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HDTV: Unleash the Possibilities Topics Covered: I Want My HDTV! Home Theater Systems What's All The (Signal to) Noise About? - The Signals What's All The (Signal to) Noise About? - The Sets DLP TV Explained High Definition DVD Recorders and Your PC HDTV and Your PC The Pros and Cons of Plasma, LCD and DLP HDTVs LCD vs Plasma, Pros And More Pros (And a Few Hurdles) 1

HDTV: Unleash the Possibilities I Want My HDTV! For years (or decades, depending on where you start), consumers have been asking, 'Where is it?' about HDTV. Sets that cost thousands of dollars were never going to be adopted by the mass market. Even if you popped for the price tag, the number of sources was minuscule. Unfortunately, also for several years, the industry (or in this case industries, since several are involved), were faced with a dilemma. Manufacturers could, without too much difficulty, produce large quantities of equipment - TV sets, players and recorders, camcorders, etc. But if there was no hope of adequate content to take advantage of them, they wouldn't make the investment. Content producers - filmmakers and studios, TV broadcasters, etc - were not going to go to the expense and trouble to create HD content until there was a large enough audience to buy or watch! In the mix were the government bodies (the U.S. FCC, the UK Radio Authority, etc) who were either making the situation impossible or trying to arbitrate an impossible situation, depending on your point of view. Fortunately for all concerned, many of those hurdles have now been overcome and all systems appear to be go for lift-off on the long-awaited superior pictures and sound. As of July 1, 2006 (in the U.S.), all new 25" or larger sets are required to have digital tuners, or at least be DTV-ready. (By March 1, 2007 the figure reduces to all 13" or larger sets.) Finally, February 17, 2009 has been selected for the cutoff date for analog broadcasts. After that date, you'll either need a digital TV or a converter to receive broadcasts. At the same time, as both cause and consequence, HDTV sets are coming down in price to the mass-market range, and headed further south. Some good quality, large-screen sets are now available for under $2,000. That seems high by today's standards, but less than 10 years ago an ordinary 36" Sony - twice the weight and several times the bulk - used to cost that. HD (high definition) broadcasts are becoming more common. Where only a few years ago there were one or two special broadcasts, there are now several regular programs shown weekly in HD format. And, as often happens, the player/recorder market is now ramping up release for HD equipment. Though saddled with two different formats - HD-DVD and Blu-ray - the new player/recorders have arrived. 2

Content for either HD-DVD or Blu-ray (primarily in the form of Hollywood movies) is thin, but so were DVDs not too many years ago. Now, there is only a small percentage of classic films that are NOT available for DVD, and nearly every new release is available a few months after theatrical runs. Already a dozen films are available in the high definition format. With all the major studios committed to one or both formats, it won't be more than a few years before most films are released that way. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray format players will play ordinary DVDs. So for those who have long been clamoring for crystal clear pictures and stereo sound, it's now time to start looking at those big, flat-screen sets. You can now have your HDTV. Home Theater Systems Many HDTVs do a good job of delivering quality audio, but few in-built speaker systems will satisfy audiophiles. After all, if you've invested in the top-quality image, you'll want to accompany that with the high-end audio possible only with a home theater audio system. The two basic components are a receiver and set of speakers. Home theater receivers are much like standard stereo receivers, but support more channels. Stereo is two-channel, home theater is three or more, usually five to seven. Receivers have to have sufficient output power to drive multiple speakers. Any receiver can play audio loud enough to annoy even hard rock fans. But along with that high volume can come noise inherent in the electronics. To get good volume with noise-free sound requires higher power. Most HDTVs have 10 watt per speaker systems and can't deliver that. Home theater systems have 30 watts or more per channel, often 50 watts or more. All other things being equal, the more the better (up to a point). More power, usually costs more. Receivers will also have to have enough, and enough variety, ports to connect all the devices you'll want to run through them. That includes at least two HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) ports, component, S-video and connectors for the speakers. It can also serve as a FM-tuner, or in some cases a satellite radio receiver. Speaker systems run the gamut from three speaker sets - the bare minimum since otherwise you could just use your stereo system - to seven channels with possibly multiple speakers connected to each channel. Five speakers would form the set for most high end systems: left and right front-channel speakers, left and right surround system speakers and a center-channel speaker. Often, though, a sixth - the sub-woofer - is added. 3

