Would Joe public still be as impressed with HDTV if..

If all shop displays of LCD and Plasma set up DVDs to screens with HDMI and proper scalers......do you think people would still be as impressed with HDTV images?

50/50 I reckon.

Having been into a specialist LCD and plasma shop recently where every screen was hooked up to a DVD player with HDMI and a scaler. The quality difference was naturally still apparent to an expert like me, who knows what to look for, but I'm sure many people would be more than happy to use their current DVD collections on a Plasma/LCD with HDMI and a scaler. Seeing how crisp and clear and free of artifacts they were on sizes of 42 inches.

HDTV could be a harder sell to joe public than we think.

Discuss.

Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 18,132
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    Good point.

    However SKY/TW and later the BBC/NTL are broadcast sources and HD compared to the current SD offerings even on well setup displays is second rate:)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,819
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    You'll be able to get a LOT of months of SkyHD for the price of a decent scaler!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 203
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    I have to agree, it's a shame that the bitrates aren't higher on a lot of SD Channels as SD can look great upscaled (shame external scalers are so dear)

    I've got a Momitsu DVD player which upscales, and I tried it out on a friend's Panasonic LCD TV and it looked very nice.

    I think it's going to be more of a problem selling Blu-Ray/HD-DVD than broadcast HDTV. I doubt most people would see enough of a difference between an upscaled DVD and HD material to warrant re-buying films, certainly not the difference there was between VHS and DVD.

    Of course, people might not know how good DVD can look, upscaled.

    There doesn't seem to be much inclination in stores like Dixons to show their product to the best. My local Dixons has most of their plasmas/lcds tuned to the Hits on Freeview, which is a low-bitrate 4:3 channel and looks terrible.

    They did have an HDMI upscaling player set up, but I had a look and it was not even set up to upscale and was just outputting an SD interlaced signal, which is pretty pointless...

    - Steve
  • T183T183 Posts: 70
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    If all shop displays of LCD and Plasma set up DVDs to screens with HDMI and proper scalers......do you think people would still be as impressed with HDTV images?

    50/50 I reckon.

    Having been into a specialist LCD and plasma shop recently where every screen was hooked up to a DVD player with HDMI and a scaler. The quality difference was naturally still apparent to an expert like me, who knows what to look for, but I'm sure many people would be more than happy to use their current DVD collections on a Plasma/LCD with HDMI and a scaler. Seeing how crisp and clear and free of artifacts they were on sizes of 42 inches.

    HDTV could be a harder sell to joe public than we think.

    Discuss.

    I haven't seen any upscaling of standard definition that comes close to matching properly produced and displayed HD.

    If HDTV is a hard sell for any shop then it is their own fault. It is a very easy sell when properly presented.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,124
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    T183 wrote:
    I haven't seen any upscaling of standard definition that comes close to matching properly produced and displayed HD.

    .

    I have seen it come close to 720p. But then that's not really a huge leap.

    You should certainly expect to see the clarity you'd get on a CRT reproduced at 40inchs on an LCD/Plasma.
  • T183T183 Posts: 70
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    I have seen it come close to 720p. But then that's not really a huge leap.

    You should certainly expect to see the clarity you'd get on a CRT reproduced at 40inchs on an LCD/Plasma.

    Pal to 720P is a very significant leap in quality. You just need a decent TV to see the difference and decent programming. It's more than doubling the resolution, 2.2 times, and that's not taking into account the progressive advantage. 1080i is a five fold increase.

    Modern day lcds and plasmas in the HD category also have better overall picture quality than hd crts available.
  • camajcamaj Posts: 817
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    HDTV could be a harder sell to joe public than we think.

    Well it depends on how hard you think it will be.

    I don't think upscalers would make much of a difference, for a start you need a HD ready TV to see that and if you had one you'd want to make the most of it. Upscalers would be good as a stop gap if you couldn't afford a proper source
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