Getting Freeview HD? Make sure your TV is HD ready!

I know many people who have been here; you buy a Freeview HD box so you can watch TV channels in glorious high definition at home only to find that, despite your best efforts, it won’t work. Immediately after this frustration kicks in, and you will find yourself asking why on earth this has happened to you and also whether or not that Freeview HD Recorder you just bought is faulty. Upon inspection you’ll most probably find that your HD box is in tip top shape, so what is the problem? Well…

The most common problem consumers have is that their TV is not HD ready. Your television needs to have a screen resolution of 1280×720 to watch TV channels in HD as 99% of TV channels currently output at 720p. Now, there seems to be some cloudiness regarding what TV’s are HD ready on the market, however prior to 2007, 50% of LCD TV’s and Plasma TV’s weren’t HD ready despite them being just as thin as 2011 models.

Are you ready?

Ways in which you as the consumer can make sure your TV is HD ready is to accurately read manufacturer information before you buy. It is to be fair a companies responsibility to display accurate information on a product which consumers can buy, and so any HDTV will be marked as HD ready. If a television you are looking at isn’t marked, then we recommend you always ask the sales counter for guidance. If you have already bought a Freeview HD box and it isn’t compatible with your TV, then unfortunately you’ll have to fork out even more money to watch high definition. The good news for would be HDTV buyers though is that many of them can be picked up at a relatively low cost now, and 37″ models in particular are increasingly tempting as electronics stores try to undercut each other year on year.

Alternatives

If you have just bought a Freeview HD box and have found that your TV is not HD compatible, you may as well get a refund on the set top box and look for a HDTV with Freeview HD built in. These televisions are a great combination as they save space and also money.

All in all, we’d say watching TV in HD is a luxury and if you can afford to upgrade from standard definition, we recommend it highly. Check out: 3DTV vs HDTV, Which one should you choose?.