrean tv and honsetly wish we had space for a normal one for tv still as all it does is switch formats unless you force wide screen or 4:3 then put up with stretched or squashed pictures depending weather the station bothers to broadcast it properly

plus all these lcd tv will be much faster better colour ect in a few years as better screens come online

save the cash and wacth them proper size at the flicks for now

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

I currently have a big-ass 32" Toshiba and am getting rid. Got a Sharp 32" LCD HD ready coming Wednesday. Got a nice picture on the Tosh don't get me wrong, but since the TV was installed we haven't really been able to move it :erm: We clean "around it". Last time I tried to move it I nearly put my back out. :p:

The Sharp apparently is a very good set and has been mentioned above, has an excellent picture from both SKY and component inputs.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

What is the difference betweeh HDTV component inputs and RGB component inputs? Serious question - not looking to change my TV so not looked into this HDTV stuff.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

Have you checked out some of the DRM stuff that Hollywood and the other pirates are wanting to have built into new systems.

Essentially there is a return path back through all components showing that all the kit is kosher. The playback kit will have a live internet link to maintain a blacklist. If some part of your kit is blacklisted, hacked or doesn't reply properly then playback will be blocked or degraded.

So now you have to ask if kit bought now will have this built in and what will happen in the future if Hollywood get their way. Will that nice HD telly still work?

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

Since they are both 3-signal systems, in principle they should give the same quality of colour signal. RGB has the three primary colours Red, Green, Blue as separate signals; Component has Y, Pb, Pr as separate signals, where Y is the monochrome luminance level, Pb is the difference between Y and Blue, Pr is the difference between Y and Red, and the Green signal is reconstituted from what is left of Y after Pb and Pr have been subtracted.

TV colour signals are professionally recorded, and distributed in Component form. For digital TV and DVDs, the video signal is digitally encoded in Component form. The signal is only re-mixed to RGB for the final hop to the consumer device, and then mostly only in Europe, where the SCART socket was defined to use RGB. In North America, RGB is unheard of, and all consumer connections are in Component (YPbPr) form.

As I said, since they are both 3-signal systems, in ideal conditions they should both give the same quality of colour TV signal. The big difference between them is that the Standards documents for analogue HDTV (576p, 720i/p, 1080i/p) were written only in the context of Component transmission, so only Component connections will carry HDTV. Any RGB connection is likely to work only in standard definition 576i format, because the analogue HDTV format was not defined over RGB connections.

Standard Component connections (YPbPr) are analogue signals, as are RGB, and so do not enforce Digital Rights Management.

As we move towards digital HDTV, it is likely that the HDMI connector (carrying digital video and digital audio) will become more dominant. The HDMI connections are capable of enforcing DRM (i.e. allowing a consurmer to view but not to copy).

HDTV source devices with HDMI output connectors might then "enforce" DRM on analogue outputs simply by downsampling to 576i for analogue outputs, putting the HDTV signal only on HDMI. This will leave the analogue Component output no better than an RGB output is now.

It is reported that the first generation of Sky HD boxes will supply HDTV on both analogue Component output and digital HDMI outputs. This will not last long, and one can imagine that Sky will make a transition to HDMI-only to protect the rights of their HDTV programme sources.

So if you are looking now for an "HDTV-ready" TV, the real test is to look for HDMI-inputs, as the Component inputs are likely to have a limited lifetime of usability for HDTV purposes.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

So Component is a SVideo, SVHS signal (the 4(or is it 6) pin cable) I use to connect my camcorder to the TV?
RGB is as you say a different approach of achieving the same thing.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

Well put, if you're in the market for HDTV ensure the set has the HDMI capability, price alone should not be the sole issue, thinking you have bought a bargain could turn out the opposite, check around the back of the set.
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Scart : connect dvd players, recorders, and digital stb's to receivers/tv's

S-VIDEO :if there is no scart on your dvd player, s-video is a reasonable alternative.

Component : component is better than scart, but you need a screen with component inputs.

Coaxial digital: For digital sound from dvd player to amp.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

SCART is an interface plug,
not a transmission standard method, you can transmit RGB, S-Video, Component down it. S-Video - from Wiki
The luminance (Y) signal and modulated chrominance (C) subcarrier information are carried on separate synchronized signal/ground pairs. Because of this, S-Video is also considered a component signal.

In composite video, the luminance signal is low-pass filtered to prevent crosstalk between high-frequency luminance information and the color subcarrier. S-Video, however, separates the two, so low-pass filtering is not necessary. This increases bandwidth for the luminance information, and also subdues the color crosstalk problem.

The luminance performance of S-Video is noticeably better than composite video; the chrominance performance with reduced crosstalk also shows noticeable improvement.

also from WIKI

RGB is a type of component video signal used in the video electronics industry. It consists of three signals - red, green and blue - carried on three separate cables. Extra cables are sometimes needed to carry synchronising signals. RGB signal formats are often based on modified versions of the RS-170 and RS-343 standards for monochrome video. This type of video signal is widely used in Europe since it is the best quality signal that can be carried on the standard SCART connector. Outside Europe, RGB is not very popular as a video signal format †“ S-Video takes that spot in most non-European regions. However, almost all computer monitors around the world use RGB.

Again Component is not better than Scart, Componenet is a method of transmission, as is SCART, you can transmit a component signal down a scart lead (indeed an RGB on a scart is a transmission of a component signal on a scart lead), there is an alternate scart wiring that allows SVideo down a scart lead.

So
SCART, Component Cables are transmision methods, as is Digital audio on Optical or Cable.

RGB, SVideo, Composite, Digital (audio)are all transmission standards.

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

No, S-Video is a two-signal system, whereas Component is three-signal. In S-Video, the signals are Y (Luminance), and C (Chrominance). The C signal is a colour sub-carrier modulated in quadrature by the Pr and Pb signals. This involves some degradation of the colour signals, usually a loss of bandwidth and therefore loss of resolution of fine detail in colour. You can roughly rank the quality of the transmission systems as follows, from best to worst:

1. Component (3-wire)
2. RGB (almost as good as Component) (3-wire)
3. S-Video (2-wire)
4. Composite (1-wire)
5. RF antenna (RF carrier modulated by Composite).

Re: hdtv OR NOT
 

Dont want to get into a slanging game but component is a better alternative to use than a scart lead, aslong as you have a screen with component inputs.
For information on whats best for your needs, get hold of a home cinema magazine which goes into detail about each lead, which is all I did.
Best wishes ;)