Am I the only person who's not excited about HDTV?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

A television picture is a television picture. Clarity and pixelage (or whatever) can only do so much. In the end, it's still just a picture and not the real thing.

People spend ridiculous amounts of money on plasmas and HDTVs and then act insulted if a show or a game isn't on HDTV. I just don't really get that.

[terrya]

1. I'm not either

I couldn't care less about it.

[LynneSin]

2. That reminds me to call DirectTV and upgrade to HD

I got a new HDTV a month ago

[MrCoffee]

3. no...i'm just pissed that i have to buy some gizmo to make my rabbit ears work

or something.

[crispini]

12. You're talking about the conversion to digital, and you can get free boxes for that.

It's a little different than HD. Here's a link to the coupon program for $$$ off the conversion box!

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/dtv/

[MrCoffee]

17. heh...their choices are to buy the converter or to buy cable

that pisses me all the way off.

[crispini]

27. Did you catch the link for the $40 coupon program?

That should help some folks anyway, and not many people have heard about it, so pass it on.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/faq.html

4. How can I request my coupons?
Requests will be taken beginning January 1, 2008, and going through March 31, 2009, by calling 1-888-388-2009. Check back to this website during that period of time to find out convenient ways to request your coupons, including calling a toll-free number.

[Zuiderelle]

4. It's not a ridiculous amount of money anymore, and the picture is exceptionally better.

:shrug:

[MrCoffee]

5. unless you have a perfectly good non-HD TV set...then you're just screwn

[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. Can I reach into the TV and touch what's in the image?

If not, I'm still not that impressed.

[Zuiderelle]

20. With that criteria, there's no difference between B&W and Color.

For me, the HD picture is amazingly better and makes anything we watch much more interesting. Especially such things like Planet Earth. Vast difference between the HD version and the normal one.

Bottom line, I love my HDTV. Lots.

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. Seems like just more techno-hype to me

It's been only like 10 years since we were pissin' all over ourselves about Intel's new 486 DX-2 processor. Y'know what a computer with that's called now? A doorstop.

Ten years from now, or less, people will be rioting at Best Buy and Circuit City to buy the new UHDTV. Then the ZOMGHDTV.

Et cetera.

[skygazer]

22. And there will STILL be someone who refuses to show their receipt

:P

[DS1]

7. no, the HD version so television shows take forever to download

:D

[kwassa]

8. Television is still a vast wasteland ....

Like Hollywood, the technology is very impressive, the content is usually idiotic.

This is a good thing. I would otherwise waste too much time watching it.

[TommyO]

36. HD movies on HD Net, Showtime, HBO, and the like

make it worthwhile for me, along with a few select shows like Good Eats and Heroes.

[redqueen]

9. I don't get it either. I think it's dumb, to be honest.

Gadgetry in general gets on my nerves, actually.

[Critters2]

33. So many male clergy are just IN LOVE with gadgets

maybe men in general. But "the boys" as I like to call 'em, just can't get enough electro-mabobs. Like this guy I know who puts his laptop--his new super-dooper-laptop--in the pulpit to preach from. I'm convinced this is mostly to let people know he has this new hip cool laptop. Me, I don't preach from notes, on paper or on a computer. I am so uncool.

[spinbaby]

10. I'd like it better if they settled on a standard.

I'd love to be able to buy HD movies without worrying about them going Betamax.

[TrogL]

31. Then don't buy Blu-Ray or Hi-DEF

The only difference between them and standard DVD is they display non-interlaced, assuming your TV can handle it - if it wasn't bought in the last year, it probably won't.

I like HD-TV and I can't see the difference between 1080i and 1080p.

Save your money.

[TommyO]

37. I'm waiting for either one of the following before buying an HD disc player

A clear winner in the format wars
An affordable dual-format player.

Until then, I'll settle for content that I can record on my TiVo HD from the HD package that my cable company offers

[Mojambo]

13. I honestly have a hard time telling the difference. n/t

[crispini]

14. Have you seen the HDTVs?

Sexxxxxxxxy. OMG. It's like having your own home theatre. Amazing.

[Deep13]

15. nope

It's not going to cure cancer or find life on Mars, so I guess I really don't care.

[malta blue]

16. I could care less for the most part.

A friend of mine won an HDTV in a raffle and she said you would not believe the clarity that is available. You don't know what you are missing until you have it - basically.

