HD TV...

[Bigmack]

I had a brainstorm today.

All of us are supposed to switch over to Hi-Def television within a few years. Why do we viewers have to cough up thousands for getting HDTV's?

Everybody knows TV programs... cable or broadcast ... exist for the total purpose of filling the time between advertisements.

How come I have to pay for the machine that's going to deliver ads and programs to me so that I can buy products? Plain old Lo-Def will work fine for all the buying I do.

[meisje]

1. You don't, turn the TV off

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Not to disagree with your point

but once you've watched baseball basketball or football in hd you are not going to be happy with lodef.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. You won't have to cough up megabucks, right?

I admit that I'm not following this closely, but won't you be able to buy a converter box that allows you to use an old set with the new signals? Further, with the cost of consumer electronics dropping steadily, they couldn't cost too much.

[Rosco T.]

8. Correct. There is a BOATLOAD of misinformation going around abou this...

1) HIGH DEF is not the same as DIGITAL TV.

2) the conversion is to DIGITAL SIGNALS

3) converter boxes are available now to get the Digital Signals for < $70. As the deadline approaches, they will get cheaper and cheaper (if not outright free when subsidized by local stations).

4) you can buy DIGITAL TV's NOW. I saw a 27" Philips yesterday with both ANALOG and ATSC (DIGITAL) tuners for $230.

5) all converter boxes and DIGITAL TV's will DOWNCONVERT the HI-DEF signals to 'standard def' (see the 27" tv above).

6) you WILL have a better clearer picture, free of ghosts, static and all that ilk.

If you don't want full Hi-Def, you can get a standard Digital TV. If you don't want a new TV, get a converter.

[high density]

11. ghosts & static vs. compression artifacts

With the current encoders deployed at many of my local stations, I prefer a bit of analog distortion instead of the blocking and other digital artifacts. Granted the picture is very good 98-99% of the time, but the rest of the time it's a huge mess of compression artifacts. Hopefully that will change, but with weather radar and infomercial subchannels either implemented or on the horizon, I doubt it's going to get much better unless there's a breakthrough in MPEG2 encoding.

[MikeDuffy]

12. Do you have link(s) for 3) ?

I have never been able to locate any for sale when I have casually browsed for same...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

14. "HIGH DEF is not the same as DIGITAL TV."

Shows how much I know: I hadn't even made that distinction. Thanks for the info.

You can tell I won't be standing in line the morning after Thanksgiving to buy one.

[high density]

4. You don't need HDTV

You will need a digital converter box for over the air singals. If you have cable or satellite, this might not even effect you at all. Not all digital content is going to be "high definition," either. A lot of content will still be broadcast at 480 lines of resolution, which is about what analog broadcast TV is.

[Roland99]

7. Right. There's a difference between DTV and HDTV.

The mandate is go to DTV. HDTV is just a better resolution.

Many TVs can be bought now for $500 or less that offer DTV capability (EDTV is 480 lines of resolution and actually looks pretty decent)

[Rosco T.]

9. See above msg, 27" Digital set for $230'ish.

not widescreen, will LBX the widescreen signals.

[Roland99]

10. I managed a SWEET DEAL! 30" 16:9 Samsung HDTV With Tuner! $299!

:D :D

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. It's not as bad as you think. I've had it for years now and try not

to watch lo-def whenever possible. All the locals here in 'lil 'ol Alabamer broadcast in high def with twice the channels they had before (PB x2!) and as soon as the Sat catches up, I'll be happy.

[Deja Q]

6. If TV is your life, you will have to upgrade. It will be compulsory.

Some of us don't have the ability to socialize like others can.

[Placebo]

13. I'm waiting a couple more years...

until HDTV is cheaper and a bit more "mainstream".

Can't wait to watch the presidential debates in HD though! :D