Is Freeview HD worth it?

[Deleted User] · 12/12/10 - 12:27

From what I've read there will only ever be a handful of HD channels on Freeview, so is buying a Freeview HD enabled TV really worth it? I know they will soon be the standard for all new TVs, but right now they cost a little more than those with standard Freeview.

We''ve still got one old TV that we'll need to do something about come the DSO, and I might replace it with a new LCD TV instead of just adding a set-top box, but is there any real need to pay slightly more for a Freeview HD TV?

[Deleted User] · 12/12/10 - 12:36

Yes definitely, especially if you have a TV with a Freeview HD tuner installed so you're not paying separately for a STB. I have an HD subscription with Sky and have recently bought a Panasonic TX-P42G20B 42" set. I wasn't expecting much from Freeview HD because so many people claim it's a poor substitute to Sky and VM. My experience from the picture quality is the exact opposite. On the BBC HD channel, the picture has been stunning. A real eye-opener with deep colours and an almost 3D feel to some images. Admittedly, there are only 4 HD channels on Freeview but if most of your telly watching is via the main terrestrial channels, I'd definitely go for Freeview HD.

drumtochty · 12/12/10 - 18:24

l-mac wrote: »

We''ve still got one old TV that we'll need to do something about come the DSO, and I might replace it with a new LCD TV instead of just adding a set-top box, but is there any real need to pay slightly more for a Freeview HD TV?

If it is your main TV then buy the full monty, LCD and HD tuner.

If it is not the main TV, get a £20 set top box and when that TV goes wrong all TV's of say 25" and above will be HD as standard, I guess in two years time, you will not have to pay a premium for a HD TV.

If the TV brakes down before that it has only cost you £20 to keep it going so not a large loss.

eddie

chrisy · 12/12/10 - 19:56

l-mac wrote: »

From what I've read there will only ever be a handful of HD channels on Freeview, so is buying a Freeview HD enabled TV really worth it? I know they will soon be the standard for all new TVs, but right now they cost a little more than those with standard Freeview.

We''ve still got one old TV that we'll need to do something about come the DSO, and I might replace it with a new LCD TV instead of just adding a set-top box, but is there any real need to pay slightly more for a Freeview HD TV?

If you're buying a new TV anyway, it's worth getting a Freeview HD one. Not least because it's highly likely that more muxes will migrate over to DVB-T2 eventually, and you'll be in the same position again.

David (2) · 12/12/10 - 20:40

if you want to record HD channels as well, your going to need a box for that anyway. This device (FreeviewHD pvr, FreesatHD pvr, Sky+HD pvr, or CableHD version) will also provide the live tv feed to the tv (through an HDMI cord) - no need to use the inbuilt tv tuner at all.

The only time I think the internal tuner is worth more attention is when the tv is used as a standalone device.

lbear · 12/12/10 - 22:40

It depends what size TV you are contemplating buying - Which? consider any screen under 32 inches to be "small". For HD this is a good size for a small room bearing in mind it will be considerably less deep than any cathode ray tube set.

If you plan to keep using it for more than, say, five years, an HD tuner - whether built in or as a separate tuner - is a must. In that period at least one more MUX will be converted to DVB-T2. As early as 2013 there could be two more - one of the existing SD muxes and an additional one from the "600MHz band sale". (They are clearing the UHF band from 31 to 39 for this), Not every station may be HD but full conversion to DVB-T2 is inevitable in time - Kenya has already decided to go directly to that standard.

[Deleted User] · 12/12/10 - 22:41

Cheers for those thoughts, you are all starting to convince me I'd be just as well to go for the HD version, however, as it's not the main TV in the house, perhaps eddie's suggestion of just buying a cheap set-top box in the meantime and waiting a couple of years makes the most sense..... though who's to say there won't be some other upgrade/new feature that'll give me the same predicament all over again!

