Help w/ digital Tv's

[Laser47]

Im not talking about a difference between HD and DTV. I meant between SDTV and analog. I must say for a kid exactly one year older than me, you know quite a lot.

The difference between Analog and SDTV (From a digital cable box) Is marginal. If youve got good reception with your cable tv's right now then you might not notice a difference between digital cable and analog tv it might be a little sharper. As said in a previous post the reason they use digital cable is because they can squeeze more digital channels into one analog channel, Thus why you get more channels.

 

[MacNut]

Digital cable is not true digital because you are watching it on an analog TV, the signal is compressed to digital and sent over the wire then the box converts it into an analog signal so you can see it on your TV. Now when the new digital standards take affect and you get a digital TV then you will see the box showing a truly digital signal as there wont be any converting of the signal. HDTV is true digital because it isn't being converted so you are seeing the true 720p or 1080i signal.

 

[rye9]

I though that EDTV (480p) was digital cable. How can a TV that is not DCR be ED?

 

[balamw]

The same reason there is a noticeable difference DVD's and VHS, Even on 480i.

Just a side note. The VHS vs. DVD difference is not just analog vs. digital. VHS has only about half the vertical resolution that DVD does (Think of VHS as 240i).

Now if you had said S-VHS ...

I though that EDTV (480p) was digital cable. How can a TV that is not DCR be ED?

As I said before, most digital cable is 480i, some digital cable can be 480p. (Depends how it's compressed and your cable box/card). Some EDTV sets include a "line doubler" which allows it do create a "480p" signal from 480i sources, including DVDs so you don't even need digital cable to get 480p.

Ironically, if you live in or near a major city and have an HDTV, you can skip cable and get great HD programming off the air from the networks by sticking a pair of bunny ear antennas on the back of your HDTV. Since it's digital you won't see any snow or ghosting, but if the signal is marginal you might get some of the blockiness I was refrring to earlier.

B

 

[rye9]

One last question (hopefully ): isnt it more of a switch from analog to HDTV rather than a switch from analog to digital? Just curious bc it seems most TV's in stores are HD and since its better than normal digital, isnt HD the goal and not digital? (Yes i do know though that HD is digital)

 

[MacNut]

HD is what you should by but it is not the official set digital standard. In 2009 broadcasters are required to air a digital signal but it doesn't have to be HDTV, That is however the highest quality and there for what you should look for in a new TV.

this should help
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/hdtv.htm

 

[balamw]

One last question (hopefully ): isnt it more of a switch from analog to HDTV rather than a switch from analog to digital?

Yup! You got it!

Digital TV without HD is not much better (in fact sometimes worse) than good analog TV. HD is really nice, and it requires some kind of digital TV, even if some of the better mid-sized ones (<36 ") are still CRTs.

B