The center channel carries most of the dialogue and the left and right front-channel units provide most of the background and major sound effects. There's considerable overlap in any system between sources, though. Otherwise the system would sound unnatural. The sub-woofer, as the name suggests, carries the very low bass common in a great many modern movies with special effects - jets, crashing buildings, earthquakes... anything that produces very low frequency sound. The surround speakers are generally placed to the side or in back for that 360 degree effect everyone is now used to from movie theaters. They add the 3-D audio realism of bullets zipping by, swirling wind, chirping birds, etc. Though, again, those sounds will come partly from all other speakers, as well. Contemporary HDTV sets don't use an electron gun, so they're not sensitive to the magnets in speaker systems, but it's still a good idea to look for video-shielded systems. Any set will have to be matched, though most manufacturers do a good job of providing seamless integration between all speakers. Even so, it's important to listen to any system you're considering in good testing conditions to ensure it's capable of producing a high-end, realistic audio experience. What's All The (Signal to) Noise About? - The Signals Discussions of HDTV focus mostly on the receiver, which is natural since that's the most visible part. But that receiver has to have something to receive. HDTV sets display 1080 lines of pixels (small, colored rectangles composing the screen), about twice the traditional number. And the screens themselves typically have a 16:9 aspect ratio rather than the standard 4:3. That means, even though the dimensions of the sets vary, the ratio of width to height is always 16 to 9 vs 4 to 3 for standard sets. Behind the scenes, so to speak, other technology is at work. Traditional TV signals were broadcast in analog fashion. Avoiding some complicated physics, that just means the radio waves composing TV signals are wiggled (modulated) in different ways. Those modulations make variations that the set's electronics can process into moving images that look like people, horses, etc. No variation, no moving image. Digital signals, by contrast, make those changes by varying the pattern of 1's and 0's that form every kind of digital source (DVDs, TV, MP3, etc). Whether the signal is delivered over the air via satellite transmitters and receivers, via cable or even into your PC or TV via DVD player or over the Internet the basic idea is the same. Make a changing pattern of 1's and 0's and translate that into a series of moving images to create the illusion of real people riding real horses. 4

There are several advantages (and a few hurdles) to using that method. One advantage just hinted at is the ability to transmit movies to PCs. That's becoming ever more popular since, among other things, it enables people to see more kinds of content on their PC - such as movies from a library on a pay-per-view basis. People aged 16-24 throughout the world now spend more time on a PC than they do watching TV. Another is the ability to deliver not just better quality images, but vastly better sound. Though it's long been possible to hook up your TV to your stereo, the sound broadcast wasn't always worth the effort. Now Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is commonly broadcast along with standard HDTV video signals, making the investment in a full home entertainment center much more attractive. Digital broadcasts will, in the long run, lower broadcasters costs. Currently, they're supporting two different technologies. That eats into revenue that could be used elsewhere. Converting to digital-only broadcasts (currently scheduled for 2009) enables them to invest more in programming content and other things consumers want. Digital broadcasts make it much more feasible to eliminate different kinds of interference. Though with cable and DVD many of the older problems with TV are history, such as snowy or rolling pictures, digital broadcasts eliminate even more sources of trouble. And, of course, last but not least, high-definition digital broadcasts allow sending signals with much more 'information', feeding those HDTV sets that can display those impressive pictures of people riding horses. What's All The (Signal to) Noise About? - The Sets Look closely at your TV screen and you'll see that the image is made up of many little colored rectangles, spaced slightly apart. HDTV, in effect, squeezes more of them onto the screen closer together and changes the shape of the screen. A (very) little Physics Standard TVs themselves rely on clever physics. Shoot electrons (small, charged particles) from a 'gun' at the back of a screen to illuminate the little rectangles, called pixels. Old sets used phosphor, which would glow briefly after being hit. Now various methods are used. So what good does that do? Paper clips aren't the only thing magnets can push around. They can push electrons, too. Take a pair of magnets, one on each side, and vary the strength so that the electrons move in a curve. Otherwise they all would hit the screen in one spot. Do that to illuminate 480 lines of pixels on a screen four units wide by 3 units high. Do that many times per second and change the intensity and color just right to create the illusion of 5

