HDTV Reviews

A high-definition television, like most beauties, doesn’t just roll out of the box and look great.

It has to work it, baby. A little color touch-up, not too red or green; the right contrast; a little brightness; and then it’s looking sharp. Really sharp.

No television will look its best when left at the factory settings. Manufacturers pump up the brightness, contrast and sharpness so their sets attract attention on the showroom floor. Once the HDTV is in your home, you’re on your own.

So here’s a beauty secret for the HDTV in your life: the new HDTV Calibration Wizard ($30), an easy-to-use test disc produced by Joel Silver of the Imaging Science Foundation and distributed by Monster Cable (www.monstercable.com).

The HDTV Calibration Wizard is different from other test discs that set accurate levels for brightness, contrast, color and sharpness. It’s not as thorough as the Avia Guide to Home Theater (about $30) and Digital Video Essentials (about $25), but it is by far the simplest and quickest way to high-def clarity.

Instead of extensive test patterns, which often baffle the average user, the Wizard displays humans and everyday objects. A white shirt helps set the contrast — if it’s too high, the shirt’s buttons disappear. A black shirt against a darker black jacket tests brightness.

Three women in various stages of makeup — too green, just right and too red — help set the color. A pool cue is the key to accurate sharpness levels. If pool balls look average and well-rounded, then the TV’s aspect ratio — the ratio of width to depth — is correct.

Silver’s foundation trains professional calibrators who tinker with high-end video installations. A calibrator spends four hours with about $10,000 in electronics equipment to coax the best picture out of a big-screen HDTV or projector. That type of calibration costs about $300. Think of the $30 Wizard as a greatest-hits version of a professional calibration. It gets the basics right.
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No single technology has created more excitement in the home entertainment industry in recent years than High Definition Television (HDTV). These televisions dazzle with their crystal-clear pictures and amazing digital features; however, questions and confusion over HDTV linger. In this article, we review the most common questions and concerns about HDTV.

What exactly is HDTV?
HDTV is a format of Digital Television (DTV). DTV is the umbrella term under which HDTV (High Definition TV) and SDTV (Standard Definition TV) exist. HDTV sets are digital televisions that feature high-resolution display capabilities to create the highest quality visual entertainment available. HDTV sets present 720 to 1080 lines of resolution compared with just 525 lines presented on a regular television set. The higher resolution allows for a level of image clarity that is not possible on standard (analog) television sets.

All HDTVs are widescreen in format; the same shape as film. When movies are displayed on an HDTV, they fit the entire surface area of the screen and do not need to be stretched or put into letterbox format, as is common on standard televisions.

What do I view on an HDTV?
You can watch any incoming signal on your HDTV, but the only way to get the true HDTV experience is to watch HDTV broadcasts. These broadcasts are delivered on a different bandwidth from regular television transmissions (your local cable or satellite company can provide you with an up-to-date local schedule.) It’s important to note that, as of right now, HDTV programming is somewhat limited. Generally, the four major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX) restrict their HDTV programming to primetime (evening) programs. However, more programs are being broadcast in HDTV every day.

So I’ve got an HDTV…
Does that mean I’m automatically getting HDTV broadcasts? In short, no. You need both an HDTV monitor (your TV) and an HDTV tuner to properly decode and display the broadcasts. Many HDTVs come with built-in tuners. Still, it usually requires the help of a professional like your local HTSA member to properly install the television and make sure it is working with your cable or satellite system.

If your HDTV does not have a built-in tuner, you can purchase an out-board tuner. Or, you can get a tuner through your cable or satellite company as part of their HDTV packages. A standard cable box or satellite tuner does not receive HDTV broadcasts — you have to order an HD-ready cable box or HDTV satellite receiver. Still another option is to receive free over-the-air broadcasts from local networks by hooking up an antenna to your system.

Get the most from your HDTV experience. Visit your local HTSA member, the experts on selecting and installing HDTV.
source:http://www.livearticles.org

ENCO Systems DADtv is now providing native surround sound for live HDTV productions.

Eugene Novacek, P.E., President of ENCO Systems said, “Surround sound is here in the television space and it’s not only for movies. We’re proud to be the first digital audio automation and playout system to support multi-channel 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound. During the 31st season debut of Saturday Night Live on NBC, DADtv was used in both scoring playback and surround sound effects playback assisting in the first HDTV broadcast of SNL. Now our DADtv clients are using surround in their live productions, and we also believe our radio clients will be asking for it soon.”

DADtv is a scalable, networkable digital audio storage and playback system designed to provide broadcasters with high quality, reliable digital audio recording and playback. Support for multi-channel sound within DADtv enables audio engineers to rapidly incorporate surround sound in live studio programs as well as field produced programs.

The 5.1 and 7.1 audio files appear to the user the same way as stereo or mono files appear and are just as easy to play and manipulate. Files are stored as single linear uncompressed files using industry standard interleaved .WAV streams.

Dave Turner, Executive Vice President of Engineering at ENCO Systems said, “ENCO has systems operating at NBC for the Today Show and Saturday Night Live as well as Paramount, CNN, MTV, ESPN and other cutting edge television broadcasters, so we knew that surround was a highly desired tool. With the increased attention to high quality audio that HDTV has brought to the forefront, it’s not a surprise that our surround playout solution has been so quickly adopted.”

