Whether it's because of newspaper ads, TV shows saying they’re being broadcast in HDTV, or the buzz from co-workers, relatives, and friends, you’ve probably been thinking about testing the HDTV waters. And now is a great time to buy a high-definition set. Not only is HDTV a tremendous leap beyond traditional TV, but hooking one up to a good DVD player will give you a phenomenal-looking image. The best news, though, is that you can now find a wide variety of affordable sets.
But before you break out the plastic, it pays to do a little homework to make sure you’ll be happy with your new TV. The last thing you want is to end up with the wrong set in your living room.
Is It Really HDTV?
What the Specs Mean
Picture Quality
Standard- v. High-Def
Adjusting Image Size
The Fine Points
Getting HDTV Shows
• By Antenna
• By Cable
• By Satellite
HDTV Display Technologies
• From plasma to CRT, here's what you can count on
Resolution Basics
The Color of Gray
The Lingo
The Sound of HDTV
Plugging In
Is It Really HDTV?
One of the first things you’ll notice when you walk into a store is that most HDTVs have screens that are almost twice as wide as they are tall — in other words, the screen’s aspect ratio is 16:9 instead of the squarish 4:3 you’re used to. (For explanations of “aspect ratio” and other key terms, see “The Lingo.”) When it comes to watching movies, wider is definitely better since it resembles the shape of movie-theater screens. Widescreen is also great for sports, delivering more of the action — a third more!
Pay close attention to how the sets are labeled. Some say “HDTV,” while others are called “HDTV-ready” or “HDTV monitors.” While HDTVs have a digital tuner built in, HDTV-ready sets get their high-def images either from an external source like a cable box or satellite receiver, or from a separate digital tuner (these start around $350) that you hook up to an antenna.
You should also be aware of HDTV’s lower-resolution sibling, enhanced-definition TV, or EDTV. Many plasma TVs that sell for less than $4,000 and LCD (liquid-crystal display) sets smaller than 20 inches are EDTVs, not HDTVs. The 480p (progressive-scan) images these sets deliver are better than regular TV’s 480i (interlaced) images — in fact, they’re the same quality you get from a DVD played on a progressive-scan DVD player connected to a digital TV. But they don’t have the fine detail of HDTV’s 720p or 1080i images. (For help in sorting out what all these numbers mean, see “Resolution Basics.”) EDTVs can accept high-def signals from an outboard tuner, satellite receiver, or cable box — they just convert the image to the set’s lower resolution.
What the Specs Mean
You’ll run across several numbers while researching which TV to buy. One of the most important is screen size. HDTV screens are measured on the diagonal, just as with regular TVs.
A technical spec that many manufacturers tout is contrast ratio, and it’s not unusual to see outrageously high claims, like 3,000:1 or higher. Unfortunately, marketing departments have glommed onto this spec, so the numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. These measurements are often not done uniformly or under “real world” viewing conditions. A properly calibrated TV will yield a contrast ratio of 300:1 to 700:1, while some of the newer technologies like LCD and DLP (Digital Light Processing) can deliver up to 900:1. These figures are a lot lower than the hyped specs because the color temperature and white levels have been adjusted correctly and because they’re calculated using a checkerboard pattern rather than alternating between bright and dark screens.
In order to deliver pictures that can jump out on a showroom floor full of TVs and hold their own against harsh store lighting, most TVs are set too “hot” when they’re shipped from the factory. Useful technical specs that are unlikely to appear in a company’s ads or literature are those for color temperature, which tells how reddish or bluish its whites are, and grayscale tracking, or how well the TV reproduces shades of gray between white and black (for more on these, see “The Color of Gray”). All Sound & Vision test reports include this information in a panel titled “in the lab.” The readings before and after calibration will give you a good idea of the performance you’re likely to see when you get the TV home — the first reading indicates how it will look “out of the box,” while the second shows what kind of picture you’ll get after it’s properly set up.
Picture Quality
After your research has narrowed the field to a few candidates, it’s time to head to the store and check out the sets up close. One of the best things about large A/V retailers like Circuit City and Best Buy is that you can compare a bunch of sets at the same time. But even though all of the TVs might be showing the same high-def program, they probably aren’t all properly adjusted, which could make their pictures differ much more widely than their inherent quality. And as already noted, TVs are rarely adjusted for their best picture out of the box. Still, there are some quick tweaks you can try to do to make the playing field more level.
Press the Menu button on the remote control to bring up a list of options, and select Video or Picture Adjustments. You’ll probably find that the set’s contrast has been maxed-out at 100%, with the same for sharpness. Turn sharpness down until halos disappear from the edges of objects and turn contrast down until highlights are no longer out of balance with the rest of the picture. Color temperature will probably also be set too high, causing whites to look bluish. If the set has a color-temperature setting called Low or Warm, use that.