real-life motion. That's standard TV. 4:3 is the 'aspect ratio'. No matter the TV's dimensions, the ratio of width to height is 4 to 3. Now, increase the number of lines to 1080 and change the aspect ratio to 16:9. That's High Definition TV, HDTV. So, what's 'digital' about that? Standard TV broadcasts send the radio waves they consist of in analog fashion. They wiggle (modulate) the signal to provide changes that the set's electronics can process into images. Digital signals instead use a changing pattern of 1's and 0's, just like computers. The result is an image with much higher resolution, less fuzzy, fewer sharp corners in parts of the picture ('jaggies') and overall a better looking display. If you've ever seen an HDTV set with a good signal, and by now most people have, the difference really is striking. The results are clearer pictures, sharper, more realistic colors and a look that's much closer to the 35mm film resolution on which most movies were originally shot. There are a few commonly-added features - not strictly part of the HDTV standard - that improve the experience even more. Most HDTV sets support 5.1 Dolby stereo, for sound of the type you'd expect from a good stereo system. Home theater systems take advantage of that and add multiple speakers to provide movie theater-style audio coverage. Different manufacturers offer different frame rates and techniques for 'painting' the screen. A 'frame rate' is the number of times per second the gun moves completely across the screen. Anywhere from 25 to 60 frames per second. The 'painting' is done by moving the gun from top to bottom, in one or two passes. When it's done in two passes, the gun skips every other line, then comes back and does the skipped lines. That's 'interlacing'. In 'progressive' systems all the lines are illuminated in one pass. For example, 1080i50 is equivalent to 1920 x 1080 pixels, interlaced, projecting 50 fields (25 frames) per second. The visual results of the different frame rates and of using 'i' vs 'p' methods is often debated. In general a higher frame rate results in a smoother looking image. Interlacing helps to reduce flicker under certain conditions. The bottom line for the consumer is: watch the different sets under good lighting conditions and use a good signal source, such as a quality DVD or digital broadcast. Those conditions aren't always easy to find, but it's worth the effort, considering the cost and number of years you'll use the TV. 6

DLP TV Explained Conventional TVs (CRTs) project electrons in a series of lines across the back of the screen, usually by 'painting' every other line, then starting over and illuminating the other half. DLPs (Digital Light Processing) have no electron gun. Instead, the image is formed by shining tiny lights onto a million or more miniature mirrors that tilt 'on' or 'off' a thousand times per second. The light is passed through a color wheel, filtering it into red, green and blue then shone onto the DLP chip. The DLP chip at the heart of the system is a proprietary technology invented by TI engineer Dr. Larry Hornbeck in 1987 and marketed by Texas Instruments starting in 1996. All color combinations are produced from these three. The rapid 'switching' has the potential to cause a kind of visual 'flutter', but most good sets no longer suffer from that drawback. The signals are then converted into an image projected onto the rear of the screen. DLPs paint the screen in one of two different ways - progressive or interlaced. 'Interlacing' consists of drawing every other line (like CRTs), 'progressive' scanning hits them all in one pass. The result is two different specifications for DLPs ñ p or i, following the number of lines making up the screen, 720 or 1,080. There are 480p sets, but they're not recommended for anyone willing to spend the money for an HDTV set. Add to that already complicated picture the variation in resolution created by differing numbers of pixels. For example, 1366 x 768 resolution means: 1,366 times 768 = 1,049,088 pixels, 1920 x 1080 = 2,072,600. More pixels, better resolution (all other things being equal, which they rarely are). The major TV networks already show many programs in 1080i format and 1080p is anticipated in the near future. The final major element determining quality is the ability of the set to 'convert up or down'. Most sources (DVDs, commercial broadcasts, etc) don't fit neatly into the numbers shown above. For example, films are shown in 24 frames per second, video in 30 frames per second. Some electronic wizardry has to be performed to get them to match without the picture looking odd. How well the set does that - and several other kinds of internal - conversion has a large effect on the resulting visual quality. DLP HDTVs can produce a crisp, realistic looking image with no motion blur and excellent color fidelity. Gamers, sports fans and anyone who wants an unbelievably sharp picture should test view some sets. They are often less costly than other HDTV sets, such as LCD and plasmas, and (with the micro-projector type) don't suffer from burn-in problems. Contrast ratios for a quality set are in the range of 12000:1, putting it at the top of the list for this important criterion. Unlike some plasmas and LCD sets, there's no 'screen door' effect, thanks to the mirrors being spaced less than a micron apart. 7

