Hi Everyone, I found this board when searching the internet for info and this seemed like a good place to start after I read some threads.
I purchased a Samsung SP-4232 EDTV. I have read most fo the agruments about EDTV vs HDTV. I understand that the HDTV will give me a better picture when watching HD programs. I have played some DVDs in progressive scan mode and they look pretty good but I would hate for that to be my HD signal that I pay monthy for. My biggest worry is how well does the HDTV produce regular channels. I have DirecTV and I would say most of te channels look OK on the EDTV I have. I was expecting a lot better though. I assume the DirecTV box is putting out a 480i signal. Now I am not sure if the EDTV is upconverting or changing it to 480p or if it is showing it at 480i. My main question is what does a HDTV do with that signal? Does it upconvert the signal to 780p or does it still show it 480p.
I am really thinking hard about taking the TV back for a LG 37" LCD HDTV which was the same price. The only reason I went with the Samsung was because it was 42" and Plasma.
May main concern is with the regular channels since the majority of the programs are still on those channels.
I can't comment on your cable feed, but when I receive over-the-air standard definition digital signals on my Samsung SIR-t451 ATSC tuner box and feed it to an HD monitor, it is very viewable.
My guess is when the cable feed is rebroadcasting plain analog TV it will probably look bad on an HDTV. If they are rebroadcasting true digital TV it would be quite good. I think the general opinion is that analog 480i TV viewed on a high resolution HD set is not very good, However, it's now the law of the land that analog TV will "go away" in 2009 and all broadcasts will be in digital format. It can still be standard definition, but it must be ATSC digital.
Just to confuse the issue, I have a analog TV set I feed with an S-video cable from the Samsung ATSC box, and the digital signal is very much better than normal over-the-air or satelite feed in analog format. ATSC digital is really that much better than analog.
Poster- try and set the direct TV box to match the incoming signal. This gives the best PQ. So if its ESPN-HD signal, set box to 720P. If its hd movies, set to 1080i.
Also, if the issue is resolution, the LCD has no advantage over the plasma as far as PQ, any PQ issues are likely to replicate themselves. These are usually signal quality issues.
Martin, My feed is from DirecTV, which is suppose to be a digital signal.
Marc, I do not have a HD receiver yet as I can not get local channels thru DirecTV until April. As for setting the resolution, I have no way of setting the resolution.
I guess what I was wondering was what are/will be the differences between a HDTV and an EDTV when viewing non-HD programs? I figured since I have DirecTV the HDTV might produce a better picture for normal channels over EDTV.
I guess I am just struggling with what to do. Either keep my EDTV and have good SD signal and OK HD signal or take it back and get a HDTV and have not so good SD signal and great HD signal.
I guess the question is and it is different for everyone eye is how big a difference will the SD pic be on HD.