HDTV box
 

Apologise if wrong Group but can anyone explain why do we need yet
another box to watch TV. I assume TV's marked HDTV ready are
not really ready at all if you need a separate box. Also anyone explain
why all these box circuitries can't be incorporated inside the TV itself?

TIA for info.

Will

HDTV box
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Will wrote:
Apologise if wrong Group but can anyone explain why do we need yet
another box to watch TV. I assume TV's marked HDTV ready are
not really ready at all if you need a separate box. Also anyone
explain
why all these box circuitries can't be incorporated inside the TV
itself?

Which "circuitry" would you like?

The one for HD digital satellite (Sky HD?) which isn't launching until
later this month and requires proprietary decryption technology?

The one for HD digital terrestrial which only start testing earlier
this week, and won't be a full service until after analogue switch off?

Or the one for HD digital cable which includes the proprietary (and
already out of date) telewest technology, or the currently non existent
(AFAIK) ntl or homechoice technology?

In other words, there isn't a standard to incorporate!

The TVs _are_ HD ready because when you buy an HD DVD player, HD STB,
or whatever, they have the right connections.

Unlike other TVs, not marked HD ready, which may be able to display
some of the HD resolutions, but do not have the necessary connections.

I agree it is confusing though. So many HD ready TVs with integrated
Freeview, none of which will be able to display Freeview HD (if it
happens) without the addition of a STB!

In this month's BBC Focus magazine it says Disney are getting into "Digital
3D" and "the first 3D televisions could arrive as early as 2008". That
should really put a spanner in the works!

Apparently the "3D ready" TV would be a "lenticular" flat screen (no glasses
required) or a DLP projector with polarising filters in the colour wheel
(requires glasses). How they would broadcast 3D isn't mentioned, but Disney
are already geared up for "Digital" 3D cinema, so I guess an official
variant of mpeg for 3D must exist.

HDTV box
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Will wrote:
Apologise if wrong Group but can anyone explain why do we need yet
another box to watch TV. I assume TV's marked HDTV ready are
not really ready at all if you need a separate box. Also anyone
explain
why all these box circuitries can't be incorporated inside the TV
itself?

Which "circuitry" would you like?

The one for HD digital satellite (Sky HD?) which isn't launching until
later this month and requires proprietary decryption technology?

The one for HD digital terrestrial which only start testing earlier
this week, and won't be a full service until after analogue switch off?

Or the one for HD digital cable which includes the proprietary (and
already out of date) telewest technology, or the currently non existent
(AFAIK) ntl or homechoice technology?


In other words, there isn't a standard to incorporate!

The TVs _are_ HD ready because when you buy an HD DVD player, HD STB,
or whatever, they have the right connections.

Unlike other TVs, not marked HD ready, which may be able to display
some of the HD resolutions, but do not have the necessary connections.


I agree it is confusing though. So many HD ready TVs with integrated
Freeview, none of which will be able to display Freeview HD (if it
happens) without the addition of a STB!

French A/V magazine Les Annees Laser asked every major TV manufaturer
exactly what they meant by "HD ready". Each gave a different answer.

(kim)

HDTV box
 

snipped
Which "circuitry" would you like?

The one for HD digital satellite (Sky HD?) which isn't launching until
later this month and requires proprietary decryption technology?

The one for HD digital terrestrial which only start testing earlier
this week, and won't be a full service until after analogue switch off?

Or the one for HD digital cable which includes the proprietary (and
already out of date) telewest technology, or the currently non existent
(AFAIK) ntl or homechoice technology?


Sorry to be very ill-informed but why is the Telewest technology out of
date?

Tricky

HDTV box
 

Tricky Dicky wrote:
snipped
Which "circuitry" would you like?

The one for HD digital satellite (Sky HD?) which isn't launching until
later this month and requires proprietary decryption technology?

The one for HD digital terrestrial which only start testing earlier
this week, and won't be a full service until after analogue switch off?

Or the one for HD digital cable which includes the proprietary (and
already out of date) telewest technology, or the currently non existent
(AFAIK) ntl or homechoice technology?


Sorry to be very ill-informed but why is the Telewest technology out of
date?


IIRC it uses MPEG2 encoding while most future HD systems will use some
variant of MPEG4 (like the H264 codec).

Stew

HDTV box
 

"Stephen" wrote in message
...

In this month's BBC Focus magazine it says Disney are getting into
"Digital
3D" and "the first 3D televisions could arrive as early as 2008". That
should really put a spanner in the works!

Apparently the "3D ready" TV would be a "lenticular" flat screen (no
glasses
required) or a DLP projector with polarising filters in the colour wheel
(requires glasses). How they would broadcast 3D isn't mentioned, but
Disney
are already geared up for "Digital" 3D cinema, so I guess an official
variant of mpeg for 3D must exist.