Digital Light Processing is a rear-projection technology that - in most commercial sets today - ranges in size from 40" to 80". They frequently have replaceable lamps, with a lamp life of 2,000-3,000 hours or more. The systems can theoretically reproduce many millions more colors than the human eye can discern, and over a thousand shades of gray. The result is excellent color and shading realism in a large (near) flat-panel display. High Definition DVD Recorders and Your PC Most consumers aren't satisfied to simply display broadcast or pre-recorded material. Since the advent of inexpensive VCRs in the 1980s viewers have expected to be able to record material for later playback or permanent storage. DVD recorders brought that capability in-line with the quality possible with DVD. Panasonic and others have several models with either hard drive or DVD-RAM/DVD-R/DVD-RW capability or both. The next logical step, since the internal technology is nearly identical in many cases, is to extend that functionality to and from the PC. Not long after that, the goal will be to connect the PC to the new HDTV and high definition players and recorders. Whether digital photos or video, or full Hollywood movies, users want to be able to transfer and use content anywhere within the home. With the ubiquity of the Internet, they also want to be able to access and display that content on the road on a laptop, in a hotel or at work or someone else's home. Thanks to advances in all the relevant technology, as well as leading edge business arrangements, that's now all possible. The long-promised convergence between TV, PC and the Internet is finally becoming a practical, affordable reality. Hot on the heels of the new HDTVs, with ever lower prices, and the new high definition DVD players from Toshiba (HD-DVD), Samsung (Blu-ray) and others comes Blu-ray RECORDABLE devices. That there's at least one Blu-ray recorder on (or soon to be on) the market shouldn't be too surprising. Sony has had a Blu-ray recorder on sale for two years. The near $3,000 cost (as they expected) kept it from any kind of mass-market adoption, but it no doubt helped them shake down the bugs. Apart from that somewhat exotic offering, Sony is bringing out a laptop in their Vaio line that will have a Blu-ray player built in. At $3,600 it's pricey, but it does offer a 17in screen, making it viable for serious video folks who have to be on the road. 8

Connecting the laptop to an HDTV is as easy as obtaining a HDTV card, such as ATI's Wonder card. With a simple software installation and the use of a special cable, the PC connects to the component or HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) connectors on the set. Expect an Ethernet connection that does more than just transfer firmware to the HDTV before too long. AMEX recently announced their Digital MPC-505BD Media Center PC with Blu-ray recorder. No price has been set, but the Windows Media Edition-enabled device can actually record onto Bluray DVDs. The unit offers 7.1 channel audio and a hybrid analog/digital DVB-T TV tuner. It also houses a full terabyte (that's one thousand twenty-four gigabytes) of hard disk storage. It is, in effect, a Blu-ray DVD player/recorder and PC in one that can be connected to a HDTV. The future has arrived. HDTV and Your PC Several companies have long been promising the convergence of the PC and the TV. Their promises are finally becoming a practical reality. While mostly the younger set will want to watch movies on their PC, the prospect of connecting the two and sharing content is potentially attractive to anyone. PC monitors and TVs traditionally projected images in entirely different ways. But as digital broadcasting, DVD and other media grew the differences diminished. Though there remain many dissimilarities under the covers, it's much easier now to mask those. Several TV networks now offer a variety of popular TV shows as downloads over the Internet. Disney, for example, provides some content exclusively found on the web and it's free. Other producers have made arrangements for episodes to be available the day after TV broadcast, sometimes for a subscription fee. Finally, with the advent of large screen LCD and plasma panels, the differences between a TV and a computer monitor have been reduced in some cases to how the unit is connected and what software drives the display. Most HDTV panels have one or more methods for connecting to your PC. Some have RGB (red-green-blue) connectors of the type familiar to anyone who has hooked up a stereo. Cables run from the front or back of the TV into either the VGA connector on your PC's graphic card or into a similar connector on a HDTV card. Another method involves connecting a VGA-to-component cable between the PC and the HDTV's component ports. In that setup the graphics card in the PC usually goes to a standard monitor, with a HDTV card providing the interface between the PC and your HDTV. 9

