hey guys, im purchasing the pana 500A in 2 days and am wondering if i should get a hd stb, so are these compulsery for tv? i know the panel has an inbuilt analog tuner, does that mean i can still get normal tv? and what is the difference between the 2, is it the normal antenna ? and how exactly do they get connected, plug coax into them?? sorry for asking so many questions guys im just new to this stb stuff

Well they should be compulsory......

For a start they give you widescreen without the stretching. The picture and sound quality is 24.96 million times better than analogue (o.k. I made that number up. Seriously it's a lot though). You'd be mad not to get one. Most likely your current antenna will be sufficient, just plug the stb into the arial and use the best quality output connection to your plasma (see Connection Types for Dummies thread)

ok so on normal tv, it will have to be stetched to fill the screen?how does that look, i will have to wait a lil while before i have the money for a stb thats all..

In my experience, the bigger the screen = the worse analogue looks.

Just make sure you buy an stb with output connectors that match your tv. Also if you can find one with a remote that has a tv on/off button which can be programmed to match your brand of tv it would be a bonus - you can put the tv remote away.

A STB is if you want digital TV. Your tv has an analogue receiver, therefore you need the STB to act as a digital receiver. This lets you get better picture quality and ABC2 and SBS2 for what they're worth.

Then there's the difference between a HD and a SD STB. I take you know this difference? Put simply HD is better picture quality (though some people can't tell the difference), but the STB costs more.

You do not "need" to get a STB. If you have good reception where you are, I'd hold off on getting the STB until some decent stuff comes on digital. Or you could just pick up a cheap SD STB.

I just recently got myself a lcd. I'm holding off getting a STB for the time being. I want to get a HD one (want the full HD experience), but they're a little too expensive for me at the moment.

From experience you will hate the stretched look of analogue on your plasma, and you will beg, borrow or steal (I don't recommend this option) to get a STB asap.

You can get a relatively cheap standard def. STB for around $150 with the right connectors for best PQ on most newer plasma's, or for roughly double that to get a High Def box which will probably give you the best picture overall.

cheers
fusion

We'll I'll have to disagree with MadMax. HD is a significantly improved picture over SD with something like twice the resolution. SD and the current analogue signal are roughly the same if you've got good reception. SD is about the same as watching a DVD. You have several options.

At its simplest you can install your new TV with your current aerial and go on watching TV just like you always did. You will often get two black bars down each side of the screen though as the analogue signal is 'squarer' than your new 16:9 rectangle TV. Or you can stretch the square picture - both methods end up with a perfectly viewable show. This method has the advantage of being fully compatible with your VCR and DVD players (which is also analogue) if you have one. I recomend doing this initially and you can always go out and by a STB in a bit if you so decide.

The next 'step up' is a SD STB which is pretty much guaranteed to just plug into your existing aerial (many remoter regions don't yet recieve digital broadcasts if you live out in the bush). Your retailer can tell you if you live in a digital area.

Have a look at this thread for some info on what to be aware of when buying a STB:

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=26510

A SD STB will work fine on your TV and you can get a reasonable one for as little as $130 - grab one a Dick Smith and try it out and return it after 14 days no questions asked if you want to see one in action.

My net advice would be there is no hurry to go out and buy a HD box. They're pricey for what you get and will continue falling in price rapidly over the next year or two. So enjoy your new screen (good pick) and after that settles in, visit the stores again and see some STBs (SD and HD) in action.

As a last thought when you do go shopping, instead of a STB you could get a PVR (which is a STB with a harddrive.) The improvement in your viewing experience with one of these boxes would be much more than you'd getfor paying about the same for a simple HiDef STB.

Hope that helps

Peter Gillespie

Wait, does this mean you can't receive widescreen on analogue? And by widescreen i mean shows broadcast in widescreen (eg the cricket), not this rubbish business of stretching the picture to give the illusion of widescreen.

Absolutely 100% correct. The only thing that could be considered widescreen on analogue you have already seen on your old 4:3 TV, letterboxed with black bands top and bottom. The widescreen should be able to zoom this so that you cut out the black bands, and the resolution drops even further.

Personaly I can't understand anyone who spends a gazillion dollars on a new plasma and doesn't budget for a STB to match. A Std-def for a Std-def screen, a Hi-def for a Hi-def screen (the screen cost more and so does the box). Otherwise it's a bit like saying "I just bought a new CD player and I am saving up to buy some CDs for it next year"!

Rule of thumb: If you can't afford the STB, you can't afford the Plasma.

Best of luck,
Dik

I had no idea about this. So when i currently see the words "available in widescreen", it really means available in widescreen if you have a widescreen tv AND digital tuner? Otherwise the only widescreen broadcasts I can get on my lcd or plasma are those that i could also get on my old regular 4:3 analogue tv which i'd have to zoom in?

I think Diks '100%' comment might be (understandably) confusing you.

Analogue broadcasts are largely 4:3 (since that was the standard TV size in the past)
However when a movie or other widescreen show is shown on analogue TV you could do 2 things:

1) Have the picture take up the whole screen (no stretching involved) however because the picture is wider than the old 4:3 TV (widescreen) the you didn't get to see what was happening at the far right and left of the picture. This isn't usually an issue because movie are shot with the 4:3 screen in mind so most stuff is framed around this centre bit.

2) You could toggle the 4:3 TV into widescreen mode which shrunk down the broadcast until it ALL fitted on the screen. However you ended up with a 'smaller' picture and black bars along the top an the bottom (For fitting a rectangular broadcast inside a square screen.

