The Clicker: HDTV buying - Part I, the basics
posted Feb 24th 2005 5:54PM
Each week Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, a weekly column on television. Last week he demystified the Broadcast Flag, this week he's giving you the rundown on the basics of buying an HDTV:Before we begin I must do some housekeeping. More to the point - I must offer a heartfelt apology. After last week's column my inbox was filled to the brim with e-mails chastising me for what some perceived to be a rather glib comment regarding Bea Arthur. I apologize. I, like so many of you out there, cherish Bea. Ms. Arthur (with the help of the other Golden Girls) wistfully doled out sage advice. It's safe to say that without her weekly dose of sensible guidance I would have turned out to be a different person today.
Knowing that I would soon be starting a series of columns discussing HDTV displays, I recently e-mailed Bea. "What should consumers be looking for in an HDTV display?" I asked. Her response, while short, was as poignant as "Plastics." (See: The Graduate) "What," you ask, "was it?" One word – Color.
You can't beat that logic! While Bea might be right, I thought that over the next couple of weeks we would go just a little further into different HDTV technologies. This week we'll be talking about some of the common components of HDTVs and why each is important. Then, in the following weeks, we'll discuss different types of displays. So, let's get started.
You've decided to buy an HDTV. Congratulations! Now it's time for you to make a whole bunch of
decisions.
First, how are you going to get your HDTV signal? Will you be using the over-the-air (OTA) signal? Will
you be using a satellite service? Or is cable your delivery method of choice?
The answers to the above questions have a profound effect on the type of features you're looking for.
Let's start with the basic scenario: you're a basic end user. You want to be able to stick an antenna on top of
your TV and ... well ... watch HDTV. You don't want an external set-top box (STB), and you don't want cable or
satellite. Let's also assume that you've done your due-diligence and you're sure that you have adequate signal
for all the channels (hints on OTA reception can be found
here).
You would think that the basic situation would be the easiest to conquer. Unfortunately that's not the
case. Many, if not the majority, of the high-definition TVs wouldn't work for you. Unlike standard
televisions, not all high-definition TVs have high-definition tuners. Some are merely considered HD-ready.
This means that the television is capable of displaying the picture, but you must feed it an already decoded
signal. Historically there are two main reasons for the lack of HD tuning. First, manufacturers feel that
consumers will eventually get their signal from cable and, for the most part, the tuner would be useless in that
scenario. They, in turn, cut the tuner to save some money. Second, many displays (e.g. plasmas) are
technically monitors and, as such, aren't subject to some of the same regulations as televisions.
In any case, if that were truly your only usage scenario, all you would need is an HDTV display that comes with a
tuner. However, most people are going to need more. Most people are going to want ESPNHD, DiscoveryHD, etc.
In short, most people are going to want either cable or satellite. In steps STBs (set-top-boxes), cables,
connectors, and slots, which is what we're really talking about this week.
For the meantime we're going to disregard Digital Cable Ready (DCR) TVs and assume that you'll be using an STB
tuner. It's not that DCR HDTV isn't a great concept. You'd be hard-pressed to find a stronger advocate for Open
Cable than I. However, its true strength is that it opens up the market for TiVo, MCE, etc. (we'll be talking
about DCR in a future column).
There are four standard methods for connecting a cable box to an HDTV: Component Video, DVI, HDMI, and Firewire.
You're probably already familiar with component video; it's the granddaddy of HDTV connectors. With component,
three wires (Y, Pb, Pr) carry an analog signal to your TV. This signal is raw (i.e. decoded) and very
large. There is rarely any encryption on this signal, but that doesn't matter because the equipment needed to
digitize the stream is too expensive for consumer-grade equipment.
DVI (Digital Visual Interface) and HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) are two very similar
technologies. Like component, both DVI and HDMI carry a raw signal to the television. However, unlike
component, they carry their signal digitally. (As a general rule, it's better to keep a signal digital for as
long as possible because of crosstalk, attentuation, and interference.)