Either setup allows viewers to display digital photos or video on the HDTV. But there's more. To expand on that capability a card, such as ATI's HDTV card, can be used to receive over-the-air HDTV broadcasts. Most homeowners have cable or satellite, but broadcasters still do what their name suggests: broadcast TV over the air. As time goes on, more and more of that content is in the form of high definition TV. Several popular shows, and many sports events, are now regularly shown in HD format. Installing the ATI HDTV Wonder card and connecting it to your HDTV is simple and relatively inexpensive. The card retails for around $120. The limitation is you can only receive and display over-the-air material. The card is NOT a method for bypassing the cable or satellite companies' pay-for-play offerings. More expensive, but more full-featured, options are available. For example, NEC has recently announced their ValueStar product. Combining a HDTV, a DVR (digital video recorder, ala Tivo) and a PC in one, it retails for about $2,800. Lastly, several of the newer HDTV sets, as well as the new HD players (HD-DVD or Blu-ray) have an in-built Ethernet connector. Currently, its use is primarily for firmware upgrades to the TV or player, but that's likely to change over the next two years. Several vendors are promising movies and more shuttled between the PC and the HDTV, to the point that the distinction - after all these years - may finally, truly, disappear. The Pros and Cons of Plasma, LCD and DLP HDTVs HDTV expands consumer choices from the traditional CRT and rear projection. To these, now vastly improved, types it adds Plasma, LCD/LCoS and DLP. All have their strong points and drawbacks. CRT Traditional CRT (Cathode Ray Tube or 'direct view') works by shooting electrons at a screen. The electrons from the gun get pushed around by magnets, 'painting' the screen by illuminating lines of pixels (short for 'picture elements'). In the case of HDTV there are commonly 1,080 lines and the entire screen is formed from 1920 by 1280 pixels. There are lots of varieties, including those with only 720 lines and smaller numbers of pixels. Newer HDTV-style CRT models offer the same great pictures - deep, sharp blacks, excellent contrast, even richer and more realistic looking color, along with the enhanced resolution of HDTV. Better resolution translates to a sharper picture. Those traditional strengths come with some trade-offs. CRT tubes can only be made so thin before the edges of the picture become fuzzy. Though some current sets have shallow tubes, they are still deeper than flat panel TVs. Even shallow tubes are around 14" deep. 10