Note none of this involves any distortion or stretching in one dimension only. Most TVs can do this as well but as Dik infers the results look horrible (Fat/Thin people etc.).

Now DVDs and digital TV are generally broadcast in widescreen format. Which is credited for being one of the main reasons people have boaght widescreen TVs - as increasingly this is the format you view stuff in. However when you show a 4:3 broadcast on the widescreen (16:9) you get the opposite problem as above with black bars down the sides (For fitting a square broadcast inside a rectangular screen) Unfortunately you can't do the reverse of 2 above and zoom in to fill the screen as you tend to get the top of heads chopped off. Some TVs offer a 14:9 step which is a reasonable compromise.

So anyway, You will get widescreen broadcasts and 4:3 broadcasts on both digital and analogue. You just get a lot more widescreen stuff on digital is all. Oz/the world is currently in a transition on this format so no solution is 100% or ideal.

Best bet is to hit a TV store and ask the sales guy to show you the combinations. Just be aware that any new TV usually takes a week or so to get used to. After that the eyes seem to adjust so that any zooming, stretching, glitches, etc. tend to be filtered out and it just looks 'normal'.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

Oh, so some genuine widescreen stuff you can get with analgoue, but some other stuff is only broadcast in widescreen in digital?

Hi
this DBA website (not the forum) has some very good info about the questions that you are asking. Worth a read.
DBA

Yep. I believe movies tend to be mostly widescreen in either broadcast. As are your more modern broadcasts. I believe it mainly the 'current' type shows (like lifestyle, cooking, news, current affairs, idol, etc. that are 4:3 in analogue and widescreen in digital. Just about all modern programming is widescreen in digital. Ads tend to flip around between formats.

Good link by DA although its obviously focused on the effects of 'upgrading' to digital TV on a STB rather than watching analogue on a widescreen. Basically I say get the TV (you're not making a mistake you'll regret) Then if you decide you want to go digital grab a $100 SD STB. Or go the whole hog and get a HD STB or SD PVR. You can always do that later. You'd probably find the salesperson will throw in a FREE cheapy STB just to close the sale on the TV you want to buy (only costs them something like 50 bucks)

Regards

Peter Gillespie

Good advice. Thanks for the help.

I hate to have to repeat myself, BUT:

ALL analogue TV is broadcast as 4:3, the only way analogue TV comes anywhere near a widescreen broadcast is by letterboxing, broadcasting with a black bar top and bottom as part of the picture, therefore loosing 1/3 of the resolution. Most widescreen TVs can zoom this to fill the screen. There is no hidden* widescreen part of of the analogue broadcast you can't see on a 4:3 TV.

ALL digital TV is broadcast as 16:9 widescreen (SD is 4:3 anamorphic like a widescreen DVD, HD is true 16:9), and when a 4:3 program is shown it is broadcast with black bars left and right as part of the picture. For 16:9 TVs set the configuration of the DVD player or STB to widescreen, for 4:3 TVs set the configuration of the DVD players & STBs to 4:3, some 4:3 TVs and some STBs allow you to toggle between watching a widescreen program as letterbox (black top & bottom) or centre cut (loosing the sides)

Hope this helps,
Dik

* not including overscan, which is built into all CRT TVs

Wow, now I'm really confused. Can you point to a website that confirms this?

The short simple answer is, Go with what Dik says....

Analogue is broadcast in 4:3 (non widescreen) - usually the built-in analogue tuner.

Digital is broadcast in 16:9 (widescreen) - requires a digital receiver.


Fusion

Yeah, I'll defer to Diks answer too. Basically we're saying the same thing, however I was wrong in suggesting how much analogue is broadcast in that 'letterbox' format that can be scaled up to properly fill a widescreen. Flipping around last night on analogue (been a while) just about everything was in 4:3 format.

Obviously if you play a DVD on a Widescreen TV you get the proper 16:9 widescreen picture for most DVDs.

Apologies for any confusion. Presume you'll be getting your 500A today? Enjoy Now might be a good time to wander into a store and try out some of the old and new stuff first hand. Nothing like a practical test to sort out the confusion.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

You could always look around for a used SD box. I bought my first box some years ago for $300. A second hand Thompson for example shouldn't cost much more than $50.
This will at least give you a start.
Then when you have experienced SD and when you have a little more $ you can upgrade to HD.
When you see a good HD setup you will want to upgrade.

Yeah, I might do that. Just get a cheap SD STB for now, and upgrade to a HD HDMI later on when the prices have gone a bit.

Hi D,

When I bought my 500A, I was going to wait for a good HD STB with PVR to hit the market (which back then was to be before Christmas). I thought, not too long, I'll wait.

Then I went to Bing Lee, and asked the guy what my plasma would look like without a STB in the interim, he showed me with STB and without STB. The latter was truly awful. The colours were unnatural, and the people short and fat.

I bought the LG 5100, and it's my interim STB until a good PVR with a HD tuner comes out.

I recommend this STB, goes well with the Pana. At J&B, you can haggle and get one for close to $400.

If this is too much, the Humax 7000 is $100 cheaper, otherwise there is a Hotchip which is cheaper again.

You probably know this, DSE has a 14 day return policy. You could take one home and try it out.

Cheers.

Hey Typhoon,

I've read in other threads that Pana has issues with DVI to HDMI adapters with the image being off centre. Has that happened with you with the LG box?