HD Ready TV

[chewie8008]

What equipment do you need to make an LCD HD Ready TV, actually run HD? What is the cost range to make it HD?

[edDV]

Minimum, rent an HD cable box from the cable company. Talk to them about charges. Here I pay $10/mo. extra. It will connect over YPbPr analog component, DVI or HDMI.

An over the air tuner will currently run $150 to $250.

Otherwise explain better what you want to do.

[chewie8008]

Well, was just looking at an HD tv for christmas to play my new Xbox 360 on. So I can play it in HD. I've seen quite a few of the cheaper tvs that say HD-Ready and wasn't sure what I needed to run it in HD. I don't want a monthly fee and HD TVs are expensive and if an 'over the air' one is an extra $150-250 on top of the $250ish for an HD-Ready TV, then it's all too expensive.

I'll just have to wait until I get some more $$$ some day and buy a real HD TV.

Thanks for the info!

[edDV]

Well, was just looking at an HD tv for christmas to play my new Xbox 360 on. So I can play it in HD. I've seen quite a few of the cheaper tvs that say HD-Ready and wasn't sure what I needed to run it in HD. I don't want a monthly fee and HD TVs are expensive and if an 'over the air' one is an extra $150-250 on top of the $250ish for an HD-Ready TV, then it's all too expensive.

I'll just have to wait until I get some more $$$ some day and buy a real HD TV.

Thanks for the info!

XBox360 outputs HD as analog components YPbPr (1080i or 720p) or as VGA (with adapter).
http://www.pricegrabber.com/p__Microsoft_Xbox_360_VGA_HD_AV_Cable,__14068546

All HDTV sets will accept YPbPr at 1080i but not as many accept the better 720p (game resolution).

Any computer monitor will accept VGA and these are far cheaper than an HDTV. LCD computer monitors work fine especially the 19" to 21" 1366x768 models. Make sure the lag is 8ms or less for LCD monitors for adequate game play. Larger CRT monitors work fine as well.

[FulciLives]

I don't think you understand what HD Ready means.

It means the TV is HDTV capable but does not have a HDTV tuner.

If you plug in a device that outputs HDTV resolutions (like an Xbox 360 or PS3 or HD-DVD player etc.) then you will get a true HDTV picture.

But you cannot get HDTV programming (i.e., television channels) without either buying a OTA tuner (a box that is a tuner for HDTV OTA meaning Over The Air free HDTV transmissions via "rabbit ear" antenna) or if you have cable TV or satellite TV then you need a "box" that is HDTV capable.

OTA only gives you local channels whereas a HDTV capable cable box will give you that and more such as HDTV HBO (if you subscribe) or HDTV ON-DEMAND programming etc.

I don't know what you budget is but Hitachi makes a 51" 16x9 CRT Rear Projection HDTV with a built-in HDTV OTA tuner that can be bought for around $900 or so. I bought one last year at Circuit City for $1,350 whereas this year's model (very slightly different) is down to $855 now at Circuit City. Only problem is it doesn't support 1080p but it does support 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i (everything gets scaled to 1080i).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman