Dumb new HDTV owner questions

[Sinistar]

Oh, and can I try and grab an HDTV signal just using some rigged rabbit-ears? I want to surprise my wife and tape her soap in HDTV in an hour and a half....

....oh, and if anyone has any creative ideas on whipping up rabbit-ears in a hurry I'd be happy to listen to your suggestions. (I'm a little braindead/unmotivated today, yesterday was a long and grueling one for me)

Have you tried hookin the cable directly to the tv, and setting the tv for cable? Then try a scan. My HDTV tuner can tune digital cable, it just cant unscrable it. Local HDTV channels are not scrambled by Comcast.

just a thought, don't know if it will work.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Have you tried hookin the cable directly to the tv, and setting the tv for cable? Then try a scan. My HDTV tuner can tune digital cable, it just cant unscrable it. Local HDTV channels are not scrambled by Comcast.

just a thought, don't know if it will work.

It's a hell of a lot better thought than trying to find my rabbit-ears in me basement!

Oh, on the DVR box? It looks like I'll either be getting this motorola or this atlanta...I won't know until Friday although the smart money would be on motorola. (I've never heard of the atlanta brand around me, and my local comcast uses a LOT of motorola gear)

Whichever it is I figure it's worth the $5/mos for a few months to see if we like/use it or not, and that'll give me time to get up to speed on what I want/need and what is good.

The kids are playing Gamecube on it now and screeching with joy playing Super Smash Bros. I can tell that it's an analog signal, but our Gamecube does have the digital out so we're just a cable away from eye-candy bliss.

Even in analog it looks pretty bloody good!

 

[digitalwanderer]

Have you tried hookin the cable directly to the tv, and setting the tv for cable? Then try a scan. My HDTV tuner can tune digital cable, it just cant unscrable it. Local HDTV channels are not scrambled by Comcast.

I just realized something, if I get the HDTV tuner will I lose my digital cable tuning capabilities or will I need to have both boxes hooked up to the TV?

I love me digital cable, I will not give up my three Nickelodeons!

On a sidenote, I really appreciate the HDTV thru cable tip. I did try it the other night but just got sound, but that was still going thru my digital cable box.

I'm gonna give it a try as soon as the kids get a bit bored with the GC or when it's a bit closer to General Hospital time...whichever comes first.

 

[mrcorbo]

No TV speakers, not EVER...they're just awful on our set. The sound system is a must at all times.

Well I actually don't think you'll be using the DVD-R much, since you are getting an HD-DVR. I think that it will be pretty rare that you will want to permanently archive something. The DVR will be getting much more use. And of course you can't record HD to the DVD-R. So it's probably not that big of a deal.

One other thing. Have you considered using your connected PC as a media server? If you're going to run all that cable, you may as well take advantage of it. You would definately be overwhelming that single digital audio input at that point, though, and would have to buy a switchbox.

If you've never played around with something like Media Portal (which is free, BTW), you might want to check it out. It's very cool being able to browse through every movie or song you own (complete with cover art and detailed info) with a couple of clicks of the mouse.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Oh, I have a feeling I'll be building a small demon of an HTPC to go with the TV....that's another reason I like the idea of renting a DVR. Get the wife hooked on the convenience, then nail her with the addtional possibilities of what a true HTPC could do...as well as no monthly payments.

(Aside from which I probably got enough parts to build one now... ...but I'd rather do it up right and not pull pieces from Bubbles. I have problems downgrading Bubbles, I'm weird that way. )

The DVD-R just came free with the TV and I'm just using it today because I can and 'cause I ALWAYS keep a full spindle of DVD-R's around. (Although I am running low on CD-R's and I actually use them more....great to burn a new mix each week for the car!)

 

[Sinistar]

I just realized something, if I get the HDTV tuner will I lose my digital cable tuning capabilities or will I need to have both boxes hooked up to the TV?

I love me digital cable, I will not give up my three Nickelodeons!

On a sidenote, I really appreciate the HDTV thru cable tip. I did try it the other night but just got sound, but that was still going thru my digital cable box.

I'm gonna give it a try as soon as the kids get a bit bored with the GC or when it's a bit closer to General Hospital time...whichever comes first.

Acyually, when you get you HD-DVR from comcast, you should be set. It will do everything you need, but for now, you are not going to be able to record show in HDTV format.

 

[Ty]

Heh, I figured that out yesterday and you're right. It IS a pain-in-the-ass at first, but once you start figuring out what remote does what and which input has what connected to it the frustration goes away.

More options = gooder, but lots more initial confusion too.

This is why I suggest a Harmony (Logitech bought them out) remote.

Here's a quick example of how they work once you've set them up over the web.


The remote has several Activity buttons, e.g. DVD, Music, Watch TV, etc.

So I push one of them, say DVD.

• The TV comes on, switches to the proper input.
• The receiver comes on, switches to the proper OUTPUT (I run EVERY signal into my receiver so it needs to send OUT the proper signal).
• The DVD player comes on.

Now the remote is smart enough to know that the volume up/down is for the receiver yet also knows that the Pause, Play, Rewind, etc. buttons work the DVD player. I don't need to switch the modes of the remote or anything like that. ONE remote does 99% of what I need (and I can actually get it to learn anything else I need but just have been too lazy).


FYI, I'd be VERY careful running games on the plasma this early. Things like scores, black bars, etc. are most harmful this early in your PDP's lifespan (that and kids tend to pause things indiscriminantly). Once it's aged a bit, then you don't need to worry so much.

This is also true for any sort of HTPC application you're likely to do. Oh, and you might need Powerstrip to set up proper resolutions.