In saying that, I'll probably end up heading for the sales (possibly even BEFORE Christmas) and buying a new TV. The PVR is another issue, I've already got a Humax PVR, and will really have to think about upgrading that in the next year or so too...

lbear · 12/12/10 - 22:50

l-mac wrote: »

Cheers for those thoughts, you're starting to convince me I'd be just as well to go for the HD version, however, as it's not the main TV in the house, perhaps eddie's suggestion of just buying a cheap set-top box in the meantime and waiting a couple of years makes the most sense..... though who's to say there won't be some other upgrade/new feature that'll give me the same predicament all over again!

If your spare set has a SCART socket, you might conisder splashing out £50 rather than £20. Comet are currently doing a Freeview HD box for that tho it will probably become the typical selling price for a basic box early next year.. That way you can use it (although only viewing in SD) until you change sets, then get a cheaper one as they may well be selling off non-Freeview HD televisions cheaply.

dazn12 · 12/12/10 - 23:34

I have a Freeview HD PVR and I can notice the HD picture difference beautifully on my 22 inch bedroom LCD, the colours are sharper and the picture overall is much clearer then the SD equivalent. So yes I would say Freeview HD is worth it for any size, I mean why pay for a HD ready TV and have to settle with blocky pictures which most of the standard freeview channels have.

[Deleted User] · 13/12/10 - 08:34

A resounding Yes! from me. In fact, all the SD channels should be scrapped and Freeview should then just contain about 20 high definition channels in my opinion. Oh and don't worry if you don't have a HD enabled TV because once they were all broadcasting in HD you would still benefit from the improved picture quality even on an old TV.

GG

gomezz · 13/12/10 - 11:09

In fact you would get zero channels as the non-HD enabled TV sets are not be able to decode the HD signal. Not an option.

dazn12 · 13/12/10 - 12:18

gomezz wrote: »

In fact you would get zero channels as the non-HD enabled TV sets are not be able to decode the HD signal. Not an option.

You would be able to see the channels if you have a Freeview HD set top box, regardless if the TV is HD or not and as long as the box has a scart port. The box doesn't know what display its outputting to.

[Deleted User] · 13/12/10 - 14:08

I would say it's largely worth getting, if you can get it for dirt cheap, or bundled with your telly. But the way they're hyping it, it looks like you're getting boatloads of HD content. Four channels isn't much at all. No BBC2 and that stupid, stupid placeholder card for the news. Couldn't you just give us London news or something?! Or even perhaps, a video of a dancing clown. Anything but the red screen of ident card death.

slackereconomy · 13/12/10 - 14:32

if it were me, and i was going to be getting an hd pvr at some point anyway, i'd rather concentrate on getting an excellent tv without an hd tuner for a bargain price. the chances of needing to record two hd channels at the same time and watch a third hd channel with the tv tuner are miniscule.

[Deleted User] · 13/12/10 - 20:05

Strok wrote: »

I would say it's largely worth getting, if you can get it for dirt cheap, or bundled with your telly. But the way they're hyping it, it looks like you're getting boatloads of HD content. Four channels isn't much at all. No BBC2 and that stupid, stupid placeholder card for the news. Couldn't you just give us London news or something?! Or even perhaps, a video of a dancing clown. Anything but the red screen of ident card death.

I think putting London news on would just be confusing for a lot of viewers who wouldn't understand why they were suddenly getting London news instead of Scottish or something.

drumtochty · 13/12/10 - 20:30

michael777 wrote: »

I think putting London news on would just be confusing for a lot of viewers who wouldn't understand why they were suddenly getting London news instead of Scottish or something.

Most of then are confused at the best of times, so nothing new there.

late8 · 13/12/10 - 20:35

YES DEFINITELY -

Just for the lack of pixelation and compression alone !

The difference of Saturday Night 'sparkly' shows for example where basically SD becomes a blocky mess is worth a HD box in its own right.

Freeview SD is shocking.

noise747 · 13/12/10 - 23:28

If you are buying a new T.v, you may as well go for one with a HD tuner built in.

