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hdtv questions answered
by Greg Gibson
November 16, 2003
 NextGenElectronics'
resident HDTV expert Greg Gibson answers your questions about HDTV and
what you should do about this exciting emerging technology. If you have
a question or comment you'd like Mr. Gibson to comment on, please feel
free to email him personally by clicking
here. All inquiries are subject to publication, however, no personal
information will be given away or published.
Carl P. : Hi Greg, I have a Mitsubishi
55" HDTV ready TV. Mitsubishi has come out with a receiver for it.
The problem is it costs about $950 from my dealer I purchased the TV from.
Can I use the receiver/decoder from the cable company to view HDTV on
this unit? If I want to pick up over the air signals of HDTV what unit
do you recommend at a reasonable price?
Greg Gibson : Check with your cable company
- I believe your Mitsubishi HDTV receiver (for use with DirecTV satellite)
will not be compatible with decoding your cable HDTV.
I believe that the Mitsubishi HDTV receiver (you didn't
specify a model number) is able to receive the DirecTV satellite and Over-the-air
via a normal antenna in (75ohm). HDTV receivers have a wide price... I
have a receiver I no longer use (I have abandoned DirecTV since it doesn't
have network HD broadcasts)... let me know if you are interested in buying
a used (<100 hours) receiver...
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Jason H. : My wife and I have a Hitachi
53" HD ready widescreen with a single composite input. We have an
HD receiver, DVD, and an Xbox all with composite output. What I'd like
to find is a multi-input selector with one/two outputs, depending on which
is selected. That way we can get all the HD signals without having to
comprimise one picture for the other. Know of anything like this?
Greg Gibson : You failed to mention your
A/V processor (surround sound)... if you don't have one... there are several
models which have multiple HD video inputs... let me know if you would
consider a processor and I'll send more info... however, if you just want
an HDTV A/B component fideo switch - I have not come across any...
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Peggy D. : I am in the process of downsizing
and designing a new home. I like the look of building my tv in, but wonder
about the practicality of dedicating so much space to a 1994 Mitsubishi
model vs-4551 (which by the way has never had a service call). When I
replace this tv I will still want the large screen, but I don't know if
it will require as much space. Any ideas?
Greg Gibson : My initial reaction is to
take this opportunity to discuss review two terms: Infant Mortality and
EOL are two terms used to describe how electronic components behave over
their lifetime. 90% of components will either fail within the first 3
months (infant mortality) or make it through to their service life (end
of life - EOL). EOL can't be accurately defined since it is a function
of the manufacturing processes, component reliability, and environmental
aging. But you know you are at EOL when everything starts to break down,
one after the other.
If you graph failures of electronic components over time,
it actually looks like a "bathtub" curve - high at the beginning,
low in the middle, and high at the end.
SO, now back to your question. You have a 10 year old set.
I too had a 10 year old Mitsubishi - a 1992 set, 60 inch. A year and a
half ago, it "lost" a capacitor and the picture was seriously
degraded. WHen the service guy checked, seems that almost 25% of the capacitors
in the vertical circuitry were bad and were replaced. Two months later,
the power supply burned out, that was replaced. two months after that,
the blue tube burned out. At this point, I had invested almost $780 in
repair bills... and still had to buy a new TV!
OK - you want to design a new home, so you are starting
with a clean sheet of paper. The existing 45 inch set (4x3) will likely
need to be replaced very soon... you will want either a 16x9 projection
(thick set), 16x9 DLP (thinner set), or 16x9 plasma (wall mount). Personally,
I would ignore your current set and do your design for the NEXT 10 years
assuming you replace the old set - design your setup (location, speakers,
furniture) and then go out and get a new set. Since you want a downsized
built-in look, it seems the new plasma HDTVs are for you (although I would
check out the DLPs - there are several in the 40-inch+ size that should
fit nicely). Recall that you will likely spend an enormous amount of time
in your new home watching TV/Home theater - so why not take advantage
of this opportunity!
Since you old set is currently working, you can always
donate it to Goodwill or AMVETS and get a nice tax deduction (you get
zero deduction if the set isn't working - it's trash at that point). Just
remember to buy a nice extended warantee (a constant theme with our website
advice columns)!
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Steve T. : Iam new to this, so appologies
if ask something trivial.
I was reading your article in order to find some answers to
my questions trigered by the manuals of the equipement I just bought:
I have the Hitachi 42PD3000 Plasma TV that supports the following formats...
Systems: PAL, SECAM, PAL60, NTSC3.58 / 4.43
Component video: 480i/576i/480p/576p/720p(60hz)/1080i(50,60hz)
In my DVD manual, Sony NS730P, it is stated that:
"This player is compatible with the 525 or 625 progressive format".
