I hear a lot of people complain that their brand new HDTV just doesn’t look crisp a lot of the time.  Below is my short list of tips, hints, questions, and answers about why your picture might not be as good as you expected.

1. Are you watching an HD channel?  In comparison to the number of channels your satellite or cable provider sends to you, the number that are actually high definition is pretty low.  For Bell ExpressVu all of the channels are in the 800s.  It’s to the point now where I won’t watch a show if it isn’t in the 800s.
2. Even some HD channels show non-HD content sometimes.  I have tried to figure out what the CRTC says about how much content has to be full 720p HD in order to call the channel HD but I have been unsuccessful so far.  My guess is that there is some percentage of the day which the channel must be showing full HD in order to retain its HD status.
3. Some programs don’t use the highest quality equipment.  My wife often comments on how a daytime show she watches, on CBC HD, doesn’t look nearly as good as the hockey on the same channel.  For a show to look its best the signal has to only be touched by high quality equipment at each step of the process.  It’s a weakest link type scenario.
4. Are you using HDMI, DVI or component cables for the video?  The red, white and yellow cables or an S-video cable are not enough to get full HD video (red, green and blue is a component bundle and is fully HD capable).  If you’re not using one of the three types of cables I mentioned, you need to be.
5. Some programs are widescreen but still standard definition (read: blurry).  These are the ones that really try to fool you.  As a rule of thumb for ExpressVu viewers (unfortunately I have no experience yet with cable or StarChoice HD), the programs in true HD normally have an HD prefix in the program name, not just the channel name.