WTH is up with HDTV?

[torpid]

Originally posted by: Thraxen

Originally posted by: torpid
Surprised no one asked mr. tv sucks what movies he likes. Most likely a bunch of garbage. Probably went to see the new tim allen movie opening night or something.

I was hoping this thread would be about the ridiculously pixelated CBS coverage of the NCAA tournament. Not sure why it's so pixelated. Never seen HDTV look that bad. It looks worse than SD.

To me this is the biggest problem. I really don't have much of an issue with the content. All the damn compression is ruining the HD signals!!

Who is at fault for these bad HD signals? Is it the actual network, the cable/dish provider, or a combination of both?

I think it may be the equipment or the fact that it's a satellite feed? I noticed that some arenas had much less compression than others during the NCAA tourney. Sacramento looked pretty good. And it's the home of a pro sports team. Coindidence? Maybe.

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: funboy42
For me it was the hd, and the stupid extra box charges and PVR charges that added up on the bill at the end of the month. They really know how to stick it to you when you have a family and more then one frekin tv in the home. I had a box in 2 living rooms and 3 bedrooms so I had the extra $7~ per box on 4 extra boxes, ontop of the HD content, ontop of the pvr features, on top of the SD channels, got a $150+ a month bill for Dishnetwork and finally after a few months said screw it.

Been without tv now for almost a year, there is so much tv on the internet, see the thread I made in HD section, you dont need cable anymore, just hook up computers to your tv's or xboxes to the internet and your set.

I rather enjoy sitting in my living room watching breath taking nature shows on my Sharp LCD HDTV.I think the picture is stunning.

 

[royaldank]

Originally posted by: Indolent

Originally posted by: torpid

I was hoping this thread would be about the ridiculously pixelated CBS coverage of the NCAA tournament. Not sure why it's so pixelated. Never seen HDTV look that bad. It looks worse than SD.

And that was when they even showed hd. Most of the times I was watching during the first two rounds, there was no hd at all.

Coverage was all in HD here. I will agree that CBS's HD, at least here, is pitiful and well below any other HD station quality wise.

 

[montypythizzle]

Originally posted by: Zolty
sofa king lame

you are sofa king
"we Todd did"

 

[TwiceOver]

This thread inspired me to consult my cable company about HDTV and what it has to offer. Yeh, 9 channels at a $43 price hike... I'll pass.

Thanks everyone for the info.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: royaldank

Originally posted by: Indolent

Originally posted by: torpid

I was hoping this thread would be about the ridiculously pixelated CBS coverage of the NCAA tournament. Not sure why it's so pixelated. Never seen HDTV look that bad. It looks worse than SD.

And that was when they even showed hd. Most of the times I was watching during the first two rounds, there was no hd at all.

Coverage was all in HD here. I will agree that CBS's HD, at least here, is pitiful and well below any other HD station quality wise.

Yeah, I saw a lot of compression/bandwidth artifacts. Don't know if it was the CBS feed or something else. My guess is CBS because I saw the same thing with OTA and Cable.

 

[lokiju]

I got Comcast and agree it's much more lacking than I'd care for but thankfully they just added another 5 or so channels which was nice.

They claim by years end that most channels should be in HD, we'll see how that goes.

 

[TwiceOver]

Originally posted by: lokiju
I got Comcast and agree it's much more lacking than I'd care for but thankfully they just added another 5 or so channels which was nice.

They claim by years end that most channels should be in HD, we'll see how that goes.

Six years OR SO ago that was supposed to be the case.

 

[montypythizzle]

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
This thread inspired me to consult my cable company about HDTV and what it has to offer. Yeh, 9 channels at a $43 price hike... I'll pass.

Thanks everyone for the info.

43$ WTF HOLY SHIZZ
I had a 17$ increase and I got a dual-tuner DVR and MHD DHD and someother HD channels!

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: royaldank

Originally posted by: Indolent

Originally posted by: torpid

I was hoping this thread would be about the ridiculously pixelated CBS coverage of the NCAA tournament. Not sure why it's so pixelated. Never seen HDTV look that bad. It looks worse than SD.

And that was when they even showed hd. Most of the times I was watching during the first two rounds, there was no hd at all.

Coverage was all in HD here. I will agree that CBS's HD, at least here, is pitiful and well below any other HD station quality wise.

Yeah, I saw a lot of compression/bandwidth artifacts. Don't know if it was the CBS feed or something else. My guess is CBS because I saw the same thing with OTA and Cable.

CBS HD (WTSP) sucks hard in Tampa, they never record the HD prefeed for shows that might come on after say, a football game on Sunday nights, and just air the freakin SD feed on the HD channel.

 

[TwiceOver]

Originally posted by: montypythizzle

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
This thread inspired me to consult my cable company about HDTV and what it has to offer. Yeh, 9 channels at a $43 price hike... I'll pass.

Thanks everyone for the info.

43$ WTF HOLY SHIZZ
I had a 17$ increase and I got a dual-tuner DVR and MHD DHD and someother HD channels!

Yeah, the $43 was with a Dual Tuner DVR and 1 movie channel, subtract the movie channel and it would have been $34. But for the craptastic channels I would receive, whats the point.

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: funboy42
For me it was the hd, and the stupid extra box charges and PVR charges that added up on the bill at the end of the month. They really know how to stick it to you when you have a family and more then one frekin tv in the home. I had a box in 2 living rooms and 3 bedrooms so I had the extra $7~ per box on 4 extra boxes, ontop of the HD content, ontop of the pvr features, on top of the SD channels, got a $150+ a month bill for Dishnetwork and finally after a few months said screw it.

