Video Asylum

Posted by oscar (A) on September 10, 2006 at 06:36:10

In Reply to: What justifies purchasing an HDTV set? posted by dingo dave on September 10, 2006 at 00:26:43:

The larger the screen the more likely you are to benefit from HDTV. 30" minimum was my guestimate as to the threshold to make HD worthwhile.

I switched from Charter (FW) to Dishnetwork because of folks who swore even Charter digital cable was inferior to Dish. I didn't see that big a difference but that may have been because of an older Dish box and my easy-to-please eyes. What Dishnetwork did provide was more HD channels, something I really craved given my screen size. DirectTV might be a better choice if you are big NFL football fanatic.

The closest to "true" high definition usually is provided on HDNet and Discovery channel. MOst of the other stuff on Network TV, HBO, SHowcase, is upsampled from not-quite-HD source material. I've been impressed with some of Sports broadcast on FOx, ABC, and ESPN but again a lot of it dependents on how good the cameras are. The VOOM channels are better than standard definition but usually not quite as good as your typical HDNet broadcasts.

My previous Dish HD box had an OTA tuner, reception was spotty but that may have been for geographic reasons (my house is sitting in a bowl on the wrong side of the hill WRT to transmission towers). THe new HD box includes broadcast HD via the satellite feed; I need to check if they'll ever get channel 13 in HD, something I could only get OTA once in a blue moon.

My next display will be a 65+" 1080p to back up the primary display (front projector). I'm waiting for price drops, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD winner, and spending money (it's all going to pay electrical bills nowadays).

I occasionally canvass the neighborhood for SOTA displays. When I do, the primary locales include Marvin Electronics, and the Home Theater Stores (e.g. S. Arlington, Colleyville). But even the 1080p displays at Best Buy can look quite stunning when fed an HD DVD 1080p source.

I am considering a Blu-Ray player to feed 720p to my display but evidently they are still having growing pains. I might consider the Playstation 3 when it appears because it would be multiple use (gaming, Blu-Ray, SACD?) and priced to sell (probably below production costs). I don't really want to pay way too steep a price to be an early adopter. And with an ongoing format war....