Electronics & Computers Deals here!
Community Newsletter: Q&A: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook
- 7/26/07 2:16 PM
Where does it say it is a computer forum?
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 7/20/07 12:16 PM
In reply to: HD TV! by Jelly Baby
While I do agree that most of our forums consist of computer related topics, please do take a look at the forum categories here:
http://forums.cnet.com
and you'll realize that the CNET forums are not specific to only computer, but technology--which cover topics such as digital cameras, cell phones, TVs, and so fourth...
Hope this clarifies things.
Cheers!
-Lee
extended warranties
by jrenjr - 7/21/07 10:29 AM In reply to: HD TV! by Jelly BabySave your money. If you buy from a major manufacturer you will have no problems. 95% of the gliches will show up in the first few months;or none at all. I wasted $400. on my first HD tv from Hitachi. The set is a CRT projection TV and is 5 yrs old and not one problem. You can save the money for when you want to upgrade in 3 or 4 yrs. or buy a HD DVD player.
Now it’s all explained.
by crog_bad - 7/14/07 2:51 AM In reply to: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Ok, lets start with the resolutions/outputs.
480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p all refer to the second half (the smaller number) of the resolution, so both 1080i and 1080p would display the resolution 1,920x1,080.
P. vs. I.
As you quite rightly said before P stands for progressive and I for Interlaced.
With I, the image is made up of horizontal lines, these lines are then dived by two (ever other, not top and bottom) and the information for these lines is spread over two frames of the video, this saves on storage space, and makes is easier on broadcasting companies, but with decoding of the interlaced video or fast moving scenes you'll see the horizontal lines.
Progressive scan on the other hand, each frame has a complete image which it displays, this more powerful hardware to display it without stutters and requires a lot more storage space, but the image is always good.
Compatibility: You said its compatible with NTSC, if your from the USA then that’s fine, don't worry about the others because everything you play will be encoded in NTSC.
Media Connectivity: is quite simply a word used to say the input jacks on the rear and side or front panels. Nowadays with HDTV's there’s a lot more connections to think about. There’s you old S-Video, Scart, and RGB, these are fine for standard definition video. However for HD video you'll need to use, HDMI, Component, (VGA, DVI these two are PC connectors). HDMI is one large plug (much smaller than Scart though) this will provide the best in video quality allowing you to watch in full 1080p with any interference as it is digital. Component has 5 jacks, 2 for sound and 3 for the image, i believe this will only allow for 1080i but i am not sure, and as the signal is apologue you may pick up interference.
And now for one other thing you may need to know but did not ask.
Contrast ratio: This is quite simply how black the blacks are and how white the whites are. So the higher the ratio the better the image. 1:500 no thanks, 1:3,000 yes please.
I hope this helps and, have fun with your new TV when you buy it.
HDTV Ad's (and the confusing features of HDTV)
by Saladdin - 7/14/07 5:15 AM In reply to: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Nat
I live in the UK and this is my first posting on this forum.
I have also just bought a new 32" Philips HD LCD TV, which unfortunately is not as good as the one you were looking at as it is not '1080p' nor does it have anything like the number of pixels or screen size.
My answer is a bit long but I hope it helps
In relation to your question, 'Media Connectivity' is not a term I have heard used here. I would assume it would be something to do with connecting to media, in other words connecting to media devices e.g. DVD players/recorders, vcr's, computers, and game consoles - Microsoft XBOX or XBOX 360, Sony Playstation - camcorders, etc. using either the red, yellow and white phono cables, scart, rgb(component), or hdmi cables or whatever other connectors BOTH TV AND DEVICE would have to have.
The terms NTSC refers to a technological format used by the US TV broadcaster i.e. in the UK our TV is broadcast in PAL, Japan uses SECAM?, USA uses NTSC. This is also the same for anything 'recorded' in these countries e.g. if you recorded some tv at home in the US then took the vhs tape with you to some freinds or relatives in the UK or japan it would NOT display properly if at all in their VCR, and also if you brought a vcr and/or tv with you from the USA that also would not work even if you had an adaptor for the different electrical plug that the US uses, though some TV's like my old one can switch the from NTSC to PAL and vice versa, ascould my old vcr but hy are both now worn out. Just how this would relate, if at all, to the presently available and the new and upcoming HD (and blu ray) DVD players/recorders, I don't know.
You should also be aware, if you are not already, that the US and other countries all use 'region coding' technology in DVD PLAYERS, Recorders and games consoles, and on the PRE-RECORDED DVD's and games that they use in them, that is supposed to prevent people in the UK and other countries from getting their hands on movies and games that are released on DVD in the US, before those movies are even released to the Cinemas/Stores here in the UK. e.g. UK has 'region 1' so DVD's from US will have a different region coding initially, until the film studios decide to release versions that UK and other countries DVD players and games consoles, can play. To get round that you could always look for a player that is 'multi region' coded. The same will also be true for pc's, I expect that can play games and play/record onto DVD.
As for ATSC, QAM, (and 'i' and 'p'), as well as the difference between them and what they actually mean, I have no idea, as I have never heard of these terms, but if they are in the same location on a card showing the details/features of a TV (that you ARE familiar with or the assistant has heard of one of the terms quoted), then would also assume them to be refering to something similar, i.e ATSC and QAM would be some other broadcast format and the relevance of 'i' and 'p' would be connected with picture quality. I think if the 'p' means progressive it could be refering to something like 'progressive scan' which is something used by higher quality vcr's to improve the image from analogue vhs tapes, so how it relates to a HD TV I am not sure but it might be related. The 1920x1080 refers to the number of pixels that are used to make up the image on the screen, therefore the more the better, just the same as it is with computer monitors (which your new HD LCD TV will be able to be used for, if it AND the pc has the same and correct type of connectors) and digital cameras/camcorders.
Also a lot of features on these and older tv's may be useful as away of gauging quality, but like you said you don't know whether they are defined by the TV or the broadcaster. All of the features you mentioned are inherent in the TV's, but to make use of some of them like High Definition or Digital the broadcaster has to be broadcasting their content in high definition and/or digital.
In the UK our choices are terrestrial analogue TV (or terrestrial digital which uses a different kind of tuner/receiver NOT found in VCR's and older CRT tv's) through an aerial or digital only via a digital 'cable' receiver/decoder or fixed satellite dish and receiver/decoder. Only the 'Satellite TV' company here currently broadcasts any 'High Definition' content - which is more expensive than 'ordinary digital' - on a low number of channels, so currently we have no real 'need' of 1080p at the moment.
HDTV & LCD
by Stevenstcroix - 7/14/07 5:21 AM In reply to: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
From my lateral annalistic view of HDTV, one thing I do have some knowledge of, is that any type of High Definition Plasma, TV or otherwise, which incorporates LCD, will not give the highest quality unless the TV is designed to stabilize the moving Liquid Crystal Diode function, not apparent in all LCD consumer electronic products. TFT however, I think has a much more stabilized pixalization and the crystals do not move barely at all unlike the LCD crystals. This option of TFT I would recommend in whatever you decide to purchase. And yes, I agree about some confusing issues as to 'what is what'.
The TV your referring too probably has different scanning options too like Progressive and 100MHz etc. which you can change according to your preferred requirements. I hope this information will be of some use to you. Kind Regards, Steven.
Response time and Contrat ratio
by jtpxxx - 7/21/07 12:10 PM In reply to: HDTV & LCD by StevenstcroixThese are two of the most confusing and abused of the TV specifications.
Motion Response time --
Old CRT TV's (cathode ray tube) had a beam scanned across the face of the tube. Each pixel would be excited by the beam, glow for a short time ( a few milliseconds, the decay time) and wait for the next time the beam would come by to glow again. The ration of time dark to time bright (duty cycle) was maybe 10% bright to 90% dark. Our brain would fill in the gaps and the motion response appeared smooth to us.
