Thousands hit by HD TV chaos

In article . com,
" wrote:

NO One wrote:

[snip Sunday Times article]

It's not too difficult, though the most important acronym didn't even
appear in the report!

HDCP protected content can only be displayed on HDCP enabled TVs.

HDCP protected content can be sent down DVI or HDMI.

You can connect DVIHDMI or HDMIDVI with a suitable cable.

Some TVs don't seem to work properly, even when connected properly.
These are faulty, and should be returned.

Even quite recent HDTVs don't have HDCP. Old HDTVs don't have HDMI.
Very old HDTVs (plenty of them in the USA) don't even have DVI - just
analogue component inputs and VGA!


SkyHD STBs include analogue component (YPrPb) HD outputs. Whether
pictures from these look worse (or better!) than digital (HDMI, DVI)
connections depends on your TV. If they look _significantly_ worse then
they're probably set to output 576p (i.e. SD!) and should be
reconfigured for 720p, 1080i or auto.

SkyHD allow content flagged with HDCP protection to be output via
analogue component in HD.

There is almost certainly a separate flag available which allows the
analogue HD outputs to be disabled (or forced to output SD only) on a
content-specific basis. This flag is not being used by Sky.


It amazes me that people spend thousands of pounds without knowing what
they're buying. It does not surprise me that the people with the money
to spend on these things are those least likely to understand them.
They can hire me for £50 an hour and I'll advise them.

For those of us with more money than sense, why not just tell us which
HD TV to buy (for best possible Sky HD and HD DVD viewing experience)
and why? Sounds like there can't be very many which qualify for the DR?
seal of approval...

Stan

In article , lid
says...
My point was that HD TV isn't going to be
cheap for the broadcasters, and therefore realistically it will have to be
funded by subscriptions, rather than Freeview or Freesat.

Bear in mind that the BBC hope to produce nearly all of their programming in
HD by 2011. Studio 1 (Come Dancing, Children in Need, Red Nose Day etc) at
TV Centre is now HD equipped, and AIUI the other studios there are following
suit.

So future HD programming will include Strictly Come Dancing and Children In
Need? How can that be any kind of improvement, apart from seeing the huge
make-up craters on Kaplinsky's face?
--

Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk
/* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor)
/* 1120 DVDs, 340 games, 295 CDs, 110 cinema films, 36 concerts, videos & news
/* canis canem edit, amy winehouse, london film festival passport to prague

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In article ,
says...

"NO One" wrote in message
...

It is estimated that about 5% of the 2m or so TV sets that were sold
as "HD ready" by retailers, such as Dixons and Currys, until this year
came without the current industry standard sockets, according to NTL
Telewest. This meant they could not be connected with the set-top
boxes supplied by Sky and Telewest, the two main HD providers, and
consumers could not receive the high-definition pictures they had been
promised.



Yes that is often the case when the cart is before the horse.

I'm waiting untill the main broadcasters have started terrestrial
transmissions of HD before I buy, been burnt a few times before myself with
other products being out of date a year or so old.

I'll wait until they've decided how low a bitrate they want to use on HD. It
started off at 20Mbps on BBC, then became 10Mbps on a recent trial, so not
much better than DVD, and we were promised quality far exceeding DVD.

And if HD channels are still subject to onscreen logos, plus continuity
announcers chipping in and squashing up the end credits, what's the point?
--

Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk
/* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor)
/* 1120 DVDs, 340 games, 295 CDs, 110 cinema films, 36 concerts, videos & news
/* canis canem edit, amy winehouse, london film festival passport to prague

New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml
DVDfever Youtube Channel - http://youtube.com/user/DVDfever

In article , Dom Robinson
writes

And if HD channels are still subject to onscreen logos, plus continuity
announcers chipping in and squashing up the end credits, what's the point?

Don't you long for the days of yore when continuity announcers did just
that - ensure continuity *between* programmes? In those glorious days
it was a mortal sin to talk over either the beginning or the end of a
programme. Now such audio and visual vandalism seems to be de rigueur,
justified as aiding the hard of thinking, unable to master the info
button on their RC.
--
Kennedy
Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed;
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's ****ed.
Python Philosophers (replace 'nospam' with 'kennedym' when replying)

Dave Farrance wrote:

Which probably means that the first HD players to hit the UK
will be 1080i/720p followed just a few months later by 1080p. Then
all those people that bought 1080i/720p "HD-ready" tellys will have
something else to complain about.

