ozgal Posted April 22, 2007 Author Share Posted April 22, 2007 Well my primary TV (daily viewer) is a smaller plama. Due to the house we are in now, our tv viewing area is about 3 m x 3m. 70" is a bit big for the daily viewing area.The new house will have a very nice and bigger H.T Room with basically the best high-res \ HD projector or one of these type of TV's that money can buy and I can find. I really havent looked into these SXRD 70" ones all that much but they do look pretty darn nice. In another notice, I was able to get foxtel to do me a sweet deal on an IQ upgrade free (mail kit etc), digi-path included free (usually $49 extra), $10 extra per month for IQ, but i swung it on a 3 month trial etc for free as well. Way to go, Druid. You won't know yourself in the new house and great getting Foxtel IQ 3 month trial. Enjoy! ozgal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozgal Posted April 22, 2007 Author Share Posted April 22, 2007 Howdy F111, Glad to see youve thought through the SD vs HD issue somewhat, which was my intention! You have explained things very well in your posts so I hereby grant you promotion from Noob to... "Enthusiast" !!! Why thank you. OK, now the next thing is re-checking your 'NEEDS' again! Honest! You say you want to burn to DVD disc in HD. Footy etc. Nup. Not yet. Its called HD DVD or Blu Ray. So, question is will Foxtel footy burned to DVD look good enough? Personally I think not, but you need to get that checked out, as a first priority. Second issue is it takes time to burn a DVD. about 10 mins plus editing time. Pain in the butt really. Then you have to label them, put them somewhere, find them when you want them, remembering what you've got, how old it is, etc. etc. Thirdly, PCs! You should give this some thought as you have one you could upgrade. Hard Drive storage is dropping in price rapidly. Do you really need to burn 4.7GB discs to keep? How long do you really need to store footy games? Are you 'time shifting' until you (or someone!) get around to viewing, or are you a division of the national archives there? he he. Wireless link to the SXRD will avoid the cabling hassle - see the media player section or perhaps someone can suggest one which will transmit without dropping frames in HD. 1. I see where you are coming from re the SD quality DVD playback - most likely not good enough. 2. True, DVD disc overload (but at least they are smaller than the videos we have going back to the dark ages). 3. Definitely interested in the PC idea - especially the wireless option. I did hook up a wireless modem router for internet access but signal kept dropping out, which was a real pain in the neck. Ended up hooking my Linksys (non wirless) up again and networked 3 computers via ethernet. Can see how a dedicated PC for TV recordings/internet downoads would be a good idea. Will check this out at a later stage. I have usenet account with giganews.com and also use IRC for downloading (have distro membership which gives me great quality DVD rips) so sourcing should be no problem. I think as low as $160 will buy you about 750MB and save you All the editing time. Ads are quickly skipped during playback. And next year storage will be about half price of today, so Terrabites here we come! Do you mean $160 for 750GB (not MB)? If so, that 's mighty cheap. Would be great not to have to edit, etc. Sounding good. Fourthly, downloading programs is a whole new world and fast becoming a reality. PC only! HD sport, Discovery, Movie channels its all going to be out there coming in at 24+ Mb/s broadband and beyond. (Usenet, Limewire, etc). Now, this is music to my ears! HD sport for the husband and movies for me and the sons. Any idea when it's going to be coming in at 24+ MB/s broadband and at what cost. I'm currently on 1.5MB/s and have 30GB limit per month (Dodo - who I might say are true to their name - a bunch of Dodos - can't wait to swap ISPs. Dodo count upload in their 30GB count - how that managed to slip past my evil eye I will never understand). Think I saw 30GB and thought yahoo....and did not check further. Stupid...and could kick myself. I'm paying $69.95 a month at the moment. Wonder how much the super duper 24MB/s broadband will cost, and what montly Download limits will be??? So, depending on a) your budget and b ) your patience, and c) your enthusiasm for the footy off DVD in low res fox played back on the best big TV on the market... yes its going to be a compromise there somehow for now. Budget - pretty much at max with Platinum Foxtel, separte STB for bedroom (IQ okay only costing extra $5 per month). Patience - always dependent upon end goal - if it is worth it I have the patience. If all my effort ends up with little reward I tend to get a bit peeved, but end up thinking I've at least learnt something. Enthusiasm for footy off DVD in low res Fox - would prefer HD quality - like to aim for best possible - all footy is for husband and sons, so would like to give them the best possible. The HD PVR looks like the way to go - plus the downloadable HD quality - bring it on!!!! In reality I have found burned discs get little use compared to the ease of watching Hard drive and PQ has a lot to do with it. Oh and your VHS tape will not see the light of day before long is my bet. Save them for your old CRT if you have one. I defer to your experience and imagine that would turn out to be the case. I have viewed Owen's (sony SXRD expert) PC connected to my SXRD viewing some amazingly