Numpty HD TV Question

[Devils Advocate]

So last night ITV broadcast Coronation street in HD for the first time. Out of interest we switched on,as although we are SKY subscribers we don't subscribe to the HD channels.

So we watched the start of Coronation st. via a 6 month old HD TV coupled to a 6 month old Toshiba HD box............should we have been receiving true HD?..it looked no different although we both said it was somehow clearer......perhaps our imaginations ..........I must add we watched it via the HD player and then via the TV's own tuner,no difference.

So we went into another room with another HD set (albeit 2 years old) linked to the latest sky box............again I'm stuffed if I could tell a difference to the old broadcasts.

Were we receiving it in HD then?...........there was no substriptions mentioned to view this service and I thought all equipment was geared up to receive it.

Maybe the TVs are too small as some may say, one being 32 and the other 40............so were we getting HD or am I missing some point here.

Cheers

[El Cid]

Were you watching it on channel 119 which is ITVHD or 103 which is "normal" ITV?

Are you connecting to the TVs with an HDMI cable?

A 32" set won't give you such an obvious improvement as a 40" set. To get the best out of HD you must sit much closer to the screen - 6ft for a 40" set would not be too close.

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

Channel 119, cheers Sid. That was the deliberate mistake, sorted ..I did say it was a numpty question though.

Appreciated.

PS HDMI cables used.

[El Cid]

Understandable. It was only recently that they started a separate HD channel - before that it was a "press the red button" option.

Remember that ITV still only transmit very few "native" HD programs. The rest are just the ordinary definition programs but "upscaled" to HD. Unfortunately that doesn't convert them to HD. It is also very difficult to find out exactly what programs are in true HD.

If you play a non HD picture on a HDTV then the TV upscales it for you - otherwise it would be a small picture surrounded by blank space. That said, when it is upscaled by the broadcaster the quality of the upscaling may be better than the TV can manage but all TVs are different.

Generally speaking, the quality of the ITV picture transmitted on the ITV HD channel will be better than that on the normal ITV channel but depending on your TV, it may not be that different especially as ITV are now transmitting higher quality signals on the SD channel.

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

Well that was a strange one Sid. Last night we decided to try again, this time using channel 119 on the freeview set up/HD TV. Coronation street starts on channel 3 and I key I in 119,it defaulted back to 3. So I go to the ITV website and it confirms 119 for freesat but says 51 for freeview.........ahhh bingo I thought, ours is freeview I guess ...so I presses 51 and it defaults to the Babe channel on 45.....OH was impressed

Goes back onto ITV site and it says put postcode in to check Freeview ITV HD availabilty which I did. No problem it said ...............I actually can see line of sight the main Winter Hill transmitter on the next hill from our house which is broadcasting it.

Ahhh, I thought in a Eurika moment....a re tune of all channels!!. So I auto tuned all DVB stations and many new ones were found. Presses 51 again and the rude 45 channel appeared...tried 119 in case and nada. Neither were showing up on the EPG either................repeated the tuning process and still nowt.

So determined to have a peek at this HD thing went into the room with the latest Sky package/HDTV and pressed 178 (which I gleaned off the ITV site) thinking there won't be a problem here.

Page 178 fired into life beautifully ............problem is that it was a sodding blue screen with a phone number on it to subscribe to HD..................I give up!!!!!!!!

Already paying them 60 quid a month for the phones/internet etc so don't think I'll be paying any more to watch Corry.

What the bloody 'ell am I doing wrong Sid?
Thanks for info so far lad

[frank]

Can't say I have ever watched Corrie, certainly not my normal tv viewing, but tried 119 here on my Freesat setup, and up it popped. Thankfully Corrie wasn't on, but something was, and whether it was in HD I don't know! ;-) Certainly no startling difference. Someone is trying to tell you something, get a life, trying watching something decent!!! ;-) Channel 45 would be better, better story line, better acting!

[Devils Advocate]

Come on Frankie lad, give me a break ..Corrie is purely my test vehicle for HD reception as I've explained

Anyhow just this minute retuned both TV and digi box...............51 now defaults to 1 and 119 defaults to 109..............I'm stumped and give up on it.

[El Cid]

What the bloody 'ell am I doing wrong Sid?
Thanks for info so far lad

Now I am confused!

So you have one TV with Freeview and another connected to a Sky HD box? What's this 6 month old Toshiba box?

You can only get HD on Freeview if it is one of the latest Freeview HD boxes or if it is a TV with a HD Freeview tuner.

On a Sky HD box you can receive HD but only the free to air channels which are BBC and ITV.

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

Thanks for persevering Sid

The freeview box is this exact one here.......http://www0.uk.shopping.com/xPO-Toshiba-RD99DTKB, In fact we only bought it in February and paid bloody 250 quid for it from Comet!!!!!!!!!!

Now on the SKY side of things I've discovered something (I think) after going onto the site there.
We had an upgrade to the "latest" box in January..........I said I did not want to subscribe to HD at the time. Anyhow it looks like this new box will not pick up ITVHD. Annoying thing is we are on a big package with Sky for other services yet they've now changed the rules whereas everyone.........even if they only subscribe to the basic package gets the HD box....apparantly they only supply the one box now..............I always miss out

Thanks Sid

[El Cid]

Well the bad news is that your Toshiba does not have an HD tuner in it so you cannot get any of the free to air HD programs in true HD.

As for Sky, when ITVHD first came out I understand that it did not appear on the SKY EPG. I thought that had now changed but maybe your Sky box has not downloaded the update yet.

