Video Asylum

Posted by mcdonley on February 26, 2002 at 12:30:20

In Reply to: Is HDTV *really* going to happen by 06!? posted by Owen Meany on February 13, 2002 at 16:35:25:

This is a hot debate with no set answer for everyone.

I bought a directview 34" 16:9 HDTV set:

- knowing that DVD movies would look better (no visible scan lines, progressive scan means less motion artifacts, component output means better colors, 16:9 closer to Original aspect ratio),

- knowing that 90% of our viewing was going to be 4:3 cable programming viewed in the "edge stretch" mode.

- thinking that there were no OTA stations, and knowing that I would not put up two dishes to get a few HD channels from dish network and pay $500 for a receiever and then $20-40 per month, or even put up one oval dish and pay $500 for a receiver and then $38 to Direct TV to get HDNet.

(The wife hates pillars and doesn't notice the edge distortion of the auto stretch mode. I notice the edge distortion when I look for it, but after the first five minutes, I am into the show and forget about edge distortion. )

This TV fit the high end of the budget for a living room set that will go to the bedroom eventually.

The set performed phenominally on DVD and both the wife and I were very happy with the expenditure. (Although the wife still thinks I should have considered a bigger rear projection set.)

After having the set for three months, I found out that quite a few people are having success in my area with an antenna in the attic to receive the HD and SD digital signals from Miami 40 miles away. This caused a true HD fever to attack me and I had to buy an OTA receiver and antenna for the attic.

The wife and I are so amazed at the HD images, it would have been worth the extra money to just see one HD station, but as it turns out I get three digital stations with daily HD content (PBS, CBS, and ABC) and one with "DVD quality" content (Fox).

For the next ten years, we are going to see more and more pillars and letterbox bars regardless of the shape of the screen you choose. I end up seeing pillars on my 16:9 sometimes, and even letterbox bars on some movies. I am starting to see more and more letterbox bars on my 4:3 set, in movie broadcasts and some commercials which are using the letterbox bars for the attention getting factor on a 4:3 set. (Those commercials pop to full screen on the 16:9 after a few seconds).

The bottom line, you won't be sorry if you jump in...as long as you realize the world of TV is changing.