Plasmas have more time that the pixel is on in a series of pulses and are a little worse than CRT TV's but usually not objectionable.
LCD TV's have essentially 100% on time and so we process the steps between each pixel to the next a smear in the image. This smearing has nothing to do with the response time of the LCD pixels to get to the right level, it's the fact that they stay at the same level for the whole period until they are changed by the next frame of the movie.The fact that the LCD changes slower is actually a minor contributor to the smear in modern sets since the actual LCD responses in new sets are fast enough. New LCDs attack the smear by changing the pixel twice as fast (120Hz) and/or by blinking the backlight to lower the duty cycle.
A measurement of this smear is called the Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT) and is about 2 milliseconds (ms) in a CRT, 8ms in PDP,
12ms. in a cheap LCD, 8ms in a 120Hz LCD, and 4ms in a 120Hz LCD plus backlight blinking.
The only manufacturers of any technology TV who gives any accurate data on the reponse time is some of the newer Sharp and Philips TVs. they are using the 120Hz and blinking and usually talk of about 4ms. reponse times. Samsung is bring out some 120Hz LCD TV's without blinking that are at 8ms, essentailly identical to Plasmas. Unless you can figure out what technology they are using though the numbers published mean nothing as often the LCD change time (not the actual smaering) is published instead.
Contrast Ratio --
Again, most specs mean nothing. The static (one small area of the screen, the rest of the screen dark) is very high (>10,000)in CRT's in a black room. For PDP's it is close to 10,000. For the Better LCD's it is >1000. Unfortunatoely , you actually look at the whole screen. Then the contrast ratio for CRT's and PDPs goes down to about 400-700 as they cannot drive their whole screens to the brightest levels. LCD's are not affected by this so they are still >1000.
Newer LCD's also adjust the backlights (dim the whole backlight in dark scenes, bright in bright scenes) to give a dynamic contrast raio of >5000. The newest LCD's are using local dimming (This requires an LED based backlight) to dim individual areas of the screen. these are by far the highest performance TV's available with contrast ratios much graeter than 10,000. Unfortunately, tjhe are expensive. Samung iis the only manufacturer with themout now and the 46" goes for $4000.
In a lit room, (one 60W bulb) the contrast raios will be degarded by the TV screen reflections of the room light.CRT's and PDPs typically goe down to less than 100 contrast ratios while LCD's are better, more like 400-500.
Regarding interlaced or progressive HDTVs
by DaveTinNY - 7/14/07 5:35 AM In reply to: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Nat. In the simplest terms, buy the highest resolution you can afford. 1080p format is NOT yet being broadcast by television programming. It's in 1080i. I've had a 38" 1080i TUBE TV for about five years now and the picture is phenomenal when watching HDNET and Discovery HD Theater (true 1080i HD programming) or even sports on ESPNHD or the national networks when they broadcast HD programming. The picture is as good or better than the LCD and Plasmas out there. I keep checking but have yet to see a difference in HD quality. 1080p is good if you have one of the new 1080p HD DVD PLAYERS (or BluRay) that can send their 1080p signal to the TV. That said, the 1080i HD DVDs look absolutely amazing on a 1080i HD TV too. The XBOX360 HDDVD player is a good example of this. Excellent quality and a low price. Interlaced is not a bad or cheap thing when dealing with high definition.
Whether LCD or Plasma, I'd not buy anything less than "1080"... Some "high def" TVs are only capable of "720p" - these would be ruled out by me. Not enough sharpness/resolution. Look at and compare the TV pictures. My advice: try and find a REAL home theater store, one that specializes in higher end video and audio systems; they'll have excellent listening rooms where you can sit down and experience the whole package. Look in the Yellow Pages for one of these specialized places. The people there will know what they're talking about and are usually very helpful (and courteous). The Best Buys and Circuit Citys of the world are generally filled with less sales quality than you deserve. FRY's Electronics is a decent source for everything electronics but not everywhere in the country. They SHOULD be.
i= Interlaced p= Progressive... both are excellent when the signal being sent to the HDTV is of a high quality.