Those new 1080p signal sources will probably all have an option for
downconverting to 1080i, if required. (Or perhaps the player and the tv
set will even autonegotiate the format over the HDMI cable?)

--
znark

"Jukka Aho" wrote:

Dave Farrance wrote:

Which probably means that the first HD players to hit the UK
will be 1080i/720p followed just a few months later by 1080p. Then
all those people that bought 1080i/720p "HD-ready" tellys will have
something else to complain about.

Those new 1080p signal sources will probably all have an option for
downconverting to 1080i, if required. (Or perhaps the player and the tv
set will even autonegotiate the format over the HDMI cable?)

Yes. I believe that most HD-DVDs will be the native 24fps film-speed
anyway, so if the TV is able to spot that it's getting the two halves of
the same frame when it does the de-interlacing, then the interlacing
won't make any difference.

--
Dave Farrance

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:36:43 +0000, Kennedy McEwen
wrote:

Don't you long for the days of yore when continuity announcers did just
that - ensure continuity *between* programmes? In those glorious days
it was a mortal sin to talk over either the beginning or the end of a
programme. Now such audio and visual vandalism seems to be de rigueur,
justified as aiding the hard of thinking, unable to master the info
button on their RC.

-or unable to read the Radio Times

Rod.

Kennedy McEwen wrote:

Don't you long for the days of yore when continuity announcers did just
that - ensure continuity *between* programmes? In those glorious days
it was a mortal sin to talk over either the beginning or the end of a
programme. Now such audio and visual vandalism seems to be de rigueur,
justified as aiding the hard of thinking, unable to master the info
button on their RC.

I agree, though don't look back too much with rose coloured specs. ISTR
during the 1970s the closing credits to many sit-coms and dramas would often
have Mr Continuity saying; "Joe Bloggs is appearing in 'xyz' at the 'abc'
theatre". I suspect that was a requirement of Equity ?

Of course these days it's totally different and far worse. I'm surprised the
performing arts unions don't kick up a stink about the half wits that are
now in charge of TV presentation mangling up their work in the name of
'marketing'.

Roderick Stewart wrote:

-or unable to read the Radio Times

Mind you, you can't guarantee that some viewers can read at all these days.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Mark Carver wrote:
Kennedy McEwen wrote:

Don't you long for the days of yore when continuity announcers did
just that - ensure continuity *between* programmes? In those
glorious days it was a mortal sin to talk over either the beginning
or the end of a programme. Now such audio and visual vandalism
seems to be de rigueur, justified as aiding the hard of thinking,
unable to master the info button on their RC.

I agree, though don't look back too much with rose coloured specs.
ISTR during the 1970s the closing credits to many sit-coms and dramas
would often have Mr Continuity saying; "Joe Bloggs is appearing in
'xyz' at the 'abc' theatre".

Was it ever anything other than "No sex please, we're British"?

In article ,
says...
In article , Dom Robinson
writes

And if HD channels are still subject to onscreen logos, plus continuity
announcers chipping in and squashing up the end credits, what's the point?

Don't you long for the days of yore when continuity announcers did just
that - ensure continuity *between* programmes? In those glorious days
it was a mortal sin to talk over either the beginning or the end of a

Absolutely. BBC have a perfect way of doing this - their 'four TVs' between
programmes that shows what's on next on BBC1/2/3/4, so no need whatsoever to
tell us while the current programme is still running.

programme. Now such audio and visual vandalism seems to be de rigueur,
justified as aiding the hard of thinking, unable to master the info
button on their RC.


--

Dom Robinson Gamertag: DVDfever email: dom at dvdfever dot co dot uk
/* http://DVDfever.co.uk (editor)
/* 1120 DVDs, 340 games, 295 CDs, 110 cinema films, 36 concerts, videos & news
/* canis canem edit, amy winehouse, london film festival passport to prague

New music charts - http://dvdfever.co.uk/music.shtml
DVDfever Youtube Channel - http://youtube.com/user/DVDfever