Am i watching in HD??

B

billchad

Member
My Satellite Setup
technomate 5400 c+usb motorised system, alternative Humax sat receiver.
My Location
Lancashire
In the manual for the Humax HD satellite receiver it says 'You can set the resolution of the screen. Press the V-FORMAT button while watching a programme. The
current resolution will be displayed.
Each time you press the V-FORMAT button, the
resolution changes in the following sequence:
576iJ576pJ720pJ1080iJOriginal.

Note: ''If the product is connected to the TV using an
HDMI cable, Original will not be displayed.''

Its the last bit i am interested in because the product is connected to the TV via a HDMI cable, but the word 'Original' does appear on the screen when i press the V-FORMAT button to change the resolution.

Does this mean that i am not watching HD? and how can i tell if i am, as it isn't exactly obvious to me of there being a Great improvement in the picture. Is there some kind of test one can do to determine if your watching HD or not. If anyone can give me a lightbulb moment i would appreciate the effort.
Many tanxs
 
Generally speaking you want the tv set to 720p or 1080i.

However you will only get true HD if the source material being transmitted is HD format. Much of it is just upscaled standard def stuff, and the quality of the picture will depend on how good the upscaler in your box is.
 
Your TV should have some means of telling you what resolution is being sent along the HDMI cable. On my Philips pressing the i (information) button tells me that sort of info and more.
 
That lightbulb moment may come by ONLY having a HDMI connector fitted (remove any phono / SCART leads), and if you select the BBC HD test channel (108 ?) . Some of the programmes on there were designed to give the viewer the best of any system.

You are however not the first person to be disappointed by the apparent upgrade to high definition, I've installed about twenty Humax boxes to HD ready TVs after requests and a third of the customers have not seen an appreciable difference that justified going for the receiver, when there are others out there at half the price.
 
Channel Hopper said:
That lightbulb moment may come by ONLY having a HDMI connector fitted (remove any phono / SCART leads), and if you select the BBC HD test channel (108 ?) . Some of the programmes on there were designed to give the viewer the best of any system.

You are however not the first person to be disappointed by the apparent upgrade to high definition, I've installed about twenty Humax boxes to HD ready TVs after requests and a third of the customers have not seen an appreciable difference that justified going for the receiver, when there are others out there at half the price.
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Either the Tele is too small or their eyesight or Tele is broken. Just the switch alone to hdmi even in SD makes a huge difference on any decent tv.
 
Huevos said:
Either the Tele is too small or their eyesight or Tele is broken. Just the switch alone to hdmi even in SD makes a huge difference on any decent tv.
Click to expand...

To be honest, not always. My girlfriend uses a Sagemcom PVR box for Freeview stuff and feeds it to her 42" Samsung via a SCART connection using RGB. The picture quality on the likes of BBC1 is very much comparable when viewing BBC1 directly on TV using its internal tuner.
 
Huevos said:
Either the Tele is too small or their eyesight or Tele is broken. Just the switch alone to hdmi even in SD makes a huge difference on any decent tv.
Click to expand...

Agree entirely. I found the difference with my original non-PVR Foxsat astounding. So much so that later got the PVR version as well.
 
Channel Hopper said:
That lightbulb moment may come by ONLY having a HDMI connector fitted (remove any phono / SCART leads), and if you select the BBC HD test channel (108 ?) . Some of the programmes on there were designed to give the viewer the best of any system.

You are however not the first person to be disappointed by the apparent upgrade to high definition, I've installed about twenty Humax boxes to HD ready TVs after requests and a third of the customers have not seen an appreciable difference that justified going for the receiver, when there are others out there at half the price.
Click to expand...
trouble is, if i pull out the scart lead i loose the signal, so that would indicate the signal is threw the scart and not the HDMI lead. Not too sure how to remedy that? Couple of more questions if you guys are a little bored this fine Sunday morning. I have a motorised dish, 'how do i scan for other channels' via the Humax satelllite receiver box (bog standard £50 on Ebay) i.e..do i have to stick to the 28.2 freesat satellite? can i only get Freesat channels? if so i'm going back to my TM 5400. At least i could scan the World with that.....:-DOH!

Teli is 26'' sorry 28'' eye sigh going, can't afford a bigger one.
Many thanks.
 
You need to switch the av input on the tv to hdmi.

One of the buttons on the tv remote will allow you to toggle between the inputs.

FWIW Im in the camp of "cant see much difference between the tv viewed via rf & scart (cant go any other way as our old telly is pre HD :D

(And before anyone says anything theres nothing wrong with my eyes :p )
 
Analoguesat said:
You need to switch the av input on the tv to hdmi.

One of the buttons on the tv remote will allow you to toggle between the inputs.
Click to expand...

Yep nice one, Analogue, source button sorted it, can now pull the scart without losing signal, and up it too 108i.
looks like my eye sight has improved a little, but if pushed its not as if iv'e had catarach treatment or anything, HD is over hyped.

Many thanks
 
"Oh, yes, there is"!


Agree about TV AV switching - it doesn't necessarily auto-detect and prioritise HDMI.
 
Analoguesat said:
FWIW Im in the camp of "cant see much difference between the tv viewed via rf & scart (cant go any other way as our old telly is pre HD :D

(And before anyone says anything theres nothing wrong with my eyes :p )
Click to expand...

Taking into account this and additionally your 'appreciation' of the VU+ and Enigma 2, perhaps I should forward an application for the 'Grumpy Old Man' club.....
 
sonnetpete said:
Taking into account this and additionally your 'appreciation' of the VU+ and Enigma 2, perhaps I should forward an application for the 'Grumpy Old Man' club.....
Click to expand...

You can't join twice.
 
Channel Hopper said:
You can't join twice.
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Up to now he's only been an honorary member.....(Meldrew Second Class)
 
sonnetpete said:
Up to now he's only been an honorary member.....(Meldrew Second Class)
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I don't believe that.
 
Captain Jack said:
Samsung via a SCART connection using RGB. The picture quality on the likes of BBC1 is very much comparable when viewing BBC1 directly on TV using its internal tuner.
Click to expand...
Except it doesn't have the dot crawl.

billchad said:
Teli is 26'' sorry 28'' eye sigh going, can't afford a bigger one.
Click to expand...
Well you aren't goint to notice much difference with a TV of that size unless you are less than 6 feet from the screen. And anyway if it is a cheap 28" TV the native resolution of the screen is probably not 1080i anyway, rather it is just capable of displaying the picture, but not in the true resolution.
 
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