HDTV enabled :D
 

Lookie here, the comparison between regular TV and HDTV:

http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/hdtv1a.jpg

http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/hdtv1b.jpg




http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/hdtv2a.jpg

http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/hdtv2b.jpg




On a Radeon:

http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/hdtv.jpg



I love my HDTV-enabled computer. If you're thinking of making the move, DO IT@ :)

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Is that rugby they're playing :D

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Impressive. But how exactly do you recieve HDTV in the UK - how much content is available and from where?

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Here are some screenshots at 720p, not shrunk this time:

http://www.wilcoxhs.org/albums/album42/0324_151110.jpg (Oscar night --ABC)

http://www.wilcoxhs.org/albums/album42/0324_150159.jpg (Monsters, Inc. --ABC)

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Yeah, nice isn't it?
The reality is though, that the UK will take years to move to HDTV broadcasts - even fast internet access is taking ages to become widely available.

The 40" TFT TV I'm buying in April/May when I've finished selling a house has a native resolution of 1280x768 so will look quite nice when playing DVDs or games via the Radeon AIW 9800 Pro.
More details here and here.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

I don't believe you can. The Government offered to legislate to give the industry the chance to move over to HDTV at the same time as the move to digital/analogue switch-off, and the industry said it didn't want the expense of doing it all at once.

Given that they seem to want to get digital sorted first, and then concentrate on HDTV later, I suppose we could easily be waiting another 5 years before anyone starts transmitting HDTV in the UK.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

The normal TV grabs you've posted are 4:3 stretched to 16:9.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Fair point, but I can't see this having any influence on domestic TV services in the UK - they claim to be offering a service to all European hosueholds in one breath, but with the next they reveal they're actually interested in events broadcasting and supply of HDTV content to public locations like hotels and bars.

We won't see any significant HDTV take-up in this country until our established service providers choose to broadcast it, and from what I understand about their reasoning for not doing it already, we have a while to wait. :(

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Don`t forget to take into account that PAL non-HDTV transmissions are already at a higher resolution than NTSC ones.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

The new Xbox is supposed to support HDTV output, that'll be reason enough for me to invest in some HDTV equipment, not overly bothered about the lack of content on view atm, no doubt if it is introduced various suppliers will whack a hefty premium on it.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

625 lines for PAL, 500-and-something for NTSC if I remember rightly (NTSC known in the industry as Not The Same Color, due to its infamously muddy pictures - I can well appreciate why North America is so keen to ditch it asap. And to think the BBC actually did early colour TV trials using NTSC! :disturbd: )

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Heh, I thought it was "Never Twice the Same Colour" :D

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

On a technical front, I`m not sure that there is much that is television related that the BBC haven`t had some involvement with. ;)

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

The XBox already supports HDTV if you use the correct cables to connect via component video. I`m not sure if the functionality is present in PAL XBoxes given the paucity of displays in this country that will accept a component input. That said, the games do need to support HDTV explicitly, so it is not an across the board solution.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

About time too, consoles seem to be stuck in a VGA resolution these days.

512 I think.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Xbox does indeed support hdtv, though the games need to as well and not many of them are. As for connections you need the high definition pack for it. Which has 3 extra video cables for hdtv Y, Cb and Cr.
I think the idea is that everyone will adopt the hdtv standard which would mean we could use everyone elses tech that already exists with power adapters.

As for non hdtv standards pal digital is 760x576, and ntsc digital is 640x480.
As long as data rates are kept high pal digtal tv (pdtv) is good. Though sky seems to be heavily skrimping on data rate and those images you've posted clearly show what happens if you dont supply enough data.
pdtv works best at ~5mbit/s where as hdtv needs ~20mbit/s when using mpeg-2. i've heard that one hdtv channel takes up the space of 7ntsc channels which would mean ntsc rates are rather low at ~3mbit/s

Though this brings up another issue, why stick with mpeg-2, the derivatives of mpeg-4 are far superior when it comes down to quality at reduced data rate. HDTV will require completly new standalone hardware (bout a p4 2.4Ghz and recent video card) is needid to be able to play it on a computer) it is quite feasible in that shift to higer resolution to make the shift to different compression as well.

That way a hdtv chan could take up as little as 10mbit/s or twice the space of a good pal one.

I can see why the gov wanted them todo it at the same time as analogue switch off as that free's up massive amounts of terrestrial bandwidth.
We can but hope

K

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Hmm...was just reading this page.
Check out the system requirements:
:eek:

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

I beleive that PAL XBoxes support progressive scan, but not 'true' hi-res HDTV output.

