POLL: Anyone here taking advantage of HD content yet?

[woowoo]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: woowoo
Ooodles and gobs at work
None at home....

Where do you work? I'm jealous

Statewide PBS Network

 

[BigToque]

How do you guys get signals over the air?

With an antena, we get like 3 channels and they are all fuzzy as hell. How can you get HD OTA?!?

 

[woowoo]

Originally posted by: Stefan
How do you guys get signals over the air?

With an antena, we get like 3 channels and they are all fuzzy as hell. How can you get HD OTA?!?

With an OTA 8vsb Reciever.......

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: Stefan
How do you guys get signals over the air?

With an antena, we get like 3 channels and they are all fuzzy as hell. How can you get HD OTA?!?

I use a standard rooftop antenna that's in my attic.

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: Stefan
How do you guys get signals over the air?

With an antena, we get like 3 channels and they are all fuzzy as hell. How can you get HD OTA?!?

It really depends on your location. From my apartment, I can pick up just about every digital broadcast for the Fresno area. Same deal for my sister down in Orange County.

 

[BigToque]

And you guys aren't paying for the signals right? Just for your antena to catch them?

 

[SpunkyJones]

1. Hughes Directv HD Reciever with Tivo. :heart:

2. Directv and OTA.

3. YES! Sports look especially good in HD.

4. A proper HD signal will blow away a dvd.

 

[SpunkyJones]

Originally posted by: Stefan
And you guys aren't paying for the signals right? Just for your antena to catch them?

Yes, you just need to buy an antenna, but you need to within range of the towers, and your stations have to be broadcasting the digital signal.

This site will help you determine if you can get a signal and what type of antenna you would need. Text

 

[cerebusPu]

Originally posted by: Boogak
1. MyHD PCI HD Tuner card in my HTPC + Infocus X1 projector + 84" Da-Lite Hi Power Screen

2. OTA

3. It's worth it if you watch alot of prime time shows and sports - those are the ones that are usually in HD

4. No contest - true HD (780p and 1080i) looks alot better than progressive scan DVD, much sharper and detailed. Although my setup downscales HD and upscales DVDs (thru FFDShow) to 800x600 (native resolution of my projector), I can still see a big difference.

Im thinking of doing that. can i use comcast HD instead of OTA feed? Do any of the PCI hdtv cards take feed from a set top box?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Stefan
How do you guys get signals over the air?

With an antena, we get like 3 channels and they are all fuzzy as hell. How can you get HD OTA?!?

The neat thing about digital OTA is that there is no fuzzy. It's either on, or off. So a weak signal looks as good as a strong signal so long as it's strong enough to recieve.

I get all my local digital channels just fine. However, if I switch over and look at the analog feeds they are fuzzy and ghosting.

The fact that you get fuzzy analog means that you probably will get your digital OTA channels just fine.

 

[Boogak]

Originally posted by: cerebusPu

Originally posted by: Boogak
1. MyHD PCI HD Tuner card in my HTPC + Infocus X1 projector + 84" Da-Lite Hi Power Screen

2. OTA

3. It's worth it if you watch alot of prime time shows and sports - those are the ones that are usually in HD

4. No contest - true HD (780p and 1080i) looks alot better than progressive scan DVD, much sharper and detailed. Although my setup downscales HD and upscales DVDs (thru FFDShow) to 800x600 (native resolution of my projector), I can still see a big difference.

Im thinking of doing that. can i use comcast HD instead of OTA feed? Do any of the PCI hdtv cards take feed from a set top box?

Some of the newer PCI HDTV cards can decode "QAM" signals which is what is used by some cable providers for their HD material, but I haven't kept up with the development so I'm not sure how it all works exactly.

If you already have the set top HD cable box, why not just connect it directly to the projector via component cables?

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: SpunkyJones

Originally posted by: Stefan
And you guys aren't paying for the signals right? Just for your antena to catch them?

