HDTV Features and Technology

BENEFITS OF HDTV

So why is everyone interested in HDTV?

Simply because it is better than the standard television! Digital audio, wider viewing area, and superior quality are some of the obviously influential reasons why you should go for them. You can watch details in a high definition television, which you cannot otherwise watch in a standard definition image. If you want to create the home-theater experience of being right in the center of action as you watch your favorite movie or basketball game, then you have come to the right place. A game of soccer will take on a whole new meaning with a HDTV in your midst.

With digital television, the transfer of information is in terms of data bits. So what does that mean to you? Not only you get superior picture and sound quality, but due to the high efficiency it also provides space for other users in the broadcast spectrum. HDTV is the next step of this digital TV and it transmits six times the information compared to the bandwidth of analog TV. Problems like discoloration, low quality, sharpness and other audio or video imperfections can be easily resolved by HDTV. No more fuzz, snow or ghost images on your television screen. It is a revolution on par with the jump from black and white to color.

What are some of the channels that are available now in high definition television?  Along with improved quality, this is another benefit of HDTV. You can enjoy watching premium channels like HBO, Toon Disney, Cinemax and sports channels such as the NFL Network, NBA TV and the Tennis channel. You can also enjoy watching Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic on a high-resolution television with a wider screen. There are about ninety five channels offered exclusively for high definition televisions. Most of the networks have now switched over to digital broadcasting. So you will either have to buy a digital television set or install a digital converter box. Of course, you can still order cable. In this scenario, why not buy a high quality digital television? That way, you will become a little wiser by paying less for ninety five high-resolution channels that you can actually watch. You don’t really need to go to theaters anymore. You can watch your favorite movie at home and enjoy that mesmerizing effect of amazingly sharp channel screens all night.

UNDERSTANDING HDTV TECHNOLOGY

NEED FOR HDTV:

To understand HDTV we need to know how the technology which precedes this worked, namely CRT. CRT stands for Cathode Ray Tube and this basically means that the impact of electrons which is shot out of a gun like cathode causes the earlier TV signals to be displayed. This method is reliable but the problem is that it cannot be scaled up to higher resolutions. Due to this limitation, HDTV which stood for High Definition TV has a whole new concept to it which overcomes the disadvantages of CRT.

How is it that HDTV can give such a clear output whereas current TV is far lower in Quality?

HDTV has many times the number of scanning lines that are present in conventional TV sets. Scanning is the phenomenon by which the image is divided into thousands of rows of pixels which are displayed onto the screen for a fraction of a second. HDTV signals being digital contain a massive amount of data that is compressed using MPEG-2 compression standard but even this amounts to 19.39 Mbps! So this large amount of data is used to provide a crystal clear image for added viewing pleasure. HDTV has two resolutions of 780p and 1080i where ‘p’ stands for progressive scanning and ‘I’ for interlaced scanning.

A HDTV can be viewed in three ways which are:

Antenna: Most of the major networks in the US transmit HDTV signals and this signal is captured and fed through a HDTV receiver.

HD-DVD: HD content cannot be stored in just any device due to its massive size. Hence Blue ray format is used to store them in a compact fashion.

Set Top Box: Here you need to purchase a set top box and this receives the high capacity digital signal which it converts to analogy signal used by the HDTV. Also when buying a HDTV it should be HDTV Ready or else a tuner would have to be bought separately.

It’s all in the Signal and the Image:

HDTV is basically a much more data intense signal. This is the major difference between previous versions. However it is only now through Plasma and LCD displays that we have been able to take advantage of such high data rates. Data compression techniques have also made these schemes feasible. Thus make sure you understand the inner working of your HDTV before you decide to invest a large amount of money in this dream purchase.

COMPARISON BETWEEN HDTV AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES

How is HDTV different from current DTV and CRT TV’s?

HDTV format is different from NTSC and PAL used earlier. The two variants of DTV available are SDTV and HDTV and the latter is the highest quality available currently and SDTV is higher than Analogue version. HDTV offers the best quality of audio and video clarity. The current technology of Television is CRT or Cathode Ray Tube. This article will discuss the differences between CRT and HDTV technology. You will be able to understand why the HDTV technology is a costly one but worth the money.

PARTS OF A HDTV:

There are three parts in every HDTV Setup:

-          The HDTV Digital signal

-          The HDTV receiver that can decode the digital signals.

-          The display which can be either Plasma or LCD depending on user needs.

Difference in Resolution and other parameters:

The basic resolution of HDTV signal is 1920x1080p.In the traditional CRT TV screens, the image is actually composed of a large fixed number of rows and columns each of which is made of tiny pixel like elements. The “cathode ray tube” is a complicated instrument which actually shoots electrons at the CRT display in a scanning motion. Scanning means moving side to side, row by row. This setup follows from the usage of an analogue signal which is used for CRT broadcasts.

However in the HDTV the two technologies used to display HDTV are Liquid Crystal Display and Plasma Displays. Both these technologies offer superior to CRT. LCD and Plasma offers high resolution but each has its drawbacks. LCD has a high resolution and more brightness than plasma but as the screen size increases Plasma works out to less cost but LCD’s are more efficient and save on power in the long run and also have longer lifespan. For screen sizes larger than 55 inches plasma is preferred though. HDTV is the highest resolution signal among all the Digital TV systems (1920x1080p) and this is ten times the resolution of current systems. However for this, source resolution should also be 1080p.The number of scan lines in the ordinary TV is less than 480p whereas true HDTV is 720p and above.

Aspect Ratio:

Aspect ratio is the ratio of width of the display area by the height of it. Current TV has ratio of 4:3 where as HDTV sets will display both 4:3 and 16:9 which means that the width may be cut of at the sides rather than at the top depending on the ratio that is chosen. The additional width will be similar to viewing a theatre screen in the comfort of your home!