However, there are very few games which take advantage of hiher resolutions, so you're probably not missing anything.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Terrific. More black space when watching a movie. Not to mention it runs at an eeky 50 Hz and 25 fps. No thanks.

Today's Xbox has a component you can buy for $20 that will allow you to get HD output.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/h...tionavpack.htm

I haven't tried to plug my sister's Xbox in yet, but I will in the near future.

525... I don't actually know what you mean by the infamous muddy picture. You probably had old equipment. Today's equipment works just fine. Quite frankly, I prefer the 60 Hz over the 50, and less black space when viewing movies. *shrug*

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

You wouldn't - you had nothing to compare it with. If you watch a programme originally recorded on videotape in 625-line PAL on a 625-line PAL TV in the UK, and then you watch an imported American programme recorded in 525-line NTSC videotape, there is a noticeable drop in picture quality. It's inevitable - an NTSC TV picture has 15-20% less information in it than a PAL picture does.

However, if you watched an imported UK TV show recorded in PAL but broadcast in NTSC, I don't believe you would be able to take advantage of the additional picture resolution, because your TV networks are only geared up to transmit 525 lines of picture information.

This is nothing to do with 'old equipment' - my 2-year-old Sony widescreen TV exposes the yawning quality gap between PAL and NTSC just as well today as my old Decca set did 20 years ago. Any imported US TV show made available to UK TV networks on videotape rather than on film shows this phenomenon off admirably.

EDIT: The National Center for Supercomputing Applications notes on its website that the PAL method results in 'more stable and consistent hue' in colour TV pictures. If PAL is noted for consistent colour, it follows that those who use it would berate NTSC for being 'Not The Same Colour' or 'Never Twice the Same Colour'.

http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SCMS/tr...tails/pal.html
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SCMS/tr...standards.html

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

It's only that way because of the electric supply frequency you know...

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

I've lived for half my life in countries that used PAL. We have a PAL television and video player. I have everything I need to compare it with.

That is true, however, the effect, while it is noticable, isn't that great.

Thats unfortunate, but it doesn't really bother me. Less than < 0.5% of what I watch is originally PAL.

We were talking about muddy picture quality. I don't experience muddy picture quality. Nor have I seen that on any of the TVs I've used over here.

More consistent does not imply that NTSC is never the same color. It is just a gross exaggeration. I don't actually recall ever going "wow, she wears a different color shirt now!"

EDIT: Why? Because all TVs come with a hue adjustor that will fix it. That eliminates the "muddy" picture thing.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

I know, but still, I get major headaches when my monitor is at 60 Hz. 60 Hz is pathetic enough, but 50 has got to be a real killer. On the bright side, it will force you to watch less television...

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

A TV set is not the same a PC monitor though.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Relative to PAL, that is. I don't experience grainy low-resolution images on my current TV, but when we (finally) get HDTV over here, I'll look back at my old PAL set and wonder how I ever enjoyed it.

Of course 'Never Twice the Same Colour' is a gross exaggeration, but we're just making idle conversation in a forum, not writing a dictionary. ;)

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

I'm not experiencing "grainy" television either...

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

:banghead: ;)

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Back to the topic. HDTV is definitely getting to be more mainstream.

- Over 50% of TV shows are broadcast in HDTV
- All of CBS' primetime shows are in HDTV
- All of ABC's primetime shows are in HDTV
- NBC has begun HDTV rollout
- FOX has committed to HDTV programming



I get the following specialty HDTV enabled channels:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/04/2.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/04/3.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/04/4.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/04/5.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/04/6.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/04/7.gif https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/04/8.gif



and of course, 5 regular porn channels plus one in HD: (so you don't miss the details...)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2004/04/9.gif



Lots of primetime shows are now in HDTV, such as this Enterprise episode. Look at the CityTV HD icon in the bottom right.

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

In America.

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Well, no, in Canada too...

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

To be fair, for the couple of hours tv I watch a week I really don't think I'd notice the difference. Our telly is clear enough, after all who wants to be able to see the spots on the actors faces through their make-up?? :erm:

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

But films are made to play back at 24 fps. PAL is only 1 fps faster than that. NTSC plays at 29.97, so PAL is closer to the original. As a side note, this is why films on Region 2 DVD often have a different length to Region 1 DVDs (R1 is played back slightly faster).

Jerrek, have you ever seen any PAL 60 stuff (some TVs can display PAL at 60Hz)?

Re: HDTV enabled :D
 

Most new TVs can do PAL60, its how NTSC is played back on a PAL TV.

Good point about the FPS. Also these days many TVs are 100Hz (does that make them 120Hz in the US) so flicker free.