Hi,

Just bought Panasonic HD plasma and have connected it to Foxtel box.
PQ looks pretty good to me.

Do I need STB with Foxtel digital?
Is Foxtel transmitting Ch9 & Ch10 HD programs as HD or SD?
Are there any other HD programs available?

Sorry for questions that might be obvious.

Thanks in advance.

The plasma, what model is it, can it display 1080i (without downconverting it to 480p)? Foxtel only send 576i/p signals at the highest, 576p for a HD capable TV (don't forget this is really only ED (extra definition)). Most of the time it is 480i/p, and I hear even goes as bad at 280i/p just to save bandwidth, which would give a crap pic on a large HD screen. So if you want to use the full capablility of your screen (assuming it can display 1080i), then FTA HD DTV is the go... keep in mind not all shows are HD, and only 9 and 10 broadcast 1080i, but a STB will give you much better PQ than the versions of the standard channels through the foxtel network.

JSmith :ph34r:

Agree with jsmith .... FTA is much, much better via a HD STB than foxtel .....

do you think it's worth getting a scart to component cable for my IQ to TV? is the quality gonna be any better than svideo?

This might not be directly relevant but....I have a normal Foxtel box (ie Pace not IQ) and was having the known problem of over saturated colour with the scart to component connection.

I switched to s-video to overcome that and have to say the difference in PQ (other than the colour) was barely noticable.

That is the clarity of picture was virtually the same whether component or s-video. There was a marginal difference, but you really had to look closely to see it.

Thanks! i don't think i'll bother!