HDTV Equipment Question

[Jim Thompson]

Some of my 15-18 year old vintage NTSC is starting to bite the dust.

I'm on cable TV... a necessity due to mountains between me and the
towers.

But I hate "set-top" boxes.

Before I invest in any new equipment...

Is there ever going to be the proverbial "cable-ready" set that
doesn't require a converter box... and for HDTV?

There was much talk in the past that "cable-ready" sets would be made
that used a card slot in the back to handle pay TV, etc.

Is it ever going to happen, or do I need to invest in more DVD's ?

...Jim Thompson

 

[Martine Riddle]

Some of my 15-18 year old vintage NTSC is starting to bite the dust.

I'm on cable TV... a necessity due to mountains between me and the
towers.

But I hate "set-top" boxes.

Before I invest in any new equipment...

Is there ever going to be the proverbial "cable-ready" set that
doesn't require a converter box... and for HDTV?

There was much talk in the past that "cable-ready" sets would be made
that used a card slot in the back to handle pay TV, etc.

Is it ever going to happen, or do I need to invest in more DVD's ?

...Jim Thompson

Both of the Verizon FIOS Settop boxes can down convert.
I cant find the docs but somewhere on www.verizon.com/fios there are specs
on the stb's.

Cheers

 

[Martine Riddle]

Both of the Verizon FIOS Settop boxes can down convert.
I cant find the docs but somewhere on www.verizon.com/fios there are specs
on the stb's.

Cheers

Heres a users guide for one of the dvr's Verizon is using.
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/customer+support/customer+support.htm

 

[Bob]

Some of my 15-18 year old vintage NTSC is starting to bite the dust.

I'm on cable TV... a necessity due to mountains between me and the
towers.

But I hate "set-top" boxes.

Before I invest in any new equipment...

Is there ever going to be the proverbial "cable-ready" set that
doesn't require a converter box... and for HDTV?

There was much talk in the past that "cable-ready" sets would be made
that used a card slot in the back to handle pay TV, etc.

Is it ever going to happen, or do I need to invest in more DVD's ?

...Jim Thompson

Jim,

Newer teevees have what's called an ATSC tuner. They will demodulate the DTV
(digital teevee) stuff. HDTV is a subset of DTV. Stick a UHF antenna on your
roof, point it toward Mt. Whatever, and you'll get tons of DTV (and HDTV)
material. The HDTV feeds are absolutely amazing.

Some of these teevees also have a Cable Card slot. They can, with the proper
card and subscription, descramble the scrambled cable provider's digital
signals. However, from what I've been told, they do not support pay-per-view
services. So, you'll still have to get a set top box or buy DVDs if you want
to get that Debbie Does Planet Of The Apes type of material.

Bob

 

[Joel Kolstad]

Some of these teevees also have a Cable Card slot. They can, with the proper
card and subscription, descramble the scrambled cable provider's digital
signals.

....if the cable provider supports it.

Which most don't. :-(

Well, OK, I don't know the actual numbers, but from talking to people it
doesn't *seem* as though it ever caught on.

 

[Tam/WB2TT]

Some of my 15-18 year old vintage NTSC is starting to bite the dust.

I'm on cable TV... a necessity due to mountains between me and the
towers.

But I hate "set-top" boxes.

Before I invest in any new equipment...

Is there ever going to be the proverbial "cable-ready" set that
doesn't require a converter box... and for HDTV?

There was much talk in the past that "cable-ready" sets would be made
that used a card slot in the back to handle pay TV, etc.

First off, according to a NY Times article, only about 3% of sets with a
card slot are actually installed so as to take advantage of that feature..
Comcast has been out here with 5 different cards. The first one worked for 3
months, the other one for about a month. It may be OK if you don't sign up
for any premium channels. After the cable card quit on me, I pulled the
card, and could still get all channels from 2 - 74 in digital mode, and
local HD from 231 to 240; no channels between 74 and 231, or above 240.
Without signing up for the cable card, I only got 2 - 24 plus the local HD.
Besides on demand, the TV Guide on screen will probably not work either. The
thing to get is the dual channel HD DVR rather than the straight cable box.
The difference in price here turned out to be less than $!0/month.

Don't even think about watching analog TV with an HDTV. Compared to digital
"standard definition", it sucks.

Tam

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 20:52:08 -0800, "Bob"

[snip]

So, you'll still have to get a set top box or buy DVDs if you want
to get that Debbie Does Planet Of The Apes type of material.

Bob

Debbie DID Planet of the Apes ?

Wow! That must have been some movie ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Anthony Fremont]

Some of my 15-18 year old vintage NTSC is starting to bite the dust.

I'm on cable TV... a necessity due to mountains between me and the
towers.

But I hate "set-top" boxes.

Before I invest in any new equipment...

Is there ever going to be the proverbial "cable-ready" set that
doesn't require a converter box... and for HDTV?

There already are several HDTV models that have a slot for a "cable card".
The real question is whether your cable company will communicate with it,
I'm betting they won't. There are even more models available that already
have a QAM tuner built-in (like my Vizio GV42L for example). This will alow
you to view any digital cable channels that happen to be non-scrambled.
Federal law says the cable company has to feed you the digital locals "in
the clear". TW here in houston supplies about 75 digital channels
unscrambled. Of course you have to be paying for digital cable in the first
place. It's probably goes without saying that any premium channels (HBO
etc) will likely be scrambled.

SD (standard deffinition) TV often looks very poor on an HDTV, it's all in
the upconversion processing of the TV. Do your research before you buy,
they all have problems, be sure to get one you can live with.

There was much talk in the past that "cable-ready" sets would be made
that used a card slot in the back to handle pay TV, etc.

