I am not what you would call an early adopter. Our one-and-half year old granddaughter was poking the buttons on our television set and somehow she broke the thing! The screen would light up, showing no picture, and then fade to black. Since that set dated from about the time when her mother was her age, we decided to buy a new one. I find that you can’t just get one with a cathode-ray tube anymore, so we ended up with a high-definition TV. I’m marveling. We are literally watching TV. Not watching programs, just watching our television set, surfing around for striking visual images. I realize that most of the rest of you have already had that experience with HDTV and now take it for granted, and I realize that some of you are standing tall against the baleful influence of this device. I salute that. But I am enjoying the stunning clarity and beauty of these pictures.
Watching television
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{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m still waiting for our old set to break. Then I will join you.
It is an amazing technology–like looking out a window. Once you get used to it, an old CRT will look blurry.
I recommend the nature shows for stunning imagery.
Just wait until you watch your first baseball game on it – its like being at the park.
Now try watching some of your old VHS tapes on the HDTV screen.
Out of curiosity, are you getting your HD signal over the air (free) or through a provider?
When you next replace your DVD player, select one that upscales to HD. That will improve the presentation of your DVDs. You can get that feature for only a few dollars more than a basic player. The box will say “upscales” and the unit will support an HDMI connection to the HD TV set.
I have my HDTV hooked up to a computer so when my Aggies are on ESPN I can catch the simulcast on espn360 (we don’t have cable) and so I can stream Netflix. I really need to update the video card because it can’t handle the size of the tv.
Over the air HD signals are great, but I watch more DVD’s than actual TV.
Sounds like a lot of others are streaming netflix here. I almost posted that on the “best deals” thread a few weeks back.
HDTV sets are too expensive. I can always pick up a color TV at a garage sale for ~$20 if my current one breaks.
Dan @ 5: We have cable. So will my VHS tapes not play on this thing (not that I am watching them anymore). And will I have to get a new DVD player to get the HD effect? This may become more than I bargained for.
VHS will look horrible on the high res screen. Most newer dvd players are capable of upconverting the resolution of dvd’s. Check to see if you have dvi or hdmi connections on your dvd player. If you do it can upconvert. If not like vhs, your dvd’s won’t look as nice. If you have to purchase a new player I recommend the panasonic dmp-bp65 Bluray. It does a fantastic job of upconverting dvd’s plus playing the new format and it only costs around 165 at Bestbuy.
“But I am enjoying the stunning clarity and beauty of these pictures.”
It is undoubtedly most certainly true that your granddaughter’s clarity and beauty is greater than that of the HDTV, needless to say.
So if I were to buy an HDTV I would also need to buy a player that upscales DVDs? Because the DVDs wouldn’t look as sharp as they do on my regular TV and player? Or just because they wouldn’t look as sharp as HD programming and Blu-ray discs?
Our old VHS and DVD players work okay with the HDTV, although they don’t have the HDMI connectors. Use either composite video or RGB connections (cables are available everywhere). Yes, the VHS pretty blurry, unless you are already pretty blurry yourself.
If you get Blu-ray, make sure it has connectivity to your internet so you can use Netflix, Hulu, etc. without stringing a long cable from your computer.
Now sit back and watch all the warts, pimples, wrinkles, and bad make-up of your favorite news anchor or live TV performer… and all those wonderful commercials.
To simplify my question: do DVDs (not Blu-rays) look as sharp on an HDTV as they do on a regular TV?
The next thing you MUST DO is to hook up your TV’s audio thru your stereo system….the TV signal carries just about as much fidelity as a CD and the improvement in sound quality will match your much improved display quality. Only thus can you achieve ultimate and pure hi-tech nirvana
I apologize in advance for telling another flood story, but it’s also an HDTV story. . .
My sons were throwing away all of our flooded basement belongings, including TV’s, computers, desks, furniture, etc., into the huge dumpster. When it came time to toss the big screen TV, which I had referred to in the past as my husband’s “mistress,” my sons called out, “Come on, Mom, help us! You’ve always wanted to get rid of this thing!” So though I am not nearly as strong as they are, I grabbed the bottom of the huge thing and helped heft it up over the lip of the dumpster. As we oomphed it up and over, its cord wrapped around my arm rapidly several times, only releasing just in time as it clanked onto the floor of the dumpster. If it hadn’t let go, it would have taken my arm with it!
Days later, my husband asked me where I got the bruise which wrapped around my arm. A couple sons and I relayed the story. He replied with a wry grin, “So ‘she’ almost ripped your arm off, huh?! If it had been me, ‘she’ would have kissed me as she went by!!”
