HDTV

It took a few years, but high definition television seems to finally be widespread. Like any new (or old) technology, there seems to be a few misconceptions about it among the laymen. Allow me to explain a bit about how your cable TV works.

First of all, HD is HD. It's broadcasting a signal in 1080i or 720p; a digital signal at that. This means that whether you go through the phone company, the cable company, or use a satellite service, you are getting the same transmission. If you have a poor physical connection or the signal is weak, it will manifest as pixelating, artifacts, or freezing of the image. Not poor quality.

Perhaps an analogy would make it clearer. A digital TV signal describes the picture; an analog signal sends the actual picture. It's like baking a cake and mailing it to you versus giving you the recipe. If I mail it (analog) you'll get a cake, but it might be a little stale and banged up from the trip. If I give you the recipe (I still have to mail you something, but it's compressed into a small piece of paper, and I can add checks to make sure you get it exactly right, maybe even by sending several copies) then you have to do a little more work, but you will eventually have a perfect cake (or no cake at all, depending on your baking prowess.)

So why is one TV provider better than another? It's not because of the signal they're sending. I believe it comes down to the features they offer (DVR, channels, filtering programs...) and the price. Though their marketing campaigns would suggest differently. They pull the same misleading shit with internet service and it drives me nuts. Maybe I'll clarify that in a future post.

Secondly, CRT > LCD. I established that the incoming HDTV digital signal is the same Discovery Channel on your cable line as it is on your phone line. So what's the next choice to make? Which display technology to use. When a signal is HD, it's referring to its resolution. So any TV that supports HD will display it in that resolution.

The difference comes in when you consider brightness, color accuracy, refresh rates, space, power consumption... For picture quality and motion there's just no beating the old tube style televisions. They're also cheaper. Unfortunately, they're harder to find as manufacturing companies are phasing them out for the sleeker LCDs. To their credit, LCDs have come a long way and boast quicker refresh rates, brighter colors, and wider viewing angles than their earliest ancestors. I think, however, that the major appeal to them is their thin frame. Who wants a 250 pound CRT TV when they can get an LCD and hang it on the wall -- especially when the picture quality is non-discernible to the casual viewer.

Hopefully this helps clarify some of the misconceptions about TV. If you're in the market for a new one, search the internet for specifications, compare those to the ones you find in the stores and actually look at them. Just remember that the retail stores have an agenda to push a certain product on you and it may not be the best one for you. They may also not have the TV optimally configured, or be displaying a decent video on it. If you're considering switching service providers, put picture quality out of the way and then decide what factors are important to you: price, the "guide" they use, contract, et cetera.