Converting High-def to low-def, does it work

[mm]

Converting High-def to low-def, does it work?

I live alone, and I had planned, rather than buy several high def tv's
in 2009, to buy one converter which I will put where my VCR is, and
use it to pipe low-def signals to all the tv's in the house.**

I have been told that the converters which will be offered for sale in
2009 will output low-def tv signals that are not as good as what we
have today, that the picture will look worse than it does now, or that
it won't fill the screen, or both, or worse.

Can you fill me in on the facts?

Thanks.


**(I do that now with video tapes or VCR tuner output. I have a
couple amplifiers, basically for every second splitter in a row, I
have an amplifier, and everything works fine)

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[T o d d P a t t i s t]

I live alone, and I had planned, rather than buy several high def tv's
in 2009, to buy one converter which I will put where my VCR is, and
use it to pipe low-def signals to all the tv's in the house.**

A converter is a tuner and only tunes one channel at a time.
Your idea would work in theory, but you'd only get one
channel converted at a time (no multiple TVs/VCRs watching
different channels) and you'd need some way to control it
remotely so you could change channels. It doesn't sound
very practical to me - the remote control setup would
probably cost as much as multiple tuners.

I suggest you wait until 2009. The switchover date may get
pushed back again, and if not, you don't want to buy until
everyone is buying and the price drops due to the mass
production and volume sales. IIRC, the government will be
providing some subsidies for these converters.

 

[mm]

A converter is a tuner and only tunes one channel at a time.
Your idea would work in theory, but you'd only get one
channel converted at a time (no multiple TVs/VCRs watching
different channels) and you'd need some way to control it
remotely so you could change channels. It doesn't sound
very practical to me - the remote control setup would
probably cost as much as multiple tuners.

I suggest you wait until 2009. The switchover date may get
pushed back again, and if not, you don't want to buy until
everyone is buying and the price drops due to the mass
production and volume sales.

Tht's a good idea, but I'm told by a guy who seems to know something
about this stuff that the decision is already made and the kind of
converters they will be selling even then will have the defects in
quality and picture size and shape that I mentioned.

Have you heard anything about that?

IIRC, the government will be
providing some subsidies for these converters.

If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM

 

[Andy Cuffe]

Converting High-def to low-def, does it work?

I live alone, and I had planned, rather than buy several high def tv's
in 2009, to buy one converter which I will put where my VCR is, and
use it to pipe low-def signals to all the tv's in the house.**

I have been told that the converters which will be offered for sale in
2009 will output low-def tv signals that are not as good as what we
have today, that the picture will look worse than it does now, or that
it won't fill the screen, or both, or worse.

Can you fill me in on the facts?

Thanks.


**(I do that now with video tapes or VCR tuner output. I have a
couple amplifiers, basically for every second splitter in a row, I
have an amplifier, and everything works fine)

If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM

You can already buy converters which will output both HD and standard
NTSC signals (although not always at the same time). A HD signal
converted to SD should look excellent (better than digital cable, or
satellite). Any artifacts in visible in the HD signal will be shrunk
down to the point of being almost invisible on an NTSC TV.

As far as filling the screen, the HDTV receivers I've used all allow
you to pick how you want a wide screen image to be displayed. You can
choose letter box, zoomed in to fill the screen, or stretched to fill
the screen.

The converters planned for 2009 are meant to be a low cost solution
for people with NTSC TVs. They will only output NTSC (no HD). The
picture would look worse on a HDTV, but they aren't meant for use with
HDTVs. The picture should look as good, or better than a DVD on your
NTSC TVs.
Andy Cuffe

[email protected]

 

[mm]

You can already buy converters which will output both HD and standard
NTSC signals (although not always at the same time). A HD signal
converted to SD should look excellent (better than digital cable, or
satellite). Any artifacts in visible in the HD signal will be shrunk
down to the point of being almost invisible on an NTSC TV.

As far as filling the screen, the HDTV receivers I've used all allow
you to pick how you want a wide screen image to be displayed. You can
choose letter box, zoomed in to fill the screen, or stretched to fill
the screen.

The converters planned for 2009 are meant to be a low cost solution
for people with NTSC TVs. They will only output NTSC (no HD). The
picture would look worse on a HDTV, but they aren't meant for use with
HDTVs.

Maybe this accounts for what I read, but it's silly for someone to
complain about what it looks like on HDTV. I guess if I had some HD
and some SD on the set of wires (co-ax) running through my house, it
might come up, and eventually I will start finding HD tvs at rummage
sales or in the trash so that could happen some day, but probably not
for a decade or so. And when it does, I'll just run a second co-ax
for HD.

The picture should look as good, or better than a DVD on your
NTSC TVs.
Andy Cuffe

acuffe@g mail.com

Thanks. This is reassuring, such a product is totally fine with me.
I'm not crazy about having all my tuning go through one location, but
I have a remote that works in the basement and first floor, that will
change stations for me. (I really don't need HD, especially if it
will cost me money. )

Sorry I didn't see your post earlier

P&M

Doesn't putting your email address in your sig generate lots of spam
for you? Spambots and all that?

If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM