Comments solicited by HDTV newbie on these (basic) stats for a TV

In article . com, Brendon Troy wrote:
On Jun 22, 10:30 am, Doug wrote:
Make sure that the one you get comes with a Digital tuner.

Point well taken. One slight concern of mine is that the TV I
originally had in mind (which btw is now on sale at BJ's for $500 even
+ tax) has Amazon's "no digital tuner" warning on its page (http://
tinyurl.com/2efh9h), despite it stats there and elsewhere listing dual
(ATSC/NTSC) tuners for it. Think Amazon just goofed? Should I be
concerned?

Could be. Another thing to look for is QAM. That's the digital
transmission std for cable. With it, you can receive digital (HD
and SD) on your cable without a cable box. You'll be limited to
what they don't scramble, usually just the networks, but sometimes a
few others. So, if you want to cheap-out, you can just get basic
"lifeline" cable and still enjoy HD over the cable :-)

Fathers Day weekend, I went to Sears and they have a 32" VIZIO LCD
HDTV with built in analog/digital tuner for $569.99, regular $599.99
I purchased it. COSTCO has the same model also for $599.99. These
are the newer model.

I hooked it up, put my regular analog antennae on the input, did an
auto scan, and I was very pleasantly shocked that my regular antennae
picked up every local digital channel. HD is awsome.
2 HDI inputs etc.. see

http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=18

Great HD for resonable price.
YB

On Jun 22, 1:55 pm, (Dave) wrote:
In article . com, Brendon Troy wrote:

On Jun 22, 10:30 am, Doug wrote:
Make sure that the one you get comes with a Digital tuner.

Point well taken. One slight concern of mine is that the TV I
originally had in mind (which btw is now on sale at BJ's for $500 even
+ tax) has Amazon's "no digital tuner" warning on its page (http://
tinyurl.com/2efh9h), despite it stats there and elsewhere listing dual
(ATSC/NTSC) tuners for it. Think Amazon just goofed? Should I be
concerned?

Could be. Another thing to look for is QAM. That's the digital
transmission std for cable. With it, you can receive digital (HD
and SD) on your cable without a cable box. You'll be limited to
what they don't scramble, usually just the networks, but sometimes a
few others. So, if you want to cheap-out, you can just get basic
"lifeline" cable and still enjoy HD over the cable :-)

On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:47:02 -0700, Yellowbeard wrote:

I hooked it up, put my regular analog antennae on the input, did an
auto scan, and I was very pleasantly shocked that my regular antennae
picked up every local digital channel. HD is awsome.
2 HDI inputs etc.. see

There's no such thing as an HDTV antenna. ATSC and NTSC both use the same
channel frequencies. Just like marketing BS in computers, it's just
marketing BS. Once one company started using it, others had to follow.

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On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:47:02 -0700 Yellowbeard wrote:

| Fathers Day weekend, I went to Sears and they have a 32" VIZIO LCD
| HDTV with built in analog/digital tuner for $569.99, regular $599.99
| I purchased it. COSTCO has the same model also for $599.99. These
| are the newer model.
|
| I hooked it up, put my regular analog antennae on the input, did an
| auto scan, and I was very pleasantly shocked that my regular antennae
| picked up every local digital channel. HD is awsome.
| 2 HDI inputs etc.. see
|
| http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=18
|
| Great HD for resonable price.

That's great. But I would like to have an _objective_ comparison of
the quality of ATSC/8VSB tuners in a variety of sets to choose from.
This should include things like weak signal performance as well as
interference from reflections, impulse noise, and strong signals just
outside the channel.

All the stores won't even hook up an outside antenna to even see what
the tuner will do. The sales people give some creative excuses for
why. In one store I could not get the sales person to go outside
with me for me to show him that we could visually see the top of the
tower for one local station, after he told me they couldn't get any
TV signals from the roof. I guess I should have mentioned that the
tower was visible only after we went outside. OTOH, it seems they are
way way underpaying sales people in these stores. At least a sales
person with more professional experience could have come up with a
better story.

--
|---------------------------------------/----------------------------------|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
| first name lower case at ipal.net / |
|------------------------------------/-------------------------------------|

On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:09:30 GMT Wes Newell wrote:
| On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:47:02 -0700, Yellowbeard wrote:
|
| I hooked it up, put my regular analog antennae on the input, did an
| auto scan, and I was very pleasantly shocked that my regular antennae
| picked up every local digital channel. HD is awsome.
| 2 HDI inputs etc.. see
|
| There's no such thing as an HDTV antenna. ATSC and NTSC both use the same
| channel frequencies. Just like marketing BS in computers, it's just
| marketing BS. Once one company started using it, others had to follow.

OTOH, when there is a sticker put on an antenna that says "HDTV compatible",
it can help the more illiterate of society (that's most of it) who really
don't know that HDTV is on the same frequencies (although on a station by
station basis, there is some channel jumping).

I'm sure there are a few people asking "Why the hell are you trying to sell
me a UHF antenna to pick up channels 2 and 4? 2 and 4 are VHF low band."

Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion on BOTH sides.

--
|---------------------------------------/----------------------------------|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
| first name lower case at ipal.net / |
|------------------------------------/-------------------------------------|

When I was looking at the VIZIO both at COSTCO and SEARS they both
have the "in house" feed with their ads and demo video.
COSTCO actually had a couple of screens that have like---- HDTV easy
as 1 2 3-
1-buy it 2-subscribe to HD programming 3-enjoy it
I have had Dishnetwork for 8 years. My local current over air HD is
great for now.
If I get the HD package it is an aditional $20 a month for 32 channels
in HD.

I watched the NBC coverage of the golf tournament with my over air
antennae. The 1080i HD was very good. It looked like you could count
the blades of grass, or grains of sand.... I also noticed that it
appeared NBC used analog as well as digital cameras to cover the
course. Some shots out on the course were lower resolution- kind of
out of focus looking and not as clear. While other shots were almost
shockingly clear, crisp and sharp.
YB

On Jun 29, 5:50 am, wrote:
On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:09:30 GMT Wes Newell wrote:
| On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:47:02 -0700, Yellowbeard wrote:
|
| I hooked it up, put my regular analog antennae on the input, did an
| auto scan, and I was very pleasantly shocked that my regular antennae
| picked up every local digital channel. HD is awsome.
| 2 HDI inputs etc.. see
|
| There's no such thing as an HDTV antenna. ATSC and NTSC both use the same
| channel frequencies. Just like marketing BS in computers, it's just
| marketing BS. Once one company started using it, others had to follow.

OTOH, when there is a sticker put on an antenna that says "HDTV compatible",
it can help the more illiterate of society (that's most of it) who really
don't know that HDTV is on the same frequencies (although on a station by
station basis, there is some channel jumping).

I'm sure there are a few people asking "Why the hell are you trying to sell
me a UHF antenna to pick up channels 2 and 4? 2 and 4 are VHF low band."

Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion on BOTH sides.

--
|---------------------------------------/----------------------------------*|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
| first name lower case at ipal.net / |
|------------------------------------/-------------------------------------*|

I'm curious if these mafia outfits in 2009 will actually degrade the
HDTV channels if you don't pay them $20 a month for receiving HD.

I think I've noticed that a few HD channels are starting to show up
without an extra fee added on for HD, but couldn't guarantee that as
I'm only OTA right now.







On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:54:02 -0700, Yellowbeard
wrote:

When I was looking at the VIZIO both at COSTCO and SEARS they both
have the "in house" feed with their ads and demo video.
COSTCO actually had a couple of screens that have like---- HDTV easy
as 1 2 3-
1-buy it 2-subscribe to HD programming 3-enjoy it
I have had Dishnetwork for 8 years. My local current over air HD is
great for now.
If I get the HD package it is an aditional $20 a month for 32 channels
in HD.

I watched the NBC coverage of the golf tournament with my over air
antennae. The 1080i HD was very good. It looked like you could count
the blades of grass, or grains of sand.... I also noticed that it
appeared NBC used analog as well as digital cameras to cover the
course. Some shots out on the course were lower resolution- kind of
out of focus looking and not as clear. While other shots were almost
shockingly clear, crisp and sharp.
YB

On Jun 29, 5:50 am, wrote:
On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:09:30 GMT Wes Newell wrote:
| On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:47:02 -0700, Yellowbeard wrote:
|
| I hooked it up, put my regular analog antennae on the input, did an
| auto scan, and I was very pleasantly shocked that my regular antennae
| picked up every local digital channel. HD is awsome.
| 2 HDI inputs etc.. see
|
| There's no such thing as an HDTV antenna. ATSC and NTSC both use the same
| channel frequencies. Just like marketing BS in computers, it's just
| marketing BS. Once one company started using it, others had to follow.

OTOH, when there is a sticker put on an antenna that says "HDTV compatible",
it can help the more illiterate of society (that's most of it) who really
don't know that HDTV is on the same frequencies (although on a station by
station basis, there is some channel jumping).

I'm sure there are a few people asking "Why the hell are you trying to sell
me a UHF antenna to pick up channels 2 and 4? 2 and 4 are VHF low band."

Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion on BOTH sides.

--
|---------------------------------------/----------------------------------*|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
| first name lower case at ipal.net / |
|------------------------------------/-------------------------------------*|