Pardon my hi-def ignorance

[Feanor]

I'm bemuse by the whole Blu-Ray and HD DVD thing. I don't see it's relevance to me, but I might be wrong. For audio, I do enjoy 5.1 SACD sound through my HT system, but I don't have a HD television nor any HD audiovideo sources.

My current TV is a good (?) old standard 27" CRT it has S-Video and Component inputs; my AV receiver has corresponding outputs but I connect video directly to the TV from my Samsung universal player. Component doesn't seem to work for not reason I can figure out, so I use S-Video.

Is my situation hopeless? Are Blu-Ray and HD DVD irrelevant for me? I have no plans (viz. no cash) for upgrading my TV or AVR.

[L.J.]

I'm bemuse by the whole Blu-Ray and HD DVD thing. I don't see it's relevance to me, but I might be wrong. For audio, I do enjoy 5.1 SACD sound through my HT system, but I don't have a HD television nor any HD audiovideo sources.

My current TV is a good (?) old standard 27" CRT it has S-Video and Component inputs; my AV receiver has corresponding outputs but I connect video directly to the TV from my Samsung universal player. Component doesn't seem to work for not reason I can figure out, so I use S-Video.

Is my situation hopeless? Are Blu-Ray and HD DVD irrelevant for me? I have no plans (viz. no cash) for upgrading my TV or AVR.

The bad news is yes, you'd have to drop some $$$$ to go HD

The good news is that prices are continueing to drop

[Wireworm5]

It may not be relevant for sometime for us old timers.
First off its a new format with few movies at this time to support it. And the new movies that come out if your like me, don't appeal to us.
It may only become relevant to us audiophiles when music only discs are available uncompressed. This is the only real advantage I see right now for me over dvd's compressed format.
Also if your into gaming HDtv was something I dreamt about when I was into games. Sadly I've been out of games and into audio for the last few years. But it's possible I may get a Playstation 3 and get back into gaming.

In any event it'll take a few years before HD really takes over the market as people will slowly but surely abandon the old technology.

[kexodusc]

Is my situation hopeless? Are Blu-Ray and HD DVD irrelevant for me? I have no plans (viz. no cash) for upgrading my TV or AVR.

LOL!

Well, if you have no cash, and no plans, then yeah, it's pretty hopeless...though I suppose there's always the chance someone will just give you a big HDTV and BluRay player.

In all seriousness...I wouldn't worry much - I'm sure in a few years if this thing does catch on like things are suggesting, hardware will be cheaper. Presumably, at some point in your future you will likely need a TV upgrade, it'll be HDTV compatible. At least you'll be able to say you did it at a fraction of the bleeding edge price.

If it makes you feel any better, I have an HDTV, compatible receiver, would love to dive into it, but just refuse to pay current market prices for what I don't feel offers significant value over my current situation. Maybe in a year or two. Until then I'm not losing much sleep over it.

In the meantime I'm trying to figure out how best to get music from my computer to my receiver with as little loss in quality as possible for no other reason than to learn how to do it. I feel so antiquated still using archaic sources like my turntable and CD player...

[Feanor]

LOL!
...
If it makes you feel any better, I have an HDTV, compatible receiver, would love to dive into it, but just refuse to pay current market prices for what I don't feel offers significant value over my current situation. Maybe in a year or two. Until then I'm not losing much sleep over it.
...

Broadcast including cable and satellite, that is. I though I hear something to the effect that old, analog (NTSC??) TV was to be eliminated in the U.S. by some date, maybe 2010 or whatever. I'm in Canada anyway, but this is the only sort of forced thing that will get me into HDTV in the relatively close timeframe.

[kelsci]

Hi Feanor; I do not have any cash to jump into this too. I have also not cared for the confusion HD-video has caused over the various resolution ratios like 720P, 1080i and 1080p and the chicanery that has been going on with some of these new high definition dvd players worm around these ratios. Bad as the video mugubagah is, the audio is even worse particulaly as to which player can decode the new higher definition audio tracks and where they are outputted from these new HD-DVD machines. Now I just read that there is a bass issued with the Toshiba XA2. There should not be any issues at all. So to me, watching the movies on my 27 inch Proscan thru its S-video input with a receiver that does 5.1 dolby digital is enough audio/video for me. I think that age has put me in a "mood" of "so what" to the newer things when I can deal having improvements in my older things or just using them for the life of the equipment.

[kexodusc]

Broadcast including cable and satellite, that is. I though I hear something to the effect that old, analog (NTSC??) TV was to be eliminated in the U.S. by some date, maybe 2010 or whatever. I'm in Canada anyway, but this is the only sort of forced thing that will get me into HDTV in the relatively close timeframe.

That date isn't carved in stone and has been pushed back at least a few times already. I'm sure it'll happen eventually. It's a big investment for a lot of smaller, local outfits as I understand it. I don't know what will happen in Canada. They'll probably follow suit a few months or years later?

I like HDTV though, especially for sports. They're getting pretty cheap, and smaller in profile. I'm shopping around for one for my mom and dad's new place these days. I've got a month or two to find one. Even the cheapest, crappiest ones I've seen will do a pretty good job with HDTV. Problem is they seem to butcher the standard def broadcasts.
I think there'll be enough of a grandfathering period to capture most people. They way they build'em these days I'm not sure a TV will last longer than 10 years? I've got a Sears brand TV with faux woodgrain finish from the 70's that's older than me and still works. I've had it since I was a kid. I just can't get rid of it.

[AVMASTER]

FYI
analog cut -off date: Feb. 17, 2009
two $40.00 vouchers will be available for everyone that needs a converter (at least thats the current consensus)

[cvc]

You need an hdtv now! Forget the dvd format war in high def. Get it for the enjoyment of watching most prime time shows in hd and in widescreen. Even the news is actually entertaining in hd. Ha! The picture is so damn clear. Try to avoid going through your cable co. The picture is better but not as incredibly clear then over the air or satellite. Once you watch in widescreen you'll laugh at the square tv you used to watch. You may think your 27" square tv is good enough but it's not. Get a plasma or lcd and you'll be in heaven. Especially if you're any kind of sports fan. Honestly, baseball puts me to sleep. But in hd I can stay awake for the first 5 innings now..

[pixelthis]

flac or ape files are the best way to get music off of your computer, newsgroups have a ton of free music in these lossless formats, and most of it will suit an old timer like yourself.
AND a good 32in wide lcd is now going for six hundred, if you cant swing that then you are in the wrong forum, swing back into the audio section