Educate me on HDTV real quick

thinking about getting a 720 set. right now all i would have to plug into it is my SD Time Warner cable box, an Xbox (original not 360) and a progressive scan dvd player.

would all of these look like ass? i don't know much about HD yet. would the older stuff run in 480 like it's meant to? my buddy just got a 56" Mitsubishi rear projection and basically has no HD input (and actually no cable) so all i had to judge was a non PS dvd player with horrible dvd rips and a ps2. needless to say they all looked like ass. what would i be in for?

On an LCD those things will look like ass, but 480p isn't terrible on most sets. SD cable looks like shit. Mine used to look like I was using rabbit ears even though it was cable. I think some of the other set technologies fare better. What type are you looking at?

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Originally Posted by stormy

On an LCD those things will look like ass, but 480p isn't terrible on most sets. SD cable looks like shit. Mine used to look like I was using rabbit ears even though it was cable. I think some of the other set technologies fare better. What type are you looking at?

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more than likely one of the Vizio or Bravia sets at K-mart (because of the 20% off coupon). probably 32".

I'd save the money till you have some HD sources to hook up to it. There are good deals now but the prices keep falling so there's no need to rush. If you'll pony up for HD cable or something then I'd say go for it.

edit - Check what you can get OTA in your area for HD. AVS has a forum that can tell you what you'd probably recieve. That could make it worth it for now.

thanks for the input.

Another thing to check at AVS. A lot of cable companies send the local network channels in HD unencrypted. If the set has a QAM tuner you can plug it directly to the cable line and see what you get that way.

I can get HDNet and Discovery HD over QAM :)

but yeah if you live in a big city you can probably throw an antenna into the atsc tuner and pick up the major networks in hd over the air, or you can pony up the $$$ for a HD receiver and HD channel packages from your cable/sat provider

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Originally Posted by Dyne

thinking about getting a 720 set. right now all i would have to plug into it is my SD Time Warner cable box, an Xbox (original not 360) and a progressive scan dvd player.

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Xbox games will look a ton better in 480p and so will movies in progressive scan.

You might want to look into ditching Time Warner and going with DirectTV, or Verizon Fios. The upgrade to an HD DVR is only about $5 more a month, with Verizon, and they have great package deals.

The HD is a lie.

I'm still not satisfied with the way HDTVs display standard def content so I'm still waiting for better technologies.

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Originally Posted by MarkRyan

The HD is a lie.

I'm still not satisfied with the way HDTVs display standard def content so I'm still waiting for better technologies.

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Obviously, standard def content isn't going to look that great. HD televisions will expose the flaws of those lower def broadcasts.