sharp content all downloaded and I have to say thats the way to go. Additionally, regarding fox, there is some software Owen is using which does a great job at improving fox to almost DVD levels, which I think you might find is a must if your 70" is going to get the work out I think it is! I'm definitely interested in hearing more! Hope Owen might care to share this info - wanna put in a good word for me, F111. Yes its complex, there are all sorts of options, so I think getting some high definition hours under your belt will be a good idea for now. Maybe a $1000 might resolve it or if not stage it and (gasp) hang on with tapes for now or half this season and get the budget sorted and HD in place for the finals. I could not agree more. With your SXRD you really need to work towards feeding it only Hi Octane material! Thanks so much, F111, for educating me and bringing me up to speed with where things are at. Much appreciated. Can only go upwards from this point on. Cheers, ozgal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Devil Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Interesting thread. You guys with 60" & 70" Sony SXRDs, do you find Foxtel unwatchable on your new toys? We get Austar by satellite here but it is only SD of course, but we upscale it and all other SD to 1024 x 1024 to our Barco 808s projector (96" wide screen) and that is via a relatively lowly s-video out (which is all that is availsable on the Austar box) or RGB converted to component on the Topfield 5000PVR. The PQ does not equal the best FTA broadcasts, particularly those originally in HD - they scale up again superbly, but it is still VERY watchable. Again, PQ on Austar broadcasts varies enormously and the more recent productions on, e.g. the National Geographic channel, are much better and not too far behind FTA. They are far better than we ever got on analog FTA. And DVDs, scaled up can also look brilliant with the same caveat that PQ varies a lot on the recording. The old addage of garbage in -> garbage out applies and no electronics can turn a video sows ear into a silk purse. So, I'm not lusting after HD DVD-R when they eventually are released and find the Pioneers here do a great job with PQ indistinguishable to the original on nearly all material. And the blanks are inexpensive. And, BTW, those of you transferring material to DVDs in 10 minutes might like to check the PQ of the result of this fast copying. My sad experience is a deterioration in PQ on good material unless you use real time copying. Sort of enigmatic to have superb displays but be happy with less than best DVD copies That said I'm seriously looking at a Sony SXRD (not sure about a 60 or a 70 yet) for a second system and present thoughts are to accompany it with an HD PVR rather than another scaler. However I'm not sure about how good the upscaled SD video is ex a good DVD player. Any comment anyone? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F111 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Interesting thread.You guys with 60" & 70" Sony SXRDs, do you find Foxtel unwatchable on your new toys? We get Austar by satellite here but it is only SD of course, but we upscale it and all other SD to 1024 x 1024 to our Barco 808s projector (96" wide screen) and that is via a relatively lowly s-video out (which is all that is availsable on the Austar box) or RGB converted to component on the Topfield 5000PVR. The PQ does not equal the best FTA broadcasts, particularly those originally in HD - they scale up again superbly, but it is still VERY watchable. Again, PQ on Austar broadcasts varies enormously and the more recent productions on, e.g. the National Geographic channel, are much better and not too far behind FTA. They are far better than we ever got on analog FTA. And DVDs, scaled up can also look brilliant with the same caveat that PQ varies a lot on the recording. The old addage of garbage in -> garbage out applies and no electronics can turn a video sows ear into a silk purse. So, I'm not lusting after HD DVD-R when they eventually are released and find the Pioneers here do a great job with PQ indistinguishable to the original on nearly all material. And the blanks are inexpensive. And, BTW, those of you transferring material to DVDs in 10 minutes might like to check the PQ of the result of this fast copying. My sad experience is a deterioration in PQ on good material unless you use real time copying. Sort of enigmatic to have superb displays but be happy with less than best DVD copies That said I'm seriously looking at a Sony SXRD (not sure about a 60 or a 70 yet) for a second system and present thoughts are to accompany it with an HD PVR rather than another scaler. However I'm not sure about how good the upscaled SD video is ex a good DVD player. Any comment anyone? John Hi John The SXRD rear pro will blow away a front projector PQ I'm sure, with better blacks and saturated colours and the benefits of able to be used in bright rooms (although best at night imho). I just scanned the long SXRD thread for some of (guru) Owen's comments about Austar/Fox & SD PQ on his 70" SXRD via HTPC: "As for the Sony SXRD performance with second rate source, well the unanimous feed back from owners is that the big Sony does a better job of displaying crap free to air TV and other low quality sources the any other large screen display. Quite an achievement you must admit. "I must admit that noise, compression and other digital artefacts are a particular