HDTV owners, would you ever go back to SDTV?

By DaDude
in Home Theatre Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Veteran

DaDude

Posted
Posted

I always heard that once you buy an HDTV, you'll get spoiled and never want to go back to SD. For those of you who own an HDTV, do you feel this way? Be honest now!

Let's post maturely. I don't want any arguments that would lead to another locked thread. I'll try not to post anything "goofy" like I did on the other thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Hell-In-A-Handbasket

Posted
Posted

i have a 60 inch HDTV, my eyes bleed when i go to my parents house and watch their 27 SDTV with them

so no i try not to go back

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

dragon2611

Posted
Posted
I always heard that once you buy an HDTV, you'll get spoiled and never want to go back to SD. For those of you who own an HDTV, do you feel this way? Be honest now!

Let's post maturely. I don't want any arguments that would lead to another locked thread. I'll try not to post anything "goofy" like I did on the other thread.

I have a 720p capable TV but I don't actually use it with a HD source most of the time.

I'd need a new Satellite STB and an addational subscription to get the HD channels and there aren't that many of them for the amount of TV i watch I really cannot be bothered at this time.

I've Yet to buy a HD movie either even though I've got a PS3 hooked up, keep meaning to try a blu-ray to see if it really is any different but as of yet haven't seen a movie I'd actually want to spend the extra on to get the HD version it seems to be quite a mark-up on the price of a DVD.

If I'm honest haven't bought a DVD in ages either since my housemate tends to buy them before I ever get around to it.

Only HD Source I tend to use it With is the Xbox/PS3 at the moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Veteran

Elessar

Posted
Posted

I have my cable and 360 hooked up to my HDTV. Love it, looks amazing. But i also have my PS2 and Dreamcast hooked up to the SDTV in the bedroom...hard to go back but it's for older-gen games so it's not all that hard. TV/Movie/360 wise, i could never go back to SDTV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mentor

Kenji

Posted
Posted

I will never go back. As said above, I hate it when I go to my parents/grandparents house and watch TV.

I have a 720p capable TV but I don't actually use it with a HD source most of the time.

I'd need a new Satellite STB and an addational subscription to get the HD channels and there aren't that many of them for the amount of TV i watch I really cannot be bothered at this time.

http://freesat.co.uk

No need for a subscription ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Veteran

DaDude

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Interesting responses. I don't have an HDTV, so that's why I asked. Sounds to me like HDTV is something amazing.

I was just wondering. Does HDTV picture look better in your living room than it does displayed at the store? Because if it does, then maybe HDTV is really a lot more amazing than I thought it would be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

LightIdea

Posted
Posted

I actually use both in my household. I use my HDTV for my PS3 and Wii and all my hifi stuff... and then I use my SDTV in my garage for my PS1/2 and Sega Master System :D

I hardly watch any tv, but if I do, it's usually HD channels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

dragon2611

Posted
Posted
I will never go back. As said above, I hate it when I go to my parents/grandparents house and watch TV.

http://freesat.co.uk

No need for a subscription ;)

Know about freesat, its not just about the subscription as getting a feed from our Dish to the STB.

Dunno about the freesat boxes but certianly the SKY ones the HD one is also a PVR which really means it needs 2 feeds to work properly.

Thing is the cable between the STB and the dish has been nicely run in under the floor and buried in the wall however when this was done there wasn't sky+ let alone HD so it's only a single cable.

we'd have to get another cable run between the Dish and STB to get the 2nd feed and We don't want someone simply tacking it to the skirting board which is what they'd probably do.

At somepoint We might get around to re-running some cable but there's no hurry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

TruckWEB

Posted
Posted
Interesting responses. I don't have an HDTV, so that's why I asked. Sounds to me like HDTV is something amazing.

I was just wondering. Does HDTV picture look better in your living room than it does displayed at the store? Because if it does, then maybe HDTV is really a lot more amazing than I thought it would be.

HDTV in store don't show the best picture. I don't know if the signal splitting used to show the same thing on all TV at the same time affect the quality of the signal but I find it much better at home using digital cable or PS3/Xbox360.

The only way to really look at the stunning picture quality of HDTV in store is to have it connected to a Blu-Ray player with a good quality movie.

And NO, I would not go back to SDTV. And I fell frustrated when I need to watch a SD channel. I wish all channels where HD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Veteran

DaDude

Posted
  • Author
Posted
HDTV in store don't show the best picture. I don't know if the signal splitting used to show the same thing on all TV at the same time affect the quality of the signal but I find it much better at home using digital cable or PS3/Xbox360.

The only way to really look at the stunning picture quality of HDTV in store is to have it connected to a Blu-Ray player with a good quality movie.

And NO, I would not go back to SDTV. And I fell frustrated when I need to watch a SD channel. I wish all channels where HD.

