Well, being impatient, about 2.5 years ago bought a 40" Sony CRT TV, as flatscreen TVs were still too expensive and did not think they’d come down for a while. Now, of course, could get a big one for about what I paid for the tube job, but…
This one was only “HD-ready” which was OK then as hardly any stations here had HD. I know still have three years befoe the dreaded change to all-HD kicks in, but as more stations are boadcasting it, am wondering about a converter.
I guess what is needed is a HDTV tuner to make my set receive HD. I am on basic cable, without a cable box, so what are my options? The only tuner I found in a search was $250, which is ridiculous. I think I read somewhere congress is considering making converters available free eventually, but who knows.
The other problem is that this sucker weighs 300 lbs and is in a built-in entertainment center, so it is a major job to pull the thing out to get to the back inputs. I’m sure would have to do this to connect a set-top tuner, which really hate to do. Actually, have the cable input to my VCR, and from there to the back of the TV. Could a tuner be put between those, which are easier to reach?
Are there any other options?
As have two other sets on my house cable wiring in other rooms, would the one tuner work for them, or would i need one for each set?
When it gets close to 12/2008, there are going to be a hell of a lot of miffed old-style TV set owners, I’ll bet.
[QUOTE=KlondikeGeoff]
Well, being impatient, about 2.5 years ago bought a 40" Sony CRT TV, as flatscreen TVs were still too expensive and did not think they’d come down for a while. Now, of course, could get a big one for about what I paid for the tube job, but…
This one was only “HD-ready” which was OK then as hardly any stations here had HD. I know still have three years befoe the dreaded change to all-HD kicks in, but as more stations are boadcasting it, am wondering about a converter.
[quote]
“HD Ready” doesn’t necessarily mean anything, other than that the TV has component inputs and can synch up with at least one HD resolution. That doesn’t mean it will actually be able to resolve the detail in an HDTV picture. On the other hand, it might be able to - check the specifications for the television.
There are two ways to get HD - one is with an over-the-air tuner, assuming your area has OTA HD broadcasts. You’ll also need an antenna on your roof for it and the wiring.
Or, you can subscribe to satellite and get an HD capable satellite receiver.
The other way to go is to get a cable box that supports HD, assuming your local cable provider has HD content. In my area, HD is free with cable, but you have to buy the HD PVR box, which was around $500.
Absolutely not. Your VCR is probably putting out at best S-Video, and maybe even just composite or RF video. None of those support HDTV resolutions. You have to make sure your TV has component video inputs - that’s three different RCA jacks for video, plus two for audio.
If your other sets aren’t HD compatible, you will gain no advantage from hooking them up to an HD box. You’ll have to feed the output of the HD box using the S-video or Composite video connections, which will down-convert the signal to 480i. You may even get worse reception through that than you do through your regular cable. And yes, you would need one box for each TV, unless your happy with each TV showing the same channel.
If there are still a lot of analog users around, the date will just get pushed back again. These types of regulations are generally a giant waste of time and counter-productive. By the way, the date in question isn’t for everyone to be broadcasting in HDTV - that date is for everyone to be broadcasting in digital, which isn’t the same thing. You can get digital signals which are not HD, and in fact the majority of them aren’t. The reason the FCC wanted to mandate the switch to digital in the first place is to reclaim bandwidth, since digital channels use about 1/3 the bandwidth of an equivalent analog channel.
Is this the Sony KV-40XBR800? If so, yes, it’s a beast, but quite capable of gorgeous HD display.
I have Adelphia cable with HD, and even though Adelphia has limited HD offerings, what they do have is mostly breath-taking.
I was going to guess KV40XBR700. One of those is anchoring the east side of my house. IIRC, it’s actually got two sets of component inputs.
Yes, it will be a drag pulling the thing out far enough to plug in a set of component cables, but that’s what you’ve got to do if you want to see HD. I don’t think the thing has a front-panel component input.
Thanks guys for the good info. Yup, it’s the KV-40XBR800, and know what you mean by anchoring the house. I’ve managed to pull the sucker out a couple of times but next time will hire a weight-lifter.
Unfortunately, it does not have a front panel input. Also checked with Cox cable, and only way they will be able to provide HD is if I rent their box for $10/month and upgrade to digital at an extra $35/month. The additional $45/month definitely is not worth it at this stage of the game, so will just wait. Maybe the price of HD tuners will come down eventually.
You need more than a weight-lifter…you need a crew…or block-and-tackle…
Same one I’ve got.
Magnificent, beautiful picture, but if I had to buy one now, it would be something that weighed a bit less than 300+ pounds. Thankfully, I wired the set to my AV receiver when it was put in place, and I don’t have to get behind the set much anymore.
I’ll only ditch it when 1080p Plasma/LCD/DLP and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD is available for less than the cost of a new car…
Really, if you have a progressive scan DVD player, I suggest you enjoy this set as the 480p DVD picture doesn’t get much better unless you spend a whole lot more money.
Pretty much. The FCC wanted to reclaim that spectrum for use by other technologies. The bandwidth is worth billions of dollars at auction.
There’s actually a long a twisty story behind this. Some claim that the broadcasters adopted HDTV because it gave them an excuse to claim that they could not give up their bandwidth. In other words, the commitment to HDTV was treated as little more than a way to put a stake in the ground and say, “This bandwidth is mine!” In that sense, this is a huge corporate handout, akin to giving free land to the railways.
But once they made the commitment to HDTV, they were stuck with it, and the govenrment kept pushing commitment dates to get them to follow through. Unfortunately, until recently the market just didn’t care about HD, and the standards were in constant flux, so the TV broadcasters kept coming up with excuses for not investing the capital to upgrade cameras, sets, network hardware, editing studios, tape machines, and all the other equipment that went obsolete with HDTV.
But now that people are buying giant screen TVs and putting projectors in their houses, they want better quality TV. So now the market is pushing hard on the broadcasters in a way the government couldn’t/wouldn’t. So now they’re all scrambling to get their HDTV content going.
I’ve managed to pull the sucker out a couple of times but next time will hire a weight-lifter.