dicktimber
Established Member
Let me tell you about these contraptions.
The BBc and ITV introduced HD tv a couple of years ago. Initially you had to buy a box to get the HD channels and have a dish fitted.
Today you can buy a Sony or Panasonic TV with built in so called free sat HD, which still requires a dish.
If you go to Currys or Comet you can see HD being demonstrated by way of a HD review channel from the BBC. The picture is sharper, and more defined than normal TV.
So you expect to get this quality of picture when you buy a HD TV.
Not so.
In their wisdom the BBC only send out certain programmes in full HD. This is something to do with the amount of information they can send at one time.
If you watch TV during the day in HD, it will invariably not be full HD and in some instances the picture can break up.
But, come six o'clock when the BBc news is on and many people arrive home from work, full HD is transmitted.
I have been told this is due to cost as transmitting a lower no of bits costs less than a higher no of bits.
So you have a varience in picture quality, although they say this is not true.
There are very limited channels to watch free.
Sport does look better, but you also need a 100hrtz Tv, and picture stabilization built in the TV. This is because in action movies and fast sports viewing there can be a shuddering effect in the picture quality. Some TV's have built in chips which add additional frames to help smooth out the picture, so a footballgame looks more normal and is smooth running.
Flat screen TV's are only as good as the programmes the TV companies broadcast.
For instance if you like All Creatures Great and Small..it's awful...because it's in an old format.
It is also a myth that everyone can get digital TV when the analogue transmitter in their area is turned off.
Digital is transmitted in a series of straight lines, unlike analogue which is based upon the sine wave.
Many people in the Lake District, where their homes are next to steep hills struggle to get a reception from a digital TV ariel.
They are being forced to have a dish installed if they want to get a decent signal.
HD TV's work well with HD DVD's...however there are snags with this.
The HD player must be a Blu Ray player and the DVD must be HD to enjoy full 1080 pixcels viewing.
HD DVD's are expensive to buy.
You also need a dedicated HD lead to transmit from the player to the TV.
So when you buy a TV you will have a spec covering
Contrast ration....say 20, 000 to 1
This is the ration of blacks and whites on the screen.it has nothing to do with anything else.
It is a ratio between the blackest blacks and the whitest whites ( don't ask!)
The higher the ratio, the better the blacks in the prog.
For example. if you watch Batman Returnes, which is filmed in dark settings, it will still be dark. BUT the blacks will be blacker and the whites whiter...so in theory the definition will be better.
1080P the maximum number of pixcels that can be had on a TV screen. The more there are the tighter together the picture will be, the better the picture quality.
Sound quality. Please listen to this as alot of places don't or won't replace if you get home and the sound is terrible.
You would be surprised the number of people who buy a TV and never listen to the sound quality.
In general it's terrible from the little speakers built into even the high spec TV's.
I may have got some of the technical jargon a little scew wiff, but that's it in general.
Be aware that. As soon as you get the set home, it's out of date. Has dropped several hundered pounds in price, and is old technology.
By 2020 we will be watching holagrames projected onto a flat surface and view the programme as we see the world, with the higher priced models incorporating your home surroundings into the programme scenery.
So you can be sat in THE ROVERS RETURN, watching as if you were there!
And the point of all this.....
Well if you go to Currys to buy a TV, and you consider the young chap that served you didn't have a clue about TV's..............
IS IT ANY WONDER????
The BBc and ITV introduced HD tv a couple of years ago. Initially you had to buy a box to get the HD channels and have a dish fitted.
Today you can buy a Sony or Panasonic TV with built in so called free sat HD, which still requires a dish.
If you go to Currys or Comet you can see HD being demonstrated by way of a HD review channel from the BBC. The picture is sharper, and more defined than normal TV.
So you expect to get this quality of picture when you buy a HD TV.
Not so.
In their wisdom the BBC only send out certain programmes in full HD. This is something to do with the amount of information they can send at one time.
If you watch TV during the day in HD, it will invariably not be full HD and in some instances the picture can break up.
But, come six o'clock when the BBc news is on and many people arrive home from work, full HD is transmitted.
I have been told this is due to cost as transmitting a lower no of bits costs less than a higher no of bits.
So you have a varience in picture quality, although they say this is not true.
There are very limited channels to watch free.
Sport does look better, but you also need a 100hrtz Tv, and picture stabilization built in the TV. This is because in action movies and fast sports viewing there can be a shuddering effect in the picture quality. Some TV's have built in chips which add additional frames to help smooth out the picture, so a footballgame looks more normal and is smooth running.
Flat screen TV's are only as good as the programmes the TV companies broadcast.
For instance if you like All Creatures Great and Small..it's awful...because it's in an old format.
It is also a myth that everyone can get digital TV when the analogue transmitter in their area is turned off.
Digital is transmitted in a series of straight lines, unlike analogue which is based upon the sine wave.
Many people in the Lake District, where their homes are next to steep hills struggle to get a reception from a digital TV ariel.
They are being forced to have a dish installed if they want to get a decent signal.
HD TV's work well with HD DVD's...however there are snags with this.
The HD player must be a Blu Ray player and the DVD must be HD to enjoy full 1080 pixcels viewing.
HD DVD's are expensive to buy.
You also need a dedicated HD lead to transmit from the player to the TV.
So when you buy a TV you will have a spec covering
Contrast ration....say 20, 000 to 1
This is the ration of blacks and whites on the screen.it has nothing to do with anything else.
It is a ratio between the blackest blacks and the whitest whites ( don't ask!)
The higher the ratio, the better the blacks in the prog.
For example. if you watch Batman Returnes, which is filmed in dark settings, it will still be dark. BUT the blacks will be blacker and the whites whiter...so in theory the definition will be better.
1080P the maximum number of pixcels that can be had on a TV screen. The more there are the tighter together the picture will be, the better the picture quality.
Sound quality. Please listen to this as alot of places don't or won't replace if you get home and the sound is terrible.
You would be surprised the number of people who buy a TV and never listen to the sound quality.
In general it's terrible from the little speakers built into even the high spec TV's.
I may have got some of the technical jargon a little scew wiff, but that's it in general.
Be aware that. As soon as you get the set home, it's out of date. Has dropped several hundered pounds in price, and is old technology.
By 2020 we will be watching holagrames projected onto a flat surface and view the programme as we see the world, with the higher priced models incorporating your home surroundings into the programme scenery.
So you can be sat in THE ROVERS RETURN, watching as if you were there!
And the point of all this.....
Well if you go to Currys to buy a TV, and you consider the young chap that served you didn't have a clue about TV's..............
IS IT ANY WONDER????