Thanks. Now if only I got responses like these on the other thread, things would've turned out better. So, maybe HDTV is something I might look into getting someday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Veteran

DaDude

Posted
  • Author
Posted

On the other thread, I mentioned that my co-worker bought an HDTV but couldn't use it because it was cracked. Well anyway, he received his replacement TV yesterday and it arrived it perfect condition this time. He told me he was disappointed because the picture, while it was still an improvement over his old SDTV, wasn't as sharp as he expected it to be. Since nobody here said anything like that he's either crazy, not hooking it up properly, or maybe Samsung isn't that great of a TV brand after all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Glassed Silver

Posted
Posted

You're actually asking that question?

FREAK NO!

my parents have one huge baby in the living room with ambilight and boy...

my SDTV in my room is ok, because I'm low on money, but then there's my iMac and that's a lot of pixels, so no need to upgrade the TV anytime soon...

oh and... a CRT SDTV is always better for old school console gaming (PS1, N64, SNES, Dreamcast, etc...)!!!! :)

(don't game on my TV though)

Glassed Silver:mac

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mentor

TheDreamX

Posted
Posted

I've seen plenty of HDTV's with HD cable (is that what you mean?) and I've never been all that impressed. My parent's own an HDTV and watch SD cable on it. It doesn't look great, but for the money, who cares? It's only really used to play games and watch movies, anyway. Whenever I get my own place, I'll have myself an HDTV, but I doubt I'll every purchase cable/satellite for it. I can get all the stuff I need online and through Netflix.

So if you're asking whether we would ever go back? I don't think I'll ever go there in the first place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

aussiefloyd_fan

Posted
Posted

I HAVE a 50 inch hdtv. however the sd analog channels on cable look really shirt(-r)(+y) the digital sd looks ok but when theres a hd movie its awesome

I might go back to sd if the STOP THE SD AND DIGITAL society would give me 200 thousand us dollars

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Veteran

D!ABOL!C

Posted
Posted

What would the incentive be? I don't think there would be an honest reason to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Veteran

DaDude

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Looks to me like it all depends on what you watch. So based on the responses I got, this is what I conclude about HDTV:

-Some HD cable channels give a sharper picture.

-Older games, such as PS1, SNES, N64 etc look worse.

-Newer games, such as Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 look much better.

-Regular SD cable looks worse.

-Bluray and DVDs look much better.

-Sports look friggin' awesome!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

TruckWEB

Posted
Posted
Looks to me like it all depends on what you watch. So based on the responses I got, this is what I conclude about HDTV:

-Some HD cable channels give a sharper picture.

-Older games, such as PS1, SNES, N64 etc look worse.

-Newer games, such as Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 look much better.

-Regular SD cable looks worse.

-Bluray and DVDs look much better.

-Sports look friggin' awesome!!

1) Some HD cable channels give a sharper picture :

Yes, and you will have no control over this and it depends on your provider (cable, SAT or FiOS). They tune the compression level depending on a channel popularity and how much channels they want to squeeze down the pipe. Verizon FiOS seems to score better in this field using less compression on most of their channels.

2) Older games, such as PS1, SNES, N64 etc look worse :

I have a quick fix for that, play your PS1/PS2 games on your PS3 (well, my PS3 is backward compatible to PS1/PS2);

Use your Wii to play virtual console games like NES/SNES/N64 and others.

Use your Xbox360 to play some of your older original Xbox games (if they are compatible with the X360) or get your older games from Xbox Live.

3) Regular SD cable looks worse :

Not really, my digital cable box (Explorer 8300HD) upconvert everything to 1080i and the result is quite nice.

4) Sports look friggin' awesome :

See my point #1, it's awesome because the compression levels on those channels are low to give better quality. You will find that same quality for Discovery Channel and PBS HD. I don't know why those channels tend to be VERY sharp and breath taking with all providers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Glassed Silver

Posted
Posted
Looks to me like it all depends on what you watch. So based on the responses I got, this is what I conclude about HDTV:

-Some HD cable channels give a sharper picture.

-Older games, such as PS1, SNES, N64 etc look worse.

-Newer games, such as Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 look much better.

-Regular SD cable looks worse.

-Bluray and DVDs look much better.

-Sports look friggin' awesome!!

no, it doesnt have to look worse, it depends on how well your TV can interpolate...

Philips TVs are doing a great job there, but there are other good ones, prolly even better ones, too..

Essentially, it's that old school gaming feels just better (atmosphere) with the "appropriate" TV, if you know what I mean...

It sets you back to the good old times...

yea... maybe i'm a nerd or conservative there, but for me it's ultimate to play old school games on old school hardware...

basically like a console is more fun than an emulator console + PC :)

Glassed Silver:mac

Link to comment
Share on other sites
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.