2. home-theater
  3. 1100897107

TV Picture diffenences between HD and non HD

I am considering the Sony 42" WEGA LCD Rear Projection HDTV (KDF-42WE655) but I am confused about the display quality for non high definition stations. Will this TV display the non high definition stations okay or do I have to stretch the screen for full display and, therefore, the picture image will be distorted? What does it look like if I do not stretch the screen? Please explain the picture display differences between the high definition stations and the non high definition stations? Thanks.....
hgeifman
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
Another note, I made a change this weekend that brought my experience much closer to love than love / hate, I changed from using a coax connection to RCA's and for whatever reason this was a big improvement. I should note that the piece of coax I was using didn't look the best. Anyway, this is something you may want to experiment with.
teonyc's avatar
teonyc
43 posts
 
Given the dearth of HDTV offerings, I opted for a EDTV Plasma. I find DVD and HDVT signals look simply amazing. At a normal (greater than 8 foot) viewing distance, I couldn't tell the difference between a true HDTV and EDTV from a digital cable source. (Lets face it the difference between 480P and 1080i is only about 10% because of the interlacing).

The justified (i.e. stretched at the sides) setting take a few days to get used to the distortion, but now I only am aware of it during fast horizontal panning. I prefer this setting to the risk of burn-in. I did notice that CBS-HD does vary the letter-boxed colors from black to a light gray during standard aspect-ratio broadcasts, so leaving the letter-boxing during those times may be fine.

Also, Time Warner Cable of NYC varies the quality of their DTV service. In other words, some standard-def channels are very clear, with a minimum of artifacts, while more obscure channels are noticeably more pixelated.

I'd recommend a decent-quality component video cable. Personally, my experience is that the limiting factor is the source not the cable. You may want to test out a few set-ups, and find the right price-performance level for your taste. IMHO, if you like the picture and sound, just enjoy it. Often I feel too many people get hung-up on squeezing the last 1% of signal out of a system instead of the programming that's being played.
dmcewan
24 posts
 
Bluecirclehead,

I have 2 different component video cable - an Acoustic Research that I bought fairly inexpensively at a big box store and the cable that Time Warner included with the HD cable box. Both work fine for me, which is good because I'm not in the market to purchase a $100 component video cable.
This probably isn't terribly helpful, I know, but the person above that said that the source is more important than the cable is probably right, though opinions vary greatly.

Don
More to discover