I know the difference between an HDTV with an integrated tuner and an HDTV. One has a tuner, one doesn’t. Duh.
The tuner allows you to receive over-the-air broadcasts, assuming you get an HDTV antenna. Right. Got it.
There isn’t a chance in hell of me doing that. My HDTV will come in over a digital cable box or DirecTV which will be conncted HDMI, most likely. In such a case, is there any reason at all for me to get a unit with a built-in tuner if I can save a couple bucks by getting a monitor?
I believe that all TVs that are being made now that are larger then 27" must come with a tuner. Within a year or so all new TVs will have them. There is also no such thing as an HD antenna, it’s just an antenna with a fancy name so you’ll spend more. Depending on how close you are to the station you can pick up HD signals without paying for it. Plus a lot of stations have sub channels that cable may or may not put in their line-up. Here in DC I get the Tube OTA, and Comcast doesn’t send it out. If you are close enough you might want to check outantennaweb to see how close you are to the stations and you might get more HD channels then cable offers.
I have the Westinghouse 1080p 37" High Def Monitor. I feed it with my Digital HD cable box, my DVD, my VHS and my Computer with a good DVI output card. There is no need for a tuner.** Edward The Head ** is not correct in his belief.
My viewing angle is better than DLP, Plasma and even tube. I would highly recommend finding and buying a 1080p LCD and if it is cheaper without the Tuner, you do not need it.
If you are going to watch SD material too, note that an HD monitor designed purely for progressive material might have no ability to smooth out comb-like interlacing artefacts. Interlaced material will look better on a HD TV with a good video processor.
Which part? According to Wiki As of last March all TVs over 25" must have a built-in ATSC tuner. As of March of this year all TVs must have them. That doesn’t mean that you need one, but you’re not going to be able to find a new TV without one. I don’t know about computer monitors.
I was trying to suggest that if one does get a new TV not to forget about antennas. I get more channels from my antenna then I do my cable, and it looks better and is free. I only lose two channels, the weather channel and the TV guide channel. I gained two weather channels, four PBS channels and the Tube an all music channel. One might be suprised what you can get for free.
You will still be able to buy a High Def Monitor that does everything a TV does except the tuner. Like the one, I own and like the one, I linked. That is all. They work at least as well, if not better than a HDTV. The only real difference between an LCD TV and LCD Monitor is if it has a tuner. The monitors will be sold. The wiki link is referring to a change in tuner type. They will no longer be allowed to market Large TVs without the ATSC tuner. There is no law prohibiting the sale of a monitor (TV without any tuner).
I have a Samsung 27 " lcd tv with tuner and the tuner is very handy. The tv is hooked up to a digital hdtv cable box that also has two tuners. Often I use all three tuners at the same time. I also have my computer and a dvd player hooked up, giving me 4 different video sources.
My hdtv signal comes from cable. I have a splitter near the tv and one cable goes straight to the tv, and the other goes to the cable box which then goes to the tv by hdmi. So, what is the point?
My tv needs two video sources for picture in picture. It can do pip side by side with both pictures being as big as about a 20" screen. This is a very nice way to watch live tv. You can switch the active station on either side, and move the sound from one side to the other.
I can record from both tuners on the hdtv box at the same time. Often during prime time there are two shows I want to tape at once, or they overlap. I usually like to record these shows and then play them back at a more convient time, and also then have the ability to skip commercials. With the third video source I can still channel surf while recording.
I can’t stand LDCs with any kind of motion on the screen at all. It may not be that bad on a 27" monitor, but with with anything over that, it’s annoying as hell. I would never go with an LDC for anything over that size (really though, I can’t imagine watching anything on something small) I’m still sold on plasma. Of course, I don’t watch tv on small screens, so you could be OK with lcd on something less than 30", if that’s what you want to do.
Back to the OP. If you have a box coming in which will give you HDMI, you need to look at which decodes better. Not all chips are created equally.
Actually I checked my receipt and it is a 32". We use it in our bedroom so anything larger would be too big. It has a 8ms response time so I can’t say I have seen any motion artifacts. However some regular TV stations look like crap. I think this is because they are too compressed and I am seeing mpeg artifacts. The quality of the decoding chip is crucial. I forgot to mention I also have a TV tuner in my computer. The chip is very good and can be adjusted to a high degree including controls over noise and sharpening. I often watch tv through the computer to my TV and get a much more pleasing image.
The TV doesn’t do the decompression. It’s the cable/satellite/DTV boxes that do that, and they all do it equally well, because MPEG-2 decompression is the same regardless of where the data came from. What makes a difference is the quality of compression. Some channels compress the data more than others, depending on how much data their bandwidth allows them to send, and even with the most expensive equipment, the more you compress MPEG-2 the worse it looks. There is nothing your TV or cable box can do about that.
However, the video processors in displays, which allow them to do things such as displaying interlaced 480 video on a progressive display that has 768 lines, are not all equal. Some are better at converting SD (480 or 576) to HD, some are better at converting interlaced to progressive.
When it’s old enough our living room LCD will flow to my den, then to my wife’s sewing room, then to the exercise room, then to Goodwill. That’s the deal I’ve arranged, and we all should be happy with it.
By comparing displays before you buy, with material that you know to be 480i. What they show in shop windows doesn’t necessarily give you any idea of how suitable the display is for your needs.
But if I goto my local store, they’re going to have playing whatever they have playing, and it looks like everything is running off of one or two feeds.
Actually I have a rather innocuous looking, and inexpensive, rabbit ears type antenna which picks up my local broadcast HD stations. I have never converted my satellite service to the HD service since I watch very little actual TV. The broadcast works for the ocassional HD broadcast (Rose Bowl parade, etc.) that I want to watch.
I don’t believe that all TVs must come equipped with a tuner as yet. That drives the price up, also.
Bob
Another issue with using a monitor instead of a TV is audio - the monitors generally don’t come with onboard speakers.
If you’re hooked up to a home theatre system, you might not care, but a lot of people like the convenience of built in speakers for general TV viewing, and save the 5 channel surround, etc., for DVDs.
Check out the reviews on plasmaconcepts or some of the other sites on the web. If you’re looking at plasma, the Pioneer elite is the “best”, and most expensive. Panasonic has some great plama sets out right now at some amazingly low prices. In fact, you can get a 50inch 9th generation plasma monitor from Panasonic for under $2000.
I am not talking about a computer monitor, but a full-blown TV set minus only the tuner. Look at the link to the Westinghouse I provided. It has adequate speakers.
Additionally, most serious buyers of large LCD’s TV or Panels are very likely to pump the sound through a stereo and not the built in speakers of the TV.
I have rarely found any TV that compares well to a stereo for sound.
I also suffer none of the motion problems that TokyoPlayer mentioned. That is generally confined to older models and lower end models meant for Computer use.
The better LCD panels have the best viewing angle, lowest weight and lowest energy consumptions. These are worth considering. Both the TVs and the Monitors have these abilities.
I have a Comcast Digital, Hi-Def DVR box feeding my LCD monitor and it reproduces both Hi-Def and standard perfectly. There is no fuzz and no pixilation. I even found the right combo of outputs/inputs to run the VCR cleanly. The DVD playback is great. The computer viewing allows reading font size 10 crisply from across the room.