Is HD overrated?

[The Lone Gunman]

I have a 50" telly driven by a PS3. I also use the PlayTV box. This set up is also supposed to upscale normal TV signals (as best it can). I drive the sound through an optical link to my surround system.
Wifey and I reckon the picture is better than just using the TVs built in freeview.
Blu-Ray gives a stunning quality picture compared to DVD. Sound is a step up too.
There is no point having and HD TV without a HD feed though I suspect it is getting harder to buy a TV that is not HD these days.

[MPwannadecentincome]

You have to go into media players settings and tick a setting to output sound from blu ray. If had my laptop on me I would be able to tell you. It's not on as default and many people think that you cannot get sound.

oooh - ta very much! I'll get that HDMI cable now!

[Amiga500]

For Blu Ray, wifey has a player on her laptop - I will have to get an HDMI cable to try it - I don't think that sound is carried through that cable though.

Sound IS carried through that cable.

[interested]

What's your HD source, Sky? I could subscribe to Virgin or something I suppose, but don't really think it's worth the rather high cost.

Sky and Blu-Ray

[interested]

AV forums posts I've read suggest that's changed now.

The Sky+HD box can definitely output 1080 - I'm not sure if it's actually broadcast as 1080 though.

Pretty sure Sky broadcast in 1080i/720p and have no plans to 'upgrade' to 1080p

I think Blu-ray and PS3/ X-box are the only 1080p sources.

[Benno]

I got a 40" Sony Bravia at christmas at bargain price of £550, shop around and wait for deals on the about to be replaced models before buying.

Anyway, I was well happy with it in SD broadcasting, then upgraded my Virgin to V+. Ok at the moment you only get BBC HD on it, but WOW! The big nature type programmes look absolutely stunning, and was watching Wimbledon yesterday on it, looks a lot better.

As others have said you really need a 40"+ to notice the difference, XBOX looks great through it as well in HD, not tried a DVD or Bluray though, but would imagine they look good on it as well.

Also using the V+ for normal SD signals with the HDMI cable is a lot better than freeview.

[voodooflux]

Specifically motion blur takes a bit of getting used to and seems to be present to a degree on even on the best TVs, as does the generally inferior picture quality on analogue broadcasts and the dependence on viewing angle.

Were you mostly looking at LCD sets? Plasma does diminish the effects of motion blur and viewing angle somewhat, but at a price premium.

If you want to get more idea whether it's worth it or not you should have a look in a smaller independent shop who will be more likely to have a decent setup in the shop. Stores like Comet or Currys often have about 30 TV's running of the same signal showing Sky Sports and it's next to useless to try and gauge the picture quality from that.

I also usually find John Lewis to be pretty good as far a demos go, although they normally have the best sources connected to the most expensive sets.

Remember that Sky isn't 1080 HD anyway, it's 700 ish

The vast majority of material on Sky is broadcast at 1080i I believe.

What I do like about the Blue-Ray is that theatre-sync actually works (films are shown at the proper 24fps).

That is a benefit of the format, but unfortunately not all new TVs support a 1080p input @ 24fps.

The Sky+HD box can definitely output 1080 - I'm not sure if it's actually broadcast as 1080 though.

When you set the Sky HD box to "Auto" rather than explicitly 1080i or 720p then the output will match that of the broadcast. In practice this results in 1080i as most European material is broadcast at that resolution.

Sky engineer told me it's not broadcast at 1080, perhaps it will be one day.

He possibly meant 1080p rather than 1080i.

So I fail to see the benefit of 1080, unless you have a HUGE telly

It can also have benefits if you are sitting particularly close to the set.

Even If I had a huge TV, I'd still rather have the TV upscale the picture than some ropey old amstrad box.

Very much so, the scaling on the Sky HD box is usually surpassed by that present on the TV.

I was thinking about getting SKY HD in for the Ashes but when you seen Botham on the SKY adverts wittering on about how you can see the seam of the ball turn in flight you know that it's a load of bull and just another way to get 120 quid a year off you.

I've noticed a big difference with the football on Sky Sports - there is so much more detail with a HD broadcast (if only serving to allow me to watch West Brom get relegated with more clarity).

Blu-Ray gives a stunning quality picture compared to DVD.

This is my experience too.

There is no point having and HD TV without a HD feed though.

WHS

Pretty sure Sky broadcast in 1080i/720p and have no plans to 'upgrade' to 1080p

I read something recently which said that Sky are upgrading their studios with video equipment capable of recording at 1080p (anything recorded on film is capable of this anyway).

[VectraMan]

It seems to be a popular myth that Sky is only broadcasting in 720 ish. It's not true, everybody adopted 1080i in the end. Most "HD ready" TVs are only 720 (or more likely 768) lines though, which is a different issue. Does the number 768 sound familiar?

I've not got HD. Everytime I've looked in the shops most of them look naff to me in comparison to my trusty old Sony CRT 24" screen. The only exception to that are high end Sony LCD screens, which I will go buy one day.

[Amiga500]

It seems to be a popular myth that Sky is only broadcasting in 720 ish. It's not true, everybody adopted 1080i in the end. Most "HD ready" TVs are only 720 (or more likely 768) lines though, which is a different issue. Does the number 768 sound familiar?

I've not got HD. Everytime I've looked in the shops most of them look naff to me in comparison to my trusty old Sony CRT 24" screen. The only exception to that are high end Sony LCD screens, which I will go buy one day.

Your trusty old CRT screen is firing electrons at your face.

HTH

[expat]

It's that digital mediocrity again. They do have motion blur and digital artifacts/giant pixelling (I have a Bravia and it does too). You get used to it, like you get used to MP3s lack of Fi, and digital pics pixellation (not to mention abject failure to follow Kodachrome's colour reproduction).