Is it ever going to happen, or do I need to invest in more DVD's ?

You should deffinitely get an outside antenna, so you can see how truly
beautiful HDTV can be. The major players (FOX, NBC, ABC) also like to
demonstrate how sucky digital TV can be by providing a feed that might have
the audio/video out of sync by full SECONDS. Of course NASCAR and NFL
football don't seem to suffer that fate. It's obvious that the major
networks hate this whole conversion to digital broadcasting thing with a
passion. OTOH, PBS likes to show you how it's supposed to be done by
providing tons of high-quality, HD wide-screen content, go figure.

DVD's are only SD (720x480 for NTSC), time to look into the new technology.
The VHS/Beta wars are back with HD DVD tech. These offer 1920x1080P
resolution, now how sweet is that?

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 20:52:08 -0800, "Bob"

[snip]

So, you'll still have to get a set top box or buy DVDs if you want
to get that Debbie Does Planet Of The Apes type of material.

Bob

Debbie DID Planet of the Apes ?

Wow! That must have been some movie ;-)

I think he means "Amazon Women on the Moon".

Debbie doing the apes sounds more interesting ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 20:52:08 -0800, "Bob"

[snip]

So, you'll still have to get a set top box or buy DVDs if you want
to get that Debbie Does Planet Of The Apes type of material.

Bob

Debbie DID Planet of the Apes ?

Wow! That must have been some movie ;-)

I think he means "Amazon Women on the Moon".

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

[snip]

Don't even think about watching analog TV with an HDTV. Compared to digital
"standard definition", it sucks.

It has always sucked. The high resolution display just makes it that
much more obvious.

--
Paul Hovnanian mailto[email protected]
------------------------------------------------------------------
It's easier said than done.
.... and if you don't believe it, try proving that it's easier done than
said, and you'll see that it's easier said that `it's easier done than
said' than it is done, which really proves that it's easier said than
done.

 

[JoeBloe]

...if the cable provider supports it.

Which most don't. :-(

Well, OK, I don't know the actual numbers, but from talking to people it
doesn't *seem* as though it ever caught on.

It depends on the city, the cable provider, and the local
arrangement.

 

[JoeBloe]

The real question is whether your cable company will communicate with it,
I'm betting they won't.

They are the ones that provide the card.

It isn't any different than a set-top box. Of course they support
it.

 

[JoeBloe]

also like to
demonstrate how sucky digital TV can be by providing a feed that might have
the audio/video out of sync by full SECONDS.

That is silly, boy, and the delays you are experiencing are anomalies
of your display device. Switch the source device to something else
and then back, and I'll bet it resets the synch.

 

[Anthony Fremont]

They are the ones that provide the card.

It isn't any different than a set-top box. Of course they support
it.

As you said, "It depends on the city, the cable provider, and the local
arrangement." As for set-top boxes, purchase one from a third party and
then try to get it activated.

 

[Anthony Fremont]

That is silly, boy, and the delays you are experiencing are anomalies
of your display device. Switch the source device to something else
and then back, and I'll bet it resets the synch.

Funny how I've not seen them on PBS. I think the beginning of the
Thanksgiving day parades spoke for themselves, in terms of how much the
major networks currently care about HD. And then there's
TNTHD..........(rolls eyes)

 

[JoeBloe]

Funny how I've not seen them on PBS. I think the beginning of the
Thanksgiving day parades spoke for themselves, in terms of how much the
major networks currently care about HD. And then there's
TNTHD..........(rolls eyes)

YOUR TUNER is setting up the delay. I will bet on it. WHY would
ANY broadcaster transmit a signal with the two not synched up?

Your mistake was not suspecting YOUR equipment from the get go.

Your shit is WAY cheaper than their shit is.

Use some common sense.

 

[Anthony Fremont]

YOUR TUNER is setting up the delay. I will bet on it. WHY would
ANY broadcaster transmit a signal with the two not synched up?

Why would they start the TD parade by transmitting a 4:3 picture with
horribly scratchy audio, immediately cut away to a commercial not more than
10 seconds into the opening ceremony and then cut right back to the parade?
It's the same reason you can go to a movie theater and see the picture out
of focus, they simply don't care since it's not hurting their revenue at
this point. Things will change of course, once the majority of the masses
have tuned in and the sponsors start throwing their weight around. Like I
said, NFL and NASCAR seem to always put out a good pic when the time comes.

Your mistake was not suspecting YOUR equipment from the get go.

Do you have any HD equipment? Of course I suspected my equipment, but After
reading 50 pages of comments about the TV I bought on www.avsforum.com, I'd
like to think I'd know if my equipment was to blame. This model is not know
to suffer these problems on _any_ inputs. As usual, your mistake is in
pretending to know all about that which you know not.

Your shit is WAY cheaper than their shit is.

Use some common sense.

I did, I put up a good OTA antenna (outside of course). Now with >95%
signal strength on almost all digital channels, I still see phase errors in
the picture and sound. Not allways, just off and on. Of course the Dish HD
channels rarely have these issues, excepting the major nets that is.....

 

[JoeBloe]

As usual, your mistake is in
pretending to know all about that which you know not.

Sorry, chump, but mis-synchs with the audio and video typically ARE
the fault of the local processing hardware, NOT the broadcast source.

Way over 99.9% of the time.

 

[joseph2k]

On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 20:52:08 -0800, "Bob"

[snip]
So, you'll still have to get a set top box or buy DVDs if you want
to get that Debbie Does Planet Of The Apes type of material.

Bob


Debbie DID Planet of the Apes ?

Wow! That must have been some movie ;-)

I think he means "Amazon Women on the Moon".

Debbie doing the apes sounds more interesting ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Jim, you animal.