There are two differences between DVI and HDMI. First, HDMI uses a more compact connector. Second, and
more importantly, HDMI carries both the video and the audio signal. At first this might sound like a great
idea. However, in practice, it's only a marginal improvement. Most consumers want a surround-sound
environment. Since the TV can't handle that, it's not an advantage to have audio on the same cable. Both also
give you the advantage of hooking your TV up to your computer (pending, of course, that it has DVI-out, and you happen
to have a DVI-to-HDMI adapter, if necessary).
Much more important than whether your TV offers the DVI connector or the HDMI connector is whether or not that
connection is HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) compatible. If you recall in last week's column we
talked about "authorized technologies" for the broadcast
flag. Well, it's about to pop up here again. For the same reason that consumers love a digital signal
(i.e. no degradation), content providers fear it. HDCP is considered an authorized protection technology.
This means that the digital signal is encrypted between the source and the television. It's also likely that, in
the future, certain devices will refuse to send the signal to your television without HDCP.
The last connection type, Firewire, is a little bit different. All the protocols send their signal in raw form,
but this is not the case with Firewire. Instead, Firewire sends the actual MPEG2 stream. As such, the
Firewire data stream is much smaller (19.2 Mbps for most HD content). This connection relies on the display
device to decode the information. While not as common as the other types, Firewire is essential if you're looking
to archive your data to DVHS.
There are clearly many other things to consider when looking at HDTV. However, my time is up, and I'm sure that
this discussion will continue in the comments section. Next week: display technologies.
Until then, save my seat!
Two issues delay my buying a HDTV today.
1) 1080P WILL be the standard and my TV needs it to last 10 years of life. (DVD etc)
2) Not enough programs today to justify the expense of buying a 720P set in the interim.
I guess there is a third.
3) Cost of sets falling 25% per year so a 1080P set should become "reasonable" by 2006.
Wow, no discussion of display types and the topic is "HDTV buying, the basics" I'm shocked.
Clicker,
HDCP is not High Definition Content Protocol, it's High bandwidth Data Content Protection.
Remember, it's the thing that protects Hollywood from us...
Watching media at 1080p will be like watching a play from the wings. It will kill the magic.
It's great for working with the original material for scaling though.
Ten years later though, and you may be right.
Does anyone know of a good site for understanding what each company offers in a table format so you can do a good comparison of each of their offerings in relation to one another for each of these features.
one thing? COLOUR! you colonials and your funny spelling...
There's a hard enough time getting 1080i content, 1080P is not going to be much of a jump, and by the time there is a steady stream of it we'll be on to the next-gen HD stuff that they can all ready film.
Some alternative expansions of "HDCP":
Hollywood-Defined Cartel Protectionism
Hollywood Dreading Content Pilfering
Hollywood Diddling Consumers Proactively
Hardware Dead, Can't Play
Hollywood Defining Consumer Possessions
Hollywood's Duping Circumvention Ploy
Hoping Digital Circumvention Phlounders
Jean-Michel,
Are you sure that's right? I've also seen High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection. In either case, clearly I was wrong. Truth be told -- even I need to look up what some of the acronyms stand for. It looks like I wasn't paying much attention when I pasted that one in there.
Cheers,
Steve
When can I get the ultimate freakin display. A super OLED display.
I've read your last three columns at least and thing's just seem muddier now than they did before. By the way the broadcast flag is dead since the court of appeals ruled that the FCC can't dictate how devices function.
wait a minute. i thought hdtvs were already 1080p. whats the 720 talk about? i thought it was 720i/1080p. isnt that waht most tvs are on the market right now?
you've got it backwards, #12. it's 720p/1080i.
#1: i don't see why 1080p "WILL be the standard." most stuff isn't even shot in 720p yet.
Just buy a ATI HD Video Card for $199, and volla, instant HD on your already very capable computer monitor. This thing comes with an antenna and remote too! The best and most HD content is FREE, over the air. But hurry, these will be available after July 1st this year!
Oops! I meant they may NOT be availalbe after July 1.
Part 1: The Connections. The Basics? Too broad a title considering the content.
