Pegasus3d.com

Jay · **Ex OSYer** Captain Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 1589

Okay so I've been trying to convince the wife that we need an HDTV ever since I got my XBOX 360. I was trying to lowball the purchase and tell her I just wanted a non-LCD non-widescreen HDTV so that we could save money. Today she says, "Why bother with that kind of HDTV? I mean if we are going to buy one, lets buy a really nice LCD widescreen one? It seems like a waste otherwise."

Oh my god. I love this woman. Of course we just found out today that we will be paying $2300 less than we originally anticipated for our 2005 taxes.... (long long story - dont ask) so that left us with $2300 of cash burning a hole in our pockets as we had set aside a reasonable amount of money for the expense.

So I went out and grabbed myself a 32" LCD widescreen Toshiba HDTV from that den of inequity, Best Buy. After buying some HD Component cables for my cable company supplied DVR, ordering HDTV service from them and buying the appropriate HD Component cables for my XBOX 360.... everything freaking rocks. Of course I found out something that annoyed me....

The cable company told me that I will not be able to watch the Super Bowl in HDTV as they don't yet rebroadcast Fox in HD. That being the case, the operator suggested that I purchase an HD Antenna and use that to tune into the game. So I've been looking at these things online and I have a few questions:

1) Are they supposed to have only coax connections? Won't that reduce the quality as it appears on the television?

2) And reccomendations on a good indoor brand of antenna?

3) Any other hints and tips?

Thanks in advance for your help. Oh and while EA may be the living and breathing antichrist when it comes to gaming... the XBOX 360 Fight Night 3 demo looks <-> this close to real on this TV. It really is so good to see that console games can finally look just as sharp and as nice as PC games Very Happy

lewis

OscarWilde · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:18 am Post subject:

Only component and HDMI/DVI will give you true HDTV signals as far as I'm aware. More importantly, your tv is designed to accept HDTV feeds from component, HDMI or DVI. I think what you get with the antenna is a degraded widescreen* version which is not what true HDTV specs are meant to be.

*By that I mean that you're still getting HDTV, but without the higher resolution and color quality of HDTV, you're just getting the widescreen aspect ratio that is part of the HDTV.
_________________
'An urban myth. Like the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa.' - Robert Rankin (Raiders of the Lost Car Park)

'Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.' - Milan Kundera (Immortality)

the twinkster · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:20 am Post subject:

What about ESPN? There are about ten million ESPN HD channels, at least up here. I mean, American football broadcast in HD is a big part of what got HD adoption rates going in North America.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

Jay · **Ex OSYer** Captain Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 1589

Jay · **Ex OSYer** Captain Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 1589

OscarWilde · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:34 am Post subject:

Sort of a, 'did you know:'
EDTV (i.e. DVD + Progressive scan) is supposed to be pretty good, so it's not always the case that you need HDTV to get impressive visual quality.

However, oddly enough, not all the components in your TV can handle progressive scan. For example, component 1 in can handle progressive scan, but component 2 in will not handle progressive scan. I've read this on line while doing research on HDTV, and it was also noted in the instruction manual for my parent's Samsung 32inch LCD HDTV they got around two months ago.
Why this is the case, I have no idea. What does the instruction manual say for your HDTV Jay?
_________________
'An urban myth. Like the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa.' - Robert Rankin (Raiders of the Lost Car Park)

'Hate traps us by binding us too tightly to our adversary.' - Milan Kundera (Immortality)

FondueDaredevil · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:18 am Post subject:

Antenna Web is your friend.
_________________
"Our products just aren't engineered for security."
- Brian Valentine, Senior VP in charge of MS Windows Development

"I call on those who question the motives of the president and his national security advisers to join with the rest of America in presenting a united front to our enemies abroad." Sen. Dick Durbin, 1998

"There's no set architecture in Linux. All roads lead to madness" - William Hilf, Microsoft homonculous

Supervillains for Linux!

lewis · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 12:47 pm Post subject:

Well, Oscar mate, the signal has to go through the air which is not really noted for ease of transmission, but it's still HD. And it's broadcast digitally so it's not really that bad, they might well squeeze up the MPEGing more than for cable feeds. I'd think you'd need an outdoor antennae though. A single pair of wires can easily carry better quality picture than three pairs if the single pair are using digital stuff. Probly not in this case though Smile

It's perfectly possible to get SD TV in widescreen BTW.

Progressive-scan the proper way needs extra chips and whatnot, so the manufacturer's aren't going to put it on everywhere unnessecarily, I guess.
_________________
"I don't think that's where their brains are." - Paul Hill

OscarWilde · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 4:25 pm Post subject:

lewis · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:22 pm Post subject:

No HD in this country either, but we have loads of digital SDTV over the air.

Be interesting to see what would happen with poor digital reception. Probably cause the MPEG decoder to shit its pants in interesting tile-based ways Smile

Wonder if it's more offensive than soft noisy picture in the same way I find MP3 more offensive than poorly-pressed vinyl.
_________________
"I don't think that's where their brains are." - Paul Hill

Jay · **Ex OSYer** Captain Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 1589

Mord · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:20 pm Post subject:

Sorry to be a bubble burster, but if I'm going to spend that much on a tv, its going to be twice the size.
_________________
Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God. - Superintendant Pang, Lashou shentan (a.k.a. Hard-Boiled)
I note that you don't have any OSY member quotes in your sig. - the twinkster
Nonsense. "Bias" is people whom don't agree with me. - FondueDaredevil

Gabe: I wish you weren't a fucking liar.
Tycho: I'm not a liar.
Gabe: Well, I wish you didn't lie.

FondueDaredevil · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:26 pm Post subject:

Jay · **Ex OSYer** Captain Joined: 09 May 2003 Posts: 1589

the twinkster · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:52 pm Post subject:

You don't even like DLP? I'm looking at something along the lines of a 42" DLP later this year. My one concern is the response time for gaming purposes -- I will not abide ghosting.
_________________
As time stretches on here at OSY Extreme, everyone will eventually have quotes in their sig from the other members. – Mord

Damn, after this and some of my other relationship salvations, I really have a huuuuge stockpile of date karma. Like stumbling into a professional dominatrix at a bookstore at the science fiction section while reaching for the same book kind of karma. -- Happysin, on Ars

DuffMan · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:05 pm Post subject:

Does your TV have an HD tuner built in? If not, you need more than just an antenna, you need a HD receiver, something like this:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Pro-Brand-HDTV-Receiver-HD3150PLUS-/sem/rpsm/oid/136560/catOid/-12889/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

If the TV does have an HD tuner, the coaxial cable will give you the HD signal you desire.
_________________
Roight.