Best STB available? 720p? Toshiba? Sony HD100? Zenith? (1 Viewer)

[ChrisA]

I'm trying to find the 'best' STB/HD Receiver available. I'm very interested in 720p output since I have a Dwin HD700. I'm also interested in using OTA HD reception since I live in Philadelphia with 6 channels available...
Can anyone provide the technical specifications and comparisons between the Sony SAD HD100 and the Toshiba DST 3000. Any information or links would be helpful. Any info or insight as to which is better and in what regard would be highly appreciated. Any other choices would be fine also...
I am interested in a sattellite dish also, but haven't looked into Direct TV or DSS yet. 720p is a big deal to me. I thought the new Toshiba provided 720p? What about the Sony HD100 ... I know nothing about any STB as I've never owned one before... Just trying to get the highest quality one available, cost no object.

 

[Timmy]

Funny that the only device you didn't mention is one that will do 720p; the Dish Network 6000. The optional 8vsb module will add OTA HDTV capabilities.
But, you must subscribe to "some" dish channel package in order for the OTA module to be activated.
------------------

 

[Chip E]

Chris,
I live right over the Walt Whitman Brifge in South Jersey-in Audubon.. The only box that i know will do 720P is the Dish 6000. I could be wrong but, i don't think so. I've been using the Dish 6000 HD receiver for two months know and absolutly love it. There's a menu selection for 720P or 1080i. My Mitsubishi 46807 doesn't do 720P so, i've selected 1080i. Your righ about all the local stations - I've got the 8VSB module which simply slides into the back of the 6000. Plenty of stations outta Philly. Channel 3 (CBS) has the most local high def. programming. Channel 10 (NBC) only has "Leno" in high def. and it looks sweet! Channel 6 (ABC) does some true 16:9 movies a couple times a week. A lot of the time you'll see black bars on both sides as the stations add them into there 16:9 format for some ungodly who-knows-why reason ? You do have too subscribe too Dish Network too utililze the OTA module. I had Comcast cable for over 25 years and just switched and love it.. I got a killer deal on my equiptment from www.dishdepot.com (an authorized Dish Network dealer) I bought the Dish 6000 receiver,4900 receiver, two dishes and the OTA 8VSB module for $750.00 with an automatic $200.00 rebate after my service was up and running for a month. Total cost, in the end $550.00 Not too shabby ehh? Good luck..
Chip

 

[Chip E]

BTW, i didn't switch too Dish Network just for high def stations (but mostly) Comcast jacked my "basic cable" bill too $39.00 a month! You can get 150 al digital channels from Dish Network for that, 100 all digital statios with 8 HBO's ! Right now i'm getting the America's top 150 package with all 24 premium channels for $39.00 a month. The premium channels are free for your first three months. When my three months are up i'll switch too America's Top 100 w/ HBO (eight of them) for $39.00 a month. All i got from Comcast was 70 channels of analog garbage on my wide screen for $39.00. Sorry about the rant,lol...i'm drinking my morning coffee and it's got me jacked ...hahahaha...
Chip

 

[ChrisA]

My question is this:
Currently there are only TWO choices for Sattelitte correct? DISH (DSS) and Direct TV, correct? I am new to the world of Sattlellite and STB's ... Currently I have no cable... got rid of cable because WADE cable in PHILADELPHIA are a bunch of idiots and I'll just use rabit ears hahaha! You heard me WADE, your company is PITIFUL!
I even stripped the house of all the coax cable.
Back to the topic... I am afraid of being locked into one service or another, which is why I was hoping to get a STB that didn;t force me to choose a sattellite service. I definitely WANT sattlelite service, but don't like the idea of having the STB be compatable with only one kind of service... The biggest thing to be is that the unit be capable of:
1) 720p
2) No fan noise (heard this was a problem with Panasonic?)
3) Best picture quality
4) OTA capable
5) DSS or Direct TV capable
Am I misunderstanding anything?
Various other comments:
------------------------
My understanding (and I've been told this by my retailer) is that the Toshiba converts everything to 1080i. So if your looking for 720p, this may not be a good choice for you.
Bill Says:
If you want 720P then you have to go with the Pansonic, Samsong, or Zenith. Dish6000 does 720p but you have to have the satellite to use the OTA function.
acourvil says:
If you want 720p+OTA+DTV, then the only choice is the Panasonic TU-HDS20. If you want 720p+OTA+Dish, then the Dsih 600 will do it. If you can live with 720p+OTA and no satellite, then you can go with the Samsung or the very expensive Pioneer. None of the new Hughes receivers (sold directly by Hughes and OEMed by Toshiba and Mitsubishi) or the Sony (or the RCA DTC-100) does 720p. The Panasonic is a mixed bag. Great picture, a nice "native mode" that will output whatever the native signal is (480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i), but a very slow and slightly buggy program guide. There might also be a bug with digital audio output when you are getting a 1080i signal, but I'm not really sure if the problem is with the STB or something else.
lhamp says:
acourvil... I'm sure we've been over this before, but what "bug" is there with the panasonic's digital output. I can't agree with you more about the slow remote/program guide, but I haven't had any problems with digital audio while watching 1080.
ricka Says:
lhamp,
I concur with you, I have not had any problems with the Panny, other than the slow guide and the fan noise. I can say without question, this is the most flexible STB on the market.
I have seen just about all of the STB's out there (Mits/Toshiba/RCA/Panasonic/Proscan) and I think the Panasonic is the best. The guide is slow, but the Toshiba/Mits isn't that much faster.
I purchased this STB in part to support Panasonic because they are paying for CBS prime time HDTV.
I AM CONFUSED