All sounds very 1950s. Better wait for hologram TV.

--
Max Demian

HDTV box
 

Will wrote:
Apologise if wrong Group but can anyone explain why do we need yet
another box to watch TV. I assume TV's marked HDTV ready are
not really ready at all if you need a separate box. Also anyone explain
why all these box circuitries can't be incorporated inside the TV itself?

TIA for info.

Will

HD Ready in essence means that the TV/display is able to display the
images at the correct resolution etc, and has the required connectors to
display an HD signal.

Effectively, HD Ready TVs are nothing more than computer monitors with
non-HD analogue/digital terrestrial tuners. The actual tuner/input etc
is separate, and varies depending on the source of the signal
(satellite, cable, terrestrial, internet, DVD, XBox360, Sony PS3....)

D

HDTV box
 

Max Demian wrote:
All sounds very 1950s. Better wait for hologram TV.


Nah... some enterprising source supplies blue and red pills in the post.
You dream your own TV viewing, it happens inside your head - full
imersive 3D, surround sound, smell, taste, uncensored etc....

Minor problems recording it though...
:-)

--
Adrian C

HDTV box
 

"David Hearn" wrote in message
...
Will wrote:
Apologise if wrong Group but can anyone explain why do we need yet
another box to watch TV. I assume TV's marked HDTV ready are
not really ready at all if you need a separate box. Also anyone explain
why all these box circuitries can't be incorporated inside the TV itself?

TIA for info.

Will

HD Ready in essence means that the TV/display is able to display the
images at the correct resolution etc, and has the required connectors to
display an HD signal.

Except most of these so called HDTVs can't actually display the correct
resolution at all since they are limited to 720 lines which is not much
better than standard definition. I've not seen any 1080 line HDTVs on the
market yet so the only way you are going to watch TV at that resolution is
on a computer monitor. In fact where can I get a 1080x1920 LCD monitor from
anyway.


Effectively, HD Ready TVs are nothing more than computer monitors with
non-HD analogue/digital terrestrial tuners. The actual tuner/input etc is
separate, and varies depending on the source of the signal (satellite,
cable, terrestrial, internet, DVD, XBox360, Sony PS3....)

D

HDTV box
 

"Stewart Smith" wrote in message
...
Tricky Dicky wrote:
snipped
Which "circuitry" would you like?

The one for HD digital satellite (Sky HD?) which isn't launching until
later this month and requires proprietary decryption technology?

The one for HD digital terrestrial which only start testing earlier
this week, and won't be a full service until after analogue switch off?

Or the one for HD digital cable which includes the proprietary (and
already out of date) telewest technology, or the currently non existent
(AFAIK) ntl or homechoice technology?


Sorry to be very ill-informed but why is the Telewest technology out of
date?


IIRC it uses MPEG2 encoding while most future HD systems will use some
variant of MPEG4 (like the H264 codec).

Shan't be buying that, then. Thanks for the heads-up

I am with Telewest and was going to get their TV-Drive system at the same
time as changing my screen

Tricky

HDTV box
 

"Tricky Dicky" wrote in message
...

"Stewart Smith" wrote in message
...
Tricky Dicky wrote:
snipped
Which "circuitry" would you like?

The one for HD digital satellite (Sky HD?) which isn't launching until
later this month and requires proprietary decryption technology?

The one for HD digital terrestrial which only start testing earlier
this week, and won't be a full service until after analogue switch
off?

Or the one for HD digital cable which includes the proprietary (and
already out of date) telewest technology, or the currently non
existent
(AFAIK) ntl or homechoice technology?


Sorry to be very ill-informed but why is the Telewest technology out of
date?


IIRC it uses MPEG2 encoding while most future HD systems will use some
variant of MPEG4 (like the H264 codec).

Shan't be buying that, then. Thanks for the heads-up

I am with Telewest and was going to get their TV-Drive system at the same
time as changing my screen

A friend in North London has it. He claims Telewest totally wrecked his A-V
installation. The aspect ratio on his LCD locks-up when he watches HD so he
has to watch all other programmes in a small window in the middle of the
screen. There's only a couple of hours a week of HD programming so he would
be better-off without it altogether. There were also problems putting the
TV-Drive into standby mode. It's essentially just an experiment and he is
one of Telewest's human guinea-pigs.

(kim)

HDTV box
 

On Thu, 11 May 2006 18:40:09 +0100, "Agamemnon"
wrote:


"David Hearn" wrote in message
...
Will wrote:
Apologise if wrong Group but can anyone explain why do we need yet
another box to watch TV. I assume TV's marked HDTV ready are
not really ready at all if you need a separate box. Also anyone explain
why all these box circuitries can't be incorporated inside the TV itself?

