Question about digital tv transition?

March 21, 2010 by: nickadmin

So i got a Viore hdtv in april and then the digital transition happened. Is my picture on my tv supposed to be hd crystal clear? Some of my higher channels are like that but I thought that after the transition channels like abc, nbc and fox were going to be more clear. I just saw some commercial saying what our tv’s should be set on for hdtv or something, i dunno it confused me.
Should I set my tv to anything to make the picture clearer since the transition?

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Comments

2 Responses to “Question about digital tv transition?”
  1. staringcenter4 says:
    March 21, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    The transition, which happened yesterday, has no effect over any HD channels. The transition is just the switch from analog (You receive tv stations through an antenna) to digital. If you have an antenna then you will not receive any television stations. To continue receiving television signals through an antenna, then you need to purchase a converter box.

  2. LEM says:
    March 21, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    You have to understand what the whole transition to digital means. That means that stations stopped broadcasting analog signal OVER THE AIR.

    So, if you have cable or satellite TV – you will not see the difference. All channels that were broadcast in standard definition by your provider, will still be broadcast as such. Most cable and satellite providers have both standard and Hi-Def version of most local channels, like abc, nbc and fox. For example my cable company has NBC on channel 4, but if I turn to 704, I’d get the same NBC in High Definition, being crystal clear and all. Check your listings to see where your hi-def channels are. You do need a special high-def box and either component connection to your tv (5 leads – 3 for video, 2 for audio) or a digital cable (HDMI, plus analog audio or DVI). Seems like you have what’s required, because you are saying that you’ve got some of the higher channels in HD…

    Now if you’re receiving your channels over the air – you have two options. If your TV is an HDTV with HD tuner (some HD TV’s don’t have built-in tuners, they can show HD signal from cable boxes and Blu-Ray players, but can’t pick-up them from the air) – so if your HDTV has an HD tuner, you will be able to receive crystal clear channels from over the air broadcast. If your HDTV has no tuner, you need to buy one, but don’t confuse it with those HD converter boxes they sell everywhere (for which government is offering discount coupons). Then that tuner will be able to pick-up HD channels in HD and send the signal over to TV (again, proper connection is in order).

    Now, if you have a regular TV, then you do need a converter box. But that box won’t give you that crystal clear picture, not even on your HDTV. It will simply pick up the HD channels from over the air, downsample them to standard tv size and put on your non-HD TV as the regular SD content…. Even if yours is an HDTV, if you get your channels from that converter box, you won’t see an HD picture…

    That’s about all there is about different TV’s and different systems, but I’m guessing that in your case – the first part applies, and all you need is to check on which channels your content provider puts the HD version of broadcast stations… Most likely you have them already….

    LEM.

    P.S. Now – how in the world this question ended up in Cameras section???