Directv 480p

[gbcherry]

I just purchased a LG 42 inch LCD that looked amazing in the store. I get it home, set everything up, and it looks awful. I finally found a button that shows that my DirecTV is showing at 480p. My DirecTV box is close to 5 years old. My question is if I upgrade to a newer box with HD capabilities will my reception improve even when channels are not displayed in HD?

[Firket2000]

I just purchased a LG 42 inch LCD that looked amazing in the store. I get it home, set everything up, and it looks awful. I finally found a button that shows that my DirecTV is showing at 480p. My DirecTV box is close to 5 years old. My question is if I upgrade to a newer box with HD capabilities will my reception improve even when channels are not displayed in HD?

If you get a H20 H21 (not DVR) or HR20 HR21 (are DVR) you will be able to get over 70 HD channels that will lock awesome. The SD channels that you get will look the same as they do now. Really I don't find my self watching much SD programming any way now so if I was you I would upgrade, and I'm sure you will be happy with the picture quality you will receive.

[HDTVsportsfan]

Out of curiosity what model Directv receiver are you referring too?

In my opinion the answer is yes an no. Some SD channels do look better than others even on a SD reveiver. The problem w/ HDTV's is the fact they can an already turn a subpar SD channel and completely make it almost unbearable.

Just by having an HDTV you need to really replace your older receiver to an HD receiver anyway.

Welcome to DBStalk.

[gbcherry]

Out of curiosity what model Directv receiver are you referring too?


I just looked at my online profile and it states that I have LIV: RCA, hope this helps.

[HDTVsportsfan]

Well.....RCA is the manufacturer, that's not the model number.
Being 5 years old I don't think that would do 480P anyway. Did you mean 480i?

Maybe I misunderstood you. Are you saying you think the receiver is sending out 480P or your TV is set to show you a 480P picture. Either way, you need to call D* and upgrade to an HD receiver and really get some use out of that new LG set. You don't know what you're missing. :)
Upgrading does come w/ a 2 year comittment though, and it would be a leased box. You won't own it.

[Tom Robertson]

You've done the first part, purchased the TV. Now you need to get the content to really put it all together.

Really suggest you look at the HR20 or HR21; the new channels look awesome and deserve to be seen on a DVR.

Cheers,
Tom

[gbcherry]

Well.....RCA is the manufacturer, that's not the model number.
Being 5 years old I don't think that would do 480P anyway. Did you mean 480i?

Maybe I misunderstood you. Are you saying you think the receiver is sending out 480P or your TV is set to show you a 480P picture. Either way, you need to call D* and upgrade to an HD receiver and really get some use out of that new LG set. You don't know what you're missing. :)
Upgrading does come w/ a 2 year comittment though, and it would be a leased box. You won't own it.

I'm sorry it is 480i. I'm away from home right now or I would look on the box and get model number.

[HDTVsportsfan]

No problem. As Tom suggested, order up an HR20 or HR21.
Good Luck.

[Tom Robertson]

And welcome to the forums, gbcherry! :welcome_s

Cheers,
Tom

[gbcherry]

And welcome to the forums, gbcherry! :welcome_s

Cheers,
Tom

Thanks for the welcome!

So if I am receiving at 480i will I notice a difference in non-hd channels if I upgrade? I am still really confused here. Sorry!

[HDTVsportsfan]

So much of that depends on your set and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I think you will see an improvment by default just because of the newer hardware.
But it still may not meet your expectations.
Chances are, when you looked at the set in the store all of the demo was in HD and not in SD. So you get this LG home thinking it was going to look like what you saw in the show room.

[gbcherry]

So much of that depends on your set and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I think you will see an improvment by default just because of the newer hardware.
But it still may not meet your expectations.
Chances are, when you looked at the set in the store all of the demo was in HD and not in SD. So you get this LG home thinking it was going to look like what you saw in the show room.

So if DirecTV says local channels in hd does that mean all shows/programs will be seen in hd?

[HDTVsportsfan]

No......it does not. All (well almost all) prime time and morning shows will be in HD. Much of the afternoon programming will still be in SD. Which is done by the content provider, not D*.
D* only redistributes what is given to them.

I don't watch much TV during the business day. Others may be able to give you a better idea.

[bogie]

I just purchased a LG 42 inch LCD that looked amazing in the store. I get it home, set everything up, and it looks awful. I finally found a button that shows that my DirecTV is showing at 480p. My DirecTV box is close to 5 years old. My question is if I upgrade to a newer box with HD capabilities will my reception improve even when channels are not displayed in HD?

