High Definition Television
by Greg Gibson

A good friend was over to the house yesterday and remarked "Your new set is incredible. I never knew HDTV looked that good. Maybe I should get me one."

If you are seriously considering buying a digital television, then this article is for you - NextGenElectronics has no television-manufacturing sponsors or advertisers… so we are going to provide you some fundamental information upon which you can make a better decision.

But first - a disclaimer. You can decide to buy, wait, or not buy at all - but in certain circumstances, the logical choice will differ. In other words, circumstances will likely make your choice for you. But if you take some of these points into consideration - you will make a better decision.

Second - a few definitions:

*HD - a high definition TV picture broadcast in 16-9 aspect (widescreen) at an increased picture resolution (980i or 1080i)

* Normal - a TV picture broadcast in 4-3 aspect (traditional "square" picture) at a traditional picture resolution (around 480i)

* Digital - a digital signal. Analog signals are subject to "snow" and interference effects based on signal quality, while digital signals are encrypted, transmitted, received and unencrypted back to an analog signal.

First, why buy a new TV? In my case, my old TV broke - total catastrophic failure and no hope of resurrection. I could not wait.

So, I went to the store and saw the Mitsubishi WS65807 ($2900) and bought it 2 days later. The machine itself (and options available) is the subject of our next several articles. But the point is that we have almost 7 months of HDTV experience.

Our 65-inch widescreen HDTV base system includes the DirecTV satellite system using a Mitsubishi HD505 receiver ($850), Pioneer progressive scan DVD ($200), and a Time Warner cable (our local version of Time Warner offers "digital" - which is discussed below and is NOT HDTV). Since I bought the system, the prices have remained about the same for the current year models… so this is a serious investment.

When the set was delivered, I had my first two reactions to HDTV - one good, one horrible. The good reaction was that the picture was absolutely incredible when viewing HDTV broadcast (as a side note, I removed the protective dark plastic screen and improved picture brightness and contrast significantly). The bad reaction was that (1) on non-HDTV broadcasts everyone looks "FAT" (the non-HDTV 4-3 traditional "square" screen stretches horizontally to fill the 16-9 widescreen picture) and (2) very little is broadcast in HDTV.

So when you shell out this kind of money for a digital set and you can't watch anything on it - you will begin to wonder what you were thinking when you bought it. If you are lucky enough to be married, you wife will likely remind you of the "fat" picture at least once a day.

Before you buy a HDTV, you should do some homework and answer the following keypoint question(s):

KEYPOINT 1 - Do your homework on how you will get the signal.

How will you receive the HDTV broadcast?

a) DirecTV or DISH network satellite system - Where will you place the receiver and can you get a good signal (i.e., the satellite dish doesn't work indoors, through trees, and definitely not through other houses/buildings/mountains)?

b) Outside Antenna "Over the Air (OTA)" - Where is the broadcast antenna located and can you even get their signal? Are they broadcasting HDTV on a UHF station at a lower power? Can I put up an antenna strong enough to get a signal? Hint: Call the TV station and talk to their Engineering department - they can probably tell you. It is also interesting that all TV stations were to be broadcasting in HD

c) Cable - Does the cable operator offer HDTV service? Be sure it is not "digital service" but HDTV. The ruse used by cable operators is to take their normal signal digitize it so it goes over the cable without line loss and reconstitute it using a set-top box into the normal signal again - this is NOT an HDTV broadcast. It only improves the line loss, not the picture resolution.

KEYPOINT 2 - Do your homework on how many HD channels you are likely to get.

DirecTV currently offer only 2 HDTV channels. On DirecTV they are: HDnet on channel 199; and HBO-HD on channel 509. Currently, no other HD broadcasts are carried on DirecTV. DISH network offers SHOWTIME-HD.

OTA involves some broadcasts by local broadcasters. However, although Congress and FCC required all broadcasts to be in HD by May 1, 2002, most didn't comply (lots of excuses, usually involving "the dog ate my homework").

Cable operators are in the process of offering limited HD. Cable operators are annouoncing that they might offer up to 5 channels of HD. These cable companies are: AT&T Broadband, AOL Time Warner, Comcast, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Adelphia Communications, Cablevision Systems, Mediacom Communications, Insight Communications and CableOne. These cable companies serve more than 85% of U.S. cable customers (i.e., 59 million homes). Time Warner Cable has launched HDTV service to nearly 5 million homes in more than 40 markets, including New York City, Orlando, Houston, Minneapolis and Raleigh, N.C.

NOTE: NextGenElectronics hopes to be one of the first subscribers in San Diego, California, and will perform a comparison of service from Time Warner cable and DirecTV.

The list of available HD offering are currently:

ABC. ABC's HDTV programming includes all prime time series shot on film, which leaves out reality and news programs.

CBS. CBS offers almost all of its prime time schedule in HD. Programs shot on video are not available in HD.

NBC. HD offerings continue to be limited with The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Crossing Jordan.

Fox. Fox's 480p lineup is not HD.

Discovery. On June 17, Discovery will rollout Discovery HD theater, a 24-hour HDTV channel.

HDNet. The DBS-delivered HDTV network has a slate of concerts, specials and sports (the Olympics were broadcast commercial free as are NHL hockey and other sports) Look for three additional HDNet networks to be offered in the near future.

PBS. Future schedule to convert

HBO. HBO offers a full channel of HD, with 65% of the programming originating in the format

Showtime. Showtime has 24-hour East and West Coast HD feeds.

Regional sports nets. Action Sports Network in Portland, Ore., and MSG in New York offer HDTV coverage.

SUMMARY - Why buy a High Definition TV?

Before you begin to look at a set - DO YOUR HOMEWORK! You might learn, unhappily, that your area can't get but one or two HD broadcasts. You must decide whether the amount of programming you can actually receive is worth the price you pay for it.

OPTION - If your area isn't served by much HD programming - wait! In a year or two, local broadcasters, cable companies, or satellite companies might have increased the available content to the point you can justify the expense of a new set. In that same period of time, the price of a set will certainly have dropped + technology on new and improved reliability and quality will have also improved the television sets.

Lastly, you note that we always say do your homework before you look at the picture in the store. The reason is that the HD picture is absolutely, positively fantastic… you will LOVE the picture (not just like it)… LOVE IT! HDTV sells itself - it is not fair to the consumer to sell a product this good and then not have the consumer able to use it.

Commentary By: Greg Gibson - email