Today Sharp loosed their new Internet AQUOS TV / PC combo systems. At the top end is the LD-37SP1 LCD and PC-AX50M mini-PC kit capable of pumping out (and recording) those Hi-Vision (Japanese high def) broadcast pixels onto a 37-inch LCD with 1200:1 contrast ratio, 6ms response, 176-degree viewing angle, and HDMI and HDCP DVI ports. A wireless (RF) keyboard and remote are perfect for getting all potato-like up on the couch. The PC manages to eke out 500GB of SATA disk for hi-def recordings and such, up to 1GB DDR2 RAM, a DVD combo drive, and SD and xD picture card slots with direct-to-card MPEG-4 recordings — all powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo T2300 CPU and XP Home. The kit is also available with a 32-inch LCD (LD-32SP1) and PC sporting a terrestrial analog tuner and a 250GB disk (PC-AX50M) all of which you can mix-n-match to your heart’s desire. No doubt, we like the design, but these systems are kept out of the high-end game with their Intel graphics cards, LCD resolutions of just 1366 x 768, and lack of a Windows Media Center Edition install option. Expect these to hit shelves in Japan sometime in May for an undisclosed price.

The replacement lamps in rear-projection TVs are definitely expensive, but they still offer a cost advantage.
Reader Al Mercer wants to know more about bulbs for television sets based on digital light processor [DLP] technology:

I enjoyed your recent article on HDTV in the Mar. 6 issue of BusinessWeek. I would like to learn more about the lamp life of large DLP projection TVs. I want to buy a 62-in. projection TV, but I have heard that you have to replace a very expensive bulb every two years. I have a friend whose bulb had to be replaced after one year.

our friend either had very bad luck or watches an extraordinary amount of TV. The lamps in rear-projection TVs are typically rated at 6,000 to 8,000 hours and cost between $200 and $500. The reason? The systems are designed in such a way that the bulb has to be positioned correctly to within a fraction of a millimeter.

A secondary problem: You’ll damage the bulb if you touch it with your bare hands. For these reasons, you have to change an entire lamp module rather than just a bulb.

SIMPLER DESIGNS?

Since this module includes a significant chunk of the optical system, replacement lamps can add up to a significant cost over the life of a projection TV. But they still have an advantage in price. The difference between, say, a 60-in. plasma screen and a 60-in. DLP projection set is so great that you can buy all the bulbs you need to make the projection set last as long as the 60,000 hour-rated life of the plasma — and still have money left.

Still, there’s general agreement that projection bulbs are too expensive. Part of the reason for the high cost is the fragmentation of the consumer-electronics industry. Bulbs are assembled according to dozens of different designs, all produced in relatively low volumes, keeping costs high. Texas Instruments (TXN), which makes the DLP chips used in many sets, is leading an effort to encourage the use of simpler, common lamp designs across brands and reduce the cost of replacements. But given the go-it-alone attitude of many manufacturers, success is far from assured.

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.

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 subtle.”

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.”

What’s the best way to pick out a high-definition TV?

“Just look at the picture,” said Mike Abt said, president of Glenview, Ill.,-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.”

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.”
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Mississauga, ON, April 19, 2006: Samsung unveiled its step-up LCD HDTV line, and its first Blu-ray disc player, the BD-P1000, today in a dazzling suite at the Hotel Le Germain in downtown Toronto. On hand was Andrew Dorcas, Senior Marketing Manager, Digital A/V Division, Oreste De Vincenzo, Display Products Marketing Manager, and Kevin Jung, DVD Product Marketing Manager.
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At its recent retailer trade show, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America demonstrated a new type of laser-driven HDTV design claimed to offer better colour performance than anything that’s gone before – plus cabinets that are far lighter than today’s large-screen plasma and LCD flat-panel sets.

The Mitsubishi laser HDTV is said to use separate red, green and blue semiconductor lasers along with Texas Instrument’s 1080p DLP HDTV chip. This combination is reckoned to significant improve the colour range and intensity, with the widest color gamut yet seen from any display source, including those lit by LEDs – a backhanded reference to the LED-driven 82in 1080p BRAVIA LCD TV set that Sony demonstrated at CES 2006.

Like the Sony, Mitsubishi laser-driven TV sets will use Extended Video YCC (xvYCC) – the latest color space standard for video applications – which each company says offers a colour range 1.8 times greater than normal LCD TV sets.

Discussing the significance of the new HDTV design, Mitsubishi’s Frank DeMartin, VP of marketing and product development, said, “Mitsubishi laser HDTV technology will not only deliver unsurpassed color reproduction, but it will also enable new cabinet designs that are truly unique and revolutionary. With zero-width bezels, tapered-thin and sculpted rear cabinets and lightweight, low-height designs, laser televisions will redefine the modern look for future large screen displays.”
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Sales of high definition televisions are set to soar as consumers snap up new equipment to watch the Fifa World Cup finals, according to LG Electronics.

“Sequential sales growth in the display business is not dramatically high due to seasonality, but sustainable growth in plasma and LCD TV sales is anticipated ahead of the World Cup,” said LG in a statement. Read more