# DP 301 connecting to HDTV



## ins0mniac (Oct 26, 2010)

I have a DP301 on which I receive international SD programming, which looks fine on my current CRT TV. I'm thinking of buying a plasma TV, but I'm worried that the DP301 signal will look crappy. Is there any way I can get it to display at a decent quality ?


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

The best way would be to use S-Video and the analog RCA audio. About the most processing I would do on my TV is to have to do a letterbox (vertical bars) and keep the image as its original 4:3 aspect ratio. If S-Video isn't available, then use composite then RF , in that order.


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## ins0mniac (Oct 26, 2010)

Thanks. If I am able to pass it through a DVD player or other set top box that upconverts to progressive or 720p -- will this make it worse ?


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

I'd go with whatever makes it look the best with your equipment and what you have available. On my DP311, I'm using S-Video direct into the TV, although the RF from my modulated output also looks pretty good.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

ins0mniac said:


> I have a DP301 on which I receive international SD programming, which looks fine on my current CRT TV. I'm thinking of buying a plasma TV, but I'm worried that the DP301 signal will look crappy. Is there any way I can get it to display at a decent quality ?


Honestly, the answer is really "no."

While it is absolutely TRUE that some TVs do a better job handling SD signals than others, and that on average, plasmas do better than LCDs, that still doesn't change the fact that SD looks crappy on any large (30" or bigger) HDTV, and the bigger the TV, the worse it looks.

SDTV resolution was determined in the 1930s(!), back when they projected that TV sets may grow to be as large as 20"! SD was never intended for the large TVs that are common today, and for the most part, TV providers are further lowering the quality of SDTV channels to allow them to carry more channels in the same space.

Also, CRTs have certain attributes that make them better at hiding the flaws in SDTV content, which shouldn't be a surprise given that CRTs were virtually the exclusive type of display for TV for 70 years.

But, despite everything I've written, you shouldn't let that stop you. HDTV isn't going anywhere, and will only become more and more common. SDTV is going away, and in a couple of years, SDTV feeds will be gone. No reason to deny yourself HDTV quality (with HD content) now, just because the SD won't look great blown up on a large TV. You'll deal with it, and before you know it, the channel will get converted to HD, even if all it shows is up-converted SD. That still looks better, upconverted from the source in much higher quality, than an SD feed.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Absolutely - All I'm really doing is to put the best possible spin on using SD receiver on HDTV. For all the reasons listed - SD will simply "look crappy" , at least compared to an HDTV video source. If your HDTV is much over 32 inches as a widescreen - I'm not too sure you would be happy with it, even following the best you can do from above. That, in fact, was one factor that I kept to "just" a 32 inch class widescreen - the 4:3 image is about the same size as the 27 inch 4:3 CRT I had before.


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