HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

I've posted in General chat as most people have a TV and with the current push I thought people may find this useful

There is a good review of HD TV and if/why you should buy now or wait a while.

Make up your own minds after reading this

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05...yers_guide_uk/

It may also help explain some of teh terminology that you will experience.

My attention was particulary drawn by the point that if you feed HD TV signal through a conventional video/PVR you are likely to end up with worse quality than standard TV now.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

I have a HD ready tv but like it says in your article its no good until they start sending the programmes in HD, thats why sky want you to buy a HD box for £299!!.

Not only do you have to pay extra for the HD tv but then you have to pay extra to get the HD channels! So everyones a winner eh!

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Mummiboo, If you have a decent DVD player that supports progressive scan you can get a better picture by using this. Check the instructions for it.(what TV do you have?)

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Excellent article, thanks for that.

I'd already decided to hold off on getting a 'slim' HD ready TV rather than our current CRT and, to me, the article shows that I've made the right decision.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

I have a sony bravia rear projection lcd tv and i have a sony DAVSR4 surround sound DVD player.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

quick google suggests taht your DVD player doesn't do it. You can check teh manual for it.

Basher, I'm with you. My CRT can stay where it is for now. I've got a projector for big screen stuff but I'll wait a couple of years before I swap any of them

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Humm lets see now after the price i paid for that dvd player im not in a hurry to go and get another!!!! lol

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

It does all sound rather like a conspiracy by TV manufacturers and SKY to get us to fork out even more money. It alrady annoys me that I have to pay for lots of Sky channels I never watch, just to be able to get the ones I want. I did ask why I couldn't just choose the channels I wanted rather than have to pay for the different mixes they provide, but they said, quite emphatically that they don't allow this.
I don't think I will be buying HD till it is free to view.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Blimey!! sounds like its another con job of getting more money out of people

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Already got one but I didn't buy it for the HD and i'm certainly not going to pay any extra to receive it!
Reason I got it was we wanted a new TV and the place it was being put it was best for us to go for a LCD due to the size limits, we also had to get one with the speakers at the bottom and not on the side - again down to size limits, after all the searching for the right one etc the one we found was a HD one.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

That sounds like a very sensible buy.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Yeh i bought an HDtv, 37inch slim line LCD goodmans.

I thought it was cheap at £1389 with a free dvd recorder and stand. Now ive looked into HD with sky £299 for the box and a further £10 a month what a rip off i wont be purchasing that in a hurry

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Its quite typical of rip off sky, so doesn't surprise me & think that it would have to come down somewhat in price before its bought!

Give me 10yrs i might catch up with the gadgets by then tried & tested lol

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

SKY always charge a premium for 'new' services, SKY + was £200 when it was launched, 12 months down teh line its free apart from the package price

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

We got sky about 5 years ago and stayed with them since when we got sky we took out the repair plan and have paid it evey month since we got it and never used it! we still have the same old black box which dont go with our silver set up!! do you think if i rang sky they would exchange the box for a silver one?

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Personally I think extended guarantees are a rip off. I will never take one out. I'm still using my original SKY digi box which is now 7 years old. I've got a new SKY+ one as well but won't bother with repair plan on that either.

If you want a 'extended guarantee, stick the money in a savings account. the odds are heavily in your favour that if it reaches the end of its manufacturers guarantee it will be fine for years to come.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

I agree with you entirely about extended guarantees, thye really are a rip off, and if you put the same amount into a savings account, you would have more than enough to buy a new item when anything goes wrong with the orginal.
I have also had my Sky box for 7 years - at one time Sky used to keep pestering me to take out their service plan, pointing out that I would not get another sky box (+ fitting) for the same cheap price as my exssiting box. My answer to this was I would just buy a Freeview Box and then I wouldn't even have to pay the monthly subscription. I now have Freeview box for my portable (which is in the bedroom), and am finding that most of the programmes we like to watch are on freeview anyway, so I am seriously considering cancelling my sky package, which will save me £216 a year.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Unfortunately, knowing how Sky work they will want to charge you for a new set top box.

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Humm i know your right i think i will have to give them a call and see what they say!

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

If you give them a call instead of using their 0870 number (which can cost a lot of money - because they usually have you on hold for age) try the following number 0800 5875707 this is Customer enquiries - DON'T press STAR button which they ask you to do it TWICE; DON'T RESPOND & HOLD.

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Normally I'd agree, except with a amstrad sky box, mine packed up afetr 12 months, and I ended up paying 80 quid for a recon one, but it was pace not amstrad rubbish. The old amstrad boxes were well know for packing up after 13 month, the pace was a lot better, and panasonic better still.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

In ten years they'll be as cheap as chips, like everything else. The only winner will be you.
Only thing I'd like at the minute is sky plus. you can't beat a good old fasioned crt for tv or pc in my opinion.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

The only winner will be you?

