Sony Bravia TV
Judging by what I overhear sales people at electronics store tell potential customers, I concluded that many people out there are totally clueless about the whole High Definition TV (HDTV), flat-screen TV craze that is sweeping the world.

So I decided to put together a very simple explanation, based on the gist of what I understood from reading stuff on the web and from conversations with people.

There are dozens of detailed buyer guides on the web but I decided to write another one that just gives the basics without going into details, basically to help everyone to start grasping the basic concepts of HDTV and to reduce the number of people who fall victim to sales people’s clueless explanations.

What is HDTV?

HDTV is, quite simply, the new standard for viewing high quality video content. This standard offers a higher resolution of the screen than what was available on old TV, which translates into more picture detail. Just for you to know, the old TVs were based on technology that was over 60 years old. So it is high time the world moved to something better.

When I say ‘resolution’ it means how many pixels are on the screen (pixel means “picture element” or points of light). A standard computer screen, for example, has something like 1024 pixels in width by 768 pixels in height. If you multiply 1024×768 it means that your typical computer screen has 786,432 pixels. Go ahead and count them if you don’t believe me.

So what is the resolution of an HDTV screen.?

There are basically two levels of resolution in the market today:

720p: which means the screen has 720 pixels (or a little bit more, namely: 768 pixels) in screen height and 1366 pixels in screen width. Such screen are sometimes called 1 Megapixel screens because 768×1366 = 1,049,088 (ie a bit more than 1 million pixels, hence, 1 MEGApixel)

1080p: which means the screen has 1080 pixels in screen height and 1920 pixels in screen width. Such screen are called 2 Megapixel screens because 1080×1920 = 2,073,600 (ie a bit more than 2 million pixels, hence, 2 MEGApixel). Sometimes, manufacturers market 1080p screens as “Real HD”. This is more of a marketing gimmick because both 720 and 1080 resolutions are considered HD.

So should you buy a 720p (1 megapixel) or a 1080p (2 megapixel screen)?

Easy answer: if the screen is less than 50 inches you can safely go for 720p. If it is more than 50 inches go for 1080p.

Of course there are screens on the market that are smaller than 50 inches but that still offer 1080. If you have the money to spend and you want the highest standard possible go ahead and by one.

But if you’re on a budget, rest assured that 720p is still going to give a great picture quality.

HD resolutions
HD resolutions compared (from Wikipedia)

What size of screen should you get?

Sales people will of course try to sell you a bigger screen. But before you rush into a decision, take measurements of the TV you like in the store, then go home and measure your current TV. Then, if you want, get a piece of cardboard and cut it to the size of the TV you liked in the store. and put it on your wall or in front of your current TV. You might discover that the TV you liked is way too big for your room. A bigger screen is nice. But you don’t want to have something that looks like a giant in your living room or bedroom.

Will all my TV channels suddenly look great on an HDTV?

No. Actually many people are super disappointed when they watch regular TV programs on a big flat-screen TV. The old, low quality picture is simply stretched across you new big screen and it looks bad. This also depends on the quality of the broadcast. In the Middle East a lot of the satellite channels have a bad picture quality anyway. An HD screen will not make them look better.

Your DVDs will look OK on an HD screen but NOT really amazing.

You will only start enjoying the higher quality of your TV when you get HD material to watch. This comes in several ways:

1. Get a Blu-ray DVD player and buy new Blu-ray movies. These are just now becoming available in the Middle East and the selection of movies is still small. Blu-ray is the new standard for DVDs and it will become more widespread in the coming years. For now, these players are quite expensive.

2. Get HD satellite (or cable) broadcasts. Some channels are starting to broadcast in HD. You will need a new HD capable receiver for that. These too are also still quite expensive.

3. Get a Playstation 3. PS3 games are in HD and it can play Blu-ray movies.

In the Middle East, no one is broadcasting in HD yet. I heard that Al-Jazeera sports will broadcast the Euro 2008 soccer games in HD. It will take a while until your favorite stations start HD broadcast. MBC is getting ready to that, for example.

Plasma or LCD

Flat-screen TV come either as LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) or as Plasma displays. These are two different technologies of picture display. Plasma’s usually are used on bigger displays. The have better viewing angles and they are said to display better blacks (which is important when watching movies).

On the downside for Plasmas, they used to have a shorter life before their picture started to fade.

Now.. LCDs have pretty much caught up in all aspects. Both Plasma and LCD screens can serve you for 20 years of usage or more and I doubt if anyone would own a TV for more than 5 to 10 years these days.

I noticed that Plasma screens display slight more natural color on a Panasonic model recently. But the differences aren’t that great.

I would say there isn’t much difference left between plasmas and LCDs.

What does the ‘HD Ready’ label mean?

Hdready

You will see a lot of TV’s with an “HD Ready” label on them. This simply means that this screen can play HD content but does not have an HD tuner built in. In other words it cannot directly receive HD broadcasts. As far as I understand, this doesn’t affect you if you plan to watch Blu0ray DVD or if your satellite receiver is an HD-capable receiver.

What is HDMI?

I heard the most ridiculous answers by sales people to this question.

HDTV’s usually have the an HDMI logo printed on the body or on the package. HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. In English this means it is a kind of cable that carries HD video and audio from your source (a DVD player or a satellite receiver) to your TV. If a TV set has more than one HDMI input it means that you can hook multiple sources to it.

What else?

This is by no means a complete guide. There are issues related to contrast (how bright and how dark the display can be), motion handling (how well does the display handle fast moving images), color engines (how natural do the colors look). Sales people will start bombarding you with numbers and terms to impress you. I advise that you go and educate yourself further on the web. But my guess is that most brand name manufacturers give you pretty decent specs on most of their models.

I hope this introduction helps you start your journey of discovery of the world of HDTV. Feel free to comment and correct any information you think is wrong.


Posted

in

, ,

by

Tags:

Comments

5 responses to “The world’s simplest HDTV and flat-screen TV introduction!”

  1. K Sharif Avatar
    K Sharif

    Thank you very much. Your Blog is both entertaining and useful. You are also a Mac Man, which (in my book at least) gives you double score.
    Please keep up the good work.

  2. Muneer Avatar
    Muneer

    Hi, good basic review. You missed the Rear Projection HDTVs from your review. They are not flat, about 5-8 inches deep depnding on the screen size. They have a smoother and warmer HD picture than flat TVs. (Think a theater picture.) Also, they give you better picture when watching none-HD broadcast. I started with a LCD then plasma and now I have 2 sony GRAND WEGA rear projection HD TVs (62 and 42)

    Another BIG advantage for Rear Projection LCD: If the picture fades after few years, change the bulb ($30), and the picture will look like you have just bought it :-)

  3. SUV in Amman Avatar
    SUV in Amman

    So does that mean with channels not broadcasting in HD-signal, and without an overpriced HD-DVD player (and its original discs) the new high-definition TV will result in a lower quality display, yet people are still lining up to buy them, because they look thin?!!

  4. dadan Avatar
    dadan

    thx …. you provided answers to the questions i had …

    if i asked you what brand would you recommend for a 40” screen ? HD ready .. what that would be?

  5. Hani Obaid Avatar
    Hani Obaid

    ok, I found this really useful particularly since I’m in the market for a new LCD screen. Only I want to use my new screen for DVD’s, tv/sattelite, and as a PC screen as well. There’re 3 parameters i keep seeing on the ads
    1. a contrast ratio
    2. measure of brightness
    3. resolution

    The 3rd one is obvious, but how important are the first 2 ?