MY TECH
More to buying HDTV than the price
Experts recommend comparing picture quality in both high
and regular definition
Alex L. Goldfayn
Published March 20, 2006
Shopping for an HDTV can feel like learning a new language.
A recent review on Cnet.com, for example, featured horrible
phrases like black levels, native resolution, color temperatures,
full calibration, red push, grayscale variation, overscan, DC
restoration and defeatable-edge enhancement.
Nobody should have to learn what these words mean. Is it
necessary when shopping for a high-definition television?
Two leading experts say no.
And they offer the following practical and sometimes surprising
advice for when you decide it's time to buy a high-definition
television.
- Most of today's HDTVs have excellent but similar displays.
David Katzmaier, senior editor at San Francisco-based Cnet.com,
explained it this way:
"There are a lot of complex factors. But one thing to keep in
mind is a lot of these TVs are very similar. The general difference
in picture quality between them all are relatively subt le."
So what affects a television's picture quality most?
"The source," Katzmaier said, meaning whether the television
channel is broadcasting in high definition. "The fact that it's a
high-definition source is the main thing that will make the picture
look good."
- When you're shopping, compare scenes that are heavy on motion.
What's the best way to pick out a high-definition TV?
"Just look at the picture," said Mike Abt said, president of
Glenview-based Abt Electronics. "It is going to go in your house,
and you're the one who has to enjoy the TV."
But Abt added to make sure that you're comparing moving pictures
when you're checking out televisions.
"The news, for example, doesn't have much action, and it's hard
to judge a TV that way. So you want to watch baseball players
throwing a ball, or racecars going around. You want to see
movement."
- Perhaps surprisingly, non-HD content is often disappointing on
HDTVs.
If having a high-definition source most determines picture
quality, what happens to the picture quality when displaying non-HD
programming?
"If you're watching a non-HD source on an HDTV, you'll be
disappointed," Katzmaier said. "Mainly because it's a lot bigger
than you're used to. If you blow up a lower-quality source to a
large size, it'll be disappointing."
Abt agrees wholeheartedly: "I personally have people look at all
the different signals before they buy a TV."
He added that some customers have been very disappointed with
the regular-definition programming on their new high-definition TV.
"Non-HD programming could easily have looked better on your old
TV than on the new HDTV," Abt said. "And you just paid triple the
price of your old TV.
"In fact, my favorite HDTV brand has an embarrassing picture on
analog."
The lesson: Before you buy an HDTV, make sure the salesperson
shows you the high-definition picture and the regular-definition
picture.
- The details on size, price and flat panels.
The demarcation point between a flat-panel TV and a larger
projection set is right at 50 inches.
"If you're going to get a TV larger than 50 inches, your only
option is a projection TV," Katzmaier said. "Smaller than 50
inches, you're going to want a flat TV."
The difference in price between the two is remarkably small
today, said Katzmaier.
"It's only a $500 to $1,000 premium to get a 50-inch plasma
instead of a projection."
But today's projection sets are not your father's
stand-on-the-floor TVs.
The popular digital light processing (or DLP) sets, for example,
are much less bulky than earlier types. And they require a stand or
a wall-unit entertainment center.
So does a flat-panel television, unless you're going to mount it
on the wall. If that's the case, expect to pay an additional $1,000
or so for an electrician's services (the TV needs electricity, and
those ugly black wires need to run behind the wall) and the mount
itself.
-alex@technologytailor.com
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Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Get a clear picture on HDTV terminology By Don
LindichQ: I have a Toshiba HDTV with a 1080p display. Does it
convert the 480p signal from my progressive-scan DVD player to
1080p? Do I gain anything from an up-converting a DVD player (such
as the Oppo 971) if my Toshiba is already outputting a 1080p
display? In any event, I'm very happy with the picture.
Bob Kuhn, Minneapolis
A: Any signal going into your TV will be converted to 1080p for
display. More on this later, but first, some background for the
rest of our readers.
Numbers such as 1080p, 1080i and 480p refer to screen resolution.
The number is the lines of resolution; the higher the number, the
better the picture quality. Resolutions of 480 are standard
definition television, the format we have been watching for many
years. Figures of 720 and 1080 are HDTV quality.
The i and p refer to scanning, either interlaced and progressive.
Interlaced scan draws the picture in two separate, interlaced
fields. This happens very quickly, so to the viewer it looks like a
single image. Progressive scan draws the entire picture in a single
pass, producing superior picture quality than interlaced,
especially with fast-moving subjects such as sports. This is one
reason ABC and ESPN (daughter company of ABC) chose 720p for their
HDTV broadcast format.
The most common figures you will see given for TV and DVD players
are 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and, lately, 1080p. The 720p, 1080i and
1080p were specified when the new HDTV format was developed.
The 1080p specification of your Toshiba is tops. It combines the
highest lines of resolution with progressive scanning.
Standard-definition TV only has a 480i specification; the 480p came
later with the advent of HDTV. When HDTVs were introduced, they
supported higher scan rates that allowed them to reproduce a 480p
image.
Realizing the potential for better image quality, electronics
manufacturers developed progressive-scan DVD players. These players
take the picture information from the DVD and digitally convert it
into a progressive-scan image before sending it to the TV, yielding
a better picture.
Whatever signal is fed to your TV will have to be converted to
1080p for display, its native display rate. If you feed it an
analog 480p signal from a DVD player, it will be upconverted by the
TV to 1080p. It will still look great, but some picture quality may
be lost. It is usually better to do up-conversion in the player
instead of the TV.
An upconverting DVD player takes the progressive-scan DVD player a
step further. Instead of simply assembling the 480-line picture
progressively, it converts it to an HDTV resolution such as 720p or
1080i before sending it to the TV. It does not create an HDTV
image, but if the upconversion is done well, you will get a better
picture than you would with a 480p DVD player. If this upconversion
is not done well, it will have picture defects and may look much
worse than a standard 480p image. Not all players do upconversion
well, and some have been noticeably bad, one of several reasons I
recommend the Oppo so strongly. It's only $200, has proven to be a
top-grade performer, and is very well supported by the
manufacturer. Though it outputs 1080i and not 1080p, I do think it
will yield a better image than your 480p progressive scan player
and is worth the investment. You can see it at www.oppodigital.com.
Now for your 1080p Toshiba. As I noted before, the 1080p
specification is the best available. However, no 1080p video
sources exist to feed it a 1080p signal, so everything coming in
will be converted to 1080p. As you have noted, it looks great and
you are happy. Fact is, most people are happy with their HDTV
picture, be it 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. Well-done HDTV in any form
looks magnificent, and more variations in picture quality will be
seen between different models of TVs than the display
resolution.
I think we get obsessed with number crunching sometimes. When
shopping, don't choose a HDTV based on numbers, but by looking at
the picture it produces.
Don Lindich is the creator of the "Digital Made Easy" series of
books. Submit your audio, video and digital photography questions
to
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1 year report card on HDTV
It's been a year since I became the proud owner of my first HDTV so
I figure it's time for a report card, for the benefit of all those
folks out there who haven't taken the high-definition plunge just
yet.
Lots of them are probably wondering: "Is it worth
it?" " Does HDTV really look that much better?" And perhaps, most
important: "Why should I spend so much for one of these things when
there still isn't much HD programming?"
The answers: Yes. Yes. There's enough HD
programming now to make it worthwhile.
Sure, a good HDTV is probably going to set you back
at least $2000. Maybe a lot more, especially if you just have to
have plasma or can't live without a giant 60-inch screen.
But if you really enjoy TV, or just watching DVDs,
an HDTV is worthwhile.
That's because HDTVs represent a quantum leap in
picture quality over the best analog TVs (those are the regular old
TVs most of us have been using for years). The level of detail in
HD is simply remarkable. On the very best HD programs, it's utterly
lifelike. Sharper than the sharpest movie you have ever seen in a
theater. It's pretty amazing. I'm still impressed by some shows,
even after a year of living with HDTV.
And if you are a sports nut, you should run, not
walk, to buy an HDTV. It brings sports to an entirely new level --
not only because of the sharper picture but because of the
widescreen format. Football and basketball, in particular, look
totally different on an HDTV because you can see so much more of
what is going on. You might not think the wider screen would make
that much of a difference but it does.
Yeah, there could be more HD programming. And some
HD shows are better than others. But nearly all of the major
networks broadcast HD in prime time, when most people watch. And
most major sports events are in HD.
What's perhaps most surprising -- to me anyway --
is that I am this enthusiastic about HDTV. I have to admit I was a
bit skeptical before I finally took the plunge, wondering if I
would regret it later. I have not.
So if you have the money and have any interest in
upgrading your TV, I'd say go for it. Just make sure you do your
research first so you understand the different HD display
technologies and what's required to get HD signals where you live
-- either over the air, via cable or satellite.
Posted by Tony Briggs on March 20, 2006 01:00 PM | Permalink
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