HD Freeview

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potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
..is it any good?

We are currently thinking about moving into the 21st century and getting rid of our huge crt TV for something a bit more slim and sexy.
The one I quite like the look of has Freeview HD but is it worth it over normal freeview?
I see there are 4? channels at the minute available to my postcode.
Cheers for any comments.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Might be if you are getting a fancy LCD/LED telly - just for the better resolution on a big screen. It's a little more 'future proof', especially if you don't intend to get Sky.
 
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potsy

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
Might be if you are getting a fancy LCD/LED telly - just for the better resolution on a big screen. It's a little more 'future proof', especially if you don't intend to get Sky.

We have Virgin cable TV but not HD, but watch Freeview currently via our DVD recorder(which also does 'upscaling' if used with a HD telly)
Mainly want a 'big' TV and have been given the go ahead to get one upto 37"
biggrin.gif
current one is 28".

edit- The thought of Eastenders in big screen HD is very appealing to me
thumbsup.png
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
Depends what you want really. If you heavily watch channels 1-5 and want something approximating that in the future to be in HD in the years to come then it may be your thing. If you won't feel resentful if freeview remains at 5 channels while cable/sky and perhaps freesat expand way beyond then sure it may be your thing - as long as you don't mind the high initial cost. There'll be a fifth channel in HD eventually on freeview. Beyond this is pretty much guesswork. Basically freeview HD sucks because of the choices that were made by Ofcom and the government. Any changes to improve thing beyond 5 HD channels in the future involves a lot of pain one way or another.

On the actual channel bouquet, it's now a hell of a lot better since the simulcast of BBC1 HD launched. BBC1 SD is the only decent picture quality of any channel on freeview (or of quite a lot of channels on sat/cable) but the HD version is still a lot cooler. The big step up is ITV1 which is a shambolic mess in standard definition, but is really fairly pleasant in HD. That said even today a fair bit of the schedules still isn't HD. If you want freeview HD and want to join the 21st century, I'd not worry about getting it in the tv and buy a Humax PVR instead. I mean if the tele you want happens to have it in at a good price by all means, but otherwise...
 
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potsy

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
Cheers marinyork, some good stuff to think about there.


I mainly want a HD ready 37" TV and happened to notice one in my price range with the HD freeview as opposed to normal freeview most of the others have built in, at that sort of price.
Will probably upgrade our cable TV eventually for the HD Virgin+ box, currently record most things on my HDD recorder and watch the cable if watching 'live'
 
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potsy

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
Have compromised with the mrs and gone for the same TV I was looking at but in 32" instead.
Am watching 'You've been Framed' in HD. Kind of defeats the object but hey ho.
Quite impressed with the few HD channels tbh, though it's the 1st time I've seen any.
My DVD recorder has 'upscaling' so have linked that up via a HDMI lead which is supposed to give a near HD picture.
biggrin.gif
 
I second marinyork's comment about the Humax PVR and Freesat HD channels. We got ours about 2 months ago and the BBC1HD picture quality is excellent. For comparison, we have Freeview built into the tv itself which we used before getting the Humax and IMO it's quite a difference. I really like the Humax picture quality, even in SD.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
Have compromised with the mrs and gone for the same TV I was looking at but in 32" instead.
Am watching 'You've been Framed' in HD. Kind of defeats the object but hey ho.
Quite impressed with the few HD channels tbh, though it's the 1st time I've seen any.
My DVD recorder has 'upscaling' so have linked that up via a HDMI lead which is supposed to give a near HD picture.
biggrin.gif

Ish. Depends on the player. Some of the later generation upscalers in DVD players aren't too bad. The truth is that DVD quality varies hugely on the print and source material. Best quality DVD is very good indeed, worst is appalling.

If you ever get anything that can play blu-rays you'll see the huge difference even on broadcast quality.
 
I was going to say if you have no reason to upgrade yet then don't bother. The longer you wait the further your money goes. The broadcast stuff which gets encoded realtime won't be as good as bought disks but that's the same for standard definition. We'll make the step up this year after we decorate the lounge in the summer but maybe a 26" and no bigger than a 32". Lounge is too small for anything bigger. I'll go the whole hog and go for a HD PVR sat receiver such as a dreambox with a motorised dish and a hard disk media player or blue ray player.
 

MrGrumpy

Huge Member
Location
Fly Fifer
Depends what you want really. If you heavily watch channels 1-5 and want something approximating that in the future to be in HD in the years to come then it may be your thing. If you won't feel resentful if freeview remains at 5 channels while cable/sky and perhaps freesat expand way beyond then sure it may be your thing - as long as you don't mind the high initial cost. There'll be a fifth channel in HD eventually on freeview. Beyond this is pretty much guesswork. Basically freeview HD sucks because of the choices that were made by Ofcom and the government. Any changes to improve thing beyond 5 HD channels in the future involves a lot of pain one way or another.

Well I`m in the fortunate/unfortunate position of not being able to get Sky/Freesat nor cable TV so its freeview for me! Every tree has a silver lining in that I Have BTs FTTC internet, its quite possible thats the future of TV for me!
 
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