Recently was watching TV at my girlfriend's parent's house and the picture wasn't really that great on SDTV channels. I think it was a JVC model. Is this common? Will SDTV not look as good on a HDTV plasma as it would on a traditional tube?

 

This is correct. And it's not just plasma, it's any TV, any manufacturer.

When we first got our DLP we had a regular cable box. Standard TV channels looked ok. As soon as you upgrade to an HDTV box, the regular TV channels take a hit in picture quality. Personally it doesn't bother me. The regular channels look fine, the digital channels look better, then HD is amazing. I watch about 90% of my TV on the HD channels anyway, so as long as the SD channels are average, I'm happy, b/c I don't watch them much.

FYR, this also happens on my tube HDTV, but not as bad b/c it's only a 4:3 32" as compared to a 16:9 50" DLP. So it will happen on any TV, but the bigger the TV, the more you'll notice the lower quality on the SD channels.

 

Thanks

 

I second this- great explanation.

You can get an external processor (Faroudja is an excellent name) to better mitigate these issues but you're still going to have them. In my opinion though, HD is getting more and more common. I look at ESPN now and they seem to have a couple of HD college bball games on every night now- whereas last year you may have a couple/week.

HD is beautiful...so beautiful that you get spoiled by it

 

The Sony rear projection TVs supposedly do a better job at converting them.

 

And that isn't saying much, SD programs still look like shit on my Grand Wega.

 

I don't understand what people expect. HD is HD, if you could easily convert SD to HD-like quality, why would you need true HD? unno:

The issue is that until all channels are transmitted in HD, they have to do something.

 

True to all of what you say, but SD is still very painful to watch on our bigscreen HD monitors. I usually will go upstairs to my 36 inch CRT in the bedroom to watch SD material instead of "wasting" my time watching it on the plasma.

My upconverting DVD does not produce a true HD picture, but it is signficantly better than the regular picture of a DVD on the plasma. Although it is upconverting a better entering product than any HDTV is when upconverting SD material.