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How many people here actually HAVE HDTV?

S

ssetta

I know everyone's saying that eventaully, HDTV will take over. And there's a LOT available in High-Definition. It appears that when you go into stores, they're practically not even making Tube TVs, or even 4:3 TV sets anymore. But the only thing is, most of the programming that's out there nowadays is in SD, and most of the channels aren't in HD. And when you watch a SD show on an HDTV, the picture usually looks like crap. And it would be stretched, so the people would look really fat. And do HD sets have built-in closed captioning decoders?

So, how many people here actually have HDTV?
 
I don't. I think though that a lot of people are still opting for the traditional sets, not only because they're cheaper, but because of what I've said many times - HDTV is highly overrated. I couldn't care less if I could see the individual stitches on a football, and I would bet a lot of people feel the same way.

That being said, a lot of people don't seem to be aware of the upcoming DTV transition, and that would be a major contributor.
 
I'm a college student and have had HDTV for about a month. The picture quality for sporting events or other HDTV programming is absolutely stunning. But like others have said, anything that's in SD looks terrible and I'd rather watch SD on a regular TV. So, I basically went with HDTV with my roommates because the we can divide the costs.

But as a regular consumer, the costs are so high and there are so few programs and channels in HD at the moment that it wouldn't be worth it. I'd wait for the cost of HDTV to come down and for there to be more programming in HD.
 
Sets with a 4:3 ratio are indeed still being made! Not all TVs with digital tuners will be HDTV sets. I myself have a 26" Sanyo LCD HDTV and yes, the NFL looks MUCH better that way! As for picture stretching, that's actually up to the consumer. Most TV remotes have a button to change the shape of the picture, usually between 4:3, 16:9, zoom, etc. The pillarboxing on non-HD shows doesn't bother me (when the sides of the screen have nothing on them), since most HDTV sets (mine included) fill in the sides automatically once an HD signal is detected. Here in greater Hartford, I put the TV on analog cable channel 2 for WFSB-TV or switch to my TV's digital tuner and tune channel 89-1 (where my TV's QAM tuner puts WFSB-DT).
 
On larger sets having HDTV makes a big difference. I have a 32" LCD and HDTV is noticeably much better quality than SD, but not earth shattering. Anything under 32" probably doesn't make much noticeable difference in SD vs HD.
 
I don't, yet. The last time that I was in the market for a TV (3 years ago), HDTV was more high maintenance. The only reasonably affordable HDTVs were of the rear projection type and it just wasn't worth buying one. The salesman lost me with talk of realigning the "guns" on an annual basis - for $75. Not to mention that the picture only looked great from one spot in the room. No sale.

Even now, it's not so good as to make me want to pay $2700 for an LCD. I'm still waiting for the technology to become more common and cheaper. As was said before, non-HD fare looks crappy on an HD set. That's still a fairly high percentage of what is offered. My 35" Sony SD does just fine for us at the moment. I'm not yet convinced that it's worth the hassle.
 
I've had HDTV for most of this decade, and love it. Programs that are broadcast in HD look much better -- "Lost", "Smallville", and "Heroes" practically pop off the screen in high definition. And, no, we don't need to see all that extra detail to appreciate these programs. But then again, we could probably follow these shows on a 19" black and white TV -- and 40 years, many people would have claimed that color was no big deal, either.

Now, regarding standard definition shows on an HDTV, that going to depend on your screen size, the quality of the source material, the quality of the upconversion in your television, and how you set the aspect ratio adjustment on your TV. With my setup, standard definition TV show DVDs look very good in either 4:3 mode (with black bars on the side of the screen) or zoomed mode (top and bottom of the picture cut off), depending on the show. Standard definition broadcasts look okay, but not great. But I don't think that's because my HDTV does a bad job of reproducing these channels, but simply because I've gotten used to a much better picture. I personally dislike "stretch" modes that are designed to allow a 4:3 picture to fill a wide screen -- everyone ends up looking fat -- so I don't use those modes on my TV.
 
my old 32" Panasonic is just fine; will definitely get a HDTV set when this one crappes out! By then there will probably be a newer technology. I really don't think analog will go dark when they say it will. There's too many people who depend on it.
 