Tom Hering-
DVDs will definitely look better on an HDTV. They will not look quite as good as Blu-Ray, even with upscaling. Some people can’t tell the difference between Blu-Ray and DVD on an HDTV, so your milage may vary.
You can play anything on an HDTV, even VHS, so long as you can plug it into the TV. This may require a different cable (most TVs and players offer several connection types, find one in common between the tow) or an adapter (in the case that both the player and the TV don’t have a common connection type, you will need to convert from one cable to another).
Blu-Ray on an HDTV not only offers more dots on the screen, but better and more vibrant colors
Still in the dark ages.$
SimDan, thanks for the answer. That helps. But you haven’t sold me on Blu-ray, as I like to play around with color controls a lot – until the flesh tones are just right, and everything else is dialed down to a natural palette. Watching an overly-vivid screen results in eye strain (eye fatigue?) for me. From the little research I’ve done, I find I’m not alone in this.
Still in the dark ages, and with all the other things my family does, we really don’t have much time for the idiot box apart from some older movies.
“Until the flesh tones are just right”, said Tom (@20). Don’t you see, people? Am I the only one that sees this? Don’t you see the racism inherent in even the most banal of statements from self-hating liberals? Tom doesn’t like a color palette that’s too bright — too … white … perhaps? — because he doesn’t consider it “natural”, because it hurts his eyes. Tom wants to “dial down” what he sees. Oh sure, in a literal sense, yes, as regards his TV screen, but in a much more important and metaphorical — and true — sense, Tom is talking about affirmative action, about quotas, about making it illegal for you to only have white friends. And that, my friends, is exactly what the Nazis wanted. I mean, call me crazy, but am I the only one that sees the connections here? Tom doesn’t like the fact that he sees so many white people on TV, so he wants the government to take it over and give us more politically correct — racially correct! — programming. “Programming.” Because that’s exactly what it’ll be. It’ll be Obama, Reid, and Pelosi, telling you what you can and cannot think. And then will come the death panels, and our worthless fiat currency will collapse, and the only thing left of value will be gold, precious gold.
And now a word from our sponsor, Goldline.
Curse you, Todd! I have just one thing to say in response, though your comment doesn’t deserve one: there is a hidden underground complex beneath Denver International Airport, where you right-wingers and the Lizard aliens, working together, plan to put all us liberals to death.
You thought I wouldn’t tell, but you pushed me too far. I’d reveal even more right now, but there’s a helicopter sound outside that I need to go check on.
It was just a lawnmower.
You know, Tom (@23), I’d assumed you were trying to sound as ridiculously conspiratorial as possible, you know, for a laugh. But I Googled your reference, on a whim. And, you know, if I’ve learned one thing from the Internet, you’d think it would be not to be surprised at the depths (heights?) people’s ridiculousness can reach. I mean, there really are people who believe what you said. Really. It totally blew me out of my sarcastic mode. What’s the point of pretending to be ridiculous if you can’t ever hope to top the output of the truly ridiculous?
Also (@24), ha!
“What’s the point of pretending to be ridiculous if you can’t ever hope to top the output of the truly ridiculous?”
You have to be completely serious to be completely ridiculous.
The upscaling player just processes the picture into a smoothed out 1080p or 720p format — probably a bit crisper in appearance than the TV’s zoom or stretch mode. For DVD (non-Blueray), they start at around $35-40. It’s just a feature you want next time you replace your player.
We just got our first HD display and its a modest-sized 32″ — so the DVD and VHS look just fine. Their quality issues are more noticable on really big displays.
Your cable company can probably swap your old box for a HD box if you haven’t done that already.
tODD, #22,
Credit where credit is due. That was really funny. I don’t know how you pulled it off, especially with typed text, but I could actually HEAR Glenn Beck’s voice. Seriously, that was good.
You and Glenn Beck have some of the same qualities, actually. He, like you, can get me to laugh out loud with sarcasm. Plus that infectious laughter that I always imagine when I read your posts. Isn’t that right, Stu?
Hey, wait a minute . . . I think you ARE Glenn Beck, posing as a liberal posing as a conservative who lurks on a blog posing to be conservative so that you can PRETEND to disagree and thus verify the block busting revelation that will be aired on tonight’s show! (Don’t miss it.)
No, wait. Sorry. I don’t think the real Glenn Beck would have used the word “Banal.” Another good conspiracy ruined.
“We just got our first HD display and its a modest-sized 32″ — so the DVD and VHS look just fine. Their quality issues are more noticable on really big displays.” – Tom @ 27.
I wondered about that, and it’s good news, as I plan to get a modest-sized display myself when I make the switch.
Testing: