SD material on an HD TV?

[Patty Winter]

Thanks to everyone for the information about composite
inputs on current HDTV sets.

I got to thinking about another possible issue: just how
bad is SD content going to look on a 50" HDTV? I have a
32" HDTV now and the SD isn't too bad (in fact, depending
on the source, it's quite good), but I'm worried that the
lower resolution will be very noticeable on a larger TV.
Who's got experience with that?


Patty

[Les Cargill]

Post by Patty Winter
Thanks to everyone for the information about composite
inputs on current HDTV sets.
I got to thinking about another possible issue: just how
bad is SD content going to look on a 50" HDTV? I have a
32" HDTV now and the SD isn't too bad (in fact, depending
on the source, it's quite good), but I'm worried that the
lower resolution will be very noticeable on a larger TV.
Who's got experience with that?
Patty

Depends on how far you sit from it. We have a 42" and we're eight to
twelve feet away , and that stuff looks okay ( to us - I am sure
it'll bother some people ).

Do a little digging on how to size a TV for where you'll put it.
that should optimize the amount you have to spend. I would not want
to sit six feet away from an 80" HDTV, for esxample. But ten feet away
from one might be kind of nice for, say, football games.

--
Les Cargill

[Patty Winter]

Post by Les Cargill
Depends on how far you sit from it. We have a 42" and we're eight to
twelve feet away , and that stuff looks okay ( to us - I am sure
it'll bother some people ).

Thanks, Les.

Post by Les Cargill
Do a little digging on how to size a TV for where you'll put it.
that should optimize the amount you have to spend. I would not want
to sit six feet away from an 80" HDTV, for esxample. But ten feet away
from one might be kind of nice for, say, football games.

I'm going for a 50" diagonal. Different TVs have different physical
sizes for that screen size, but I can get one about 44-46". That will
just hang off the edges of my TV cabinet a little bit on each side
and not block the hallway. :-) The chairs and couches are on the other
side of the main route through the living room, so they're a good 8-10'
away from the TV stand.


Patty

[Les Cargill]

Post by Patty Winter

Post by Les Cargill
Depends on how far you sit from it. We have a 42" and we're eight to
twelve feet away , and that stuff looks okay ( to us - I am sure
it'll bother some people ).

Thanks, Les.

Post by Les Cargill
Do a little digging on how to size a TV for where you'll put it.
that should optimize the amount you have to spend. I would not want
to sit six feet away from an 80" HDTV, for esxample. But ten feet away
from one might be kind of nice for, say, football games.

I'm going for a 50" diagonal. Different TVs have different physical
sizes for that screen size, but I can get one about 44-46". That will
just hang off the edges of my TV cabinet a little bit on each side
and not block the hallway. :-) The chairs and couches are on the other
side of the main route through the living room, so they're a good 8-10'
away from the TV stand.
Patty

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000021501

"Minimum TV dimensions = Viewing distance / 3

Maximum TV dimensions = Viewing distance / 1.5

For example, if you'll be sitting 10 feet away from your television,
that's 120 inches. This gives you a minimum TV screen size of 40 inches
and a maximum screen size of 80 inches."

So by that, you are good to go.

--
Les Cargill

[Patty Winter]

Post by Les Cargill
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000021501
"Minimum TV dimensions = Viewing distance / 3
Maximum TV dimensions = Viewing distance / 1.5
For example, if you'll be sitting 10 feet away from your television,
that's 120 inches. This gives you a minimum TV screen size of 40 inches
and a maximum screen size of 80 inches."
So by that, you are good to go.

Interesting! I didn't know that anyone had quantified the best sizes
for a certain distance. Thanks!


Patty

[Bill Gill]

Post by Patty Winter
Thanks to everyone for the information about composite
inputs on current HDTV sets.
I got to thinking about another possible issue: just how
bad is SD content going to look on a 50" HDTV? I have a
32" HDTV now and the SD isn't too bad (in fact, depending
on the source, it's quite good), but I'm worried that the
lower resolution will be very noticeable on a larger TV.
Who's got experience with that?
Patty

I have a 50" TV and I watch a lot of older SD content. It
all looks pretty good to me. The TV seems to do a good job
of up converting the 480 to 1040 to fit the screen. That
is for normal format stuff. If you find a source that stretches
the picture to fit the screen it will be horrible. I refuse
to watch any channel where they do that. But apparently
some people are happy with it. Otherwise I'm not sure how
some of the cable channels would stay on the air. Have
you seen Roseanne stretched to fit the HD screen?

Bill

[Patty Winter]

Post by Bill Gill
I have a 50" TV and I watch a lot of older SD content. It
all looks pretty good to me. The TV seems to do a good job
of up converting the 480 to 1040 to fit the screen.

That's encouraging!

Post by Bill Gill
That
is for normal format stuff. If you find a source that stretches
the picture to fit the screen it will be horrible. I refuse
to watch any channel where they do that.

But that can be overcome with the TV's settings, right? I'm
more concerned about the resolution, which I can't set.


Patty

[Bill Gill]

Post by Patty Winter

Post by Bill Gill
I have a 50" TV and I watch a lot of older SD content. It
all looks pretty good to me. The TV seems to do a good job
of up converting the 480 to 1040 to fit the screen.

That's encouraging!

Post by Bill Gill
That
is for normal format stuff. If you find a source that stretches
the picture to fit the screen it will be horrible. I refuse
to watch any channel where they do that.

But that can be overcome with the TV's settings, right? I'm
more concerned about the resolution, which I can't set.
Patty

In your TV you can set how it is displayed. There should be a
way to select how it handles the various formats. When watching the
cable channels though you have to take what they give you. They
normally provide the signal already up converted to 1080, but
while they are doing it some of them stretch it to fit the
HDTV aspect ratio. Those are the ones I don't watch.

Bill

[meagain]

Post by Bill Gill

Post by Patty Winter

Post by Bill Gill
I have a 50" TV and I watch a lot of older SD content. It
all looks pretty good to me. The TV seems to do a good job
of up converting the 480 to 1040 to fit the screen.

That's encouraging!

Post by Bill Gill
That
is for normal format stuff. If you find a source that stretches
the picture to fit the screen it will be horrible. I refuse
to watch any channel where they do that.

But that can be overcome with the TV's settings, right? I'm
more concerned about the resolution, which I can't set.
Patty

In your TV you can set how it is displayed. There should be a
way to select how it handles the various formats. When watching the
cable channels though you have to take what they give you. They
normally provide the signal already up converted to 1080, but
while they are doing it some of them stretch it to fit the
HDTV aspect ratio. Those are the ones I don't watch.
Bill

If you use the TV 'option' "Unscaled" it should do what you want.

[Ant]

Post by Bill Gill
I have a 50" TV and I watch a lot of older SD content. It
all looks pretty good to me. The TV seems to do a good job
of up converting the 480 to 1040 to fit the screen. That
is for normal format stuff. If you find a source that stretches
the picture to fit the screen it will be horrible. I refuse
to watch any channel where they do that. But apparently
some people are happy with it. Otherwise I'm not sure how
some of the cable channels would stay on the air. Have
you seen Roseanne stretched to fit the HD screen?

Do you also avoid watching stuff that is not true HD too? For an
example, I was recording and rewatching the first Matrix movie on ION
(30.1 in Los Angeles/L.A. OTA) channel on Saturday. TV Guides said it
was in HD, but I don't think it was because it was in 2.0 stereo and
seems to be from a film source (saw dirts and dots like I see in
theaters for films -- not digital). :(

[Bill Gill]

Post by Ant

Post by Bill Gill
I have a 50" TV and I watch a lot of older SD content. It
all looks pretty good to me. The TV seems to do a good job
of up converting the 480 to 1040 to fit the screen. That
is for normal format stuff. If you find a source that stretches
the picture to fit the screen it will be horrible. I refuse
to watch any channel where they do that. But apparently
some people are happy with it. Otherwise I'm not sure how
some of the cable channels would stay on the air. Have
you seen Roseanne stretched to fit the HD screen?

Do you also avoid watching stuff that is not true HD too? For an
example, I was recording and rewatching the first Matrix movie on ION
(30.1 in Los Angeles/L.A. OTA) channel on Saturday. TV Guides said it
was in HD, but I don't think it was because it was in 2.0 stereo and
seems to be from a film source (saw dirts and dots like I see in
theaters for films -- not digital). :(

I'm not sure what that would be. I just avoid anything that is
out of proportion. That's where everybody is fat or stick thin.
And of course cars are usually very wide or very narrow. All those
annoying distortions due to somebody forcing a picture into the
wrong aspect ratio.

Bill

[the dog from that film you saw]

Post by Ant
Do you also avoid watching stuff that is not true HD too? For an
example, I was recording and rewatching the first Matrix movie on ION
(30.1 in Los Angeles/L.A. OTA) channel on Saturday. TV Guides said it
was in HD, but I don't think it was because it was in 2.0 stereo and
seems to be from a film source (saw dirts and dots like I see in
theaters for films -- not digital). :(

35mm film holds far more detail than a 1080p digital camera recording -
so it's a fine source for a HD broadcast if converted properly.

[the dog from that film you saw]

Post by Patty Winter
Thanks to everyone for the information about composite
inputs on current HDTV sets.
I got to thinking about another possible issue: just how
bad is SD content going to look on a 50" HDTV? I have a
32" HDTV now and the SD isn't too bad (in fact, depending
on the source, it's quite good), but I'm worried that the
lower resolution will be very noticeable on a larger TV.
Who's got experience with that?
Patty

depends on the tv, depends on the sd material - some channels are
compressed to hell and look like a blocky mess, others look fine.

[Patty Winter]

Post by the dog from that film you saw
depends on the tv, depends on the sd material - some channels are
compressed to hell and look like a blocky mess, others look fine.

I'm not concerned about TV channels so much; those come from
modern digital equipment. I'm wondering more about the signals
from my older DVRs and other components that are connected via
composite cables.


Patty

[Bill Gill]

Post by Patty Winter

Post by the dog from that film you saw
depends on the tv, depends on the sd material - some channels are
compressed to hell and look like a blocky mess, others look fine.

I'm not concerned about TV channels so much; those come from
modern digital equipment. I'm wondering more about the signals
from my older DVRs and other components that are connected via
composite cables.
Patty

Those should be fine. At least in mine the up-converter does a
fine job of handling those inputs.

Bill

[whosbest54]

Post by Patty Winter

Post by the dog from that film you saw
depends on the tv, depends on the sd material - some channels are
compressed to hell and look like a blocky mess, others look fine.

I'm not concerned about TV channels so much; those come from
modern digital equipment. I'm wondering more about the signals
from my older DVRs and other components that are connected via
composite cables.
Patty

My experience with good SD sources is it will be watchable, but you'll
see more of the SD lack of sharpness than on a smaller screen,
depending on the viewing distance.

whosbest54

[Patty Winter]

Post by whosbest54
My experience with good SD sources is it will be watchable, but you'll
see more of the SD lack of sharpness than on a smaller screen,
depending on the viewing distance.

"Lack of sharpness" is fair enough; I'd expect that. I just wanted
to make sure I wasn't going to encounter "fuzzy" or "blocky". :-)


Patty

[G-squared]

Post by Patty Winter
Thanks to everyone for the information about composite
inputs on current HDTV sets.
I got to thinking about another possible issue: just how
bad is SD content going to look on a 50" HDTV? I have a
32" HDTV now and the SD isn't too bad (in fact, depending
on the source, it's quite good), but I'm worried that the
lower resolution will be very noticeable on a larger TV.
Who's got experience with that?
Patty

The usual suspects. Composite the poorest, component analog / S-VHS better and HDMI the best even with std def DVDs.

The big TV will show just how bad those old VHS and Beta tapes really were not to mention the color lock problems from non Time Base Corrected video off the VCRs. A VHS with a digital TBC is definitely better but it will cost you.

G²