Good luck whatever you choose. LOOK at the quality of the pictures and avoid the rear projection TVs. They usually lack good viewing from the side. Also buy an "HDTV" not "HD Ready" or "HD Capable." For the latter two you'll need to buy extra equipment just to see an HD picture.
Good luck!
HDTV
by Ken Jr. - 7/20/07 9:35 PM In reply to: Regarding interlaced or progressive HDTVs by DaveTinNYDon't try to figure it all out. It's a waste of time. Don't spend your money based on the specs and acronyms. Visit the TV sellers. Find a few TVs that fit within your budget and that look good to you. You'll probably even find that the picture on some 720Ps look better to you than on some other 1080Ps (If it's a 42" you probably won't even be able to tell the difference between 720P, 1080i, or 1080P). Then start reading every review you can find on those TVs. Pay special attention to the opinions on how the picture looks to the reviewers eyes under various conditions and pay attention to the comments about how easy (or hard) it is to set up (real important). Then, before you buy, find out what the return policy is, (some places allow you to bring it back if you simply don't like it, but others may charge a restocking fee). Sometimes the picture when seen in your home can look very different than what you expected or than the way it looked on the showroom floor. Lastly, if you're not good with adjustments, invite a friend over who is real good at setting up the perfect picture.
P.S. Use Google or your preferred search engine to find reviews. Just type in the TVs name, it's model number, and the word, "reviews". Typically you'll several.
P.P.S. Remember that audio on some TVs is much better than on others. You've got to play that card too.
HDTV Tutorial
by pradike - 7/14/07 5:47 AM In reply to: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you want to really learn about the basics of Digital Television (HDTV)...
Samsung actually has a good basic walk-through of the various aspects of this technology...all in basic explanations - here is the Website:
http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/nabc/campaign/dtvguide/index.jsp
your prayers are answered
by imchin - 7/14/07 5:50 AM In reply to: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
that is what it means it means interlaced so you are correct and you are very smart for that congrats because i would have just gone to ask.com andtyped in the question but whatever floats your boat
help my creative sound card...
by rattanak55 - 7/14/07 6:30 AM In reply to: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
um... hi
i have an creative sound card. the divice number is : CT 4810 . any one can give me its driver??
help my creative sound card...............
by Saladdin - 7/14/07 6:44 AM In reply to: help my creative sound card... by rattanak55Hello rattanaK55
It is always a good idea to go to the website (if one exists) of the creator of your product in question. Go to the website of 'Creative Labs' where you should maybe find a link to your sound card if it is not too old.
sound card
by dan.warthan - 7/20/07 9:22 PM In reply to: help my creative sound card... by rattanak55try going here to get that driver
http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/creative-ct4810.html
or try Google CT4810
Completely unrelated question...
by petejohnson - 7/21/07 1:01 AM In reply to: help my creative sound card... by rattanak55I would recommend perhaps looking for a discussion on sound cards, perhaps a pc peripheral forum or a discussion about sound card drivers. I'm gonna have to say that asking about a sound card in a HDTV discussion isn't probably the best plan of attack.
HDTV
by Jim McDiarmid - 7/14/07 7:04 AM In reply to: Help me untangle the HDTV technical gobbledygook by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Buy the latest technology. Don't go for a sale price on an older set.
Costco and Sam's have great pricing on Vizio. I have had a 32" for almost a year and 4 weeks ago bought the 47" LCD 1080p for under $1600. It is awesome.
Also remember there is no reflection in the LCD screen like there is in a Plasma. We watch the LCD with all the blinds and drapes open and the screen faces the windows.
I have no connection with Vizio or any retailer, just did my own research.
Jim
Buena Park, CA
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
