To HD or not to HD?

One of my friends/cousin bought a 29" flat TV with no DVI or HDMI/HDCP input. He chose age old NTST/PAL/SECAM and component video inputs which have lasted for decades in developed and developing nations likewise. But come end of 2006 in USA and end 2007 UK, analog TV will be history in these nations. ATSC will take over NTSC in USA and PAL in UK.

Ques: What's the big fuss about HD? Do I really need it?
Ans: Simply higher resolutions. Here is a list of video resolutions for the un-initiated

I - Interlaced
P - Progressive


(D1 is simply another name for full resoultion Analog TV, while SIF/CIF for VHS and Video Conferencing Systems)

Ques: What TV do I see right now?
Ans: 480p Analog

Ques: How do I receive TV now
Ans:
In India
1. Cable through MSO who in turn receive TV through DVB-S STBs with DVB-CAS.
2. DTH - DVB-S Digital TV

In USA
1. Cable distribution through Content Providers
2. DirecTV - Satellite TV through DSS

In Europe
1. DVB-T/C/S
In Japan
1. ISDB-C/S/T

Universally Available
DVB-S and IPTV are received everywhere.

Ques: What equipment I need?
Ans: Any one of these or a combination of these
1. Dish Antenna to catch Terrestial/Satellite broadcast
2. Tuner (NTSC/PAL/SECAM are built in TVs themselves), for DVB-S, ISDB you need a STB or an add on card for your PC
3. CAS - Conditional Access System - which is pre-integrated with STB/Add on Cards (PCI/USB/Firewire)
4. Broadband Internet connection with least 1.5 Mbps for IPTV i.e. A Network connection.

Ques: What do these services provide?
Ans: D1 or CIF quality video. HD requires more bandwidth, so is more expensive, besides the HD equipment on the client side is also expensive.

Ques: What HD equipment can I buy?
And: HD capable STBs, PVRs, HD-DVD players, BD players (the medium will primarily be used to distibute HD content), HDTV Display

Ques: What is HDTV Display?
Ans: Any display capable of showing ATSC 720p AND/OR 1080i AND/OR 1080p.

Ques: How does it all connect together?
Ans: Analog and Digital Interfaces are there
1. Analog - CoAxial, S-Video, Component
2. Digital - Digital Component, DVI, HDMI, HDMI/HDCP

Digital interfaces are better in quality and ability to deliver Digital content from digital devices to digital displays. Remember that the world is going Digital!!

Ques: What are the options?
Ans: Purchase Decision for Consumer Electronic Items with Digital Interfaces, so that they can be connected to other digital devices in ALL-DIGITAL space. If one looks for UPnP compliance in one's devices, one will be able to connect to other UPnP devices with seamless connectivity to move content among one's resources.

Displays with digital interfaces costs anything between $1400 to $3500 (for Branded 1080p 30"-42" LCD TV). But the prices are falling dramatically. Plasma displays are good with better contrast, brightness, viewing-angle and price, but consume much more energy than LCD displays which are catching up in these areas. TVs with back projectors are also good, but expensive, and front projectors are also prohibitively expensive for the right brightness and contrast ratings desired.

Few more comparisons are listed.

LCD Display Advantages	LCD Display Disadvantages
Good color reproduction Very thin Lightweight Perfect sharpness at native resolution Excellent longevity No screen burn-in effect	Fixed resolution Notorious “screen door” effect on lesser models Poor contrast ratios (even excellent units have only 700:1) Very difficult to produce deep blacks (see above) Weak and “stuck” pixels are common Viewing angle on older models may be narrow Potential for slower refresh rates than plasma (some newer models are getting better)

Plasma Advantages	Plasma Disadvantages
Newer models have much better contrast ratios than many direct view TVs Excellent color reproduction Excellent life expectancy Excellent viewing angle	Although thin, plasma TVs are fairly heavy (professional installation recommended for on-wall use) Very susceptible to screen burn-in Cannot produce deep black levels accurately Fragile Use a lot of power

The Display Technology Contenders:

	PLASMA	LCD
Latency	not applicable	exists
Contrast	excellent	acceptable
Brightness	better than the best CRTs
Color quality	better than CRT, but flickering present	no flickering; blacks not deep
Consumption	250W for a 42" (107 cm) screen	150W for a 42" (107 cm) screen
Viewing angles	good	variable between X and Y axis
Display size	>32 in (81 cm)	> 2 in (5.1 cm)
Price	still high compared to CRTs
Life expectancy	20,000 hrs.	40,000 hrs.
Defective pixels	Rare	possible

Another way of putting the same --

• PICTURE CONSIDERATIONS

1. CONTRAST / BLACK LEVELS

ADVANTAGE: Closer than a year ago, but still Plasma.

2. COLOR ACCURACY

ADVANTAGE: Preference to plasma but depends upon room light, manufacturer and model. Plasma color richness and naturalness will prevail in rooms with lower to normal lighting. LCDs will be better in very brightly lit rooms due to their inherent anti glare technology and brightness.

3. VIEWING ANGLES

ADVANTAGE: Plasma (160 vs. 90 to 120)

• FUNCTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

1. COMPUTER USE

ADVANTAGE: LCD

2. FAST-MOVING VIDEO PLAYBACK

ADVANTAGE: Plasma

3. LONGEVITY

ADVANTAGE: Even, depending upon manufacturer quality.

4. SCREEN BURN IN

ADVANTAGE: LCD, though not as much a concern as it was a year ago.

• OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

1. PRODUCTION SIZE AND COST

ADVANTAGE: Plasma, though the playing field is leveling. Even though production costs and retail prices have come down for both technologies, plasma still has the edge as far as production cost and capacity go.

2. POWER CONSUMPTION

ADVANTAGE: LCD

3. PRICE AND RESOLUTION

ADVANTAGE: It's currently a toss-up.

Few Pics of LCD TVs:




Source Links

1. LCD: Link
2. Comparison: Link
   
3. Another Comparison: Link
   
4. Recommended Sharp LC-32D50U 32": ($1300-1500): Link

Few acronyms - if you are unable to decode few of the terms

Sl. No.	Acronym	Full-form
1.	DVB	Digital Video Broadcasting
2.	ISDB	Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting
3.	PVR	Personal Video Recording
4.	ATSC	Advanced Television Systems Committee
5.	PAL	Phase Alternation Line
6.	NTSC	National Television Systems Committee
7.	SIF	Source Input Format
8.	CIF	Common Intermediate Format
9.	DVI	Digital Video Interface
10.	HDMI	High Definition Multimedia Interface
11.	HDCP	High Definition Content Protection
12.	HDTV	High Definition Tele-Vision
13.	HD-DVD	High-Def Digital Versatile Disc
14.	BD	Blue Ray Disc
15.	PCI	Peripheral Connect Interface
16.	USB	Universal Serial Bus
17.	CAS	Conditional Access System
18.	UPnP	Universal Plun’n’Play

See you with your own HD setup - 1080p displays one's are out (but are high on price curve). I will prefer a 32" LCD set up connected through DVI to my Laptop and HDMI to a PVR if and when I buy one (may take several more years on current strike rate) (Also to a gaming console)

I have not mentioned lot of technical specifications which matter, but the LCD link given gives a much more comlete and comprehensive picture.

(Excuse the multiplicity of font combinations - I composed in Word - and formatting cut-paste material is little too much in a short time, Probably if I revisit this post, I will format it better :-))

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US