Next, turn off any picture “enhancements” like scan-velocity modulation (SVM), skin-tone correction, and noise reduction. Fortunately, most HDTVs have a Custom or Pro mode that lets you do just that, which will help the picture look more natural. Also, presets like Film or Movie automatically lower contrast, adjust color temperature, and disable a lot of so-called enhancements.
Now you’re ready to judge picture quality. You’ll find that each kind of HDTV has its own image-quality “fingerprint.” Direct-view and rear-projection CRT sets have deep, rich blacks, but the separate red, green, and blue tubes used in rear-projection TVs need to be kept in alignment through an adjustment called convergence. When alignment drifts, red or blue outlines appear around objects. LCD, DLP, and plasma TVs, on the other hand, are terrifically bright and sharp, but they tend to have a tough time producing true blacks and making transitions from light to dark within images. So instead of a solid, inky black, you often see a very dark gray.
One advantage of shopping at a specialty A/V store rather than an electronics mega-mart is that it’s easier to get some hands-on time with the sets. Bring a few of your favorite DVDs with you. Playing a couple of your preselected “reference” scenes on a number of TVs will give you a quick point of comparison. If the store gives you attitude about using your own discs, it probably doesn’t deserve your business.
Pay attention to how the primary colors of red, green, and blue look on a set. (You may remember from school that the “primary colors” are red, blue, and yellow, but that’s for paint, not light, as in video.) Even though specifications have been established for the precise shades of the video primaries, some manufacturers have been known to stray from this ideal. Does grass look natural, or is it too vibrant? Or too yellow or blue? Does water look blue, or does it lean toward purple? Reds in particular can be a problem. Are they overbearing, or blotchy looking? Do they lean toward orange?
Check the transition from dark to bright areas within an image. Find a scene that has a plain, dramatically lit background — a wall at night, for example. On a good set, there will be a smooth shift from bright to dark tones. Some LCD, DLP, and plasma TVs have trouble with this, producing a blocky picture with noticeable steps between shades of gray.
Finally, try scenes where the camera moves across a background with plenty of diagonal lines, like stadium bleachers or a row of windows. Is the image stable, or does it break up and lose resolution?
Standard- vs. High-Def
Much of what’s shown on TV is in standard-definition and not high-def. Depending on the TV, standard-def (480i) signals will be upconverted to 480p or even higher resolutions. But this isn’t a perfect process, so you might see flaws like blurring or jagged, stair-stepped edges on moving objects. Faroudja’s excellent DCDi (Directional Correlation Deinterlacing) video-processing technology is licensed for use in some TVs. Any set that features it is likely to be a strong performer.
Adjusting Image Size
Since most TV shows still use a 4:3 aspect ratio, companies have come up with options for watching squarish programming in the emerging 16:9 world. All widescreen TVs have a control — usually called something like Aspect, Picture Size, or Screen Size — for adjusting the image to fit the screen.
You can watch 4:3 programming in the original shape with either black or gray bars to the left and right of the picture (some sets let you choose between black or gray), or you can fill the screen by stretching the image horizontally or both horizontally and vertically. Videophiles prefer the first option since it doesn’t alter the picture, but this effectively reduces your 60-inch screen to a not-so-impressive 44 inches. Stretching the image horizontally to fill the screen causes considerable distortion — a round ball will look like an egg, and people look wider than they are. Stretching the picture both horizontally and vertically will keep the ball looking more like a ball, but at the cost of cutting off both the top and bottom of the original picture.
Manufacturers take different approaches to picture stretching, and some definitely do it better than others. You should probably take this feature for a test drive before you buy, though if you’re a videophile you won’t use it very often. While all sets can adjust standard-def (480i) images, see if the one you’re considering will also let you resize 480p images (the ones you get from a progressive-scan DVD player) and high-def images. Some sets lock into one aspect ratio for HDTV and 480p programs.
The Fine Points
If you find more than one HDTV that delivers the picture quality you’re looking for, it’ll probably be the secondary things that sway you to buy one set over another. You’re likely to spend a lot of time with the remote control in your hand, so see how it feels and spend some time playing with it. Are the buttons laid out logically? Are they backlit so you can find them easily in the dark? Is there direct access to different inputs, or do you need to toggle through them to get to the one you want?
If picture-in-picture (PIP) is important to you, see if the set allows you to use it with all kinds of programs. Can you use it with a high-def signal? Can all of the inputs be selected as PIP sources?
If you’re thinking about buying an LCD or DLP projection TV, keep in mind that lamp replacement is a factor. Lamps last several thousand hours (the time varies by model and manufacturer) and can sell for $300 or more. Fortunately, you can replace these yourself, and a new lamp should return your set to its original brightness spec.
Getting HDTV Shows
Something to think about while you’re shopping is where you’ll get those gorgeous high-def images. Depending on where you live, you might have several options.
BY ANTENNA If you’re near a large city, you can probably get at least some HDTV programming through an off-air antenna (provided you have a digital tuner either built into the TV or as an outboard box). Yes, this giant step forward in technology can be yours by using an old-fashioned antenna. This is definitely the cheapest way to get high-def shows, since off-air HDTV is free — just like regular TV. (See “Getting HDTV over the Air,” page 100 of S&V's January 2005 issue.)