Yes, you just need to buy an antenna, but you need to within range of the towers, and your stations have to be broadcasting the digital signal.

This site will help you determine if you can get a signal and what type of antenna you would need. Text

so the stations that broadcast in digital does that mean they send HD signals

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: SpunkyJones

Originally posted by: Stefan
And you guys aren't paying for the signals right? Just for your antena to catch them?

Yes, you just need to buy an antenna, but you need to within range of the towers, and your stations have to be broadcasting the digital signal.

This site will help you determine if you can get a signal and what type of antenna you would need. Text

Hmm, thats only lists US states. I'm in Canada.

 

[spidey07]

yes, all the time. Get 12 channels on cable.

Movies, specials, arts, concerts, performances, sports..

oh.....and HD football.

olympics are coming up.

draw jopping and loving it.

 

[Crucial]

Yes.
42" Panasonic Plasma
Just picked up the HD DVR from TimeWarner in Milwaukee. It works great.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: SpunkyJones

Originally posted by: Stefan
And you guys aren't paying for the signals right? Just for your antena to catch them?

Yes, you just need to buy an antenna, but you need to within range of the towers, and your stations have to be broadcasting the digital signal.

This site will help you determine if you can get a signal and what type of antenna you would need. Text

so the stations that broadcast in digital does that mean they send HD signals

In all the major markets? Yes. In minor markets, it's a toss up.

I'm in the Springfield, IL area and though all the channels are digital now, only ABC and Fox are passing on HD feeds during prime time. The rest are SD still.

 

[Arkitech]

What kind of HD recording options are there? I've heard some talk about a tape based HD recorder but I don't know if its on the market yet. What I'm really interested in is a DVD based HD recorder.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
What kind of HD recording options are there? I've heard some talk about a tape based HD recorder but I don't know if its on the market yet. What I'm really interested in is a DVD based HD recorder.

D-VHS is the tape based recorder you're referring to. The media is kind of expensive, but it's been on the market a little while and it works well. Your only other option is a hard drive based recorder, but obviously any sort of portability is lost when the content is on a single massive hard drive.

There are currently no recorders in the United States that can write in HD to optical media. Blu-ray and HD-DVD are two competing formats that should hit our market next year and will hold significantly more than the 9GB of current DVDs (50 and 30GB, respectively). Though technically neither of these formats are DVDs, per se, and will not work in your current DVD player.

 

[Apex]

1. Samsung SIR-T165 on 100" Stewart Firehawk Electric Screen & D-ILA/LCOS projector in theater room. bigbug
LG LST-3510A to 42" Panasonic Plasma in bedroom
Samsung SIR-T151 on 42" Akai Plasma in guest room.


2. Used to be Voom and OTA, but now just OTA.

3. Absolutely! Especially since an antenna is like $25, and those Samsung OTA HDTV receivers were $99 when Best Buy decided no longer to carry them.

4. Huge difference, even on ED displays. It's not only a resolution difference, but also bandwidth. It was a much bigger difference than I anticipated.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Apex
1. Samsung SIR-T165 on 100" Stewart Firehawk Electric Screen & D-ILA/LCOS projector in theater room. bigbug
LG LST-3510A to 42" Panasonic Plasma in bedroom
Samsung SIR-T151 on 42" Akai Plasma in guest room.


2. Used to be Voom and OTA, but now just OTA.

3. Absolutely! Especially since an antenna is like $25, and those Samsung OTA HDTV receivers were $99 when Best Buy decided no longer to carry them.

4. Huge difference, even on ED displays. It's not only a resolution difference, but also bandwidth. It was a much bigger difference than I anticipated.

I think I love yo... er love your taste in electronics.

So what's the deal with the projectors, how do they compare with LCDs and DLPs. I have roughly about 4k to spend on a display device and I would like to find something I could use for standard viewing (non HD content) DVDs, video games and of course HD programs. Basically I want an all purpose display device. Any suggestions on what would be best between DLP, LCDs and projectors?