 

[Moloch]

Hmm I've got a question.
For xmas my brother in law got a dell DLP projector that has 1024 native res I believe but it can accept up to 1600x1200.
Is it simply taking the 1600x1200 signal and down converting it to 1024?
he also wants to get an HD cable box but with the lower native res how much improvement will there be from 480P (obviously 480I will see a good improvement since it's non interlaced)?

TIA for satisfying my curiosity.
My dad also might get a projector since he has poor eye sight so he can't easily read text on our tv, and out tv is on the way out so this info may be of use to me

 

[Sxotty]

The harmony remote is usually on fatwallet too Digi, so take a look there for a good deal on one. Someone always has one on sale.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Thanks, I'll look into it.

I think I'm gonna pull the DVD-R out of the loop and run it from the sound system/5-disk player, I just like that one better.

 

[Ty]

Oh, and before you go out and get a Gamecube Component Adapter, know that not every game supports Progressive out.

Potentially worse still (please, someone correct me because I hope I am wrong on this) you might need to connect your GCN to your TV twice!


That is:

Game Supports Progressive = uses component connection on your TV
Game does NOT support Progressive = must use other connection like S-video

Again I MIGHT be wrong. You might be able to use ONE cable to route either progressive or non-progressive output to your TV.

Even though I have a component cable for my GCN, it's not even hooked up ATM because I'm too lazy and I hardly use my poor lonely GCN these days so I am not sure myself.

 

[mrcorbo]

Hmm I've got a question.
For xmas my brother in law got a dell DLP projector that has 1024 native res I believe but it can accept up to 1600x1200.
Is it simply taking the 1600x1200 signal and down converting it to 1024?
he also wants to get an HD cable box but with the lower native res how much improvement will there be from 480P (obviously 480I will see a good improvement since it's non interlaced)?

TIA for satisfying my curiosity.
My dad also might get a projector since he has poor eye sight so he can't easily read text on our tv, and out tv is on the way out so this info may be of use to me

Yeah, if you send anything other than its native resolution to the projector you are going to have some scaling, just like with an LCD monitor. Best bet would be to send it its native resolution to avoiid scaling artifacts. When you say 1024 are you referring to 1024X768 or 1280X1024? 1024 lines of vertical resolution would be almost full HD (which is 1080i or 720p) and even 1024X768 would be able to show a 720p HD feed in full res. So there would be a fairly signifigant improvement over 480p. Does the projector do widescreen resolutions, too? 1280X720, etc.

 

[jb]

Digi,

I have that same motorola box with comcast but just using componet out for now (as my HDTV is old and does not support either the HDMI/DVI connections). The IQ from it can be very very good. The only thing I dont like is when you go to the comericals the volume is louder..its pretty sweet to record one show while your watching the other

 

[Moloch]

Yeah, if you send anything other than its native resolution to the projector you are going to have some scaling, just like with an LCD monitor. Best bet would be to send it its native resolution to avoiid scaling artifacts. When you say 1024 are you referring to 1024X768 or 1280X1024? 1024 lines of vertical resolution would be almost full HD (which is 1080i or 720p) and even 1024X768 would be able to show a 720p HD feed in full res. So there would be a fairly signifigant improvement over 480p. Does the projector do widescreen resolutions, too? 1280X720, etc.

1024x768.

How is 1024x768 enough for 1280x720
Well it has a 4:3 mode and a 16:9 mode, but it's listed as a 4:3 projector.
I'm pretty sure it's the dell 2300MP.
Thanks

 

[mrcorbo]

1024x768.

How is 1024x768 enough for 1280x720
Well it has a 4:3 mode and a 16:9 mode, but it's listed as a 4:3 projector.
I'm pretty sure it's the dell 2300MP.
Thanks

The eye is more sensitive to vertical resolution than horizontal. So the important bit is the X768. The 16:9 mode is probably achieved by use of an anamorphic lens, which stretches the image horizontally.

This is why widescreen DVDs typically have an actual resolution of 720X480, but the player knows to make each pixel wider than it is tall giving an effective resolution of ~853X480. Your eyes won't miss the missing detail.

 

[Moloch]

The eye is more sensitive to vertical resolution than horizontal. So the important bit is the X768. The 16:9 mode is probably achieved by use of an anamorphic lens, which stretches the image horizontally.

This is why widescreen DVDs typically have an actual resolution of 720X480, but the player knows to make each pixel wider than it is tall giving an effective resolution of ~853X480. Your eyes won't miss the missing detail.

I see:smile:

 

[Reznor007]

Oh, and before you go out and get a Gamecube Component Adapter, know that not every game supports Progressive out.

Potentially worse still (please, someone correct me because I hope I am wrong on this) you might need to connect your GCN to your TV twice!


That is:

Game Supports Progressive = uses component connection on your TV
Game does NOT support Progressive = must use other connection like S-video

Again I MIGHT be wrong. You might be able to use ONE cable to route either progressive or non-progressive output to your TV.

Even though I have a component cable for my GCN, it's not even hooked up ATM because I'm too lazy and I hardly use my poor lonely GCN these days so I am not sure myself.

You can leave the component cable in at all times. The Gamecube will output 480i if the game doesn't support 480P so you don't have to worry.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Okay, so I need a DMI-DMI cable and a GC cable for sure...or is the VGA hook-up better?

 

[Ty]

Okay, so I need a DMI-DMI cable and a GC cable for sure...or is the VGA hook-up better?

DVI to DVI, for what? PC to TV? DVI would be better than VGA.

Have you mapped out your connections? I.e. have you written down what connections your TV has and what is going to be connected to it?

 

[digitalwanderer]

DVI to DVI, for what? PC to TV?

Yes.

DVI would be better than VGA.

Thanks!

Have you mapped out your connections? I.e. have you written down what connections your TV has and what is going to be connected to it?

You gotta be kidding, that would take all the fun out of it!