[Kazy]

I have a cheap 27" TV with analog and digital (non-HD) tuners. If I hook up a DTVpal to the TV will I see any difference between the digital tuner picture and the digital signal going through the DTVpal converted to analog picture? If it is the same picture quality I may as well hook up a DTVpal for the integrated channel guide. Thoughts?

Kaz

 

[wreck]

I have a cheap 27" TV with analog and digital (non-HD) tuners. If I hook up a DTVpal to the TV will I see any difference between the digital tuner picture and the digital signal going through the DTVpal converted to analog picture? If it is the same picture quality I may as well hook up a DTVpal for the integrated channel guide. Thoughts?

Kaz

Unless I am totally confused -- the DTVpal won't do anything for you. If you are receiving your signal from Dish -- it is already digital. If you receive your signal OTA, your built in digital tuner on your TV is all you need. OTA digital signals have the digital programming info built-in. The Dishnetwork programming guide will work with your OTA (if you subscribe to Dishnetwork local programming).

 

[Kazy]

Unless I am totally confused -- the DTVpal won't do anything for you. If you are receiving your signal from Dish -- it is already digital. If you receive your signal OTA, your built in digital tuner on your TV is all you need. OTA digital signals have the digital programming info built-in. The Dishnetwork programming guide will work with your OTA (if you subscribe to Dishnetwork local programming).

Guess I should have been more specific. I am not a Dish Network subscriber. I was inquiring as to whether I could use the DTVpal, without picture quality loss, to gain the use of the TV guide feature for OTA viewing.

Kaz

 

[wreck]

Guess I should have been more specific. I am not a Dish Network subscriber. I was inquiring as to whether I could use the DTVpal, without picture quality loss, to gain the use of the TV guide feature for OTA viewing.

Kaz

Oh, sorry! Digital signal is digital signal so you should not see a quality loss. (Digital signal is either "you have it or you don't"). That said, some TV's have a more sensitive tuner than others - meaning it may pull signal in from further away than other digital tuners. This should have no affect on most people.

 

[Donp]

Guess I should have been more specific. I am not a Dish Network subscriber. I was inquiring as to whether I could use the DTVpal, without picture quality loss, to gain the use of the TV guide feature for OTA viewing.

Kaz

The DVPal won't improve or loose any of the quality. You said your TV has digital tuner. You won't need the DVPal for that. You should be able to get all your channel OTA through the digital tuner. The DVPal is for getting a digital signal into an analogue only TV.

 

[n0qcu]

Why is it that nobody reads the actual question before answering?
The OP wants to know if he will get the same quallity picture if he uses a DTVpal instead of hois TV tuner because he wants to have an EPG that the TV does not provide.

The answer to the question is: some have reported that the picture from the PAL is soft (not sure what they mean by soft)

 

[wreck]

The DVPal won't improve or loose any of the quality. You said your TV has digital tuner. You won't need the DVPal for that. You should be able to get all your channel OTA through the digital tuner. The DVPal is for getting a digital signal into an analogue only TV.

He knows he doesn't need a DTVpal -- he just wants to take advantage of DTVpal's "program guide" feature. Since the DTVpal won't adversley affect the picture -- he could indeed hook-up the DTV pal soley for that additional feature!

 

[wreck]

Why is it that nobody reads the actual question before answering?
The OP wants to know if he will get the same quallity picture if he uses a DTVpal instead of hois TV tuner because he wants to have an EPG that the TV does not provide.

The answer to the question is: some have reported that the picture from the PAL is soft (not sure what they mean by soft)

I was responding while you were answering. The DTVpal is only detecting the signal -- the display of his TV should not change from how it is already displaying his digital signal. Now you MIGHT see a "softening" on an analog TV converted to digital -- but I seriously doubt seeing a difference of a digital TV remaining a digital Tv.

 

[jsk]

I would connect it via the RCA jacks rather than use Coax for the best quality (that way, the picture doesn't have to be modulated and demodulated). Depending on some of the internal electronics in your TV, the DTV pal may be *very* slightly better or worse PQ. If you aren't the type that has to have HD, you probably won't notice any difference.