While I'm sure all this copyright protection crap is an enjoyable talking point, the real challenge with HDTV in my experience is receiving a good signal, OTA or via cable. I currently have two HDTVs, both sony, one integrated and one not. Both OTA only in a metro area (FYI: OTA HD content looks vastly better than cable, and is really as good as it gets). I'd like some discussion on the receivers/STB, because it seems like that is the achilles heel of my non-integrated set, with frequent lock ups and dropped signals. My integrated (and 2 years newer) set pulls in a much better signal. Each TV uses it's own rooftop antenna, after two years of fiddling, splitting, attic mounts, trips to radioshack, research, etc etc
"1080P WILL be the standard and my TV needs it to last 10 years of life."
Except that it isn't, and it won't be. The day a broadcaster decides to broadcast in 1080p, or a DVD maker decides to encode a DVD to it, is the day millions of HDTV owners howl in anger as their TV's no longer work. So, this will never happen. Because 1080p is not an ATSC HDTV standard, and there is no requirement that any TV support it (even downconverted to 1080i).
It may be that someday the majority of TV's will upconvert 1080i signals to 1080p. And you may see some improvement in the picture that way. But to say you "need" 1080p now to "futureproof" your set is just not correct. You will never "need" 1080p, because there will never be native 1080p video content.
Unless you want to play games or something on your HDTV... it's always possible that the next generation of game consoles will support (though obviously not require) 1080p natively, and PC's can display 1080p natively right now.
Jeff,
You're corrent that you would never *need* it. However, a couple points a) 1080p *is* one of the standards (actually 2 of the standards 24fps and 30fps) and b) there is already some 1080p content out there in the form of WMVHD. With that said, 1080i and 720p will be the broadcast standards for quite some time to come.
Cheers,
Steve
I just bought a 50" Samsung DLP, their 3rd gen set. If you're in the market for something, be sure to take a look at it. I have never been a fan of projection sets, but this one has a 160 degree viewing angle, and the color is amazing. Contrast isn't as good as a tune set, speaking as soeone who uses high end displays all day long, I am very happy with it. HD channels looks amazing, especially HBO.
I found it to be better than all of the lower/mid priced plasma and LCD sets. Size wise, it's about twice as thick as a plasma. At 50" mine only weighs 80Lbs. It has DVI, Component and HDMI. They go for about $2500.
WMVHD supports 1080p so there would be things to watch right now. Also with the power of computers today scaling 1080i to 1080p will happen sooner then you think.
For your display technologies report, could you spend a little more time on CRT based HDTVs? This is probably the most overlooked and undersold area of HDTV. [Feel free to use any ideas/words that see here, if you so like.]
CRT based HDTV is still the top standard when it comes to HDTV picture quality. People out there believe you have to get Plasma or LCD to get good HDTV (or even to get HDTV at all) when the tubes cost less and actually offer better picture quality.
Their obvious limitations (size/weight) are well known. That, and you're going to have trouble (or pay money) if you want a CRT based HDTV above 36". They don't make them big.
Sadly, most people don't see what CRT based HDTV can do. I walked into my local Best Buy. Their CRT based HDTVs? Oh, they're on the HDTV channel alright, but they were being fed with a... get this... a conventional SDTV signal... on COAX! Meanwhile, the plasmas and the LCDs were all being drenched in full resolution HDTV signals. (Not that most of them could actually display them in full resolution.)
Same story at Wal-Mart, Circuit City, and other places. (Wal-Mart at least had the courtesy of a doing composite video SDTV signal.) You see wide screen. You see horrible picture quality. You move onto the plasmas and LCDs. You're obviously impressed. But you're looking at lesser picture quality. They are just being fed a better image. Don't believe me? Go shopping for an HDTV, be brave and spin the monitors around, and see for yourself.
I think one of the interesting choices I'm seeing in CRT based HDTVs right now is a choice between a 36" with a 4:3 ratio, and a 34" with a 16:9 ratio. The 36" will clearly be very a good fit for today's SDTV signals, but will still letterbox and display HDTV at high resolution (or zoom/crop at high res). The 16:9 will fully display an HDTV signal, but pillbox an SDTV signal (or zoom and crop, or stretch the aspect ratio and fill).