Steve asked

18th January 2010

I have just bought a 52" HD Sharp Aquos LED TV,LC52LE700E, I have set it up with an new external roof aerial to receive the digital signal. [I live in Preston] The TV works OK but the picture quality seems to vary a lot dependent upon the content. The signal reported on the TV says 99% so is good.

I have noticed that the resolution of the TV displays as 560i and doesn't change even when broadcasts are saying they are HD, there are no settings in the TV to adjust the picture resolution. When you connect a DVD player it goes to 1080 and picture improves accordingly.

Can you only get HD broadcasts via Sky / freesat ect or should you be able to get it from an aerial configuration? Do I need to buy something else to get the HD picture? Can you explain? You comments would be appreciated as I don't no what to try next.

In order to watch in high-definition you need a chain of HD devices and connections, that are caplable of receiving/decoding, transporting and the displaying a high-definition signal. Presently it sounds like you have a high-definition television and up-scaling DVD player and it sounds as though that set up is working well for you.

With regards to high-definition television, it seems as though you just now need an HD picture source and service. You can pay for this with services such as Sky and Virgin Media, but there are also now free alternatives from Freesat and just starting to become available Freeview. You've helpfully said you live in Preston which is covered by the Winter Hill television transmitter, which as I'm sure you know is no longer broadcasting and analogue TV signal. This will mean that with the right Freeview HD equipment you should be able to receive the main terrestrial channels in high-definition. That said although the broadcasting has begun post-digital switch-over, Freeview HD decoder boxes are only just starting to become available, so if you can wait a month or two more it's probably a good idea to do so, otherwise you have to look in to a satellite or cable service in the mean time.

Jo asked

11th January 2010

I want to buy a HD Ready LCD TV and have Virgin Media cable. I am looking at a Panasonic Viera 32" but am lost as there are so many different models. Why for instance is the TX-L32X10B with built in Freeview, so much cheaper than the Panasonic TX-L32G10B? They are both 32" and HD Ready and just seem to differ by one digit in their model number.

Basically, I just want to go out and replace my current dear old 4:3 analogue TV with a HD ready set that will suit the digital change over in 2 mths in my area, but am at a bit of a loss of what I will need. The Panasonic Viera's have been suggested as a good all rounder and I have seen and listened to them in a couple of friends/families homes and they seem impressive, but Panasonic have quite a lot of models within their 32" HD Ready range and I don't really know the difference.

Any ideas/tips?

There is indeed quite a difference between those two models! The more expensive one is able to display a higher resolution (Full HD) picture, has better picture processing capabilities and include both a Freesat as well as a Freeview tuner.

As to how much of that lot you need, that will very much depend on what you want to spend and what you expect to get out of your new television. For simply watching Freeview and the odd DVD a regualr HD Ready, non-'Full HD', display would be quite adequate, where as if you were to watch Blu Ray movies or play on high-definition games consoles you may prefer to spend the extra on a higher resolution display. If when comparing screens in a shop side-by-side make sure you can see a real improvement in the picture as a result of any extra processing the display is able to do before you buy it. If you think you are likely to need to be able to receive Freesat in the near future the Panasonic would probably be a good choice but equally you may well save a significant sum if you don't. I wouldn't buy a television to future-proof as you can always add an extenal deoder box at a later stage when you circumstances change.

Shop around and try to see and compare your prospective purchases before you buy, and if you can work out what you do want in terms of features before hand that should help limit the wide range of choices available.

Derrel asked

10th January 2010

What difference does it make if the signal of an HDTV if it is 60hz, 120 hz or 240hz?

From the sound of your question it seems like you've almost rumbled what's going on.

As you correctly note the frame rate of standard high-definition picture formats range from 24-60 frames per second, so what is the benefit of purchasing a high-definition television that's able to display more than this?

Both physical and digital films are shot at 24 frames per second, as this is above the threshold at which humans perceive a sequence of still images as continuous motion. At the other end of the scale frame rates of 60 FPS are used with for the most common HD picture formats you are likely to encounter, so effectively have at least twice the frame rate absolutely necessary.