Been without tv now for almost a year, there is so much tv on the internet, see the thread I made in HD section, you dont need cable anymore, just hook up computers to your tv's or xboxes to the internet and your set.

I rather enjoy sitting in my living room watching breath taking nature shows on my Sharp LCD HDTV.I think the picture is stunning.

I never said the HD picture on my LCD didnt look stunning, it did, just everything else looked like sh1t that wasnt HD. It boiled down to $900 for HD LCD and 12 HD channels looking great to 99 SD channels, my xbox, dreamcast, and dvd movies looking like crap when it all looks damn good on my cheap ass $400 refurbed Phillips 30" Widescreen CRT HD 300lb set. Well the LCD went. Sure my beast isnt 3 inches thick and weighs about as much as I do, but Im going for picture quality not the fact I can hang it on the wall, I want everything to look good.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: funboy42

Originally posted by: Geekbabe

Originally posted by: funboy42
For me it was the hd, and the stupid extra box charges and PVR charges that added up on the bill at the end of the month. They really know how to stick it to you when you have a family and more then one frekin tv in the home. I had a box in 2 living rooms and 3 bedrooms so I had the extra $7~ per box on 4 extra boxes, ontop of the HD content, ontop of the pvr features, on top of the SD channels, got a $150+ a month bill for Dishnetwork and finally after a few months said screw it.

Been without tv now for almost a year, there is so much tv on the internet, see the thread I made in HD section, you dont need cable anymore, just hook up computers to your tv's or xboxes to the internet and your set.

I rather enjoy sitting in my living room watching breath taking nature shows on my Sharp LCD HDTV.I think the picture is stunning.

I never said the HD picture on my LCD didnt look stunning, it did, just everything else looked like sh1t that wasnt HD. It boiled down to $900 for HD LCD and 12 HD channels looking great to 99 SD channels, my xbox, dreamcast, and dvd movies looking like crap when it all looks damn good on my cheap ass $400 refurbed Phillips 30" Widescreen CRT HD 300lb set. Well the LCD went. Sure my beast isnt 3 inches thick and weighs about as much as I do, but Im going for picture quality not the fact I can hang it on the wall, I want everything to look good.

I think funboy42 may be the only one around here with any sense. Why are all you people buying LCDs when most channels are SD? Of course considering most people don't care about scaling from 1280x720 to 1366x768, or 1080p LCDs overscanning and interpolating the remaining pixels to a blurry mess, I doubt your LCD TVs look good with HD anyway.

 

[funboy6942]

Oh I should also say that HD looked better on the Phillips CRT HD as well because it doesnt scale it down, it keeps it at it intended rate of 1080I whereas the lcd brought it down to 13xx x 768. And again 12 lousy HD and 100+ sd stuff and everything else I owned that was SD too, just looked like crap on the LCD and my monster 65" CRT HD big screen in a box. I was sooooo pissed off I spent all that money. If the hd stuff and the SD stuff all looked good then yeah I wouldnt off been so pissed off, but I have a butt load of dvd's and xbox games, and lots of shows I watched are in sd format. It didnt look near as bad on my 65" CRT HD, but damn it looked super sh1tty on the lcd if it was anything other then a PC or HD feed.

 

[RelaxTheMind]

discovery HD is my friend

 

[torpid]

I thought cable companies weren't allowed to charge more for locals in HD?? Mine doesn't... although if you don't have a tuner you need one (or cable cards). I pay $3/mo extra (2 cable cards) for locals, showtime, cinemax, and hbo in HD.

 

[Keblerelf04]

just one question....No History Channel in HD?

WTF do I want it for then...the only 2 channels I watch are History channel to learn, and then immediately after I watch adult swim on cartoon network to kill some brain cells before I learn too much.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Thraxen

Originally posted by: torpid
Surprised no one asked mr. tv sucks what movies he likes. Most likely a bunch of garbage. Probably went to see the new tim allen movie opening night or something.

I was hoping this thread would be about the ridiculously pixelated CBS coverage of the NCAA tournament. Not sure why it's so pixelated. Never seen HDTV look that bad. It looks worse than SD.

To me this is the biggest problem. I really don't have much of an issue with the content. All the damn compression is ruining the HD signals!!

Who is at fault for these bad HD signals? Is it the actual network, the cable/dish provider, or a combination of both?

It can be:

1) The original signal. It might just suck, or could be upconverted from SD (if they only have an SD camera, there's only so much you can do; I always find it amusing in HD sports broadcasts when they cut to a CLEARLY subpar SD camera). Or they are compressing it a lot, and/or have crappy compression gear. Live broadcasts from remote locations may be forced to use less bandwidth so they can handle it in real time.

2) The cable/satellite provider may be further compressing it to save space. Comcast is notorious for doing this even to SD digital channels, making them look awful. It can vary quite a bit.

"HD" feeds can vary substantially in bitrate from channel to channel and show to show. Big network shows and documentary stuff on Discovery/INHD generally looks great. Sports done right (like Monday Night Football) look fantastic. Crappily-done sports (that first season of NESN-HD was pretty bad, and smaller sporting events are very hit or miss) look like crap. Things that have been upconverted from SD sources can look pretty bad.