How does standard DirecTV look on a 16x9 projection HDTV?
 

I'm looking to buy a new HDTV and after reading about them all over the place, there's one problem that concerns me:

How do standard (meaning, not HD) DirecTV broadcasts look on a HDTV? Is is entirely dependent on cabling, signal strength, and the TV itself?

It's going to be a while before I upgrade to HD, mainly because I'm waiting for the HD DirecTiVos to be released.

My TV watching is about 60/40 with 60% on satellite and 40% on DVDs. I know the DVDs will look awesome, but am concerned over the quality of TV shows (and the stretching to 16x9 from a 4x3 broadcast)

If anybody can answer the question based on DirecTV and the Sony KP-46WT500, that would be the greatest help. :)

One more question: I've also read projection HDTVs might be a dying breed. Is this true?

I'm asking the question in the TV forum, because I hope to get a wider range of answers here.

Signal strength (on your end) doesn't matter; unless it's pixellated, it's all or nothing. However, different channels get different amounts of bandwidth, so some will look better than others. The pay channels always look best. ESPN looks like crap. Trio is painful. Overall, though, I don't think it's that bad. You're blowing up an imperfect image, so the imperfections are more magnified, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

As for the specific model of RPTV, each one will look different, so you should really do a lot of in-store comparisons yourself, looking specifically at the stretch modes. I wouldn't want to be without my Mits' "Stretched" mode, which is a progressive horizontal stretch that leaves the central image pretty intact and stretches a lot on the sides, giving a wide-angle effect.

das

:up: Thanks das

I've got a 48" Mits and I use the stretch mode too. It definitely takes some getting used to, but after awhile you won't really notice. Although I do notice when I switch from HD or DVD how much better those two sources look (obviously).

I'm thinking of picking up a big screen soon (say 65"), and have heard from many sources that Mitsubishi is the way to go. Any suggestions or tips from you Mits owners? I know to avoid Best Buy as they sell scaled back versions of the Mits models...how about Circuit City?

I'm a generation removed from the current stuff, but I've been happy with my Mits. I got mine at the Big Screen Store (aka the Mits Store) where I could be assured of getting exactly what I wanted without having to deal with Circuit *****ty (a company I'll never trust). The little I've seen and heard about the newest models speaks well for the product. They've addressed all the minor issues I have with mine and added new features. Unless the Pioneer Elite is much cheaper now, I assume it's still the most popular choice.

AVS Forum is probably the best place to ask questions.

das

I have the JVC 48" I-ART and you have the "panorama" viewing option which basically takes 4x3 standard programming and stretches it to fit the screen. You hardly notice the difference.

Only when you watch CNN or MSNBC does it cut of the ticker tape at the bottom but those get annoying to read after a while anyways -wink-

PS hdtv programming like CSI,CSI MIAMI and dvd's look fabulous on my set

I have a 65" widescreen Mits and am very happy with it. You will need to do some tweaking because the factory settings are awful.

I used Home Theater Spot as a great site for this tweaking info.

I use DirecTV for my primary source and as already mentioned, you quickly adjust to the appearance of it.

I use my Zenith DTV1080 for the panoramic stretch mode which I prefer over the Mits version. The Zenith also improves on the SD
channel quality by some sort of upconversion.

Waiting for the Tivo makes perfect sense if you have patience. My Tivo was not compatible and I do miss it!

Keep in mind that those HD DirecTiVos will enter the marketplace at what's sure to be an insane price point. I'm guessing in the neighborhood of $1000.

das

Without knowing the hard drive space, I guess it's hard to truly comment on a $1000 price tag. I heard it's 8-9g/hour for Hi-Def TiVo-ing, so the hard drive will have to be huge.

But, $1000 isn't all that insane considering how much the basic HD receivers cost ($600) as well as the DirecTiVo ($200).

I'll bet we won't be getting dual tuners though.......

With an S-video connection, DirecTV looks GREAT on my 47" WS HDTV. I, too, use the "panoramic" mode and got used to it very quickly. Love it.

It looks great in the "TheaterWide" mode on my 50" Toshiba 50 H82. I liked the look of that stretch mode better than any of the other sets I looked at.

I also got mine through Onecall.com.

I paid $2000 for the set and a 3-year service plan with free shipping. Best Buy was charging $2000 for the set (without free delivery and an additional $400 for the service plan.)

I was worried about getting something that big from the internet but it was a great transaction and the company was a breeze to deal with. Even gave me tips on how to set it up once I got it. I'd recommend looking into using them.

For what it's worth, I too would recommend OneCall for large and/or expensive home theater stuff. My experiences with them have been very positive.

das

:up: Thanks for the info. I checked out hometheaterspot.com and they recommended onecall.com as well.


I went to Circuit City yesterday to look at a few models. How bad is it when a n00b HDTV guy like me knew more than the sales rep?

He was showing me an RCA model for $1700 and told me it included a HD tuner. -rolleyes- The RCA model on sale for $2200 does, not that one.

He also told me only one of their models included DVI, when I know the Sony I've been reviewing and went there to check out does in addition to the one he pointed out. -rolleyes- I wouldn't doubt more models than just those two include it.

Two blunders in less than 2 minutes??

I have a 58 inch Pioneer Elite projection HD TV and my DirecTV (using S-Video) looks pretty nice on most of the stretch modes. I am very picky on video quality (not very picky at all on audio quality though) and love the dvd and HD picture (obviously).

