Can a DVD recorder improve TV quality?

[Try4ce]

I'm huge into video, but I don't enjoy watching actual TV (I don't even have basic cable), but my dad is having issues jumping into the digital age, and unfortunately the problems surrounding analog TV are a bit beyond my knowledge.

He recently bought a LCD HDTV, and even though I warned him that analog cable would look horrible on it without a converter box, he's somehow surprised by how bad it looks. Upstairs, my mom uses a digital box because she needs it for some channels she likes. My dad doesn't want those channels but hates how his image quality looks (he won't pay for more cable services neither).

He needs a new DVD player and I was wondering if DVD recorders with coaxial input/output could improve the image quality? Furthermore, is there such a thing as a DVD player that could act as a converter box? I am convinced that there must be a way to get digital TV without renting another unit from the cable company, but I can't confirm it in my research.

[mazinz]

the problem is the newer generation of tv's, not the signal. It is a known fact that older analog signal on the newer type of tvs (lcd, hd, etc) looks horrible. The newer sets do not do a good analog to digital conversion (more so of the chip they use). However digital channels and the like look pretty nice though most do contain artifacts.


It is worse if you run your dvd player/vcr into them. Just looks terrible most of the time. So since you asked, going through a dvd recorder would not improve the overall quality. In the majority of cases it is soley based on the make, brand and type of tv being used.

They are getting better but still very far from perfect as far as analog to digital conversion goes.


Your best bet if he is an old die hard like myself, stick with an analog tv for as long as you can and just get a generic converter box for the 2009 murder of analog

[edDV]

No DVD recorder is going to help.

Basic rule analog video is best with CRT 480i analog component or the most capable (ie: expensive) LCD-Plasma TV.

If you buy a cheap LCD-TV, you need the HD cable box to help make it acceptable. Set the box and TV to 720p. At the other extreme, a top line LCD or plasma TV will outperform a cable box transcode so should be set to 1080i or 480i for SD.

[samijubal]

I don't know what channels he watches. If there are local HD channels in your area, you can get an antenna and get channels in far better quality than analog cable. Go to antennaweb.org and see what HD channels are available in your area and what type of antenna you need to receive them.

[usually_quiet]

Based on personal experience, a DVD recorder with a good filter can improve picture quality. I recently used my Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVD recorder, which has a good filter, to play a movie for my folks, who don't have a DVD player, and I noticed it did remove some RF interference (diagonal lines) in analog cable channels passed through. The picture was softened just a little, but the lines were eliminated. My folks TV is on the small side, only a 26" 720p LCD, but if the TV is one of the larger ones, perhaps with 1080i, it may not be enough.

If the TV has a QAM tuner, it is likely that they can already see some local stations via the cable in SD or HD without a cable box, though they may not have their normal channel assignments. (That could also be true for digital stations received via antenna)

Even an ordinary pair of rabbit ears with a loop antenna can work well on nearby HD stations. That is how my folks are able to watch FOX in HD, since the local affiliate has opted out of the must-carry QAM stations.

[edit] One of their VCR's, a Toshiba, can also clean up RF interferance in cable. They use that to watch the two analog cable channels that have that problem.

[victoriabears]

I have a digital box, not HD and it looks great on my 46 inch Sony, this TV brand and model range seems to be the best at getting the most out of old sources, thats why I bought it , as I am not a Sony fan.

Using an oppo 981 H dvd player which upconverts even my old pal dvd recordings look great, I even played a vhs on it and it was acceptable.

[Try4ce]

Actually I just discovered that he had an unnecessary number of cables strung together... I simplified it so that it's just from the wall to the TV, and it looks a WHOLE lot cleaner. He's out of town right now but I think he'll be happy with it. He's definitely not a videophile but there was ridiculous noise there before...