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I've DEFILED my Plasma!

1863 Views 25 Replies 16 Participants Last post by bart745, Oct 15, 2004

_Michaelangelo_

Discussion Starter · Oct 13, 2004

No, I'm not talking about with that garbage called pr0n. (Yes, intentionaly mis-spelt.)

I've intentionaly defiled my Plasma by hooking it up to satellite broadcast!

And truth be told, I actually I like the picture!

(For those that know me, I don't watch TV, and orginally got the Plasma for movies only. However, I'm finding a few shows here and there that are to my liking now that I've watched a few -- I've found them looking good on the "big-er screen.")

Ironcially I don't have HDTV (the price doesn't justify the few extra HD channels we have in the local area.) Normal broadcast doesn't look half bad -- I was kind of surprised, since I was expecting the worst. Sure some shows are terrible for quantization with ther mpeg compression, but for the most part its not _too_ noticable. I know that HDTV can look almost as good as DVD quality, and know that if it was more affordable, and more people knew what they are missing, they would probably take it up. I know I would.

I thought a few would find the topic funny ... because "defiling" is _exactly_ the word that crossed my mind when I thought of hooking my Plasma up to something not a DVD or a gaming console. Fortunately the Sat has S-Video out, so I can put my Nordost cable to good use

We now continue the time and tested old flames of Plasma vs Film ...

Peace

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1 - 20 of 26 Posts

Shark73

· #2 · Oct 13, 2004

My only dispute with what you said was that "HDTV can look almost as good as DVD quality."

This is incorrect. HDTV looks much better than DVD quality.

mdrums

· #3 · Oct 13, 2004

So let me understand this, you have a HD Plasma TV (usually expensive in the mid to upper thousands) but will not pay $10 a month for some HD channels?

JuiceRocket

· #4 · Oct 13, 2004

pr0n eh? Fellow mirc user in disguise?

I understand not going for HD content. When I first got our unit, and finally got our HD cable, I was disappointed in the amount of "HD" programming, along with the wide range of PQ.

Now though, as the programming amount has picked up, I can't imagine not having HD.

-JR

_Michaelangelo_

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 13, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by mdrums
So let me understand this, you have a HD Plasma TV (usually expensive in the mid to upper thousands) but will not pay $10 a month for some HD channels?

The sat box was $800 (Canadian), IIRC -- hard to justify when I only watch 1 or 2 shows.

Peace

_Michaelangelo_

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 13, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Shark73
My only dispute with what you said was that "HDTV can look almost as good as DVD quality."

This is incorrect. HDTV looks much better than DVD quality.

My Plasma's native res is only 720x480, so in my case, HDTV will not exceed the look of DVD quality. If I had a bigger resolution then, yes, HDTV would look better.

What's the (vertical) resolutions HDTV supports anyways? 480p? 720i? 1080i?

Peace

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darrellt

· #7 · Oct 13, 2004

Don't get HD! It is too addictive. Once I got HD programming I find it too hard to watch SD. I find myself watching whatever is on HD rather than put up with the impossible SD compression that Dish puts out. Fortunately the Bay Area has quite a few OTA HD channels as well...

HDTV888

· #8 · Oct 13, 2004

Let me understand this: there is HD in Vancouver BC now? Legally?

What channels or networks are available?

Plasma George

· #9 · Oct 13, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by _Michaelangelo_
My Plasma's native res is only 720x480, so in my case, HDTV will not exceed the look of DVD quality.

So the numbers say...I'd read more here about what HDTV looks like using human eyes for testing.!

I'd never recommend a 16x9 TV if you're not going to get 16x9 programming.

You have 2 options that are both very bad---watching 4x3 and ruining your beautiful TV with burn-in, or watching stretch-o-vision all the time.

Moebius

· #10 · Oct 13, 2004

Ok, Satellite. That I can live with. I thought you meant you put Val Helsing on it or some similar real crime. That we would have had to take action against.

rmcgirr83

· #11 · Oct 13, 2004

I'm sorry...which plasma has a resolution of 720x480?

R Harkness

· #12 · Oct 13, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by darrellt
Don't get HD! It is too addictive. Once I got HD programming I find it too hard to watch SD. I find myself watching whatever is on HD rather than put up with the impossible SD compression that Dish puts out. Fortunately the Bay Area has quite a few OTA HD channels as well...

I have an HD cable box and my cable company provides a decent amount of HD channels (compared to average satellite companies, VOOM excepted).

I switch to the HD channels occasionally for some eye-candy, but haven't found it addictive. For my butt to stay in the chair for a whole program I have to be involved in the content, and there isn't much that I watch that is broadcast in HD.

I suppose that might change if I watched more TV, but I prefer to watch movies (DVD). So, while like the next guy I want all programming in Hi-Def, at this point there isn't enough to make it a killer app in my home.

That's my perspective. I absolutely understand why others find themselves watching their HD channels a lot.

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_Michaelangelo_

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 13, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by rmcgirr83
I'm sorry...which plasma has a resolution of 720x480?

Sorry, my bad Rich. I haven't had to know/use my resolution in over a year, thus I forget the horizontal size since it is at some "wacky" number - I it got mixed up with a HD vertical size and/or the max DVD width. (Allthough I still have the dam model number memorized - th42pwd5uy

)

Native res is 852x480.

Vertical is more important then horizontal, since it is the smaller of the two numbers, thus one will notice the fractional scaling more. Moving up to a 1024x768 doesn't "nicely" match HD res - this is one of the reasons I picked the ED model -- so that the vertical would "perfectly" match the DVD vertical res size. (The bang/buck was lower on a higher res or bigger screen among other things.)

Peace

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Mike53

· #14 · Oct 13, 2004

Ha ha...I misread it to say "I refilled my plasma!"

Plasma George

· #15 · Oct 13, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by R Harkness
I absolutely understand why others find themselves watching their HD channels a lot.

N F L S T H D

My whole purpose for investing in this equipment is justified on 17 glorious Sundays of pure bliss...like being a little kid and having 17 Xmas mornings.

Don't forget 17 Monday nights.

btwyx

· #16 · Oct 14, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by _Michaelangelo_
My Plasma's native res is only 720x480, so in my case, HDTV will not exceed the look of DVD quality. If I had a bigger resolution then, yes, HDTV would look better.

HD looks better than DVD on an ED plasma display (at least on the good ones anyway, like mine and yours).

There's sound theoretical reasons for this, including that HD just has more information than DVD, like 19Mb/s vs 4-10Mb/s. The frame rate is better in HD. DVD is 30 frames a second, 720p is 60 frames, 1080 is 30 frames, but can be down converted to 480p at 30 frames a second. Interlaced vs non interlaced has a lot to do with it as well. The colour resolution of HD is much better than DVD, DVD is 4:1:0 so the colour has 1/4 the resolution of the luma, I can never remember what the colour format of HD, but I think its better, and there's more colour information available after the downconvert.

If you've never tried it, you should look at HD sometime, experiment is more reliable than dodgy theory.

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gordf

· #17 · Oct 14, 2004

use but my brand new HDTV sat stb from bell was 299 $Cdn. Future shop had some in stock earlier. If you go to the Bell site I believe the price is similar....

robnalex

· #18 · Oct 14, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by darrellt
Don't get HD! It is too addictive. Once I got HD programming I find it too hard to watch SD. I find myself watching whatever is on HD rather than put up with the impossible SD compression that Dish puts out. Fortunately the Bay Area has quite a few OTA HD channels as well...

I must confess that I do watch some programs just because they're in HD to check out PQ, etc., but even so, most of the programs I really do enjoy are in HD too. After watching something like MSNBC (with their damned logo- another issue) in SD, I usually look at something really pretty in HD to remind me why I got this fabulous HD display (PHD6UY).

_Michaelangelo_

Discussion Starter · #19 · Oct 14, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by gordf
use but my brand new HDTV sat stb from bell was 299 $Cdn. Future shop had some in stock earlier. If you go to the Bell site I believe the price is similar....

Thanx for the heads-up Gord.

I thought the bell vu sat was more, but I'll check it out again.

Peace

_Michaelangelo_

Discussion Starter · #20 · Oct 15, 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by HDTV888
Let me understand this: there is HD in Vancouver BC now? Legally?

What channels or networks are available?

Bell Vue was offering a HD sat box. I'm still away from home, so I won't have a chance to check until sometime next week on this info. I thought under 5 channels, but it might have risen to less then 10 now -- don't quote me on that though. I do know that Discovery channel was available in HD, and 1 or 2 others (sorry, I didn't pay attention to the names, as it wasn't a priority.)

I'm not sure how HD would be available illegally??

I'll give Rogers a call and find out what HD is available via cable as well.

Peace

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1 - 20 of 26 Posts

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