BY CABLE If there aren’t any stations nearby, or you don’t want to bother with an antenna, call your cable company and see if it offers high-def programming. You can get HDTV via cable in most major cities, and it’s quickly becoming available elsewhere in the U.S. (See November’s “Ultimate Guide to HDTV,” for more about off-air, cable, and satellite sources.)
For a monthly fee — typically less than $10 — your cable company will provide you with a set-top box that can receive high-def shows. (Most current cable boxes have analog component-video outputs, but ones with DVI digital outputs are becoming more common. See “Plugging In” on the facing page for more about connection options.) Also, a technology called CableCARD, similar to the smart cards used in digital satellite receivers, is beginning to appear. The card lets you access premium channels without a cable box, but you can’t use video on demand or the cable company’s electronic program guide (see “Wild Card” in November).
BY SATELLITE Getting high-def signals via satellite is another option. Service is available nationwide — DirecTV, Dish Network, and Voom all provide high-def programming.
Even if you don’t plan to do any high-def viewing right away, there are still two good reasons why you should buy an HDTV-capable set now. First, even if HDTV isn’t yet readily available in your area, it will be soon. And a high-def set can make much of what you watch — especially DVDs — look better.
Shopping for something as high-tech as an HDTV can be daunting, especially when you consider that you’ll probably use it every day. And the sheer number of models and options certainly doesn’t make your choice any easier. If you start by deciding on a screen size and a price range, it will help narrow the field considerably. Then, armed with this knowledge and a few DVDs, you can head to the store confident you’ll find a set that meets your needs. But no matter which HDTV you buy, rest assured that its picture will be a quantum leap over your old TV’s.
| >> Resolution Basics |
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A digital TV's vertical resolution is given as the number of horizontal scan lines, or rows of pixels, from top to bottom of the screen. Its horizontal resolution is the maximum number of discernible vertical lines, or columns of pixels, from left to right across a screen width equal to the height of the picture. (This keeps widescreen sets from having higher resolution than sets with the squarer 4:3 aspect ratio simply because of their shape.) One of the two commonly used high-def signal formats is 720p (progressive-scan), which has 720 lines of vertical resolution. There are 1,280 dots, or pixels, in each widescreen line, giving it a horizontal resolution of 720 pixels when the width is limited to the height. The other is 1080i (interlaced), which has 1,080 lines with 1,920 pixels per widescreen line, or 1,080 pixels horizontally when similarly limited. By contrast, traditional 480i TV signals have 480 lines of vertical resolution and up to 720 pixels per line, for a maximum horizontal resolution of 540 lines. It would be nice if all HDTVs had resolutions of 1080i or 720p, but unfortunately the specs can vary a lot — especially among two kinds of fixed-pixel displays, plasma and LCD. Some screens might match up perfectly with one of the high-def formats, but many have native resolutions like 1,024 x 1,024 pixels, so the TVs convert incoming video to match. These models are still considered HDTVs, which have come to be defined as any sets that can display at least 720 lines of vertical resolution. |
| >> The Sound of HDTV |
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You buy an HDTV primarily to get high-quality images, but what about its sound? You'll find that it rates a distant second. Though the speakers built into TVs are generally a lot better than they used to be, they can't come close to recreating the kind of surround sound experience you get at the movies. In fact, some plasma TVs don't even include speakers. While using the speakers on a TV for the center channel in a surround sound setup might seem like a good idea, odds are the built-in speakers won't sound much like your other speakers and won't be able to handle really loud passages of music or dialogue. Going with a separate surround sound system can give you performance that rivals what you experience in your local cinema. (For more on adding great sound, see “How to Buy Surround Sound.”) |
| >> Plugging In |
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If it's been a while since you last bought a TV, you'll notice that the backs of today's HDTV sets have a variety of connectors. But when it comes to a TV's audio/video inputs, the rule is simple: the more the merrier. With so many high-def sources available — satellite and cable TV, off-air broadcasts, D-VHS tape, videogame systems — and with high-def discs on the horizon, even the most well-equipped TV can quickly run out of inputs. The most important inputs for HDTV are component video and digital video inputs like DVI and HDMI. Wideband, or HDTV-capable, component-video inputs will not only accept high-def signals from an outboard tuner or satellite receiver, but they'll also let you get the best possible picture quality from regular sources like a progressive-scan DVD player. The digital inputs have the advantage of keeping a DVD or HDTV signal in the digital domain all the way from the source to the TV, avoiding digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion, which can degrade picture quality. But just because you have more source components than your TV has appropriate inputs doesn't mean you'll have to plug and unplug something every time you want to change sources. A good digital surround sound receiver or processor can provide outstanding audio as well as video switching, letting you run far fewer cables to your TV. (See “How to Buy Surround Sound.”) |