SD signals on HD TVs (1 Viewer)

[John MB]

I'm looking at 42-45" LCD TVs. I want to get the works, HDMI, 1080p; for DVDs, PC and Xbox games, HD cable. But also for regular SD TV. I keep reading in reviews that this is an area where flat screen technology is overqualified and the results suffer. But I am reading here in this forum that many flat screen TVs allow for many different signals including lowly SD. Does it look ok? Could someone clear this up for me?

 

[EricRWem]

Yeah, you'll be alright. What happens with SOME of these displays is, if they're not well made...some manufacterers like to cut a few corners here and there.

Try to demo as best you can any sets that you're interested in. See if you can your dealer to pipe in various signals ranging from crappy analog, to SD, to HD. Take your DVD player and Xbox with you and plug 'em in and see how it looks.

Most dealers are amenable to this. If they aren't, don't do business with them. Good luck!

 

[ScottHH]

Compared to the HD feed, the SD is never going to look good.
On really big HDTVs, you have the additional problem of blowing up the SD feed way beyond its reasonable limits as well.

I'm assuming you are looking at a 16:9 LCD.
A 42" widescreen will give you a 34" pillar-boxed 4:3 image
A 45" widescreen will give you a 37" pillar-boxed 4:3 image

I think these are still reasonable sized for SD material. It will never look as good as the HD stuff, but it should be quite watchable.

 

[EricRWem]

There is, of course, extra options like buying a DVDO Iscan device and such, for a boost.