swore point with me, and I continuously strive to illuminate any such artefacts from the picture that I watch. With the aid of a high powered HTPC running a top quality mpeg decoder and FFDshow post processing I have succeeded in eliminating almost ALL such artefacts from my DVD and HD media. Even crappy Foxtel looks descent, with almost zero compression artefacts visible. "I also use the HTPC running Descaler4 software and a video capture card to deinterlace and upscale Foxtel from my STB to HD for output to my HDTV and it works very well." (Thanks Owen!) So looks like upscaling Foxtel and poorer sources can be managed for 70" very well. If you are happy with the 98" projector PQ and sharpness of SD I would say you will be stoked with the SXRD in comparison. DVDs look brilliant off my Pioneer 630H output at 576i and I let the SXRD 60" do the upscaling. Personally I dont have Foxtel but it would seem a HTPC will be well worth the investment over a HD PVR if you want to maximise the PQ in 70", with the all the added benefit/s (most will of course know by now but for noobs...) of being upgradable as time goes on, for greater storage, new drives, storing & viewing digital photos & videos on the TV, etc. etc if these are all part of your 'daily digital life'. It just seems the way to go although wireless streaming to the SXRD in HD is not quite there yet from what I am reading. How far off is HD pay TV? -another good question but i heard it may not be 'that' far away, but dont quote me on that! I'm sure someone here will update us on that point. F111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozgal Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 Hi Tassie Devil, You guys with 60" & 70" Sony SXRDs, do you find Foxtel unwatchable on your new toys? I'm not qualified to answer much of your post, but do have the 70 sxrd and Foxtel. Currently we can only get Channels 9 and 7 HD (looks like we need a new digital type antenna). The picture looks wonderful in HD (pity it's not avaialbe very much at this stage, though). We view Foxtel 99% of the time on the sxrd 70". Some channels look really good, others not so great (most are watchable, but old programs look pretty crap - Channel TV1 for example runs a lot of older stuff - scratchy looking, not clear and smooth). Unfortunately, depending on what Foxtel is screening it is hard to give a definite answer as the broadcasting quality varies depending on what is being screened, even on the same channel. F111's reply to your post should help a lot more with what can be done about getting the best out of Foxtel. F111 quotes a few of Owen's comments that sound very encouraging, i.e. using a HTPC to enhance Foxtel for viewing on a 70" sxrd. As we have only just acquired our 70" sxrd and a few other bits and pieces, money is tight right now, so will have to wait a bit to explore the HTPC angle myself more fully to get the best from Foxtel - but sounds like the way to go. Hope I've been of some help. Cheers, ozgal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Devil Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. Your inputs have greatly sharpened my ideas and focus on which way to go. It beats me why anyone would not buy one of these displays if they were shopping in that price range. When my son & I went to the stores in the US last year shopping for him, the Sony shone out as by far the best PQ. Only a Samsung came anywhere close but it was not nearly as good. And, walking through our local Hardly Normal store the other day, it was depressing to see some of the lousy PQ on some displays. The incredible thing is some people must buy them John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozgal Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. Your inputs have greatly sharpened my ideas and focus on which way to go.It beats me why anyone would not buy one of these displays if they were shopping in that price range. When my son & I went to the stores in the US last year shopping for him, the Sony shone out as by far the best PQ. Only a Samsung came anywhere close but it was not nearly as good. And, walking through our local Hardly Normal store the other day, it was depressing to see some of the lousy PQ on some displays. The incredible thing is some people must buy them John Glad to help, Tassie. Good luck with your future purchase. ozgal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kd0912 Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 (edited) Glad to help, Tassie. Good luck with your future purchase.ozgal Hello, I purchased the Hitachi DV DS253A recorder and using it to record foxtel through the IQ unit. The IQ is connected to the hitach recorder via the SCART connector. I have a problem in recording some episodes of varios programs. For example whilst copying the childrens program DORA I get a message "copy protection signals are being detected" and the recording stops. If you let the program run for a few seconds, past the area where this signal is coded, copying is OK. It only appears in some episodes. Does anyone know how to disable the copy protection on this recorder. I have managed to make it region free by following some information I found on the web for a different hitach model. But it worked. the same site suggested a sequesnce to disable copy protection but it did not work. Thanks. Edited May 3, 2007 by kd0912 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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