Mistake to buy a standard definition TV?

[oldandinthe way]

In my opinion 32" SD CRT with digital tuner at under $200 is most appropriate if HD is not a requirement or you are resistant. Check out Walmart. Save the cost difference for when you change your mind. Buying high end obsolete technology is self-defeating and perverse.

Its easy to find a sale on an HD 32" LCD at close to your $500 mark. But there won't be the high end pretsige factor.

[4194]

Quality of content, hmmm, a subjective thing. I have Dishnetwork and the more popular channels are available in HD.

Well i am not going to put one of those hillbilly dishes out. Those things are so ugly looking. If you have one of those you might as well put a tire swing out and a rusted car in the front lawn.

[somebodeez]

Quality of content, hmmm, a subjective thing. I have Dishnetwork and the more popular channels are available in HD.

Well i am not going to put one of those hillbilly dishes out. Those things are so ugly looking. If you have one of those you might as well put a tire swing out and a rusted car in the front lawn.

Aw now where's your inner child?
Tire swings are fun.

[TBoneit]

Moving on, I'm talking Letterboxed SD channels. They have black bars on all four sides and reside in the center of the screen. When Zoomed they use about 99% of the visible screen and are in the Proper Aspect Ratio. The Distortion is why I can not stand to watch TNT-HD.

The time I end up with black bars top & bottom when zoomed is when it is a realy wide ratio such as Ciinerama, 2.35:1 material, etc..

Just curious what two channels? I've seen some really sharp 4:3 oldies on MonstersHD. I would never be able to watch them stretched full screen.

IOWs it must be in the Proper AR. My problem is too much to watch, too little time. That's why I'm archiving things I really want to see on a External USB2 drive til I get free time.

The use of a EHD is a new feature for the Dishnetwork VIP622 BTW. It is still encrypted and tied to the account and can only be watched through the VIP622. I mention this to head of any hopefull types with visions of ripping the video in their heads.

[jman98]

As far as sombodeez post goes, I can tell you that I am watching SD TV on my Samsung HD TV and it looks great. People that have problems with SD on HD TVs have done one or both of these things:
1) Used low quality connections from their SD video source.
2) Watch everything stretched in 16:9 which amplies any problems in the source.
I have a high quality connection for ALL of my video including SD cable and I watch SD in 4:3 as it was intended. Everything looks great on my TV, even regular old SD cable.

I have found inevitably that those who don't have HD TVs bitch the most about how shows and the TVs themselves are not good enough for them yet, blah blah blah. All I can say is that for a lot of us things are good enough right now. I watch more TV now with my HD TV than with my old SD TV because the viewing experience for everything is better.

Good luck with that waiting for "this HD stuff to get it's (sic) act together" because it will NEVER be good enough for people like you. However, you'll never know what you're missing, so you'll be happy.

[somebodeez]

I have a high quality connection for ALL of my video including SD cable and I watch SD in 4:3 as it was intended. Everything looks great on my TV, even regular old SD cable.

And you don't worry about burn in?
My brother's brand spanking new LCD HDTV's manual says not to watch 4:3 over a certain percentage of viewing time without stretching it out (I can't remember exactly what that percentage is - maybe 30%?) in order not to cause burn in. Not being the sort to keep track of his viewing time (and he has a LOT of viewing time), he just goes ahead and stretches 4:3 out and there is definite distortion.

I have found inevitably that those who don't have HD TVs bitch the most about how shows and the TVs themselves are not good enough for them yet, blah blah blah. All I can say is that for a lot of us things are good enough right now. I watch more TV now with my HD TV than with my old SD TV because the viewing experience for everything is better.

I repeat -
I need to also say again that this is my personal opinion. Just because the time for going to HD is not right for me at the moment certainly doesn't mean that it's not the time for someone else to switch over. Each person has to weigh the pros and cons and make his/her decision based on their personal situation, opinion and budget.

Good luck with that waiting for "this HD stuff to get it's (sic) act together" because it will NEVER be good enough for people like you. However, you'll never know what you're missing, so you'll be happy.

"People like me" are waiting for technology to improve, prices to come down and content that we are interested in to become available. Are you saying this will never happen?
It has in the past with the VCR and then again with the DVD player...

And I've seen "what I am missing"

[4194]

Good luck with that waiting for "this HD stuff to get it's (sic) act together" because it will NEVER be good enough for people like you. However, you'll never know what you're missing, so you'll be happy.

I am just waiting for my TV to break to buy a new one. I am perfectly happy with my regular TV. It produces a great 19" picture. If i need a bigger picture i'll go to the movies. Buying one prematurely would be a waste of money for me.

[somebodeez]

Just curious what two channels? I've seen some really sharp 4:3 oldies on MonstersHD. I would never be able to watch them stretched full screen.

Monsters HD and possibly Film Fest HD.

IOWs it must be in the Proper AR. My problem is too much to watch, too little time. That's why I'm archiving things I really want to see on a External USB2 drive til I get free time.

What's IOWs?

[TBoneit]

Just curious what two channels? I've seen some really sharp 4:3 oldies on MonstersHD. I would never be able to watch them stretched full screen.

Monsters HD and possibly Film Fest HD.

IOWs it must be in the Proper AR. My problem is too much to watch, too little time. That's why I'm archiving things I really want to see on a External USB2 drive til I get free time.

What's IOWs?

IOWs = In Other Words it must be in the proper Aspect ratio. Taking the line from above. I'm such a poor slow typist despite having computers from before the IBM PC (8088) came out, that I tend to take shortcuts.

Two good channels. Some of the movies on the other channels are pretty good too. Despite having Dishes Everything pack I do not watch much off of the premium channels. The movies I do watch are the older ones. I Also like the discovery channels HD, World HD, Equator HD , Rave HD, TLC HD, HDNet,
HDNet Movies, Nat Geo HD, The Science Channel HD, Universal HD And I understand History HD will be on Sept. 5th. I had hopes for MHD a fusion of MTV, VH1 and CMT, however my hopes were unrealized.

Supposed to be more HD channels coming later in September too. So much to watch, so little time.

Bottom line is that for me the money I spent a year ago on Upgrading to HD from Dish, and the HD TV have been well worth it. Incidental expenses such as Wireless Keyboard and Mouse so as to use the HDTV as a 32" monitor. New copy of XP Media Center edition 2005 ($90), TV Tuner for computer, New 7.1 Surround sound since the old 5.1 had problems with the remote not working drove the expense over $1000. Then the latest toys 2 500Gig EHD (External Hard Drives) to store HD content off of my HD DVR since it was full til I get some free time. Maybe this winter, hopefully.

Now that the Local Cable Company came out and fixed the lines so that the Cable modem service could work I can also tune the Local HD channels on my TV.

[TBoneit]

Quality of content, hmmm, a subjective thing. I have Dishnetwork and the more popular channels are available in HD.

Well i am not going to put one of those hillbilly dishes out. Those things are so ugly looking. If you have one of those you might as well put a tire swing out and a rusted car in the front lawn.

Hillbilly dish? I take Umbrage at that characterization

The Dishes (2) are out of sight from the street, Can only be seen from a small area of the yard. If I were a big Sports fan I could have ordered the special painted with logo dish. More money than basic gray so no I didn't do that.

I'll bet any decent sign guy could do a custom paint job. How about a picture of your family or your pet or a lakeside scene or Nascar or NFL or NBA logo. I've seen pictures of them painted with the American flag and Team logos.

You need the rusted car to provide a seat for when you are tired of swinging on the tire swing.