and I am simply amazed! I finally hooked up my Hitachi 43" to the Samsung SIR-T150. After testing signal strength between the Terk 55 and a Rat Shack set-top antenna, I decided on the RatShack. It was close, but the RatShack seemed to be a bar or two (on the signal strength meter) ahead. The PBS station was showing highlights from different Italian cities. One word - breathtaking! From the colorful buildings nestled on a bluff overlooking the ocean to the ruins of Pompei, it was like being in a helicopter looking out the window. Later, we watched Armageddon on ABC. WOW! I thought the DVD looked good! The OTA picture on regular programs blows digital cable away. I'm hooked!
Whatever you do, DON'T watch a favorite, reference-quality DVD after watching HDTV. We watched 3 hours of HDTV a couple of weeks ago ("Chicago By L" and 2 episodes of "The Shape of Life") and after they were over, my husband immediately put in our beloved, beautiful DVD of Moulin Rouge and fast-forwarded to when Christian first enters the Moulin Rouge. IT LOOKED AWFUL! Soft, muddy, blurry...ugh! I watched 30 seconds of it, horrified, shuddering. DVD is to HDTV as 3rd generation EP speed VHS is to DVD. I've forgiven him... (Btw, hubby says to say, in his defense, we have a Radeon-based HTPC for playing DVDs and scaling up to 1066 by 600, so it's not a problem with our DVD player. Or with our copy of the film, which was perfect before that.) A couple of days later we watched DVDs again and they looked great! I have just learned not to watch HDTV and DVDs back to back.
Oh, but you are correct: Never spend an evening viewing HD and then screening even your favorite DVD. For me, it's akin to watching some other flick after I've screened my all-time favorite: Everything else is anticlimactic. Let's hope JVC's D-VHS D-Theater platform is the swift kick in the hind quarters The DVD Forum consortium needs to arrive at an agreed-upon set of specifications for a true high-def DVD format.
HD is pretty impressive isn't it Dennis? Most PBS HD broadcasts, especially Smart Travels, are consistently very good. the first HD broadcast I saw was one of the Italian Smart Travels programs and the details of the buildings, statues and paintings were incredible Just wait until you see the next network HD broadcast of a sporting event, it will blow you away(unless it's FOX). I believe NBC is going to do the U.S. Open golf tournament in a few weeks. Hopefully, you have a digital NBC feed. My NBC affiliate is joke, I don't even get an analog signal. -Gary
Thanks for the pointers regarding DVD. I never thought about that, but I bet it would be a let down. Worse than switching from DVD to VHS! Gary - both my wife and I can't wait for any sporting event to be carried in HD. The CBS spot that shows the Super Bowl, The Masters, SEC Football, etc. is incredible. It is going to make watching the NFL on the Sunday Ticket nearly unbearable! (Wow, I sound like a "High Def Snob"!)
"I Have seen HDTV..." and now I'm off to the bank! I'm patiently waiting for the Dish/DirectTV merger to finalize since Charles Ergan(sp) mentioned it would almost immmediately mean several more HDTV channels.
Considering getting the Dish 6000 for Dish Network HDTV. Is there any difference between OTA and Satellite versions of HDTV? I think I'm too far from Boston and Hartford to pick up their signals so DBS is my only option. They at least have CBS-HD although I wish they also had HDNET. Maybe when the merger is finalized. Unfortunetly that will be a while.