 

[RichieZ]

Originally posted by: Fausto
I :heart: HDTV. I pay an extra $5 per month for the set-top box and content from Comcast. Can't wait to watch the olympics.

COMCAST sucks! Wow i really like recieving the like 6 HD channels in 4:3 aspect ratio! Getting a dish soon

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: Apex
1. Samsung SIR-T165 on 100" Stewart Firehawk Electric Screen & D-ILA/LCOS projector in theater room. bigbug
LG LST-3510A to 42" Panasonic Plasma in bedroom
Samsung SIR-T151 on 42" Akai Plasma in guest room.


2. Used to be Voom and OTA, but now just OTA.

3. Absolutely! Especially since an antenna is like $25, and those Samsung OTA HDTV receivers were $99 when Best Buy decided no longer to carry them.

4. Huge difference, even on ED displays. It's not only a resolution difference, but also bandwidth. It was a much bigger difference than I anticipated.

I think I love yo... er love your taste in electronics.

So what's the deal with the projectors, how do they compare with LCDs and DLPs. I have roughly about 4k to spend on a display device and I would like to find something I could use for standard viewing (non HD content) DVDs, video games and of course HD programs. Basically I want an all purpose display device. Any suggestions on what would be best between DLP, LCDs and projectors?

Front projection systems really rock, especially for HD. However, you need very good ambient light control (the room, especially near the screen, must be dark) to make it worth it. Video game playing is loads of fun on the big screen.

What's your room like? How big is it? How far back are you sitting? How's your ambient light control?

 

[dc]

there's no north american HD content that interests me. i barely watch any regular tv as it is.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: Apex
1. Samsung SIR-T165 on 100" Stewart Firehawk Electric Screen & D-ILA/LCOS projector in theater room. bigbug
LG LST-3510A to 42" Panasonic Plasma in bedroom
Samsung SIR-T151 on 42" Akai Plasma in guest room.


2. Used to be Voom and OTA, but now just OTA.

3. Absolutely! Especially since an antenna is like $25, and those Samsung OTA HDTV receivers were $99 when Best Buy decided no longer to carry them.

4. Huge difference, even on ED displays. It's not only a resolution difference, but also bandwidth. It was a much bigger difference than I anticipated.

I think I love yo... er love your taste in electronics.

So what's the deal with the projectors, how do they compare with LCDs and DLPs. I have roughly about 4k to spend on a display device and I would like to find something I could use for standard viewing (non HD content) DVDs, video games and of course HD programs. Basically I want an all purpose display device. Any suggestions on what would be best between DLP, LCDs and projectors?

Front projection systems really rock, especially for HD. However, you need very good ambient light control (the room, especially near the screen, must be dark) to make it worth it. Video game playing is loads of fun on the big screen.

What's your room like? How big is it? How far back are you sitting? How's your ambient light control?

The room I will be using has about 6 huge windows (from floor to ceiling) so my light control is not as great as I would like it. Although I guess I could get some type of blinds or curtains, as far as size its roughly about 20x25.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
The room I will be using has about 6 huge windows (from floor to ceiling) so my light control is not as great as I would like it. Although I guess I could get some type of blinds or curtains, as far as size its roughly about 20x25.

My personal suggestion for a room of that size & light control, with a $4k budget would be:

1. Some sort of digital technology based TV. Go to Best Buy, see if you can see rainbows with DLP RPTV's. Either DLP's or LCOS/D-ILA will probably be your best bet. I'd suggest the 52" Toshiba DLP or the 52" JVC. Both great TV's. Both are definitely better than the Samsung HLN or even HLP (HD3) DLP sets.

2. If you're thinking OTA, get the LG LST-3510A for DVD & OTA HD. Great unit


If you want to try to control your ambient light with curtains, then there are a lot of great projector choices in your budget. Infocus SP5000, Panasonic PT-AE500u, Sanyo Z2.