Mmmm IMHO depending on benefits/costs I'd rather just wait till the cost:benefit ratio is acceptable to me e.g SKY+ at £200 plus subs itwasn't worth it, at £0 but £10/month for the extra box it is. Same with HD, at £300 I'm not bothered, when its free a free box with maybe a few quid extra a month over normal sky then I'll sign up.

I am a bit of a gadget/techie freak as most people have noticed so I probably jump earlier than most into stuff but if that what blows my frock on a cold winters night then thats up to me. :D ( Ian looks around at all the gadgets he owns and is slightly embarrassed )

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

don't most people just wait until it's acceptable to them, I know she said ten years but I'm sure that's what she meant. Acceptable to you will always be a higher price to you than me, because you use it, I hardly use it, The only thing I really do is use the pc. although I do miss sitting down with someone and watching films and drama's. Now I just watch them in here on my 25 year old black and white portable. All that technology in the other room wasted.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

my tell packed up and as I'd never owned a proper good bit of electrickery I plumped for an LG HD LCD TV. I saved a bit of money by sticking at 32" rather than the unnecessary 37".

Also I have never had a gadget when it was new so I got the HD box. The nature stuff is phenomenal and underwater programmes will never be the boring crap that they are in standard def. Films just look like a really good picture even against my existing really good picture. Anything else doesn't look that much different. Until. When you turn back to a normal programme it lloks as though the camera has fogged up slightly.

Sometimes though the HD can be too good. Everybody can be seen to be sweating under the camera lights and normally you wouldn't see this. But the clarity of things is such that the other day I was looking at a tree outside and thought "its just like watching HD"

As I never had sky+ the outlay was worth it, as far as the subscription is concerned I thought it was a tenner but the lady on the phone said the tenner is to have the old box put in another room. Last months bill was the same as previous months as well so we'll have to wait and see.

And we needed a new remote which would have cost 25 quid so really it was only 275. And we wuld have to buy new batteries so it would have been 272.50. And then they couldn't supply the box on the date they said they would so credited my account with 20 quid so really it was 252.50. And then they said if we waited until 10th July they would credit me another 20 quid and I told em to stick I want it now.

250 notes for summat new and sky+ sounds alrighty to me

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

I'm *so* tempted but I am holding off for now til price comes down and full hd ready sets are more readily available, helped by the fact NTL dont offer HD broadcasts yet and I cba switching everything over to Sky/BT/Adsl :)

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hmmm my new HD box broke down on sunday, gotta wait til wednesday for the engineer.

when we moved in the house had no aerial and I was loathe to buy one when we were having Sky put in anyway and a pound shop aerial works fine upstairs.

But it looks minging on my 32" LCD

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

I read an article in a national paper, cant remember which, either the times or guardian, in fact it was on bbc online somewhere. This journalist was telling the story of his new HD tv and sky package. He happened to live in an apartment, quite close to a pub, 2 or 3 storeys high. Anyway he sat down tuned into the england paraguay game. It was a hot day, so he opened all his windows and tuned in. a couple of minutes into the game, he hears a massive roar, stands up, goes to the window and sees people cheering in the pub, he looks at his tv and beckham scores. Apparently the pitfall of HDTV is that its delayed, don't know what the delay time is but apparently its just the way it is for the moment. An "expert" told the journalist that for now he was better keeping his windows shut!

I would love to be able to afford a HDTV and box. A sky engineer came to my house and i asked him what it was like. His said, when you watch football and see faces in the crowd, with HDTV you can see their spots!

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Mummiboo thanks for that i have been in asking about a Sky HD receiver.The price i got quoted was 700 pound as living abroad you have to buy the thing outright.So now i know that the people in Blighty are making at least 300 quid on it.Apart from that Sky charges you an extra tenner for the HD programmes and the service is not totally reliable.

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The delay is because it was on a satellite channel. The satellite is som 22,000 miles above the earth's surface. The signal has to travel 50,000 miles, this is what causes the delay compared to a terrestrial station.

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Sorry Neil you have mis understood me.Apparently Sky are having difficulties with H.D.As they did in the beginning with Sky +.When you live in England its easy as you pick up a phone.I have to go through a company which i pay for monthly.If this company has to phone Sky for any reason that costs me another 25 quid on top.The normal monthly charges are 6 pound.Like i say, at some point in time we will have to get H.D. as Sky will only broadcast H.D. programmes forcing all their customers to go H.D.They did this with Digital television.Obviously the company has too much say on the market.

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

currentlt ringing sky up to arrange an engineer to come and fix my box (3rd box in two months)

Re: HD TV, should you or shouldn't you
 

Oh dear, thats not a good strike rate.

Sounds like another reason to not bother yet