Home audio & video: 1080p Now or Wait a Few Years?

(NT) WAIT !!! 1620i is just around the corner

1620i Information Is A Direct Leak From The Website...

...in my mind. It is humor only.

It is my humorous response to what I consider to be the specifications/numbers race preoccupation of many people. Yes, the new improvements are great. However, many do not understand that the actual incremental increase in performance is not a simple mathematical improvement. Many see the 1080p resolution spec, for example, and presume this implies an approximate resolution improvement of 40% over 768p. The actual visual difference is very slight. I know I'm being very simplistic here but I think you will get my drift.

This race mentality is fueled by the manufacturer's pushing new improvements in an ever more frequent release of new groundbreaking features and specs.

Yes, technology moves fast these days, but companies also move fast to convince us that what we have is no longer any good. They now put models on the shelves in which they don't even have the bugs eliminated yet. Look at the first generation models of the new super DVD players from Toshiba and Samsung.


The ''racers'' have to have HDMI, no HDMI 1.2, no wait it's now 1.3, soon it will probably be HDMI 1.4, and on and on.

The trick is to figure out when it is actually a reasonable move to embrace a new piece of equipment. Some just have to have the ''latest and best.''

This is why we have people post here looking for a $300-$400 HTIB system to compliment the $3500 TV they just bought. They went overboard on the TV so they are a little limited on cash for the sound portion of their system. They still insist however, that it must be a 7.1 system, have HDMI, a sub that really rocks, floorstanding fronts, an upconverting DVD player and at least 1200 watts! OK, sure, no problem for $400.

RR6

Actually.....

....I think my reason for the last paragragh didn't come thru as I meant it. I of course was being a little sarcastic. What I was trying to do was mimic a newbie who simply got some buzz words in his mind that seemed to make for the perfect system. He was saying he absolutely had to have 7.1 for example because somehow he got the idea that was a great home theater sound necessity and nothing else would do.

I was actually combining my thoughts there with one of my pet peeves that many spend almost all of their budget on video and then almost completely ignore sound.

I have no problems with HTIB for those who want an easy way for a cheap price, lets say $500-$600, to supply the sound part to go with their $1000 LCD TV. The mix is OK here. The smart buyers realize they are comprimising and do not expect to get all the top of the line features at this price.

I'm just cautioning people from getting specific numbers or features in their head as the holy grail of audio/video, hence what I refer to as the numbers or features game.

If any of this hit home with you it wasn't intentional. I for one am glad to help as I can. I just try to also point out to newer A/V enthusiats to don't get hung up on the numbers, there is lots more to it than that.

RR6

In England there is a 1080p TV.

That's because your on the PAL system. The PAL system is based on 50hrz refresh rate.
NTSC/ATSC is at 60hz refresh rate. The 60hz takes more bandwidth than 50hz, so it would be possible to do 1080p/24. John

1080p Pointless...

on a small screen unless you also plan to use the TV as a monitor for a PC or gaming device.

As a pure TV... pointless.

Where it will show a benefit is with front projectors on large screens over 60" and you have a HD/BD player or media PC to feed it 1080p media.

.

Not quite yet. HDMI connectors are going to change.

Can you remember where on the Web you got that information from?

Some where on the web I read that HDMI 1.3 was already being used, but I cannot remember where.

I had automatically assumed that some how the HDMI 1.3 was automatically downloaded to all TVs, because I had not realised that a TV is not a PC.

One reason for not buying an HD TV yet is because there are too many problems to consider:
1) BLu-ray & HD-DVD
2) Combining TV and PC technology
3) There have been compatibility problems with HD products which contain HD ready labels, which it appears editors and manufacturers have kept quite about.
4) It should be possible to link a PC to a TV to download the latest HDMI 1.3 driver (software) for people who only have the inferior versions.
5) when editors and the manufacturers were stating that there were no differences between DVI and HDMI I didn't believe them. For example DVi cannot be encripted to prevent piracy of the sound only the picture, which was why HDMI was created.
6) When I found out about HDMI 1.3 I was shocked, because I had always assumed that there was only one version of HDMI and not that three had been created.
7) I also asked what was the purpose of the long wait for the standard to be sorted out before marketing HD products.
8) Too many further upgrades and improvement in picture quality and reduction in price despite knowing about:-
A) The latest Sony KDL-40W2000 (UK) - equivalent to Sony 40” Bravia LCD TV KDL-40V2500 (USA).
B) The superior versions:
Sony KDL-40X2000 (UK not available yet) equivalent to;
Sony 40” Bravia XBR LCD Flat Panel HDTV KDL-40XBR2 (USA) or
Sony 40” Bravia XBR LCD Flat Panel HDTV KDL-40XBR3 (USA)

If the socket is going to be a different size, I need to find out why, because why couldn't they just modify a scart or 21-pin socket.

There was something else, which annoyed me when I found out about HDMI 1.3 but I cannot remember what it is, but also why didn't CNET tell us about it?

How do we know which product contains the new HDMI 1.3 standard, because nobdoy I don't thnk told us about the upgrade from HDMI 1.0 to; HDMI 1.1, HDMI 1.2 to HDMI 1.3 and what are the different functions between them?

Barrington