Buying Advice

[Sweski57]

I have saved about $2000 to get into an HDTV. My primary concern is that SD programs look like crap on most of the HD
sets. I understand the resolution difference, and what increasing the size does, etc.. Is there any one brand of HDTV at this time
that does an acceptable job with SD programming. I am outside of an area where over the air reception is reliable and only have
Direct TV. Thanks.:D

[kevinw]

What I suggest is that you go to stores that have TV's at the price you want to pay and ask them to put on standard programming. Each TV is different even with in the same models but some can be improved with good tweaking and making sure your provider gets you the best picture possible.

[mhdiab]

and this is the reason that Best Buy never has a live feed in their stores :) - smart marketing - lack of respect for the consumer

[Sweski57]

Nice suggestion, and I have tried it, but trying to get one of these sellers to reconnect the HD set to standard programming is like making peace in the middle east. I could write 3 screens full of some of my experiences with all of the major sellers. FRom they dont have the right cables, to they cant because all the lights and computers interfere with it, and their satellite feed is poor, etc.
Next shopping trip, I am taking my Direct TV receiver, DVD & VHS player - with cables. Let me see them get out of that.

[mhdiab]

Have you tried a more personal place such as tweeter etc they are usually a lot more helpful - more expensive, but take the advice learn a lot and if you find a good price there buy it otherwise use a different store.

[DoubleDAZ]

For what it's worth, I don't believe I ever viewed a standard signal on my Hitachi before I bought it. I did watch the same DVD on all the sets I was interested in, but I figured that if the DVD and HD looked good, that's all I needed. But then, I don't have DirecTV either. Maybe I just lucked out with my Hitachi 65", but the cable I have looks great, both analog and digital (though that is certainly only my opinion).

Even if you could get them to set up a DirecTV feed for you, would the signal be the exact same quality as you get at home? Don't a lot of DirecTV subscribers experience different PQ, just like cable, depending on location and other factors? I know that if I based my opinion of DirecTV solely on my experince with it at a motel not too long ago, I'd never even consider it no matter how upset I got with my cable provider.

Cheers,

[57U]

I am also pleased with most of my SD cable TV channels. There is certainly nothing wrong with the technology - on some channels, once it's been upconverted it looks really close to HD.

So, if you get a good SD signal, Cable, DBS, or OTA it's going to look good, but if you have garbage in, then garbage out.

You simply cannot generalize and say cable or sat is better or worse, depends a bit on your service provider - I guess especially when it comes to cable since sat should be pretty equivalent no matter where you are.

[spaceman_spiff]

I have been very happy with SD channels on my TV. Some channels looks really good, like discovery science and other digital channels. I use comcast.

[kevinw]

You need to look for what will give you Best Bang for the Buck. 2k is not alot to spend. Look at Toshiba at either Costco/Sams or consider a refurb Hitachi from www.uecweb.com
As the others have said the signal coming into your TV is the most important. Everyone has different luck with providers.Adlephia cable was poor for me but Dish was really good.