Buying a HDTV? How to be prepared to select the one for you

[Rodolfo]

You have been hearing about HDTV and decided to start looking for one. A friend of yours reminds you that the general knowledge about buying regular TVs is not quite enough for selecting this type of product, so you quickly review what you read about widescreen, black bars, digital tuners and resolution, and hope things would clear out at the store.

You get into the store and suddenly see a dozen HDTV demo sets staring at you. A salesperson is approaching you, the person's face is familiar; the salesperson is the one that sold you the new dishwasher two weeks ago, now the person is selling HDTVs with authority. At that point you start feeling worried, but you hang in there.

[url=http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/articles/2006/01/buying_a_hdtv_h.php]Read the Full Article[/url]

[morrisongary1]

Hello i was looking for some help i have just purchesd a toshiba hdtv.32WLT58
Afer a lot of reserch before buying the set.
To say i am disapointed is an understatement can anyone tell me if heavey pixalation and streaking mostly on the sky football and on other chanels with close ups where the scene is dark. the pixelation and streaking is at its worse.
at the moment i wach the sports and films through the sky+ box and have to admit i was getting better pics with my old 26inc jvc flatscreen.allso. when sky hd arives will this prob persist our is this just down to me expecting to much to soon.
Any help would be most wellcome thanks.

[Rodolfo]

Could you please indicate what video equipment you use in addition to the TV and what wiring are you using to connect the pieces?

[morrisongary1]

[quote="Rodolfo"]Could you please indicate what video equipment you use in addition to the TV and what wiring are you using to connect the pieces?[/quo
te]

I have my toshiba hdtv connected to my samsung hd 850 dvd via an HDMI connection but the picture quality is excellent through this connection.
My main concern and trouble is the picture quality from my sky+box that seem to be very poor when the picture is on close ups i have my sky box conected via a screened gold scart.
I would love to know if the problem is caused because of the pictures from sky+ and also will the new sky hd box cure this problem thank you.

[Rodolfo]

I did not understand your meaning of "sky box conected via a screened gold scart."

I would suggest changing the STB and using wire that is HD capable, you did not mention what wiring are you using for the STB itself (to the TV).

Were are you located?

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

[morrisongary1]

I did not understand your meaning of "sky box conected via a screened gold scart."

I would suggest changing the STB and using wire that is HD capable, you did not mention what wiring are you using for the STB itself (to the TV).

Were are you located?

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

Thanks for the information should i try a hd scart cable from the sky+box to the toshiba sorry if i am a little slow its all new to me this hdtv stuff
also can you tell me what stb is is( that my sky box) thanks i am located in liverpool.

[Rodolfo]

I am not familiarized with DTV implemented in Liverpool but usually pixelation and macroblocking occurs when the MPEG-2 decoder in the set-top-box (STB) does not receive enough signal data to properly build a decent image, that could be caused because the source service provider is compressing excessively (ot bit starving) that signal in a way the decoder cannot operate well.

It also could be that the STB is defective.

Was this STB used on your previous 26" TV and you were satisfied with it ?

Sorry, I need more information of how exactly you have the video pieces connected, what worked before, is this isolated to one particular input of the TV, one particualr output of the STB?, have you tried switching inputs/outputs/wires?

By troublesjooting the above we could isolate the problem to fewer items, including your satellite provider.

Do the non-HD channels from that provider show relatively well compared to the HD you dislike?

Do you have over the air DTV service and antenna/STB to try another HD feed to your TV?

Does your satellite provider replace STBs at no charge? can you try another STB?

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

[morrisongary1]

Thanks for the help my friend.
First the stb from sky is not a new one i have been in touch with sky but all they seem to want to give me is a recodishond box under the terms of my insurence.
As for getting hd channels i do not recive any as yet this is due to sky not bringing out there stb until the end of next month.
So what i a thinking is the reason for me getting poor pictures from my stb ie steaking ech down is due the poor signel from my sky box.
Can i also say the pictuers of my freeveiw chan from the toshiba seem to be a lot better than the ones i recive through my stb from sky. and i run them pics from a seperate digital areil to the back of the toshiba to recive freeview.
Well i hope this infomation helps can i ask you do you recive ddtv pictuers yet and if you do can you tell me what the quality is like.
also where are you located.
One again thanks for your help. keith

[Rodolfo]

Keith,

I am located 35 miles south of the White House, in Fairfax Virginia.

I receive HD over the air and also thru satellite since 1999, the image is excellent, especially in sports like the US Open for tennis, it could be better if they would not use so much compression , which I think might be your problem in addition to a faulty box.

You can consult forums that could help you with your particular satellite problem that is not related to HD, one is:

www.avsforum.com (the subforums related to the subect)

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

[morrisongary1]

Thanks for your help rodolfo i have decided to exchange my toshiba for what i think is a better model that being the panasonic 32LXD500 hd tv
And will now await the sky hd set top box reciver in the hope it will the glory that is hd to liverpool.thanks for the links my friend.
i will keep looking on them for more updates.
keith.