If it is worth it, well no one can tell you if it is or not. If I decide to go for Freeview Hd, I want to see it first before I spend out £250 or more on a HD PVr. Different people have told me different things. some say it is ok, some say it is great, other say that it is not as good as it could be.

I seen BBC HD on Freesat, I was not that impressed to be honest,I thought the picture quality was very soft and out of focus.

illium · 14/12/10 - 04:10

I would say no to the O.P. I have Freeview HD and can't say that its much better than SD. I've been happy with SD all my life and i don't think that HD is all it's made out to be IMHO.
I'm sure others will disagree!!!!

[Deleted User] · 14/12/10 - 05:53

noise747 wrote: »

If you are buying a new T.v, you may as well go for one with a HD tuner built in.

If it is worth it, well no one can tell you if it is or not. If I decide to go for Freeview Hd, I want to see it first before I spend out £250 or more on a HD PVr. Different people have told me different things. some say it is ok, some say it is great, other say that it is not as good as it could be.

I seen BBC HD on Freesat, I was not that impressed to be honest,I thought the picture quality was very soft and out of focus.

Via which Freesat unit did you view the soft 'out of focus' BBC HD?

GG

[Deleted User] · 14/12/10 - 08:27

Grannygrunt wrote: »

A resounding Yes! from me. In fact, all the SD channels should be scrapped and Freeview should then just contain about 20 high definition channels in my opinion. Oh and don't worry if you don't have a HD enabled TV because once they were all broadcasting in HD you would still benefit from the improved picture quality even on an old TV.

Funny, I can't receive any HD channels at all on my SD Freeview box and tv.

So if the SD channels on Freeview are scrapped, I won't (and most Freeview viewers won't) receive any tv at all.

Is that improved picture quality?

-rapido

noise747 · 14/12/10 - 09:13

Grannygrunt wrote: »

Via which Freesat unit did you view the soft 'out of focus' BBC HD?

GG

Pretty sure it was a Sagecom or what ever they are called these days. could have been the T.v I suppose, but that is a Panasonic.

noise747 · 14/12/10 - 09:15

illium wrote: »

I would say no to the O.P. I have Freeview HD and can't say that its much better than SD. I've been happy with SD all my life and i don't think that HD is all it's made out to be IMHO.
I'm sure others will disagree!!!!

All your life? so today you die.

It is a stupid thing people say, all their life, they can't say that until the day they are dying.

HD is nice, well the Blu-ray version of HD is nice, certainly on nature stuff. It don't always make a difference to films.

I got my sister and her hubby into HD, they came up here, watched a bif of my planet earth in Hd and went and got a HD T.v and upgraded their Sky to HD.

noise747 · 14/12/10 - 09:16

rapido wrote: »

Funny, I can't receive any HD channels at all on my SD Freeview box and tv.

So if the SD channels on Freeview are scrapped, I won't (and most Freeview viewers won't) receive any tv at all.

Is that improved picture quality?

-rapido

They forget about that, a lot of people still out there with normal CRT T.V. so they go without T.v then?

SkipTracer · 14/12/10 - 10:45

Why do we need HDTV?

I can never understand why we change from 405 lines TV to 625.

I can’t tell the difference.:rolleyes:

steven cardwell · 14/12/10 - 11:33

Strok wrote: »

I would say it's largely worth getting, if you can get it for dirt cheap, or bundled with your telly. But the way they're hyping it, it looks like you're getting boatloads of HD content. Four channels isn't much at all. No BBC2 and that stupid, stupid placeholder card for the news. Couldn't you just give us London news or something?! Or even perhaps, a video of a dancing clown. Anything but the red screen of ident card death.

Perhaps what they BBC1 HD should do, is between 6.30-7 show the BBC News Channel, that does sports and business news, whilst the other shorter regional news slots could have a pre-recorded "UK Today" type programme like in the early days of digital tv.

Hey there!

Quick Links

Is Freeview HD worth it?

Comments