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HDTV vs Local (SD) channels.
MaichBlack
#1 Posted : Wednesday, June 09, 2010 4:24:29 PM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 7/22/2009
Posts: 7,858
Hi all,

I recently acquired a Full HD TV but some of the local stations are not as razor sharp as they should be (actually some are clearer on my CRT Tv than on the HD) because we have no HD stations in Kenya - all station broadcast in SD.

I checked online and realized that this problem is not peculiar to Kenya. Even in the west where they have both HD and SD stations people complain about the sharpness of stations broadcasting in SD on their HDTV. I visited a couple of electronics shops and we (me + the shop attendants) realized the problem is the same on all HDTVs regardless of make and model. The sales rep/technicians didn't seem to have a workable solution.

Is there anyone out there who know of a solution to this issue - maybe a gadget I can buy - or any other solution?

I have read a bit on Mecer Lt320 TV box. Anyone here ever used it? Testimonials? Is there any way I can connect a HD DVD with the aerial and the TV to upscale the resolution? Thanks in advance.
Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good returns.
theman192000
#2 Posted : Thursday, June 10, 2010 11:39:21 AM
Rank: Member

Joined: 7/11/2008
Posts: 401
MaichBlack, I can't claim to be an expert on HD but I can give you my experience from a user's perspective.

I bought my LG HD Ready TV about 2 years ago and like you I thought that it would transform my television viewing. On connecting it to the DSTV decoder, there was no discernible difference with the CRT TV. Indeed like you pointed out some stations were worse!

I recently wanted to invest in an HD PVR but unlike the TV investment, this time I demanded to see the difference from Multichoice and they sent me to the Nakumatt on Uhuru Highway.

When they switched to channel 171 (SS-HD), the difference was like that of day and night!

My observation is that in order to enjoy the HD functionality on your TV, you need to receive a HD broadcast signal or an input from a HD device (some gaming devices have HD output). I've noted that live HD broadcasts are even sharper than say movies that been reformatted to HD.

Note that although the other DSTV channels are routed via the HD PVR, they are not HD quality. So I'm not sure that the Mecer Lt320 TV box would be worth investing in.
eddyz
#3 Posted : Thursday, June 10, 2010 1:53:01 PM
Rank: New-farer

Joined: 3/25/2010
Posts: 62
Location: Nairobi
Maichblack,as therman has put it, you will be in for a big disappointment if u watch kawaida TV content on a HD TV. These TVs came in much earlier than their time and retailers have exploited consumers’ ignorance to sell these high priced sets. Broadcasters here have yet to go digital let alone HD broadcasts, it’s only recently that DSTV have started offering some HD channels.
Forget about this Mecer thing, the TV set is an upscaler by itself and the box will not give you HD
Didn’t know there is HD DVD here, this was discontinued way back and gave way to blue ray instead. anyway for such machines the up scaling is done from the disc and not the TV signal so that will not help either.SD up scaled to fit within HD parameters looks horrible hence the reason why normal CRT TV gives better SD picture than more expensive LCD HD TV. The best option for you to enjoy the HD experience is get hooked up with DSTV HD or get one of those blue ray machines which result in those breathtaking HD pictures on the HD TVs while they are still at the shop display! (assuming the discs are available)
Personally for me am still holding on in investing in such luxuries until we have sufficient HD content as to justify the expense, but that’s my 2 cent……..
MaichBlack
#4 Posted : Thursday, June 10, 2010 3:30:19 PM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 7/22/2009
Posts: 7,858
eddyz wrote:

Didn’t know there is HD DVD here, this was discontinued way back and gave way to blue ray instead......

.....or get one of those blue ray machines which result in those breathtaking HD pictures on the HD TVs while they are still at the shop display! (assuming the discs are available)


@eddyz - Kindly breakdown for me this blue ray - HD DVD issue. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought blue ray uses different kind of discs (blue ray disc - how different are they?). Why would HD DVD be discontinued in favour of blue ray if they are using different discs and hence serving different demographics?

