MACD23

I am considering purchasing a projection widescreen tv, and I am looking to do the HDTV thing.

I am finding most sets in my price range to be listed as "HD READY".....I read and found that means they are HDTV monitors with no built in decoders or whatever, is this acceptable? I live near Boston, Ma and we have Comcast Digital Cable. I know they will give you an HDTV cable box and provide the signal for a monthly charge if you request it......... will this hook up to the "HD READY" tv and give me an HDTV signal?

also, when you switch a tv broadcast into "stretch" mode to make it fit the widescreen do you lose quality or HDTV capability?

Sdallnct

Tho I'm still learning let me give it a shot and the "experts" can add, clarify or correct.

Being HD ready means the TV does not have an HD turner to receive HD signals. You will have to add one to get an HD signal. Dish and Direct TV offers these as does many cable companies. Or you can buy a stand alone HD turner and get a regular antenna (assuming you are in a good area).

If you watch "regular" TV (know as 4:3) on a widescreen (16:9), it will depend on the TV on how it handles it. If you do nothing you will get letterboxing (bars) on the sides of the image. Most TV's offer sometype of "stretch" mode to fill the whole screen if you want. On some this will make people look fat. On others it really just "zooms" in and you loose part of the picture. And still others use a feature to stretch only the edges of the screen so that it is less noticable.

Some widescreens are better at displaying 4:3 then others. And depending on the type of tv you may have other issues to worry about (like burn in).

hoyalawya

There are basically 3 types of HD signal that I know of

1. Over-the-air HDTV broadcast
2. Unscrambled QAM broadcast
3. Scrambled QAM broadcast

2 and 3 are basically used by cables and sattelite broadcasters. A "HD Integrated" set can decode 1 and sometimes 2. A cable box would decode 2 and 3. A "HD Ready" set cannot decode anything therefore it has to be fed decoded HDTV signal (over component, DVI, HDMI, or firewire connection). In your case, the cable box would intepret the HD signal sent from the cable company, decode it, and send the signal to the TV. I.e., a "HD Ready" set has the ability to display HD images but does not have the ability to decode broadcasted signal.

hoyalawya

Furthermore, prices of a HDTV set-top box have been spiraling down. Some can be had for about $150 now. Therefore, if the premimum of a "HD integrated" set over a "HD Ready" set is more than $300, consider getting the "HD Ready" set as you will be saving money.

MACD23

Well, I went to Comcast's website, it says they rent you a box with built in decoder for $7.25 a month. It looks like this is the only way to go, as they say you must use their box even with HD decoder built in TVs. Cool, I guess I am in business then.

Draven

The reason I went with my Toshiba 50H82 last year was because I wanted a widescreen, but a majority of my television viewing is broadcast and satellite, with one or two DVDs watched a week.

The Toshiba had the most natural looking stretch mode of any model I looked at (TheaterWide,) It pulls out the edges of the image to fill the screen, and looks completely natural. Nothing else really compared in all of my research.

People who see it almost always comment that it doesn't look stretched at all.