HD upscaling of NTL?

Markd250

I'm currently considering buying a new shiny 1080p television, but I have a question.

Anyone know of a way to upscale NTL digital signal? The menu on the NTL box only gives RGB as high quality.

BTW, I don't have or want an illegal box.

Thanks!

seamus

I don't think NTL are transmitting in HD, or are they?

flogen

UPC/NTL don't have any HD broadcasts and won't until the middle of next year (or so they say at the moment - the HD launch date has slipped back for some time now).

As for upscaling, I think you'd need a HDMI or DVI connection on the box for that to be even possible and as far as I know none of their boxes have them at the moment.

paulm17781

My TV (Samsung) upscales all non-HD inputs. NTL via RGB looks fine on it, it's 40". I'd prefer a HD box but it definitely looks better than a lot of smaller TVs that don't upscale.

Markd250

Cheers, I didn't think there was a way, but thought I'd ask in case anyone else had come up with something!

The tv I'm looking at is a 40" sony w4500, which i hear does a reasonable job with SD input anyway.

rubadub

Question is better suited to the Home Entertainment forums. Check www.avforums.com too.

Basicallly you will be hooking scart up to a upscaler, doesnt matter if it is UPC, sky or a dvdplayer.

I have seen a HDMI decoder box showing SD and the picture quality was stunning. Other dodgy boxes have component out too which is a great improvement. Shame you cannot legally use them, even if you did only want legitimate channels.

Markd250

HDMI decoder box? That was an illegal one I presume?

I'll just have to hope the TV makes the best of UPC's signal!

Markd250

Markd250 wrote: »

HDMI decoder box? That was an illegal one I presume?

I'll just have to hope the TV makes the best of UPC's signal!

I love the way any box that isnt UPC branded is "illegal" :pac:


I use a ip900HD box, its software is 100times better and it has HDMI and component, it upscales SD to 1080P and can handle future HD signals.


I pay for all the channels so i dont give a hoot about there T&C.


Im allowed to upscalemy DVDs so why should i not upscale my tv.

Kensington

cisk wrote: »

I love the way any box that isnt UPC branded is "illegal" :pac:

Em, because it is?

No its illegal to use it to obtain pay tv, there are other as above legitimate benefits.

Sure you can even get a UPC box to obtain channels you dont pay for.


You can use a golf club to kill someone, Should we make them illegal?

Kensington

1: What are you using it for? To pick up TV3? :rolleyes:
Otherwise you actually are breaking the law.
Not an authorised receiver, with no authorised card = illegal, simple as.

2: Not legitimately you can't.

3: Right, I'm not going to even bother responding to such a ridiculous analogy :rolleyes:

No i pay for the channels and use my subbed card:pac:


At the end of the day im the one with a lovely HD picture and you have a clear conscience and made the bosses in UPC proud.


Pitty they dont care about you.



well done son.

Markd250

I was afraid the thread might turn into a debate on NTL's policy!

I agree in principle - if you have the NTL card, and pay for the service, why should you be called a criminal for using a superior set top box?

Having said that, I'd like to avoid using illegal equipment. I will just have to put up with the setup as it is for the moment I suppose.

Thanks all for the help!

watty

It's not criminal or illegal as long as he only gets the channels he pays for and only with UPCs card.

However he IS breaking the civil contract and thus UPC can sue at most and at least simply cut off service.

They could sue for full value of max package if the subscriber is on a more basic one and it could be hard to prove innocence. The onus is on subscriber to prove not stealing service.

Bottom Line:

If you want UPC cable/MMDS, you can only use their box.

If you want Sky you can awkwardly use an non-Sky box with a Sky card. Not simple.

For FTA / Freesat Satellite TV you can use what ever you like.

On Cable, MMDS, Terrestrial or Satellite, it is Theft of Service and Criminal to obtain more encrypted TV than you are entitled to or tap into a Cable. Unauthorised use of MMDS gear installed by UPC (NTL/Chorus) or cable points without payment, even if unencypted is theft of service.

watty

Markd250 wrote: »

I'm currently considering buying a new shiny 1080p television, but I have a question.

Anyone know of a way to upscale NTL digital signal? The menu on the NTL box only gives RGB as high quality.

BTW, I don't have or want an illegal box.

Thanks!

Any decent 1080p TV upscales regular S-video or RGB scart better than a DVD player or Cable/Satellite set box.

You don't need an external upscaller or upscalling cable box on a Modern TV.

Unless the TV is 42" or more or else very close to viewer you don't even need an HD TV.

stevenmu

What you could do is run the output from your NTL box into media centre PC and let that handle the upscaling, that may provide better quality depending on your TV. It may also provide worse quality if your media PC has poor quality video in. It's something you'd need to research a bit. But your TV should do a reasonable job of it anyway.

Markd250

How about an upscaling AV receiver?

I was looking at AV receivers, and a lot of them upscale dvds, would they upscale NTL picture if put though?

watty

You really just need a decent HDTV. If it doesn't do 576i upscale and deinterlace 1080p properly and perfectly it will be poor on 1080i (the normal HDTV broadcast) and 720p (downloads and alternate broadcast).

Media Centre PCs generally are poorer video than a 60 Euro sat Receiver + 130 Euro Turkish CRT TV.

The built in TV support is best if it is a true 1080 line set. Note that many cheaper 1366 x 768 are terrible for HDTV as they deinterlace 1080i by only taking one 540 line frame and rescaling it to 768 lines. They also have to rescale 720p and don't have enough resolution for decent display of ordinary resolution as 576i -> 720p or 576i -> 786p actually is poorer quality than a normal CRT! A 1080 line (or 1200 line PC display) is minimum HD resolution for decent rescale of regular 576i pictures.

Note That USA/Japan regular resolution is 480i, hence they find 720p or 768p on a 48" display a big improvement. Also USA/Japan uses 30FPS / 60Hz, which creates 3:2 pull down artifacts from cinema 24fps. European PAL doesn't have pull down artefacts. Hence most of what you read online is nonsense (for us) as it is based on 480i 30fps/60Hz rather than our 576i 25fps/50Hz system.

dhaumi

cisk wrote: »

I love the way any box that isnt UPC branded is "illegal" :pac:


I use a ip900HD box, its software is 100times better and it has HDMI and component, it upscales SD to 1080P and can handle future HD signals.


I pay for all the channels so i dont give a hoot about there T&C.


Im allowed to upscalemy DVDs so why should i not upscale my tv.

Do you mind me asking how much does this box cost? (and more details while you're at it )

Would be glad to but the boards.ie police will be out in force. :pac:



Now ted.... Were not down with that sort of thing


Heres link to the spec

http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=900infoim1.png


As you can see it has interchangeable tuners which would be very handy:)