If you are arriving at the blog after watching the story on high definition television, welcome!
I’ve posted a link here to give you some credible information about HDTV and what to consider when you buy a new television.
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-GsVGjcC65zF/learningcenter/home/tv.html
Also, in February of 2009, all broadcast television will switch to a digital signal.
That means your old TV won’t be able to get a signal off the air without a special converter box. The government is going to pay all or part of the cost, if you need to buy one and here’s a link to that information.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/PreparingForTheDTVTransition.pdf
Also, the following email was sent to me by Brad Parsley, of Audio-Video Artistry. He’s an expert on home theatre systems and has some good advice.
Mr. Harper-
I didn’t hear back from you so I figured that our setup wouldn’t be quite right for your story and that’s ok. I did, however, want to just follow up with you on explaining the difference between 720p and 1080i as you never know what kind of information you’re likely to hear. My opinion is that ultimately there is no real difference and that’s the most important thing for the consumer. Dwelling too much on HD resolution is to miss on what you are really buying a television for- the picture quality. Resolution won’t matter near as much as the type of technology, processing ability, and grade of parts used.
First, all sets are required to be compatible with both 720p and 1080i. The way to understand these numbers is to understand frames per second. We’ve all seen a movie filmstrip- 24 still images (24fps) rolling by per second are perceived to our eye as an actual “moving picture”. Television operates at 30 frames per second. With 720p (progressive), 720 horizontal lines of resolution are displayed in each frame every 1/30th of a second. With 1080i, the 1080 lines of horizontal resolution are interlaced, which means every other line is displayed every 1/60th of a second to achieve the standard 30fps. A newer format called 1080p displays all 1080 lines at once but will not be a standard in broadcasts for the foreseeable future.
How do these compare in quality? Virtually no one will see a difference although technically the fact that 1080i is interlaced means that fast motion images (sports) will have motion artifacts that result in jagged edges. Here again, the quality of the set and the way it is set up will have a much greater effect on these types of artifacts. Any good set should be professionally set up with color corrective measuring equipment to really look its best. Most consumer TV sets out of the box have their pictures optimized by their manufacturers to sell in a retail environment. Psychology studies show that people are drawn to the brightest sets when they are looking at 40 different options. For this reason, makers will ramp up all the settings to outshine the tv next to it. This kills the picture quality and introduces displeasing artifacts. People are amazed at the comparison of a tv out of the box and the same model properly calibrated.
You asked about the difference between plasma, lcd, and rear projection (which covers rear projected lcd, dlp, crt, and more). First, don’t buy a set for it’s HD picture!!! Buy the set that looks best with non-hd material. This is the best tip there is. HD will look better than what people have at home on virtually any set. Consequently, they buy for price, get the set home and realize that it looks absolutely horrible for lower resolution pictures. I would imagine that big box retailers get a ton of returns for that very reason. The majority of what we watch on TV (and DVD!) is still not HD. Buy the set that looks best with the worst source you will be viewing on it. Good luck on finding that demo in the retailers though.
Rear projection is chosen when people want a lot of set for little money. They do HD pretty well but non-HD is less than stellar compared to better plasmas and LCD’s. Setup and calibration is critical in getting the most from these sets.
Plasma and LCD are primarily chosen because they save space and provide options for placement in a room that traditional sets could not do. Unlike rear projection, these sets do not have their picture bounced off a mirror so they produce cleaner images with rich color and superior black levels. Plasma will have a smoother picture and deeper blacks. Better plasmas will be the undisputed champs when it comes to non-HD sources. LCD’s will be more resilient if kids (or adults) are playing video games on them. Images don’t burn in like they may with plasma. So, there’s a bit of a trade off. Finally, your viewers may have heard myths regarding plasmas. They don’t need any routine maintenance and their displays have a 60,000 hour half life. That’s 8 hours a day for 20 years! The power supply will give out before the display does.
I hope this information will help with your story in some small way. I think it’s great that you are attempting to educate the public on this and I hope your viewers glean some helpful info from your story. If I can be of any assistance, let me know.
Brad Parsley
Audio Video Artistry
1680 Century Center Parkway, Suite 17
Memphis, TN 38134
cell 901.601.6254
fax 901.373.2461
office 901.373.2444
www.avartistry.com