The TIVO Directv looks fine and is not a distraction. I do recommend doing some real research and deciding what you want, and how much you can afford as you get what you pay for with expensive TVs. Many of the TVs that will do a real good job on DirecTV with stretch modes will be significantly more expensive than your regular $2000 projection tv at Best Buy or Circuit City. Best of luck.

I've certainly heard plenty of people talking up the Elites, but I don't really want to give up a kidney for it. ;)

I also had a very good experience with a purchase that I made from Onecall.com. It was a high end DVD player at an excellent price. It arrived quickly and safely.

As far as the appearance of Tivo via S-Video on my HD set, I'd have to say that the DirecTV video from it really looks poor compared to the SD channels from my HD DirecTV (via component)set top box.

The compression of the Tivo signal is very noticable on a large digital set in my opinion.

My wife even noticed and stopped wanting to use it which meant giving up pause, rewind and commercial skip capabilities.

Are any of the non-HDTV PPV movies in letterbox/widescreen?

(I'm not even going to ask about anamorphic widescreen)

I don't normally order any PPV movies (if I have any intention of watching the movie, the DVD has already been bought or rented by that point), but I seem to remember some PPV movies are advertised as widescreen.

My one and only caveat about buying from One Call is that you need to be damn sure you are buying what you want to keep because they have a poor return/refund policy.

Well, I find out the answer to my own question starting tomorrow.

I bought a new Toshiba HDTV over the weekend and it'll be installed tomorrow. :)

Congrats, <B>Chew</B>! Welcome to the 21st Century ... we've been waiting for you. ;)

das

Congrats. Post a follow-up when or if possible because that is always very helpful when people go searching through old threads looking for the same type of question and answer. Best of luck.

Onecall is a pretty good place to buy from. I live just a couple miles from their HQ, so I can go cuss out the owner if I have a problem with the service -smile-

Which one did you end up going with?

I picked the Toshiba 51H83

--wanted to pick from the best-reviewed list of Toshiba, Hitachi, or Mitsubishi.
--wanted DVI (which eliminated Mits)
--Hitachi is very scarce in my area. I feel more comfortable buying from a store than online for this big of a purchase.
--wanted a TV with good 4x3 to 16x9 conversion

This model has

Best Buy had this unit hooked up to an antenna and the picture looked good. I would expect DirecTV to be at least 2-3 levels higher in picture quality over an antenna.

Niiiiiiiice.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it :)

Hooray for Chew! Welcome to the bigscreen TV club; you'll never go back. ;)

You suck, I am waiting and waiting to pull the trigger on a WS tv.
Been looking at a 27" for the last 5 years.

But seriously congrats, when I was looking I thought the Toshiba had the best pic by far, and the demo they had was a james dean concert, the sweat was dripping on to the floor it was that good.

I may just wait and get a plasma this christmas, the other thing I am waiting for is the HD Directivo, which is supposed to be out for the holidays.

Why would a standard channel look any worse on a big screen HDTV versus on a non-HDTV? Isn't the HDTV capable of everything a non-HDTV is plus?

Or are you talking more about stretching a 4x3 image to fit a 16x9? What are the reasons to stretch rather than watching 4x3 sources as 4x3?

The reason it wouldn't look as good is because it amplifies the imperfections of the source. On a standard analog TV, which is smaller, you don't notice it. On a screen that's twice the size and digital, you will.

As for 4x3 to 16x9, I guess two issues: why waste the screen? ;) Also, some models can cause burn-in on the sides when you watch 4x3 all the time.

On my Mits 55807 the 4x3 image comes up in a different place each time (slightly off center) and has gray bars to avoid burn-in.

I tried the progressive stretched mode for awhile but I didn't like what it did to the picture when the camera moved. I watch some 4x3 programs in normal mode (fills the 16x9 screen) and others in pillar box mode. It depends on how picky I feel about keeping the aspect ratio correct - on some programs it's more critical than others.

Up until a few months ago I only watched DVDs and OTA SD programs, so now that I have DirecTV, it looks pretty good to me.

Thanks. I was thrown off a little by the mention of how the signal would look specifically on a big screen HDTV.

It would look just as good/poor on a big screen HDTV as it would a non-HDTV correct? For example, the same DirecTV signal on a 65" non-HDTV and a 65" HDTV would look the same.. the fact you are watching it on a HDTV doesn't make it look any worse.

How do the stretch modes for 4x3 sources to 16x9 actually look? I have never seen one but am a OAR person so would be hesitant to do so unless there is a reason for myself.

That I wouldn't know. I've never seen it on a normal big-screen TV

I think they look pretty good actually. But, I was watching Episode 2 on HBO for a little while today. Phew! Taking a widescreen movie which HBO shapes to full-screen and then my TV takes that full-screen and shapes to widescreen. Now that doesn't look good.


So, after 2 days, here's the report: Wow! Everything looks awesome, even DirecTV.

Out-of-the-box, it was a different story though. The TV was set to 1080i, which I didn't know. Broadcasts looked like pure crap! I thought "what did I get myself into!". After a few hours, I set it to 540p and it was like night and day. The quality of the picture is nearly as good as my 4x3 set.

DVDs look awesome, and even sound a little better on the surround system too ;)

Now I just have to wait until that Avia Home Theater DVD comes from DDD so I can get the whole system set-up properly.

I'm going to go finish up T2 now :)

Congrats on the purchase! You're in for loads of fun.