Terrible picture on new HD TV

[cameraz]

I just purchased a high definition television. I subscribe to both satellite and cable service. When I hooked the cable directly (no converter box) to the TV, I was pleased to see that I got several HD stations, mostly networks. The analog stations I received looked pretty good too, but not as good as the high-def ones, of course.

However, when I hooked the satellite feed (with receiver box) to the TV, the picture was terrible. It was so snowy it looked like I was watching TV in a blizzard. Now, I do not have HD satellite service, and I did not expect to receive a high-definition picture. But I didn't think the picture would be so bad as to make it unwatchable.

I was told that my satellite (DirecTv) channels are all digital. So why such a poor picture on an HD television?

Am I going to have to subscribe to HD satellite service to get a decent picture on my TV?

Now, I know many of you are asking, "Why would you buy an HD TV if you don't plan to subscribe to HD service? The TV I just bought is just a small one (23") that I put in my kitchen. Some day, when I can afford a 52" set for my family room, I will definitely subcribe to HD service. But I didn't want to have to pay a bigger monthly bill just to watch satellite TV in my kitchen.

Thanks for your responses.

[mzpro5]

Sounds like it may be an improper connection.

What type of connection are you using between the converter box and the TV?

[cameraz]

The connection from the converter box is a regular coaxial cable. However, I must point out that I'm feeding four TVs (in different rooms), splitting the output from my converter box.

I use Leapfrogs next to each TV to change channels on the converter box.

Maybe I need a signal amplifier?

[PaulyT]

Yeah, for that many splits, an amplifier would probably help a lot. And they're not too expensive.

[mzpro5]

Pauly is correct but you'd also get a much better picture if you used another type of connection. A regular coax connection like that is the worst quality wise.

[cameraz]

Originally Posted by mzpro5

Pauly is correct but you'd also get a much better picture if you used another type of connection. A regular coax connection like that is the worst quality wise.

Yes, I understand, but it's really all I can do -- without going to great expense.

My main TV (CRT) is downstairs in the family room. It is hooked up to my satellite receiver via a component hookup. The TV doesn't have an HDMI output (neither does the satellite box, if I recall).

Directly where the satellite cable comes into the house (before the receiver box), I split the cable to feed three other TVs in the house -- one downstairs and two upstairs. The easiest way to do this was to run coax cables.

Some day I'll get a different setup. But for now, it is what it is.

[IrritateGuy]

HD TVs are capable of displaying over 6 times the video informaion of a SD TV. An incoming SDTV signal will have to be increases in size by 600% in order for it to fill up the screen of a HDTV.

Most HDTVs have some sort of Scaling Processor to somehow expand the information in a SD signal so the full screen will be filled in with video information. The quality of those scaling processors vary from HDTV to HDTV. You can buy scalers for videophiles or commercial use which cost well more than $5,000, and even those are not going to produce a signal that can match the most basic HD content.

When a reasonably affordable scaling processor does it's job, it cannot tell the difference between analog line noise and the real signal, it just scales the entire video signal, both the real content and any white noise and static. So, the image is not improved, but merely it larger so it can fill the screen.

The HDTV will display all the information, good or bad, with more clarity than a traditional SDTV, thus making a poorly scaled SD image look worse on a HDTV than a non-scaled SD image on a SDTV.

All that noise and low quality video is just as bad as before, but it is exposed by the higher quality of the HDTV displaying it.

I say, just watch it and enjoy the content and someday you'll probably go to HD programming.


This effect is similar to the effect of listening to highly compressed MP3 audio tracks on a super-mega-high-end audio system versus a pair of cheapo earbuds that come with MP3 players. All the flaws which are not clearly audible on the earbuds become annoyingly clear on the high-end system - often to the point of making the MP3 unlistenable.