TIA for info.

Will

HD Ready in essence means that the TV/display is able to display the
images at the correct resolution etc, and has the required connectors to
display an HD signal.

Except most of these so called HDTVs can't actually display the correct
resolution at all since they are limited to 720 lines which is not much
better than standard definition. I've not seen any 1080 line HDTVs on the
market yet so the only way you are going to watch TV at that resolution is
on a computer monitor. In fact where can I get a 1080x1920 LCD monitor from
anyway.

The biggest widescreen models from Sony etc have more than that, so
you can watch 1080p with a black border.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

HDTV box
 

kim wrote:

French A/V magazine Les Annees Laser asked every major TV manufaturer
exactly what they meant by "HD ready". Each gave a different answer.

These are the requirements for a TV to be labelled HD Ready:

http://www.eicta.org/press.asp?level...05&do cid=398

(see the second "click here" link).

I would hope the manufacturers have had time to read them by now!


Some people might wish that "HD Ready" means 1920x1080 native display
with integrated HD tuner, but this simply isn't how its been defined.

Cheers,
David.

HDTV box
 

"kim" wrote in message
...
.. Thanks for the heads-up

I am with Telewest and was going to get their TV-Drive system at the same
time as changing my screen

A friend in North London has it. He claims Telewest totally wrecked his
A-V
installation. The aspect ratio on his LCD locks-up when he watches HD so
he
has to watch all other programmes in a small window in the middle of the
screen. There's only a couple of hours a week of HD programming so he
would
be better-off without it altogether. There were also problems putting the
TV-Drive into standby mode. It's essentially just an experiment and he is
one of Telewest's human guinea-pigs.

(kim)

Dont agree - I have TVDrive via HDMI and although it dosent (currently)
allow the picture to be stretched to fill the screen for 4:3 content it
certainly dosent lock anything up on my TV.

There are of course some bugs - but its TW so you expect them :)

Given the choice of paying £300 + £10PM for Sky HD or £0 for TW HD TVDrive
then i am sticking with TW.

MattF

HDTV box
 

On Sat, 13 May 2006 00:24:00 GMT, "Matt F"
wrote:

Given the choice of paying £300 + £10PM for Sky HD or £0 for TW HD TVDrive
then i am sticking with TW.

How do you get TV Drive for free? I could have sworn the website
quotes it as £15/m.
--
Andrew, contact via http://interpleb.googlepages.com
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.

HDTV box
 

"Matt F" wrote in message
. uk...

"kim" wrote in message
...
. Thanks for the heads-up

I am with Telewest and was going to get their TV-Drive system at the
same
time as changing my screen

A friend in North London has it. He claims Telewest totally wrecked his
A-V
installation. The aspect ratio on his LCD locks-up when he watches HD so
he
has to watch all other programmes in a small window in the middle of the
screen. There's only a couple of hours a week of HD programming so he
would
be better-off without it altogether. There were also problems putting
the
TV-Drive into standby mode. It's essentially just an experiment and he
is
one of Telewest's human guinea-pigs.

(kim)

Dont agree - I have TVDrive via HDMI and although it dosent (currently)
allow the picture to be stretched to fill the screen for 4:3 content it
certainly dosent lock anything up on my TV.

It's not even a full height picture. The picture is windowed within a small
letterbox in the middle of the screen. The LCD is a Panasonic TX-32 LXD5000.
Once the TVDrive has been switched from HD to standard definition mode, he
can't get it back again. He was also told by Telewest to use Scart for
normal programmes and HDMI for HD which I think is wrong?

(kim)

HDTV box
 

"Andrew" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 May 2006 00:24:00 GMT, "Matt F"
wrote:

Given the choice of paying £300 + £10PM for Sky HD or £0 for TW HD TVDrive
then i am sticking with TW.

How do you get TV Drive for free? I could have sworn the website
quotes it as £15/m.

By comparing my current TW package (Supreme, No Premium Channels) against
the Sky+ HD equivalent which would be £10 PM For HD Channels and another £10
PM for the Sky+ functionality.

This essentially means that the HD element of TVDrive is free for my
personal circumstances as long as i want a HD service from either Sky or TW

MattF

HDTV box
 

"kim" wrote in message
...


It's not even a full height picture. The picture is windowed within a
small
letterbox in the middle of the screen. The LCD is a Panasonic TX-32
LXD5000.
Once the TVDrive has been switched from HD to standard definition mode, he
can't get it back again. He was also told by Telewest to use Scart for
normal programmes and HDMI for HD which I think is wrong?

