Well, I'm about to move to get my new home and I will definitely plan to buy a full HD tv in the near future (read 1 year) when I do move. The world have evolved so much that our television is no longer what it use to be and our local mediacock mediacorp started rolling out HD programs in our free-to-air programs since last sunday (11/11/07) with Fantastic 4. This 'Goondu' guide will be written in a FAQ format after spending some time reading up about the new holy grail for TV.
1.) What is HDTV?
Since this is a goondu guide, must include goondu questions too.
HD stands for High Definition, in absolute mathematical terms, it is 6 times better than standard definition TV in terms of the number of 'pixels' it could display.
2.) What is the difference between Full HD, HD ready and SD TV?
- VGA Standard definition - 640 x 480* (480 lines, in 4:3 aspect ratio leads to 640 x 480, actual resolution is 720 x 480 for NTSC, 768x576 for Pal signals in DVD quality)
- Enhanced definition - 852 x 480 (this is 16:9 wide screen format of the past)
- HDTV (HD ready) - 1280 x 720P (0.92 megapixel display
- WXGA (HD ready) - 1366 x 768 (1.05 megapixel display)
- Full HD - 1920 x 1080 (2.07 megapixel display)
As you can see from the specs above, Full HD is about 2 times better than HD ready which in turns is more than 2 times better than SD display. Just for comparison, the new Sony A700 dSLR features a 640x480 resolution (921600 dots) 3" LCD for display already. That's how fast and far the LCD technology has progressed.
3.) What are the programs/gadgets that makes use of HDTV?
You might have seen HD5 on TV lately, and according to mediacorp, Singapore will move towards HD broadcasting by 2012. USA will only serve digital HD free to air signals from 2009 onwards. Besides TV broadcasts, here are some other stuff that already make use of HDTV.
- HD Channels in cable/digital TV like Starhub Cable and Mio TV etc.
- Game consoles like Playstation 3
- HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs (not popular in Singapore yet but will definitely replace DVD in the future)
- Computer monitor for PC/laptop that comes with HDMI video output (i.e. high end graphics card)
- Sony A700 dSLR/other cameras that support HDMI output for viewing of photos using high quality displays
4.) Why DVDs are not making full use of HDTV?
That's because most DVD videos that you find in stores do not make use of the full HD capabilities of the new generation of TVs. The best DVD player you can find could however up-rez your video to 1080i format but that is not true HD. Just like HD5 channel only has a small proportion of true HD content, most are just up-rez.
5.) What's the difference between HD DVD/BluRay technology with DVD?
A bit of Physics here. HD DVD/BluRay uses blue laser instead of red laser. Wavelength for blue light is smaller so it could record more information in your disc since the 'size' of the laser gets smaller. Who knows we may get 'x-ray' DVD in the future that comes with health hazards and lead wall. Just kidding. Anyway, a BluRay disc can store up to 25gb of information compared to 4.3gb for standard DVD. Currently, BluRay is more popular in USA compared to HDDVD and I have started spotting BluRay and HDDVD players around lately.
6.) I have a HD Ready/Full HD tv but the HD content from channel 5 doesn't show the quality that I see in stores.
This is the catch, you need a digital tv box to decode the digital signals send from the air. When you subscribe to pay-tv, the box comes with your subscription, but if you want HD content from channel 5, you have to pay for a set that according to Mediacorp is more than $500 each. Like SD TV (PAL/NTSC etc), there are different types of digital 'air waves' so an USA box won't work in Singapore and vice-versa.
However, some full HD tv now comes with the built-in digital tv tuner, such sets ensure that you can watch HD content from free-to-air tv hassle free.
7.) I have a HD Ready/Full HD tv but the content from my DVD doesn't show the quality that I see in stores.
Standard DVD quality video is not HD content at all. What it does is to uprez the pictures to higher resolution much like resizing a small image up to a bigger size. Depending on the type of process involve in the resizing, the image quality will varies, in any case the quality cannot match native HD content.
8.) I have a HD Ready/Full HD tv but the HD content from my PS3/BluRay doesn't show the quality that I see in stores.
The next limiting factor could be your cables. You will need to use HDMI cables for HD content. Other types of connectors are not able to support HD content. Yes, your PS3/BR player may have RGB or YCbCr connections but it doesn't mean that by using it will give you the best quality you expect
9.) What is HDMI?
HDMI stands for High Definition Media Interface. This is the latest type of interface that could transmit full HD content plus high quality sound from your PC/PS3/Camera/BluRay Player devices to your TV using only 1 cable (instead of 3 to 5 different cables in the past). Standard RGB/YCbCr/S-video type of connectors could not provide the type of quality image while RCA audio connectors are inferior to the HDMI type.
See here for more information
10.) Sounds exciting, what is the price of a HD TV in Singapore?
Be prepared to shelve out at least $3000 to $4000 for a 40" full-HD TV compared to say just $1600 for a 37" HD-ready type. The last time I check, you need to pay about $200 more for the built-in digital TV tuner model. Unfortunately, HD-ready models do not come with the digital tv tuner at all so you have to get the box. It's the law of diminishing returns so I'll suggest to hold back and wait for a year or so for the price of full HD tv to fall unless you want that spanking high end TV in your brand new living room, like what I'm dreaming of lately.
Labels: Blog - Random Rants
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