9200T v 9300T v FREEVIEW HD v FREESAT HD

[ANDREWS]

I have a 9200T and am now thinking of going down the HD route, or upscaled route. My options are:-

1. Buying the Humax Freesat HDR at £300 plus fitting.
2. Going down the Virgin+ route.
3. Buying a 9300T for upscaled images.

My 9200T is connected by Scart, so will I really notice any difference with an 9300T connected by HDMI? I know that technically it should be better, but will it be that noticable? Does any one have any experience of both on the same LCD TV?

Virgin are doing a good deal on their Virgin+ package at the moment at only £75 plus £5p/month on top of the standard TV package which I have, but don't use.

The Freesat HDR route is attractive as I'll also get tyhe ITV HD channels, but at a price at or around £400 inlcusive of installation, its a bit steep.

One final issue that worries me is that given my possible investment of £400 for a Freesat HDR, will Freesat become a dead donkey in the next 1-3 years anyway? The reason being that it is now widely known that when analogue terrestrial signals are switched off and digital takes over, the additional bandwidth will enable HD to be brodcast over the air. This will happen as early as 2009.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7328029.stm

In order to receive these HD images, I'd need a new Freeview HD set top box. Presumabley the 9300T doesn't cater for the receiving of such signals? Or does it?

If I do need a new HD Freeview Receiver, presumably Humax and other manufacturers are putting receivers and HDRs/PVRs into production to meet that demand?

It seems to me that there's no point in buying the 9300T if I can wait for a Freeview HD PVR at maybe the same cost or just a small bit more. Similary, If I bought a Freesat HDR, I'll miss out on Dave and and who knows channels such as Cahnnel 4 & 5 may choose to expand their HD broadcasts via the Freeview plaform rather than Freesat?

Perhaps I should go with the Virgin+ option as I wont be risking much financial outlay in short term.......Or maybe I'll just stick with the 9200T for the time bieng, although its starting to turn into a kids film library!

Any options, views or snipets of info welcomed.....

Andy

[Houdini]

Or maybe I'll just stick with the 9200T for the time bieng,

Which IMHO happens to be the smart choice at this time :)

[MikeSh]

I have a 9200T and am now thinking of going down the HD route, or upscaled route.
If your TV has > SD resolution (pixels) then it is already upscaling. If it is a decent set the chances of the 9300 doing a better job of upscaling are slim, and it could make it worse - see a recent thread about it.

My 9200T is connected by Scart, so will I really notice any difference with an 9300T connected by HDMI? I know that technically it should be better, but will it be that noticable?
Per above - probably not. Scarts can deliver better quality than the Hummy SD can output (our DVD delivers better quality using scart).

...Or maybe I'll just stick with the 9200T for the time bieng, although its starting to turn into a kids film library!
I would (am :) )
Very sadly, you will have to format the disk because of the corruption bug, so all those films will be lost.
And if the kids don't believe there is such a bug, you can just show them some of the threads on here :D

[Mike0001]

Freesat a dead donkey? Certainly not! But the current freeview is certain to become one when they decide to turn off SD.

Freesat has far more capacity for expansion than freeview does. It isn't going to disappear, any more than satellite is going to disappear, unless that toolbox in space does some mischief!

[Houdini]

But the current freeview is certain to become one when they decide to turn off SD

:confused:


Go on then... I'll rise to the bait :D

[gomezz]

But the current freeview is certain to become one when they decide to turn off SD.Which will be about the time the bit rates for the HD channels on DTT (erroneously but often aka as Freeview) will have been reduced to those similar to the current SD channels and hence we will have moved from DVB-T/MPEG2 to DVB-T2/MPEG4 by stealth. :rolleyes:

[dergal]

HD isn't too great as the missing channels are seriously annoying - I really want Virgin and a handful of others... including 5 USA - stick with what you have for a bit longer

Freesat at the moment is a bit "naff", and frankly the 1 or two channels of HD isn't worth it - not even for Robin Hood.

[MJI1962]

We got the HDR just for the two HD channels - and it is worth it.

Also occasional SD usage when we get tropospheric ducting