ylomnstr

Hey guys. I just purchases a 50" Toshiba Projection HDTV this weekend and so far so good. But I have regular cable which sucks. So I'm about to get a satellite system. Looks like I'll be going with Direct TV. Best Buy has a $100 rebate, but I guess the dish I'll need for HD is $199. On top of that, I'll be getting an HD receiver. I'd like to get the Toshiba DST3000, but I can't find it for sale anywhere. Any ideas where I can get that? Also wondering if I'll need anything else?

On top of that, I was told the best DVD picture would be with a progressive DVD player, so I bought the Toshiba. Now I thought progressive meant that the DVD player had the component video output. But I guess not because my old Panasonic DVD player has that also, but I don't think it has progressive. What am I going to gain using the progressive DVD player? I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth it, or if I should just stick with my Panasonic and return the Toshiba for credit towards the satellite system.

broadwayblue

just because a dvd player has components outs does not make it a progressive scan player.

Goblincat

I have a Toshiba 50" and the progressive output from my Toshiba DVD player is worse than non-progressive. Let me know if you get the same results.

ylomnstr

What exactly should progressive do? The toshiba dvd player has a progressive button. Will that work with all DVD's?

broadwayblue

progressive will work with all your dvds...but you must have a display that can resolve the signal. the tv is the limiting factor.


all things being equal a display that is in progressive format will look better than on that is interlaced...assuming of course the source is the same resolution.

so looking at dvd. it can either be 480i (interlaced) or 480p (progressive.) the display that can show the dvd in 480p will have a sharper image with less motion artifacting than the interlaced version because you are getting all of the scan lines displayed in sequential order 1/60 of a second as opposed to two fields of 1/60 (or 1/30.)

see this link for some info:

http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_el...s/progscan.asp

bmello

You might read the HDTV FAQ thread. About the only place you can get a Toshiba DST3000 is on ebay. Best Buy sells the Hughes E86 which is the exact same box. They look slightly different, the menu/guide is exactly the same but the remotes are different. If you open up the DST3000, you see Hughes components inside. A few weeks ago BB had these on sale for $479, some stores have open box ones that may go down to $399. You can also wait until a preferred customer weekend for an extra 10% off. The OVAL dish is $99 at Best Buy and the Sat. C Kit you can get for free or cheap by calling DirecTV. Keep in mind, right now on DirecTV you will only get HBO-HD, SHO-HD, HDNET and PPV. The majority of the HD content is picked up Over the Air with an Antenna. You have to make sure the local stations are broadcasting DTV in your area. If you really want to haggle try calling DirecTV and tell them you are interested in Satellite but want HD capablility. They might give you the Oval Dish and Sat. C kit for free and will definitely install it for free. They should give you a bunch of free programming to make up for the cost of the receiver. Good Luck!

dgc

Do you know if someone had success in getting Directv to do this?

bmello

I don't know someone personally but there has been a few threads discussing this at avsforum, specifically the HDTV Hardware forum. Someone mentioned he was offered a full HD package for free which included (E86, Oval Dish, Sat. C Kit and Installation). That never panned out but many other folks said the best they could do is get the Dish, Sat. C kit, Installation and the free Preminum Channel package for a few months. It was also noted you may have to try a few different CSRs.