Posted by Doug Jacobs on 11/27/07 22:40

robertking@potmail.com wrote:

> If this is the case, why are the stores that are selling these tvs not
> providing a quality source?

You assume that most clerks who work at the big-box stores actually know
about what they're selling. That's not the case.

> I've been to several of the electronics
> super stores and the signal was terrible. Worse yet was the Walmart
> electronics dept. Half the time there was no signal at all. Of
> course I cant expect much from Walmart who sells mostly junk.

You honestly expect the folks at Walmart to actually know better? Last
time I was in a Walmart, they had a "Full screen" DVD playing on a bunch
of widescreen HDTVs. Result? The picture was stretched on some,
resulting in slightly fat people, and on other screens, the picture was at
the right ratio, but had black bars on either side. Definitely NOT a
good display of what a HDTV is capable of doing.

> But I
> have been at restaurants and bars, and watched a few football games
> there, and I was not highly impressed. A few of those games were
> probably the best signal I had seen, but even running certain kitchen
> equipment seemed to cause picture distortion. Ok, granted, when I was
> fixing the house, my electric drill caused interference on my standard
> tv too, but static and snow are one thing, blotches and intermittent
> picture loss on HDTV are another.

Again, this isn't an optimal place to judge a HDTV. One restaurant near
me took a month to figure out that the reason they couldn't get the TV to
work was because the satellite box wasn't turned on. Even then, they've
plugged a SD cable box into their HDTV. While the HDTV will do its best
to make the lower resolution signal look its best, it's not the same as
getting a true, native HD signal. As you've seen, you can tell the
difference - the resulting image will look fuzzy compared to a non-HDTV.

As for the blotches, that can be caused by a number of problems - not just
HD related. If you're dealing with a digital cable signal - even on a
non-HD channel - it's possible to get those same blotches due to the cable
company's idiocy. Satellite has the same problem if something interferes
with the signal. In both cases, you're dealing with a compressed digital
signal, regardless of whether it's a HD or non-HD channel that's being
transmitted. Sadly, even your non-HDTV will have the same problem come
2010 when the over-the-air broadcasts switch to digital (note: this is not
the same as "HD"!)

> Dollar for dollar, I am not
> impressed with HDTV for the price, and I really dont care for any of
> the flat tv pictures. I dont know which is lcd or plasma. They all
> look the same to me. I much prefer an actual CRT tube.

Well, CRT will provide the sharpest picture. However due to its weight,
CRTs are rarely larger than 32" or so. That said, a 32" CRT HDTV
displaying a HD source will blow you away. You might have to try a
specialty store to find one though. Just about all the big-box stores
(Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) have switched exclusively to flat screens
or rear-projection models.

I would also recommend going to a TV, or home-theater specialist store as
their sets are configured properly, use proper cabling and quality
sources. Their sales people are also much more educated about the
products they sell and don't mind spending time to educate customers.
After all, if you're going to be spending thousands of dollars on a
system, they want you to be happy so you'll come back - and refer your
friends. The products they carry will be a step above those you'll find
in Best Buy and whatnot, but they can special order just about anything.

--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.

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