Where you see multiples of the 60Hz figure the display will attempt to generate intermediate frames from the surrounding ones with the aim of smoothing out the transitions from frame to frame. Unless you have a very good eye for detail you need to look very closely for things like scrolling text and panning shots to notice any real difference between the standard and enhance frame rate. When comparing high-definition televisions by all means go for something like a 120Hz television, but do make sure you can really see an improvement before spending extra money,

Thomas asked

9th January 2010

My elderly mother was very upset last night as a liquid was coming from her tv. The tv is about 4 years old. There aren't any pipes near the set. My brother lifted the set to see where the liquid was on the table and it actually came from the tv. I would be most grateful if you would advise me as to what this could be.

This does sound very stange but there really shouldn't be anything in the television itself that should produce any appreciable volume of water. I'd make sure there are no leaking pipies anywhere above the television perhaps dripping from the ceiling, or if the volume it quite small perhaps it could be condensation if the room is very cold.

I'm sure you're aware water and electrical equipment can be a dangerous combination so I would suggest you move the television to see if the problem still occurs or if the pool of water remains in the same plane.

Tony asked

7th January 2010

I have a Philips LCD Television which is described as HD Ready but has no HDMI input.

Is there any way it can be connected to an HDMI lead from a Freesat box?

You need to make sure your television has a DVI input as converters or HDMI to DVI cables are available.

If your television is marked as HD Ready you have a good chance of success, as this means it should support the HDCP (content protection system) request to identify itself as a display (rather than copying) device. If HDCP isn't supported via DVI from the TV, you may not get any picture or warning message or blank screen.

Whether it works will depend on the combination of your Freesat decoder box and your HD Ready televison but for the cost of a cable it must be worth finding out.

Jeff asked

4th January 2010

I'm considering buying a new HDTV with built in freesat. Will I need a satellite dish or is it possible to receive broadcasts without one?

Secondly, are there devices in the pipeline that will make satellite dishes obsolete in the near future?

Thanks for your question. In order to receive Freesat you do need a satellite dish, there isn't really a way around that, and it's unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

With regards to future devices and technologies, depending on where you live you will be able to get a limited number of high-definition channels via Freeview sometime between now and the completion of digital switchover in 2012. Beyond this more and more IPTV (via broadband) television services will begin to appear, but it's hard to say when these will achieve parity with existing methods such as Freeview, satelite and cable, and if (or when) IPTV will end up replacing them.

Paul asked

2nd January 2010

I have a hDTV LCD televison and it has 100Hz capacity, but the signal I get is only at 50 hz.

The HD cables have a rating, but which cable should i get to recieve at 100Hz? My current one is 1.3 but i have seen cables with 1.3a 1.3band 1.3c which should i get ?

In short you shouldn't need a special HDMI cable for your television. The 50Hz is the is frame rate of the video signal you are sending to the television which will be one of the standard high-definition picture formats that range from 24-60 frames per second.

Once the video signal reaches your television if it's so equipped the television will be able to interpolate additional frames in to raise the signal to 100Hz. If this doesn't appear to be happening I suggest you look around the televisions menus to see if this feature needs to be turned on; and beyond that I would suggest contacting the manufacturer for further advice.

You shouldn't need a special HDMI cable. The 1.3a/b/c simply defines the revision of the HDMI specification the cable conforms to, there is no difference between them in terms of performance or features supported. So long as you have a cable that's working that all you should need, there's no need to 'invest' in a 'higher performance' cable unless you really want to, or if your existing cable is clearly no working for you.

John asked

27th December 2009

I have a Sony HD ready tv and Sony DVD HD player/recorder. I am considering purchasing a Freesat box, to receive HD transmissions, but because both my TV and DVD recorder only have one HDMI socket each, does this mean I can only connect to the TV or the DVD recorder? ideally, I would like to connect the DVD to the Freesat box via the HDMI socket and then the TV to the DVD via a second HDMI socket, enabling me to watch hd direct from the Freesat box and also watch HD recordings. Is there any unit or means available to give me this second HDMI socket and am I correct in assuming this configuration would work?

Thanks for your question. HDMI isn't really a network architecture like you may associate with computer networking, ports are either inputs or outputs and I think you will struggle to find a Freesat receiver with both an HDMI input and an output.

What you really want is an HDMI switcher/multiplexer unit. These devices will give you a single output to which you would connect your television and a number of inputs to connect to your other audio and video equipment. You can then either automatically, manually or by remote depending on the model you buy, be able to cycle through the HDMI inputs to select the device you want to display on your television screen.