Another friend told me she and her DH have been "discussing" the HDTV and he really wants to get a new TV because "there are things I can't see when I am playing X-BOX" :rofl: She told him to get over it - the TV works fine for now.

[supernova]

18. I want The Feelies that Aldous Huxley promised us

:D

[Rambis]

19. Have not seen a match yet

I have heard it shows much more of the pitch which allows the viewer to see plays develop sooner. I have also heard it makes hockey watchable?

[Shakespeare]

21. I wasn't until I saw Discovery's Planet Earth series.

Absolutely breathtaking, and was my "aha" moment for HDTV.

[bif]

23. It's being shoved down our throats

And I really can't afford it. At the end of the day, it's the same ol' crappy programming.

[DarkTirade]

24. I'd need to own a TV before I could worry about whether it's HD or not. :)

[FloridaJudy]

25. Still the same garbage

With a better picture.

Heck, I don't even have cable/satellite. Occasionally I'll watch TV at someone else's house, or at the bank/nail parlor. From what I've seen, it's not worth the money to upgrade IMHO.

[skygazer]

26. Exactly

There's nearly nothing on TV that I have any interest in watching. :shrug:

[madinmaryland]

28. When they make a TV with Smellavision, then I will buy it!

[LSK]

29. I am with you

[TrogL]

30. GET SOME GLASSES

The resolution is so poor on standard TV you can barely see what's going on even when the TV's working perfectly, which is impossible.

Standard colour TV's cannot work perfectly. There are two basic types - 3-gun and Trintron. Both display on a raster of coloured phosphor dots. Trinitron uses a single cathode ray gun and complicated electronics to make it fire at the correct phosphor. 3-gun TV's use a separate gun for each colour. Both can easily go out of alignment - a 3 gun TV displays bizarre colours, and the Trinitron just goes dim. Both are also prone to focusing problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television

The frame rate or refresh rate of a typical NTSC format CRT TV is 29.97 Hz, and for the PAL format, 25 Hz, both are scanned with two fields per frame in an interlaced fashion.

This means every second, the beam has done two passes over the screen. It flickers visibly and gives people like me migraines. Its interaction with fluroescent lights can also cause problems. Any movement onscreen causes bizarre artifacts (combing) such as wagon wheels rotating backwards. Problems with transmission cause interference patterns such as herringboning - another source of headaches. LCD monitors do not improve the situation because they simply duplicate the effect - interlacing, interference and all - using LCD's instead of phosphors.

High Definition does away with most of this because the signal is digital. It either works or it doesn't. In addition, you get higher resolution, allowing more content on the screen. Hence, looking at a face, you have a better chance of catching a facial expression because you can actually see the lines of the face instead of a bunch of blur. You aren't distracted by somebody having a purple face because the colour is always perfect. Same with the sound. The only problem you will get is drop-out caused by loss of signal. The TV will even try to make a best effort at freeze-framing and catching up when the signal resumes.

Basically, if you can't see the difference between Hi-Def and standard TV, when you're watching a Hi-Def signal you truly, literally need to get your eyes checked. - it's that monumental a difference.

[Hoof Hearted]

35. So you say it has whizbanggy zigger smigs - I say, who cares?

The difference is totally underwhelming to me and not worth the cost of replacing my 3 sets - at all.

[TommyO]

39. I'm one of those people that perceives the flicker inherent in NTSC television

also in fluorescent lighting and LED Christmas lights. I was an early adopter of LCD monitors for my computer for that reason, and when HDTV became somewhat affordable this year, I jumped. I still have an older 27" Sony in my bedroom, but I think that will be replaced soon.

[jakefrep]

32. No

I think it's massively overpriced for a marginal improvement in picture quality.

[TommyO]

38. Today's HDTVs are more affordable than a color TV in the 70's

if you take inflation into account.

the 1971 Sears Catalog offered an 18" color TV with wireless remote for the low price of $429.95. In 2006 dollars, the most recent year that I could find, that would be $2156.49. I paid less than that for my 42" Sharp Aquos (tax and delivery included) last March, and if I bought it today, I would pay even less.

As for the picture quality, of course that's subjective, but IMHO there is a huge jump in picture quality from 480i to even the lowest HD standard.

[Orsino]

34. I'm not, either.

Pretty pictures, but they just don't set off my "must have" alarm.