The FlatHDTV Blog

Digital TV and HDTV have been changing the way we entertain ourselves for a while now: super-lifelike images, integration with computers, and near-effortless access to content are just a few of the things that make it feel like future technology is coming to fruition now.

But, there’s one aspect of HDTV technology that makes us feel like it’s still the 20th Century: all those damn wires to trip on. Your cell phone doesn’t need wires. Why should your TV?

Luckily, there’s a movement in the electronics industry dedicated to establishing a new standard for wireless transmission of high definition audio and video content. It’s called the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) Special Interest Group, and has been established between Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Motorola, Ammion, and Hitachi. They are hoping to implement the new standard in a video-modem that can transmit 1080p HD content, wirelessly on the 5GHz band, throughout several rooms in a house.

For more information, check out WHDI’s news page or their FAQ page.

Sony makes what is arguably the highest-quality LCD HDTV on the market, the Bravia XBR series. Over the past few years, the latest model has been the XBR, XBR2, XBR3, XBR4, and XBR5. Now, to the surprise of no one, they have named their new model XBR6.

The word on the street is that this one has a little bit better picture than the XBR4 and 5, and a lower introductory price, but it is lacking a few of the advanced features. The first ones to be available online are the 32 inch, at about $1100, and the 37 inch at about $1500.

Check them out here:

Sony 32 inch XBR6

Sony 37 inch XBR6

There’s a lot of confusion going around about the new TV standards that the FCC is going to impose on those of us in America next year. In February 2009, people with analog-only TV sets will have to take action to be able to keep receiving broadcast signals. If your TV is less than 10 years old, it probably has the capacity to receive a digital signal, so you’re in luck, but with an older one it’s questionable.

The best way to tell the difference is to check your TV’s manual, or just work the buttons and the remote to see if there’s a way to switch to digital input. If not, you’ll need to get an analog-to-digital converter at your local electronics store.

“DTV” is short for digital television (which is what you will need), and doesn’t mean the same thing as “HDTV”, or high definition television. Nearly all HDTVs are in fact DTVs, but all DTVs are not HDTVs.

For more information on the new TV standards, check out: The New TV Standards.

In 2006 and 2007, HDTV technology really started to enter the mainstream of consumer electronics. Prices got down to reasonable levels, picture quality went up, and problems with the technology, such as plasma burn-in, continued to fade away. The highest available resolution, 1080p, became more and more popular among the middle- and even low-end HDTV sets. So, choosing an HDTV in 2007 had a lot to do with finding out which sets had the resolution you wanted, which had more resistance to burn-in, and so on.

Now, in 2008, about 80 percent of all new HDTVs have 1080p resolution, just about all the plasma sets have kicked the burn-in problem, and picture quality continues to get better and better. So how do you tell one set from another anymore?

You can concentrate on some of the newer technologies that still have not penetrated into every part of the HDTV world. Here are a few to think about:

• 120 Hz Frame rate. Look here for a full explanation: 120Hz Frame Rates
• Local dimming. This technology causes parts of the picture to shut completely off (for the duration of one frame) when that part is supposed to be black. This increases the contrast ratio of the picture and makes a more lifelike scene.
• More advanced upscaling hardware. When you look at standard definition content on your HDTV, the signal needs to be adjusted to fit your high resolution screen. If this is not done well, the picture can actually look worse than it would on a standard TV set. Check customer reviews to get a feel for this.
• Anti-glare screens. Since plasma sets use a glass screen, they often have a tendency to reflect light or images from other parts of the room. Some of the new plasma HDTVs have a special coating to reduce glare when the set is used in a bright environment.

When you make the decision to go HD this winter, it’s important to know that you will need more than just an HDTV to watch things in high definition.

Many people think they can simply plug their new HDTV into the wall and instantly watch high-def TV, but this is not the case. With most cable TV providers, only a few dozen of the channels are in HD, and subscribers will need to contact the cable company to add those channels to their plan, for a few extra dollars. They might also need to lease an HD receiver from the company.

And regular over-the-air channels will look pretty much the same as they did on a regular TV, unless they are broadcast in HD. To find out which channels are, check your local listings. Here is a handy guide for most US cities: hdtvmagazine/programming. And make sure your antenna can receive UHF signals, since that’s the frequency range where HD channels are broadcast.

Plugging in your regular DVD player to an HDTV will have a pretty good result, since the HDTV will take advantage of the progressive format of the DVD recording, and it will look a little better than on a regular TV. But to really get the most bang for your buck, use a high definition DVD player, using one of the new HD formats. Learn more about the DVD formats, and other HD content options here: HDTV content

In North America, the LCD HDTV market has been dominated by Vizio for the past two quarters of 2007. Their TVs are on the low end of the spectrum price-wise, but apparently the quality is good enough to keep them flying off the shelves.

Second place belongs to Samsung, and Sharp is in third.

Source: TGDaily

Once you bring that shiny new HDTV home, you’ll notice something that might be disappointing: most of the stuff on TV right now is not high definition. And just because the set is expensive doesn’t mean it will do everything well: many top-of-the-line HDTVs display regular TV worse than a good standard definition set. If you only watch HD content, this won’t be a problem, but that’s hard to do.

When researching your purchase, be sure to check all possible reviews and keep the standard definition display quality in mind. It’s more important than you think. Here is a short list of some sets that are known to do a good job displaying SD:

• 1080p Panasonic PZ700 series
• Panasonic PX75/PE77U series
• Sony 40S3000
• Toshiba DLP Series