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already out of date) telewest technology, or the currently non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Sorry to be very ill-informed but why is the Telewest technology out of
date?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)

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

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.

"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

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.

"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)

"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

"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

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.

"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)