A friend of mine had a satellite dish installed and they didn’t give her a box with high definition. She’s elderly and a pretty sharp lady and immediately noticed the picture sucked. It was connected via a cable to her TV set which I believe to be an analog signal. They’re giving her the run around about it. It would need to be rewired or some other bit of what sounds like nonsense to me.
It’s my opinion that high definition is the expected norm. I was really surprised that the box did not have an HDMI connection. It had S-video, component, and composite connections.
I would expect the feed from the dish to be the same no matter what box is connected to it. Is this an accurate statement?
Anyone in the business who can tell me where she stands on this. I’m getting ready to call on her behalf to straighten this out.
I have DiretWay. For TV AND internet. I was told that I would need a dfferent addtional dish to get Hi def TV. One for the internet, one for hi-def TV. The one that does the internet does regular TV, but not high def. As I understand it, the sat that does the internet, does not do hi def TV. So I would need an additional dish to point at the hi def TV sat.
I have two satellite receiver boxes. Neither one of them is HD compatible. You do in fact need an HD satellite receiver, which is different than a standard receiver.
ETA: The dish may also need to be replaced. My original round dish was not HD compatible, however my replacement parabolic dish is. So, I’m half way there.
It’s not just the receiver box that needs to have a digital/HD output, but the dish/transponder(s) need the capability, and of course the plan/channel-package, as well. I’m sure they can get her setup for digital/HD, but she’ll have to pay more monthly costs for the service and possibly upfront costs for the hardware.
ETA: Cheapest way to go if she doesn’t want to spend more money is to setup a regular over-the-air antenna hooked up to the coax input to catch local channels in HD, then get all the “cable” channels in SD through the satellite box hooked up to the TV through the component cables. Then just switch inputs depending on if she wants to watch local or cable channels.
OK, this answers my question. They do indeed need to install the whole thing as digital. damn. I guess I can bump her up to 480 with the S-Video or Composite connections.
The whole problem is that she lives at the intersection of Middle and Nowhere and couldn’t get a signal without a big antenna.
Yeah, one of the issues with having an HDTV receiving an SD signal is that all the flaws really show, particularly the gobs of compression that they use in the digital transmission from the satellite to your dish. With an old-school SD TV, there weren’t enough pixels to notice many of the flaws, so the “softer focus” can make it seem like old-school TVs had a better picture.
As for catching the local channels in HD via an antenna, this website can be A LOT of help in figuring out what kind of antenna you’d need, and how best to set it up. You put in your zip code and based on the distance, direction and terrain between you and the broadcast towers, they help you determine the best approach without having to play a guessing game. There are a lot of very useful resources on that site that will help you figure things out.
BTW, if your OP is accurate, and you have the choice between S-Video, composite, and component connections from the box to the TV, use the component connections (with the 3 colors for just the video + 2 for audio) to get the best possible signal. Component > S-Video or composite.
Would an older person want the extra expense of HD? It can add up quick. I’d guess the monthly HD receiver rental is higher too. I’d suggest getting prices and explain them to your friend. Let her decide if the additional monthly cost is worth it to her.
HD just doesn’t appeal to someone that grew up and spent their adult lives with standard resolution. I’d accept it if there wasn’t such high fees. Otherwise, I’ll happily watch tv exactly like I’ve done for 48 years.
She probably would have been happy with a really good antenna. There was one in her attic that I connected up but it didn’t provide any better signal than I got off an amplified interior antenna. If I can bump it up to DVD quality she will certainly be happier with the setup.
on the left middle is click on ‘Check Your Address for Free TV’
and find the type of antenna needed and stations expected. put in the height of antenna. if the antenna is in the attic then the distance values are about 20 miles less than given.
you need to make sure the antenna cable and connections are in good shape (the copper wire should shine) and the antenna pointed as best it can to the needed direction.
It’s worth doing, but I wouldn’t hold my breath expecting much improvement. Standard definition channels, even the ones that also come in HD, are compressed to hell. I’ve got both SD and HD versions of a lot of channels, and I just did a test. Viewing SD through an HDMI cable didn’t look any better than HD through composite.