I have never seen HD tv in person. No one I know has it, and I have never seen it at any stores around here. I have a Sony 46" 1080p tv in my living room with Direct TV satellite service. Right now its just regular receiver with no HD service. I dont own a Blue Ray player or PS3 or Xbox. Just a normal regular dvd player. I have been curious about it since Im not certain how much Im losing out. An HD receiver is $99 and the service is $10 more a month. I do watch alot of movies and tv but everything has been fine for me the way it is with regular service. If I decide to buy the HD receiver and get the extra service, how much of a difference will I see when watching tv? Does HD really live up to the hype that everyone says about it?

 

1. Go to Best Buy.
   
2. Sit in their entertainment center couch and watch whatever Blu-Ray disc they have playing.
   
3. Compare it to your Standard Definition.
   

 

Yes. You have less than a quarter of the resolution and you're either losing real estate on each side of the picture or you're stretching the picture to fit (which drives me nuts).



I will watch SD tv, but I always check to see if the same program is on in HD. I think there's a huge difference.



Full HD = 1920x1080 2,073,600 pixels

Standard = 640x480 307,200 pixels



3x the number of pixels in the horizontal, 2.25x the number of pixels in the vertical. 6.75x the total number of pixels.

 

I went to Best Buy literally 4 different times and every time, they were having problems in their entertainment center and nothing was working. So I finally said forget it.





Thanks. This is the info I was looking for. So its basically more pixels with HD and its not a stretched picture. I probably will end up doing it. Sucks that I have spend $100 on a receiver but for only $10 more a month it sounds like its a good deal. It pisses me off because they offer free HD receivers now for new customers but nothing for current ones. I even tried to cancel my service and put it in my wifes name but they wont give me the special offer since its still at the same address. If anyone knows of any promo codes or anything that current customers can get HD receivers for free, let me know. Yes, Im cheap! How else can I afford my gen Coupe!

 

Get some rabbit ears. Just run of the mill, you dont need anything special. Depending on if you live in a VERY rural area, you should pic up your local channels in HD. Thats all thats needed here in Denver. We get about 9 channels in HD if you include the Latino channels. Check to see if your Sony has a HD tuner. Almost ALL newer HDTV's have them built in. Hell, my 4 year old Westinghouse had one built in.



This would be your cheapest solution to see what a difference HD makes on YOUR set. The if you want to pony up the dough for HD service through Direct TV, you'll know you'll have no regrets.

 

If they don't want to give you HD channels, demand to talk to a **Customer Retention Specialist** because you're firing them and getting a set of rabbit ears. Sound like you mean it. Make them comp you three or six months of HD or else. If you don't like it, cancel it; if you do, pay for continued service.



My opinion:



Do you want to see what's hidden under pancake make-up on SD, but shows up on HD, on a cute actresses face?

Do you want to see how cheezy the special effects really are?



HD is for sports and nature shows. For everything else that wasn't made with HD carefully taken into consideration, it sucks . . and the larger the screen, the worse it can look.

 

I have Direct TV HD service, and YES...its very much worth it! Like Stocker said, call and ask to speak with a Customer Retention Rep. They are authorized to give discounts where as the regular Customer Service people are not. You'll have to do another 12 or 24 month contract but if you tell them you're thinking about going to Dish Network or Cable, they will give you the HD receiver and service for free for a year or two.