(kim)

I started out with that setup but am now HDMI only. If you need to switch
between HD output and Normal output then it will be best to have both
connected up.

Once again i have to say i have not experienced the issue you describe. I
would try and get a TW engineer out for a box swap.

MattF

HDTV box
 

On Sat, 13 May 2006 17:30:58 GMT, "Matt F"
wrote:

By comparing my current TW package (Supreme, No Premium Channels) against
the Sky+ HD equivalent which would be £10 PM For HD Channels and another £10
PM for the Sky+ functionality.

This essentially means that the HD element of TVDrive is free for my
personal circumstances as long as i want a HD service from either Sky or TW

So I can phone up Telewest, tell them my dreams in an ideal world, and
they will give me TV Drive for free? I have a lot to learn about
capitalism obviously.
--
Andrew, contact via http://interpleb.googlepages.com
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.

HDTV box
 

"Matt F" wrote in message
. uk...

"kim" wrote in message
...


It's not even a full height picture. The picture is windowed within a
small
letterbox in the middle of the screen. The LCD is a Panasonic TX-32
LXD5000.
Once the TVDrive has been switched from HD to standard definition mode,
he
can't get it back again. He was also told by Telewest to use Scart for
normal programmes and HDMI for HD which I think is wrong?

(kim)

I started out with that setup but am now HDMI only. If you need to switch
between HD output and Normal output then it will be best to have both
connected up.

Once again i have to say i have not experienced the issue you describe. I
would try and get a TW engineer out for a box swap.

My friend (Richard) has had a long stream of visits from what pass for
'engineers' from Telewest plus also the area manager in person who assured
him it was a fault with the "central computer" in that part of London and
that everyone's setup was affected including those of the managers
themselves. Personally I think they are bull****ting him.

(kim)

HDTV box
 

"Andrew" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 May 2006 17:30:58 GMT, "Matt F"
wrote:

By comparing my current TW package (Supreme, No Premium Channels) against
the Sky+ HD equivalent which would be £10 PM For HD Channels and another
£10
PM for the Sky+ functionality.

This essentially means that the HD element of TVDrive is free for my
personal circumstances as long as i want a HD service from either Sky or
TW

So I can phone up Telewest, tell them my dreams in an ideal world, and
they will give me TV Drive for free? I have a lot to learn about
capitalism obviously.

According to my friend Richard in North London the HD service is no extra
charge to those who subscribe to Telewest's premium service which already
includes TVDrive.

(kim)

HDTV box
 

"kim" wrote in message
...
"Andrew" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 May 2006 17:30:58 GMT, "Matt F"
wrote:

By comparing my current TW package (Supreme, No Premium Channels)
against
the Sky+ HD equivalent which would be £10 PM For HD Channels and another
£10
PM for the Sky+ functionality.

This essentially means that the HD element of TVDrive is free for my
personal circumstances as long as i want a HD service from either Sky or
TW

So I can phone up Telewest, tell them my dreams in an ideal world, and
they will give me TV Drive for free? I have a lot to learn about
capitalism obviously.

According to my friend Richard in North London the HD service is no extra
charge to those who subscribe to Telewest's premium service which already
includes TVDrive.

TVDrive (which includes HD capability) is £10 extra even on the supreme
service.

MattF

HDTV box
 

Matt F wrote:
"kim" wrote in message
...
"Andrew" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 May 2006 17:30:58 GMT, "Matt F"
wrote:

By comparing my current TW package (Supreme, No Premium Channels)
against
the Sky+ HD equivalent which would be £10 PM For HD Channels and another
£10
PM for the Sky+ functionality.

This essentially means that the HD element of TVDrive is free for my
personal circumstances as long as i want a HD service from either Sky or
TW
So I can phone up Telewest, tell them my dreams in an ideal world, and
they will give me TV Drive for free? I have a lot to learn about
capitalism obviously.
According to my friend Richard in North London the HD service is no extra
charge to those who subscribe to Telewest's premium service which already
includes TVDrive.

TVDrive (which includes HD capability) is £10 extra even on the supreme
service.

MattF

http://www.telewest.co.uk/html/tvdrive/faqs.html

How much does TVDrive cost?
There is no up-front equipment fee for TVDrive. The monthly subscription
is £10 per month if you subscribe to Telewest's Supreme TV package or
£15 per month is you subscribe to Starter or Essential.

If you are new to Telewest TV, installation is free. If you are an
existing Telewest digital TV customer installation is free if you keep
your existing set top box in another room for an additional £5 a month.
Otherwise £50 installation fee will apply.


Of course, there's nothing to stop them doing special deals for
particular customers - but that's their official line.

D