It is possible to program in ITVHD as an added channel.

There are some instructions here http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/92/33 ... ky-hd.html but I don't know if that is the most recent info - I don't have Sky.

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

Ok Sid, so far so good and thanks. The Tosh cannot receive HD, well at least thats cleared that one up.
Thing is when I bypass the box and just put it through the new Phillips HD TV (That must have the correct tuner surely?) it still will not pick up channel 51 or 119 .............again I have done a full re-tune on the TV itself for new digital stations.

As for the SKY, I simply think again it does not have the HD receiver as per the Toshiba........I think I may need to swap it for the latest,latest one even though it's only just been installed.

Thanks again though for the input, appreciated Sid.

[El Cid]

There is no guarantee that the Philips will have a HD freeview tuner. What is the exact model number?

With Sky, it is either a Sky HD box or it isn't - that should be easy to spot.

There are many complaints in the UK that TVs are being sold as HD ready but while they have HD capabilities they don't have HD tuners. Remember that Freeview HD only came out a few months ago.

Sid

[pmb]

ITV HD is only on ch 119 on a freesat HD box. On a Sky box it is ITV3. To find out if your Sky satellite box is HD try channel 143 which is BBC HD, if so then as has been mentioned you add the channel. It does sound like your tv does not have a freeview HD tuner (DVB-T2) just a standard one ie (DVB-T). They have only very recently come out. You can buy a HD terrestrial box for £100 now which gives you three HD channels. As you say ITV HD is on 51 from Winter Hill and some other transmitters (ie Emley Moor - mine).

[Devils Advocate]

PMB thanks for that.

Anyway lesson learned. We've got HD splattered over every piece of equipment in the house, with everything being well under 2 years old, some as I said 5 months old yet we've as much chance of recieving a HD broadcast as we have of picking up an Alien signal from Neptune

It'll teach me from now on to read literature on these things. TV purchases and suchlike are usually a Sunday afternoon panic buy when it's wet and windy and not much going on........"ah let's go and buy a telly or two and stick the others in the loft with the other 20"

As Sid alluded it is crazy, You buy a HD TV with a built in freeview reciever and the b***** still needs another freeview reciever to to do the job it boasts of. It's not as if HD is a new thing, if it says HD I foolishly thought that's what it's reciever did

I guess the problem is for me is that although I'm a "Mr gadget man" of the highest order TVs are not classed as a gadget by me, they are more like a microwave or a fridge, just a boring purchase, I don't do any research or read anything about them and just believe what it says on the box without going any further.

Many thanks chaps for sorting that out for me.....it was driving me crackers there for a couple of hours.
Cheers.

[frank]

"I guess the problem is for me is that although I'm a "Mr gadget man" of the highest order TVs are not classed as a gadget by me, they are more like a microwave or a fridge, just a boring purchase"
I think if you are interested enough, you'll find out about it. I'm much the same, haven't really got much interest in TV, DVD's,etc, so whenever I want to buy something I have to read up on it. Did it for the Humax, and have not been disappointed, also with a new Sony TV etc. Just been reading recently as I have ordered a new 23" FST monitor (arrives tomorrow) so we'll see if my research pays off! ;-) When I read the TV pundits on here, I think TV must play a large part in their life! Or their wife's!
PS. AFAIK, we have HD, but I wouldn't swear by it! Don't see any huge difference. ;-)

[El Cid]

Frank, you're certainly right about reading up on any new techno purchase.

I usually read customer reviews which are readily available if you just Google the model number. Before I actually make the purchase I always download the instruction manual and read that - it can really pay dividends as some kit which is technically perfect can be so user unfriendly as to make it the worst buy.

That way I haven't yet bought a pup!

Sid

[Devils Advocate]

OK, OK don't rub it in. My loft's got more pups collecting dust in it than Nerja dogs home

[markwilding]

UK HD freeview recievers are very new. If you haven't bought a tele or decoder since about Easter you haven't got one.
The other point to remember is that even if you have one of the new receivers or TVs you may not live in an area where the signals are broadcast. Athough this situation is changing daily as they want as many areas swithed on as possible for the World Cup.
This is in contrast to Spain where the receivers have been available for yonks. However, there is no sign of any broadcasters doing anything in HD

[Jk]

Can anyone help please.

I understand the concept of the HD setup, but I have one question.

If using a HD box for example, is it necessary to connect the HDMI cable from the box directly to the TV, or just the mere fact that I am using an HD box to transmit the signal, eg. round the house, will each HD tv pick up the signal automatically.

I hope I have explained it properly, I have a motorised system as well and will be using a HD receiver to transmit to each tv, will that be sufficient.

Many thanks Jk.

[El Cid]

If using a HD box for example, is it necessary to connect the HDMI cable from the box directly to the TV, or just the mere fact that I am using an HD box to transmit the signal, eg. round the house, will each HD tv pick up the signal automatically. .

You don't say whether you have a Freeview HD box or a Freesat HD box.

Either way, it won't work. The Freeview box is fed from a normal TV antenna, Freesat from a satellite dish. Either type of HD box must be connected to the TV with an HDMI cable.

You would need a separate box for each TV or a TV with built in Freeview or Freesat. If you had this (very expensive) then you would feed cable from either the satellite dish or the external antenna round the house to each box or TV. In the case of Freesat you would need multiple cables from the dish LNB to each box. It would also have to be a multi output LNB.

Sid