I thought the LGs had an upconverter chip in them to increase the picture quality
Are you connecting with an HDMI cable?

[bogie]

I just purchased a LG 42 inch LCD that looked amazing in the store. I get it home, set everything up, and it looks awful. I finally found a button that shows that my DirecTV is showing at 480p. My DirecTV box is close to 5 years old. My question is if I upgrade to a newer box with HD capabilities will my reception improve even when channels are not displayed in HD?

I thought the LGs had an upconverter chip in them to increase the picture quality
Are you connecting with an HDMI cable? You should upgrade to an HD receiver. The picture quality is wonderful

[HDTVsportsfan]

I thought the LGs had an upconverter chip in them to increase the picture quality
Are you connecting with an HDMI cable? You should upgrade to an HD receiver. The picture quality is wonderful


You can't dress up a pig and call it a beauty queen. Upconverting does not create a full 720P, 1080i, or 1080P pciture.
If the data isn't there to begin with then there is no way to display a full HD resolution picture.
Basically, IIRC, upconverting simply tries to fill the lines of resolution that isn't there.

That's a real bad explanation. Hopefully someone can come along w/ a more detailed response.

[gully_foyle]

I just purchased a LG 42 inch LCD that looked amazing in the store. I get it home, set everything up, and it looks awful. I finally found a button that shows that my DirecTV is showing at 480p. My DirecTV box is close to 5 years old. My question is if I upgrade to a newer box with HD capabilities will my reception improve even when channels are not displayed in HD?THe sad fact is that D* has reduced the quality of it's standard def signal to the bare minimum in order to get all the local stations served. The looked OK on a tube set, but the moment you put them up on a digital set of any kind, they look washed out. As they are. Calling it 480p is a bit wrong -- they are 480x480i and showing a lot of compression artifacts. True 480p is 640x480p.

Now, you have an HD set. You need an HD box. If you currently get over-the-air HD channels, you want the HR20. Otherwise you want the HR21.

All HD channels will look stunning, and SD channels may improve a bit due to the better quality output from the HD boxes.

[gully_foyle]

Upconversion:

Every signal source has a certain amount of information, whether 320x240 like VHS, or 640x480i like old-style TV, to 720x480p like DVD, all the way up to 1920x1080p like HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Inside your set is a "scaler", which changes every input signal to what your screen displays. This scaler may up convert, or even sometimes downconvert (some HD sets are 720p, most are now 1080p).

People sell things like "upconverting" DVD players which have their own scaler. The also sell AV receivers that have upconverters.

However, you have to remember one thing about upconversion: NO NEW INFORMATION IS CREATED. All they can do is estimate the missing pixels and create the image your set displays. There is no reason that those external upconverters help -- your TV does the same job if asked. External upconverters only help if your TVs internal one is weak.

There's a problem with this upconversion: if the source information is noisy (particularly if the original source is analog like regular TV, or really low resolution, like a VCR tape), this estimation process is likely to screw up. SInce it cannot tell noise from signal, it amplifies the noise as well as the signal, and the result is actually worse that what started out.

If you have just bought your first HDTV, you have just watched your last VCR tape. It's that bad. You just cannot take 320x240 up to 1920x1080 and expect it to work well -- too much room to accumulate error.

I'm beginning to ramble, but the short answer is: get yourself some good HDTV wource, like a D* box. I'm pretty sure they'll upgrade you for a reasonable charge. Maybe even free.

[donshan]

Good advice in the posts above, but let me give you a personal experience with just a 23 inch Toshiba LCD we put in our BR because that was all the space we available on the wall. We just hooked a D* HR 20-700 up to it and I was not expecting to see much of a difference between the D* SD and HD channels on only a 23 inch LCD HDTV that is 720p native resolution. We have a big 60 inch Sony HDTIV in our family room for the main HD show, so the 23 inch was OK.

Wow, was I wrong !. Even at only 23 inch the HD picture vs SD is NO contest- the new HD channels beat the SD channels every time. In fact because of the small screen size, text and details are visible in HD that would be a small blur in SD.

I congratulate you on asking about this. Surveys have shown many people buy a HDTV, bring it home, and have just your experience, but don't ever subscribe to true HD programming. Then they tell people their HDTV is not worth the money.

You MUST get the HD program material that these new HD sets were designed to display.:)