Does that mean that the 2 are incompatible? I connected both in the
appropriate jacks, with the right cables etc... set the TV accordingly,
but frankly see no difference when I switch the player from Interlace
to
progressive scan. Thanks in advance for any help or advise you may provide
to me.
Greg Gibson : You are compatible. You can
see a difference in interlace and progressive in certain scenes - when
small patterns are projected - you will see a "herringbone"
color shift in the patterns when interlaced, but not when progressive.
Leave the DVD in progressive and you'll never need to worry about it.
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J.C. : I have had HDTV since JULY and have
been evaluating it ever since. We get it through CABLEVISION with a free
HD cable box. All HDTV looks great except HBO-HD and SHOWTIME-HD. Some
movies look just awesome but not to many. Some movies look down right
awful. They even change the aspect ratio of movies. Just two days ago
I watched STAR WARS EPISODE II originally shot 2.35:1 but on HBO-HD it
was cut to 1.78:1. That is stupid but the picture looked just beautiful
though. Most movies do not though. Most have a lot of noise in the background
and overall it just does not look crisp. I have heard most movies on these
two channels are just upconverted from 480i to 1080i just as if you did
with a DVD. Is this all true and whats your overall take on HBO-HD and
SHOWTIME-HD?
Greg Gibson : Your issue is a new one for
me, but is related to overall consistency problems consumers have regarding
transmission quality and picture resizing.
For example, I have HBO-HD through Time Warner cable and
have none of the problems you described, except the recut of the aspect
ratio from one "widescreen" picture to another, such as Star
Wars - apparently HBO figured the picture was still "too wide"
even on an HD 16x9 aspect widescreen tv. I am not sure why such movies
are "resized" but cable/satellite providers are doing this,
and there is nothing a consumer cna do except complain to FCC about misrepresentation
(you paid to see Star Wars, and you only got 85% of the movie you paid
for). I understand a lawsuit was filed against DVD companies that "crop"
pictures, but have not been able to get the final disposition of the case...
clearly, if successful, the legal precedent about paying for something
advertised as the whole movie and then getting a "cropped reduction"
(whether on DVD, OTA, cable, or satellite) is not ok.
Additionally, I did have video quality problems with HBO-HD
via DirecTV, which have not recurred since I am using Time Warner cable...
so you problems with the "noise in the background" is unexpected
- digital HD should be an "all or nothing" situation - with
you receiving a quality picture (no background noise and being "crisp")
- there may be something going on with your picture from Cablevision...
or you may have some electrical interference in your home circuits - do
you have a power strip to the TV, DVD, Cable box, et al, that has a line
conditioner and voltage surge protection... you might also consider having
Cablevision check out your picture when you can duplicate a "bad"
picture.
Sorry I can't be more specific, but without test equipment
(Cablevision should have the necessary equipment), I can only suggest
likely issues.
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Bill S. : I am writing to say that my Mom
has just purchased a Toshiba HDTV and has it hooked up with a Direct TV
system. They told her she
needed a Direct TV HDTV satellite dish. We have had this system for eight
weeks now, and we are getting a filmy, grainy, overcast effect to the
picture. Is this the pixilation effect that I have read about on your
site? We love watching NFL Sunday ticket on football Sundays but this
TV is not meeting our expectations in the least! What is happening? The
setting is on DV1. Is this correct? When the telecast shows a close up
of a player, it looks great, but when there is a far off shot, it is terribly
grainy and filmy. Please help us- is the unit defective or do we have
the wiring or set up wrong?
Greg Gibson : Thanks for the inquiry. I
could not tell however, from your note below, whether you do have the
HDTV satellite receiver? Second, do you have the HDTV sat output going,
via component video cable, to the 1080i input to the Toshiba (I assume
so because you state you put the Toshiba to DV1 - which I am assuming
is the HDTV 1080i input).
Pixilation is a phenomena where the picture will suddenly
look like it is cut up is small squares & one or two of them are missing
for a second or two... usually occurs when a bird or object momentarily
blocks the signal, or when the signal is just a the minimum reception
level (minimal signal strength). Watching football in HD is not "always"
in HD... seems the main broadcast will be, but frequently sideline shots
are done using a traditional camera - hence you might see the picture
switch from full widescreen to 4x3 and back again (this happens to me
when watching ABC Monday Night Football).
Your comment about filmy, grainy, overcast - makes
me wonder if you are in HD... the picture is really an all (perfect picture)
or nothing (no picture) situation if it is really in 1080i HD. Check your
connections again... seems like you are not hooked up right... do you
get any channel or picture that "knocks your socks off"?
Commentary By: Greg Gibson - email
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