For thos of you with LCD tv, do you notice that standard defnition broadcasts appear soft opposed to high def broadcasts? I don't think its my TV because my staandar DVDs played thru an upconverting Samsing DVD player look crisp and clean. Maybe I'm just more sensitive to it now that I own a hi def display. My previous TV which is relegated to the family room is a 32" 4:3 CRT Toshiba than can't even except progressive scan inputs. I notice on that TV that the broadcasts are not sharp either. Just wondering is all.
TV broadcasts are compressed to fit within the allotted bandwidth. If you are not using an old fashioned antenna, and are getting things via cable or satellite, the cable or satellite company may compress things even more, as they have limited total bandwidth. This tends to be worse than the compression on discs. So, generally speaking, DVDs will look better than SD broadcasts, and BD (Blu-ray) will look better than HD broadcasts. And local broadcasts, picked up via old fashioned antenna, will generally look better than cable or satellite. Keep in mind, of course, that what is generally the case need not be always the case.
Of course, the source used in the broadcast may limit the resolution, as TV shows that were videotaped in standard definition will never be able to look as good as something that was filmed and properly stored. This, by the way, explains why the old
Star Trek series can look so good; it was filmed, not videotaped. It is suitable for true HD, even though it was made in the 1960's for TV. But the point is, if they are broadcasting a bad source, it will look bad no matter what.