We have a 32 inch Olevia that I got at a great price from Circuit City about 6 months ago. I am looking to replace the tv in the living room now but will probably wait until closer to Christmas to see what kind of deals pop up. I was not necessarily looking to upgrade to HD with either set, but it only makes sense since the whole market is going that way anyhow.
 
I now have 3 HDTVs...

I bought one 2 years ago on Black Saturday (2 days after Thanksgiving) at Fry's - it's a 26" Olevia Widescreen LCD HD Monitor (no ATSC tuner) - I had picked up an HD tuner at Radio Shack when they cleared out their set-top boxes from inventory (mostly so I could pick up Channel 2 in my area - the power plant down the street wreaks havoc with that signal...). It's been in my living room and looks great - better than the 27" Sony it replaced. I have since added a Dish ViP211 tuner for additional programming.

Last Black Friday, I picked up a 19" Hi Def LCD 4:3 monitor (again no ATSC tuner) at Target - that one's in the bedroom and works with the Radio Shack tuner.

On Labor Day, I picked up the Emprex (Store Brand) 32" Widescreen LCD (this time with an ATSC tuner!) for $400 - I couldn't beat the price, so now it's left shift of sets (Emprex in Living Room, Olevia in Bed Room, Target to Computer room...).

I think I'm TV'ed out, unless I get one for my parents for Christmas (or my Birthday!!!).

As for programming - NTSC and HD look good on these. I think once you get over 32", SD content will begin to look crappy... (plus you start to notice some of the digital artifacts that Satellite and Digital Cable introduce to the signal that you don't notice on an SD TV...). I think you'll start seeing more and more HD standard cable channels on the Satellite and Cable...

Jim
 
Funny you should post this question today.

It was 4 years ago today that I got my HDTV. I initially just got HD programming on my antenna. Last year I switched to Verizon Fios and got their HD package with an HD DVR. It's been great.
 
I now have two TVs with HD, one need the Direct TV HD box, the other has built in HD. I don't have the Direct TV HD dish, because there are not many channels yet to make it worth the price. It seems for the last 2 or 3 years they have been promising more channels, but there are still only about ten. So I just ran an old TV antenna in the attic for the OTA locals. Baseball and football games in HD are outstanding. Regular TV shows, meh, take it or leave it.
Also local news broadcasts in HD here and funny, the anchormen and women aren't so perfect when you can see really clear.
 
I use the ATSC tuner on a Panasonic DMR-EZ27 DVD recorder for watching digital TV, if I am not using my satellite box (I rarely watch TV on that, as I mostly use it for receiving DMX/Muzak here.) Connected to the component (red/green/blue) inputs of my 2000 model 36" Panasonic NTSC set.

OTA reception is via a 20-element UHF yagi mounted on 3' of metal post and set in a bucket of concrete placed on my balcony and amplified indoor VHF antenna (for the one VHF channel here that is actually an ATSC channel, the Pax Net/PAX/I/Ion affiliates KPXG on channel 5.)

Viewing a 1.37:1 (widescreen) broadcast of a 1.33:1 (regular, NTSC-like dimensions) on the set is a bit odd. For one thing, the receiver automatically letterboxes 1.37:1 broadcasts so they fit within a 1.33:1 screen, like many DVD-video movies do. Also, the TV stations tend to pillarbox the picture, so if the station uses solid black pillarboxes, the TV show appears as if it is in a "box" of sorts. (Think of the interface to "Myst" or "Riven" for a reasonable comparison.) ;D Watching an episode of "MASH" makes it look like it is in a black picture frame! ;D

My folks have a Philips HDTV unit they purchased in April, an LCD screen and I still can't get used to watching that thing. For one thing the screen itself is of rather crappy quality, so if you look at it from an angle the colouring turns very strange. (At some angles it looks almost as if it is being dithered to 16-colour mode.) Also, the screen tends to exhibit a slight "smearing" effect where linear motion, like that of a news ticker display, is involved.

In simpler terms: as far as I am concerned there ain't NUTHIN' like a decent CRT set!! And if/when my Panasonic spazzes out I also have a '95 Sylvania video monitor I purchased some years back from the school district equipment warehouse for $100. Works PERFECTLY with my Super Nintendo............
 
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