The largest screens are limited to about 38". And the larger the CRT, the heavier and bulkier they become. Most CRTs are at least 20" (51cm) deep and weigh up to 200lbs (91kg). Plasma One of the cleverest design ideas, plasma TVs produce an image by passing a current through a gas held between two glass screens. The electricity causes the gas to glow in a way similar to fluorescent tubes. The screen size generally starts where CRTs leave off at 38", and can be as large as 62". Most are made in 'thin-profile' style, only a few inches deep. They're both lightweight and thin (relatively), making it possible to hang them on the wall. You can recreate the movie theater atmosphere and free up floor space. But, though prices have fallen in the last year, they are still on the high side and quality is very mixed. Good sets will still cost upwards of $5,000 or more. Even then, contrast ratios (the difference between dark and light across the screen) are rarely as good as a high-quality CRT. Newer models have less difficulty with burn-in. 'Burn-in' results when a static image, such as the broadcaster's logo, stays on the screen for long periods. The image then never fades. Still, consumers need to be wary. Nevertheless, spend enough and you'll get one of the most spectacular pictures available in a large screen. LCD/LCoS Liquid Crystal Display (or Liquid Crystal on Silicon) TVs operate much the way a laptop or flatpanel computer monitor screen does. It passes current through a series of rectangles. Most TVs, though, suffer from the same problems as monitors. Blacks aren't black enough, contrast isn't high enough and viewing is generally limited to a smaller angle than other types. But in the more costly models, most of these problems have been overcome to a large degree. Picture quality can be outstanding and they don't suffer from burn-in problems. DLP Digital Light Processing is a rear-projection technology that - in most commercial sets today - ranges in size from 40" to 80". They frequently have replaceable lamps and offer excellent picture quality in a flat-panel arrangement. They are often less costly than other HD sets and (with the micro-projector type) don't suffer from burn-in problems. Fortunately for those considering an HDTV purchase, prices have fallen over the last year and continue on a downward trend. But don't wait too long. By Feb 17, 2009 all broadcasters will 11

discontinue analog (standard TV) broadcasts and switch completely to digital. Sometime before that happens, prices are likely to spike. LCD vs Plasma, Pros And More Pros (And a Few Hurdles) Digital LCD screens first became popular several years ago when they were introduced as lighter, slimmer alternatives to CRT computer monitors. The differences were dramatic. When used to form a HDTV they're even more so. LCDs produce an image by projecting a light onto a series of 'liquid' crystals sandwiched between glass rectangles. Those crystals can pass or block light as they twist internally. Not really a fluid, the term comes from the fact that the crystals can twist easily when subjected to an electrical current. Varying the voltage changes the amount of twist, which results in more or less of the rear-projected light being blocked. That curious bit of physics gives LCDs their great advantages and introduces some hurdles for manufactures trying to produce great pictures at affordable prices. The rectangles making up the screen are arranged in rows of pixels ('picture elements') and are actually composed of three, colored sub-pixels set side-by-side. That close spacing and the precise control of twist allows designers to produce an image with great resolution, accurate color reproduction and astounding clarity. Since every pixel contains the three colors needed - red, green and blue - to form any perceivable color, LCD sets can produce a very realistic color image. But doing so requires that 'behind-the-scenes' the pixels filter the white fluorescent backlight projected onto them. That arrangement leads inherently to attractive, bright images that plasma type sets can't quite match. However, as sets age, that backlight can dim or change color, reducing their advantage. Some sets offer the option of replacing the backlight, but that can be expensive. Current models have good lifetimes, though, and by the time it becomes a problem many will be looking to replace the set with the latest technology. LCDs retain that bright, clear image better than most plasmas even under varying light conditions. Both types perform well in darkened rooms, but LCDs have a slight advantage under brighter conditions and more room arrangements. Inherently anti-glare, these sets look great in almost anyone's setup. For several years, plasma dominated the upper reaches of size, while LCD often outperformed in the smaller (13" to 37") range. With improved technology, both types do well, with LCDs now available as large as 65". Though, of course, you pay a premium for the larger size. During those same years, plasmas held the advantage in viewing angle. The nature of LCD panels makes them lose some contrast and the ability to project deep blacks as the viewer moves to the side. Images can look gray and 'washed-out'. Even colors can shift subtly. 12

Current sets have reduced that problem to a minimum so that under most viewing conditions it will be unnoticeable. For several years 130 degrees was about the best one could hope for, but 160 degrees or more is common today. That covers a field that would satisfy just about any normal setup. LCDs offer a wide range of uses. In the morning they may serve as a great looking computer monitor, in the afternoon as a game console and in the evening make a first-rate HDTV set. Older models struggled with motion blur (games and some films or shows require 12-15ms response times to avoid streaking), but current offerings have largely overcome that limitation. The playing field for LCD and plasma has leveled to a significant extent the last few years. Today, except for the extreme sizes, the choice comes down primarily to price, reliability and that ever elusive 'best picture' quality. Be sure to 'test drive' any set you consider under good lighting conditions with a quality source. 13

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