hd capable or not?

mickey

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hi guys, just a really simple question that I cant really decide myself yet what the answer is. my son in law wants a really cheap plasma I:E the aria 42" one or maybe the goodmans /matsui etc, the specs say they accept ***VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, UVGA, UXGA, DTV(480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i)*** .. does this mean it will accept a hd signal from a pc and scale it down but it will actually display it?, or will it not work at all. does the same question apply for the panny pw7, even with all the threads on this model i cant suss out what it can and cant display. cheers Mike.

P:S he,s dragging me lookin this afternoon so any info would be welcome
 
I believe HD ready means the panel / tv can accept HDCP (Hi Def Copy Protection) as well as 720p & 1080i at specific can rates which escape me at this time (50hz & 60hz I think or it could be one or the other).

The point is, some panels will display the correct resolution / scan rates - however they will not accept copy protect signals.

A google search on the interweb should enlighten you further, but basically if you want a panel / tv capable of receive HD broadcasts then look for the logo...
 
Hi, thanks but I think I have not worded it correctly, I know of the official "hd ready spec requirements" to make a panel or tv hd ready, but it is the fact whether a display is actually capable of displaying a hi-def picture albeit in sd resolution if it has say a native res of 852x480 by just scaling down to that resolution. Cheers Mike
 
if it has an HDCP DVI port or and HDMI port your almost there, but for UK broadcasts (probably Sky HD) you will need it to accept hi def at 50 and 60hz, as uk things will be 50hz, but hd dvd may well be 60hz all over the world. It probably wont be in the specs. If it only has compoennt then it will probably accept hi def, but it wont be much use as HDCP is out of the question, therefore (again, probably) a lot of sky hd will be unobtainable, as will hd dvd and blu ray.

this is of course without a "naughty box" (a box that strips hdcp and/or converts to analogue/component)

hope that was clear enough i have a headache
 
RIght if the screen will accept any resolution (regardless of native panel res) it will scale the incoming video signal to fit its pixel array, as all fixed pixel devices do.

And with Panny PWD7 under £1300 there is little point spending less as the quality will be al ot worse for saving little money........
 
Thanks for the replies guys :smashin: , I took him to a few shops to look at various plasmas and he ended up going to aria and getting their model. the picture looked ok straight from the box with dvd, put on gladiator which is a film i know backwards and it was a very watchable picture, picture on ntl not so impresssive but i think it was only feeding the plasma a composite signal and i didnt have time to play with the ntl box to suss out where the video settings were. xbox at 480i was also impressive.It has all the connections he could possibly need on the back only thing missing was dvi/hdmi but not a requirement of his,(hd compatability was only for hi-def films from the pc not sat). all in all I still personaaly would not of bought it, as hornydragon said there are much better around for not much more money. So a question for hornydragon Is the pw7 really that cheap, if I read these forums right to get a decent picture you have to buy a js rgb to vga converter, various different connection cards for the slots on the back, which will probable add at least £300+ to the quoted under £1300.00 figure , Am I correct?. reason being is Ii my situation the plasma will be for just watching normal tv viewing and the wife,s coronation street etc, . I find it almost impossible to watch a film which isn,t being displayed on at least a 6 foot screen, 42" is just too small for the cinema experience :devil: (imho), joy of using a projector i suppose. So in reality paying £1000s for something that isnt actually going to be used for serious visual enjoyment seems pretty wasteful to me. thanks again for the input guys. Mike
 
PWD7 with Mount (wall or table) and input card either scart or Dual slot component and S-video/Composite video is £1325 delivered so if you have a AV amp already and speakers that really is all you need (panel has VGA input as standard) and the panel alone can be had for a little over £1100 + delivery see here for the £1325 delivered option...http://www.av-sales.co.uk/plasma/html/panasonic_th-42pwd7bs.html You can loads of other bits if you need to or want to but most dont
 

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