And to answer your question, yeah, there are HD DVDs on sale in Kenya.
Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good returns.
eddyz
#5 Posted : Thursday, June 10, 2010 8:25:26 PM
Rank: New-farer

Joined: 3/25/2010
Posts: 62
Location: Nairobi
Maichblack.you’re right blue ray disc is different, much higher capacity than HD DVD.HD DVD as a format was discontinued in favor of blue ray please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD
As you can see the film production companies and major manufactures stopped supporting this format and eventually blue ray will be the de facto format
mukiha
#6 Posted : Friday, June 11, 2010 10:34:15 AM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 6/27/2008
Posts: 4,114
Here is a demonstration of the most important rule in electronics: GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT.

If you feed garbage into any device, you will get garbage at the output.

Feed poor quality music into you high-end system, and you get poor quality at the speakers.

Feed poor quality broadcast into you HDTV, you get poor pictures on the screen.

You cannot improve the quality of the picture/sound to a level higher than that coming from the broadcasting station.
Nothing is real unless it can be named; nothing has value unless it can be sold; money is worthless unless you spend it.
subzero
#7 Posted : Monday, June 27, 2011 3:18:59 PM
Rank: Member

Joined: 1/10/2008
Posts: 365
If you buy one of these set top boxes that claim to have HD, will this transform your local station TV viewing to HD.

Now that akina KBC citizen are also transmitting in digital, does that necessarily mean that they are transmitting in HD as well,

I recently heard that CCK changed the some specification for digital TV broadcasting? this will render some set top boxes useless very soon, is this true?

What's the connection from the set top box to the TV, HDMI i hope?

Is smart TV, yet another set top box but with few other extra chargeable stations.

What other advantages do i get from buying a set top box?
eddyz
#8 Posted : Monday, June 27, 2011 4:25:43 PM
Rank: New-farer

Joined: 3/25/2010
Posts: 62
Location: Nairobi
@subzero

If you buy one of these set top boxes that claim to have HD, will this transform your local station TV viewing to HD.
Answer: No. The HD STBs will not give you HD pictures as non of our local stations are transmitting on HD

Now that akina KBC citizen are also transmitting in digital, does that necessarily mean that they are transmitting in HD as well,

Answer:NO. All local tv stations currently transmit on analogue PAL and not digital.The current digital transmissions from Signet are in SD format.

I recently heard that CCK changed the some specification for digital TV broadcasting? this will render some set top boxes useless very soon, is this true?

Answer NO.specs changed from DVB-T1 to DVB-T2 Mpeg 4 for new STBS but both formats will run concurrently for a while possibly until the entire T1 STB base is replaced

What's the connection from the set top box to the TV, HDMI i hope?

Answer: If you’re talking of smart tv STB, the connection is composite and component video. No HDMI connection

Is smart TV, yet another set top box but with few other extra chargeable stations.

Answer. Smart TV uses an STB and has some premium channels accessible only with subscription

What other advantages do i get from buying a set top box?

Answer.(i) clear pictures and sound due to digital reception of STB
(ii) electronic program guide
(iii) STB is a cheaper way of accessing digital TV using your existing analogue TV set as compared to obtaining a
pure digital set which is much more expensive.
subzero
#9 Posted : Monday, June 27, 2011 4:41:20 PM
Rank: Member

Joined: 1/10/2008
Posts: 365
Thanks @eddyz,

Very clear, and exhaustive.

But even though i wont get HD, will it at least be widescreen?

coz at least from my experience, viewing of forcing a 4:3 broadcast to fill a 16:9 screen makes people looking fat(wide).

Will this be corrected at the very least ?
eddyz
#10 Posted : Monday, June 27, 2011 6:32:46 PM
Rank: New-farer

Joined: 3/25/2010
Posts: 62
Location: Nairobi
@subzero
Yes, virtually all content nowadays is actually compatible with 16:9 displays and you get proper pictures even with existing analogue transmissions.
Moreover mpeg encoding takes care of both 4:9/16:9 inter conversion hence this is not a problem
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