HDTV picture quality question?

Question:

Bought a 50" Panasonic HDTV last week. Bought a DVD player that is HD ready (has the slot in the back for the HD cable). Anyway, wired the DVD player to the TV and picture quality for my DVD player is so much better that for the cable. If I get an HD box from my cable company and hook up the HD cord to it, will my standard cable look as good as my DVD's or will it still be just average? I'm not talking about the HD channels but EVERY channel. Thanks.

Answer:
It is going to depend on what type of cable box your cable company provides. Most likely, and most unfortunately, they'll give you a cable box that provides HD quality video on HD channels only. You'll get a good picture on digital channels, think DVD quality, but not like HD-DVD or Blu-Ray quality. And the analog channels are going to look like crap, because they'll be stretched out...

You have to ask your cable company how many HD and digital channels you have, because those are going to have the better quality images.

Hope this helps.

Indeed they will look better but normal channels will not be HD Quality, not like your DVD player is, the other channels dont broadcast a digital HD signal yet, as always you will still achieve a better quality image than a CRT television but not HD.

First of all, if your DVD player is HD ready, then it does not have a built in HD tuner. The reason you are getting a good picture from it is because the video quality from a DVD disc is so much better than a coax cable line not up-graded to an HD set top cable box. My Sony LCD 42" HDTV has a DVI connection on it & the Motorola HD/Digital cable box has an HDMI connection, so I got an HDMI to DVI Monster cable from Ebay (new) for $57 Can.(compared to $179 in Future Shop).If your TV has either HDMI or DVI & the HD cable box you get has one of them, use that kind of cable for the best results, instead of component cables. If you have to go from HDMI to DVI, you will need to use an RCA audio cable from audio-out on TV to Audio-in on DVD, because the DVI only handles the HD picture, not the best audio. But, if both the TV & the HD cable box have HDMI, the RCA audio cable is not needed.

The short answer is yes, they will look better, but they won't be in HD. The better your cables(type) the better the picture. If you've got HDMI, why the hell yould anyone cheap out on the cables and get a coax? Always go with the highest quality your equipment will allow, isn't that why you bought it in the first place.

It will be "just average" DVDs are 480p and standard cable is 480i and compressed at a higher rate than DVDs.

HDTV picture quality question?

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