 

[Chip E]

Chris, i don't know what else too say except this...720P is real important too ya right ? Well, get this -there isn't any 720P programming that i'm aware of...I know that ABC is the only station broadcasting in 720P and the show that was in 720P was Monday Night Football which, they stopped doing. There's a lot more 1080i stuff-especially on channel 3. CBS's weekly lineup consists of many high def 1080i shows. I went with Dish Network after many months of reading reviews and feed back here and other forumns. Dish Network (i was told) has less compression than Direct TV and is cheaper. I don't think anyone got a better deal for all the equiptment i bought from www.dishdepot.com with Direct Tv gear.. I could be wrong, i'm certainly no guru, lol...
Chip

 

[RobertR]

there isn't any 720P programming that i'm aware of...

That's not quite true. ABC still does the occasional movie in 720p. But you're right that everyone else does 1080i. From everything I can see, 720p just isn't that much of a consideration...
------------------

 

[Mike I]

There are no boxes avialable that are compatable with both satellite services....
------------------

 

[Chip E]

Robert, i said "that i'm aware of" also in my first post i said ABC does some "true 16:9" movies.. guess i shoulda said 720P, lol...but too be honest, i didn't know if it was 720P or 1080i. ABC movies look good on my Mitsubishi 46807 though ! It's a shame my tv doesn't do 720P since my Dish 6000 receiver is capable of it. Nonetheless, ABC movies look good converted too 1080i (didn't know whether too say up or down converted for 720P ? hahahaha...
Chip

 

[ChrisA]

Until everyone can afford converting 1080i into 1080p and also have a display device capable of 1080p, I believe 720p should be everyone's concern. It is simply the best available native format for sports, movies, you name it. Interlaced is and will always be a problem. Further, I have a Dwin HD 700 which resolves 720p but not 1080i or 1080p ... 1080i is definitely not a good thing compared to 720p... The only choice is to get a Faroudja 5000 and a 9 inch CRT and that isn't going to happen anytime soon. Therefore 720p is very important to me...
Can anyone tell me about the expensive Pioneer STB?
Chris

 

[Timmy]

I believe 720p should be everyone's concern. It is simply the best available native format for sports, movies, you name it. Interlaced is and will always be a problem.

I don't fully agree here; 1080i is 1080 as perceived by your eyes; 720p is 720. 1080i has better perceived resolution (since human eyes blend the two 540 scans together)
On my Toshiba 56X81, 1080i suffers none of the "flickering" I noticed with older analog NTSC.
I agree thet progressive looks better on a "spec sheet", but if your eyes cannot detect a difference between 720p and 1080i, then is 720p better?
Is loosing 360 resolution (with 720p) worth it, just to say "my HDTV is progressive"?

 

[ChrisA]

Well, let's just put it this way. I disagree wholeheartedly that interlaced is benign, it clearly isn't. There are numerous examples from many sources clearly showing the difference. Just go to "secrets" website for one good example. I'm not saying that 1080i yiels a pioor picture quality, it's just that 720p is both technically superior and subjectively much more pleasing picture to my eyes... The only reason I don't slam 1080i a lot harder is that I hope to convert it to 1080p sometime in the future...

 

[Abdul Jalib]

Regarding satellites, no there are more than just DirecTV and Dish. There is also ExpressVu, StarChoice, or a C-band BUD. ExpressVu and StarChoice are Canadian, and will require going through an address broker if you want service in the U.S. ExpressVu definitely has some HDTV, and I think StarChoice does too.
------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Philips_HDTV/joinClick to subscribe to Philips_HDTV discussion group

 

[DaveW]

Hey Chris, if satellite reception is not that important to you, then be sure to check out the Samsung SIR T150. It's a OTA receiver only, but has a user selectable output, 720p being one of them. There is a review at etown.com , you'll see it on the main page.