I bought a 42' LCD TV and I am using analog cable and the picture is horrible?

Question

If I get a digital box will the picture improve?

Answer 1

Yes. In fact its even worse then watching on a normal analog TV because your TV doesn't display the analog picture natively, it has to convert it to be shown on it's native resolution. Anytime you convert a signal it loses quality. Then of course, a larger screen only magnifies the poor picture.

A digital box will improve things. But better than that is sign up for HDTV service through your cable company. Then your TV will look much better.

Answer 2

Cable and Satellite TV, although digital, are so compressed that the resolution quality is terrible even though it is shown at 480p. Your TV is made for resolutions of 720p/1080i and 1080p. Over the air broadcasts are only 480i. A old CRT TV will ALWAYS look better with signals below 720p. They are made to process low quality images to their finest. A HDTV is made to process high quality images at their best. When a HDTV recieves an analog signal it must "fill in" all of the unused pixels the best it can.

If you have an antenna hooked up from your old TV try using that. Set your TV to air (not cable). The new remote controls have a dot (period) on the number pad. Let's say that NBC is channel 12 for you, ok, enter the number as 12.1, this should be the digital version of the station.

If you don't have an outdoor antenna spend the bucks on HD service from your cable or satellite provider.

Answer 3

Yes, it will improve but not by a great deal. The issue is that the TV you have bought is designed for watching HD programming. The 42" screen size, is causing your screen to pixelate theh image - this will still happen with Digital TV, but it won't be as bad.

The only way to fix it 100% is to get a HD package.

Answer 4

yes, but also, buy a better tv