Lets see ratings for screens using Sky HD & Virgin Media HD not SD image please?

[admin_exported]

As I am sure a lot of you on this site would agree it would be nice if What HiFi would start rating its screens with the image we watch more than anything that being Sky/Virgin Media HD.

As we aim to get the best screen we also can be expected to use the best satellite image broadcast. So if its from Sky HD or Virgin Media HD can’t we have it rated on here and in the magazine please?

I know you rate it with SD image/picture but I feel this is not HD image rating…or am I being dull!!!

 

[Messiah]

Are you saying they rate it using SD?? WHF test them using a whole variety of sources including HD and Blu-Ray.

 

[Anonymous]

Im just asking they use HD Sky/Virgin and not all.

 

[bigblue235]

If you mean they should exclude SD then I'd have to disagree

Even with Sky HD, you still have to watch a fair bit of SD programming, and with Virgin I imagine you have to watch even more!.

Also, a lot of folk still only have SD sources.

 

[Dave_]

i disagree, i personally want to know how a screen handles all formats from all sources, not just sky and virgin

 

[Anonymous]

I agree but we all are trying to get the best Image on the best Screens. i would just like an extra box for HD tv with a rating.

sorry for saying as an idea lol

 

[Anonymous]

not a bad idea. test it with all the best and all the rubbish and then have a little box as you say for sky /virgin. And also now we should have freesat aswell. i agree with you. hd and sd i think.

 

[Anonymous]

jackandy:Im just asking they use HD Sky/Virgin and not all.

Not sure what you were trying to say when you say 'and not all'. ÿBut to suggest tests are only carried out with Sky HD & virgin HD is ridiculous. That's like suggesting 'all amplifiers should be tested only with SACD's'. As someone previously pointed out, in any case the vast majority of programming available on your Sky 'HD' box is not HD at all, and in fact often at a lower resolution than that of terrestrial digital transmissions(depending on which station you may be looking at).

How do you presume that 'most people' watch these sources most of all? I'd venture to guess that more people are watching vanilla SD tv by terrestrial than any other source, and that the majority want a screen to shine with DVD or Blu-Ray. Review hardware is, and should be tested with a variety of sources.ÿ

With respect, that's an absurd request and a waste of forum space... Oh, crikey, I've just exacerbated that statement and contradicted myself by actually posting this reply. Ho-hum.

 

[Messiah]

jackandy:I agree but we all are trying to get the best Image on the best Screens. i would just like an extra box for HD tv with a rating.

sorry for saying as an idea lol

Surely though the TV with the best picture will display the best picture compared to others no matter the source (with the exception of the built in tuner)?????

I cannot see that one TV will be best for Blu-Ray and one best for Sky and one for SD. Can it?????

 

[Anonymous]

Messiah:

I cannot see that one TV will be best for Blu-Ray and one best for Sky and one for SD. Can it?????

Dont see why not, the TV is not just displaying a signal on the panel, there is de-interlacing, upscaling, noise reduction, mpeg decompression etc . all going on in different ways with different signals.

BluRay is 1080p, no upscaling , no deinterlacing.

SKY HD is 1080i, TV has to deinterlace, 3:2 pulldown for 24p films, decompress signal, noise reduction

Freeeview SD is 576i, TV has to deinterlace, upscale, decompression and noise reduction..... etc., etc..

 

[Anonymous]

OK I asked as an idea and I was wrong thinking that Sky/Virgin HD was giving the better image from "normal tv type". I know that Sky/Virgin HD is not running as full hd but as I was asking just to have a rating and not dump the other rating with SD etc.

I have noticed that most reviews are written about SD, Blu Ray and DVD image. So also adding maybe a review with Sky/Virgin HD (HD TV) and even adding a review of how a sreen looks with games (Gaming) consoles would cover this factor.

So a new rating with SD, Blu Ray, DVD, HD Tv and Gaming would then cover everyones choices. And maybe in the reviews too covering these two new images would help some of us but as you have pointed out not all of us with spending our cash.

I felt the idea of this site/forums was to ask and get feedback from others. So being told I am "wasting this forum" is not really helping me with this is lol. You don't need to write if you felt I was asking a dull question do!

Anyway I will try harder and not ask anymore dull questions... lol

 

[Anonymous]

Jackandy

I started off reading this thread and and disagreeing with you. However, reading the ensuing over-reation of some others I find myself on your side. A review summary box that gives a rating of performance across the different picture sources sounds perfectly sensible to me. I don't think you were advocating ONLY HD ratings but a clear and separate indication to readers how the screen performs when showing HD pictures. Similarly you could have a separate SD/DVD/Blu Ray performance rating etc. Admittedly as the number/variety of sources increases this could get a bit complex but I'm someone could come up with a simple 4 or 5 box summary showing the individaul ratings.

I'm no expert in these things and only have SD (Freeview) reception. I would like to know the performance rating specific to this source before I spend upwards of £1000 on a TV. Surely the point of any review is to provide the reader, whoever they may be and whatever TV source they have, with the maximum information to allow them to make a fully informed decision before they spend their hard earned cash.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello George66

Thank you for that its good to see you understand what I am asking and not saying "i only want" ratings.

Now all we have to wait for is someone from What Hifi to give us an idea to what they feel about these rating and if they could be used.

We look for reviews and infor these days from our food shopping to our cars. So I can't see why not as more and more of us have games console's and HD tv etc.

 

[Cofnchtr]

Hi,

I agree jackandy, that a more detailed review box showing how each tv performs with HD/SD & BD/DVD would be more informative. You could then decide which tv would suit your particular viewing situation at the time.

If a 'Panasung' tv had 4 stars for HD content and 3 stars for SD content but a 'Philoneer' had 5 stars for HD and 2 for SD, the 'Panasung' may be the better tv as your circumstances at that time may mean you watch more SD content.

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.

 

[Anonymous]

The reviews are fine as they are, the only thing they need is a section on how they compare for gaming as some sets cant handle that at all. Also whether there is any input lag, not response times thats different. Input lag as in from when 0ms 10ms 30ms, becuase that canmake a big difference on games such as Call Of Duty 4 when trying to get headshots, no point pressing the button and the TV responds half a second later..