 

[Redlinetire]

I was responding while you were answering. The DTVpal is only detecting the signal -- the display of his TV should not change from how it is already displaying his digital signal. Now you MIGHT see a "softening" on an analog TV converted to digital -- but I seriously doubt seeing a difference of a digital TV remaining a digital Tv.

Man! I'm with n0qcu. Not only are people not reading the question, they don't even know what the DTVPal does!!

 

[EagleTar]

The picture quality is great with the pal imo.I also have a zenith Dt900 and the picture quality is a little better with it opposed to the pal.As for the guide it's kind of hit and miss.Some channels show no information while others go for several days.

 

[dwforslund]

There is a variant here regarding the EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) through DTVPal. I found that it tells me all the programming on the subchannels, in addition to the programs on the main channels of digital stations. This is in contract to the EPG of the OTA programs on my VIP722 (in a separate TV and room). The latter only says digital program on the subchannels instead of giving me the actual programming. Where does Dish get the OTA EPG from? If it comes from over the air (OTA), why doesn't it show the same information that the DTVPal shows in its EPG? This has nothing to do with the image quality but with the specifics of the EPG in the two cases.

 

[garys]

There is a variant here regarding the EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) through DTVPal. I found that it tells me all the programming on the subchannels, in addition to the programs on the main channels of digital stations. This is in contract to the EPG of the OTA programs on my VIP722 (in a separate TV and room). The latter only says digital program on the subchannels instead of giving me the actual programming. Where does Dish get the OTA EPG from? If it comes from over the air (OTA), why doesn't it show the same information that the DTVPal shows in its EPG? This has nothing to do with the image quality but with the specifics of the EPG in the two cases.

DTV Pal gets it's ota programing from one of the channels you are receiving via ota. Dish receivers receive their ota programing from Tribune Media Services. Dish does not use the supplied ota info.

 

[Bill R]

DTV Pal gets it's ota programing from one of the channels you are receiving via ota.

That is not the way PSIP (which the DTVPal uses) works. EACH station sends out their OWN guide listings. When you turn on the DTVPal it gets the data from each station. In my area, where there are 8 digital stations, it takes about 30 seconds to get the guide data for all stations. The DTVPal can store 7 days of guide data but in my area no station is sending out that much data. The most that we get is about 12 hours and, most of the time, the CBS affiliate is only sending out about 6 hours.

 

[scooper]

But your Digital CBS station MAYBE sending TV Guide OnScreen (TVGOS).

 

[wallfisher]

I would try both ways to check your picture quality, it should not be that much different, having the epg is a plus.

 

[dishlover2]

He knows he doesn't need a DTVpal -- he just wants to take advantage of DTVpal's "program guide" feature. Since the DTVpal won't adversley affect the picture -- he could indeed hook-up the DTV pal soley for that additional feature!

yes and dtv pals are only needed if you have widescreens that list themselves as hd ready before 3/09 hdtv compatible means you also have a qam tuner for digital cable too (hd decoder)

 

[BobaBird]

The dtv pal will not give you an HD picture on an HD-ready set, just an SD picture likely better than you get now, because coupon-eligible boxes are not allowed to have component or HDMI outputs. The intent of these types of boxes is to save people from having to replace older SD 4:3 televisions.

 

[P Smith]

That is not the way PSIP (which the DTVPal uses) works. EACH station sends out their OWN guide listings. When you turn on the DTVPal it gets the data from each station. In my area, where there are 8 digital stations, it takes about 30 seconds to get the guide data for all stations. The DTVPal can store 7 days of guide data but in my area no station is sending out that much data. The most that we get is about 12 hours and, most of the time, the CBS affiliate is only sending out about 6 hours.

Bill is correct - the Pal polling EACH station in his list, it been tested by monitoring tuner's I2C bus.
Plus, it doing the poll when you turn it off by remote all the time.