Debunking The Myths of HD - Part 1

A Higher Number Is Better, Right?

Okay, so you've heard everyone talking about HD. You went in to an electronics store and the high school kid working there told you that HD was so cool. Better yet you took some time and researched HD on the internet. And then someone you know got a HD Plasma TV and someone else got an LCD HDTV. So what are you going to do?

The manufacturers and retail outlets are just like everyone else, they want your money. So who can you trust? Well, Janaki is here to give it to you straight so hopefully you can make an informed decision before you plop down thousands of dollars on technology that will go the way of Betamax or 8 Track tapes. Scary isn’t it? I will try to explain all this without getting too technical but let’s face it you WILL have to understand some technical aspects of HD, it’s just the nature of the beast and it’s the world we live in. So dig in.

So what is High Definition video also known as HD or High-def? Simply put it’s an all digital TV system with three to six times more info (or resolution) in a single frame. HD is on the highest resolution end of Digital Television (or DTV, no not the satellite company). Higher resolution means clearer and more vibrant quality. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FCC) has already begun the process for all TV stations to mandatory switch to DTV by February 17, 2009. Check out the FCC’s FAQ page for a detailed explanation of DTV. This is a good thing.

At this point you might ask why? If it’s not broke why fix it? And we have always had TV this way, wah! Technology advances and as it improves we better change with it or be left behind. The good old analog system that was put into place at the birth of television is antiquated and far from perfect. Heck, even the whole country of Denmark went completely digital this past month. Analog TV is no longer being used and more European countries are going to be flipping the switch soon.

So let’s talk about HD formats.
Simply put, there are two formats that have been endorsed in America that are full HD formats: 720p (for progressive) and 1080i (for interlaced). Which is better? Of course this subject is up for a raging debate. Currently, companies such as Fox, ABC and ESPN broadcast in 720p and CBS, NBC, CW, Showtime, HBO, Starz!, and The Discovery Channel broadcast in 1080i. And Europe has already accepted 720p as their standard for HD. But isn't the higher number better?? It would be except for that pesky little "i" after it. That stands for "interlaced" which is a remnant of old analog TV. Basically, this means that "interlaced" frames don't ever transmit a full frame. It "draws" half the frame on your TV from left to right, skips a line and then "draws" the other half from right to left. The key phrase to remember here is "skips a line". This causes "flicker" or the industry terms "artifacts" or "pixelation". In order to combat that, interlace TV's employ a "blur" process to meld the lines together which results in degradation of resolution and quality.

On the other hand 720p is "progressive" which means it always fully transmits or "draws" a complete and full frame every time. So 720p gives you better resolution especially while watching sports or anything with fast motion. At this point it's important to remember that both 720p and 1080i transmit approximately 60 million pixels to the TV per second. But you still might say, "But 1080 is a bigger number", why, yes it is. 720p delivers a size of 1280x720 while 1080i delivers 1920x1080, but remember what I said about interlaced systems blurring the lines? Yes, it's a dual edged sword because even though it is able to give your more lines or pixels, because it has to blur them together you lose that resolution. It actually brings it down to nearly the level of 720p (about 820 scan lines) but let me ask you, is something going to be better if it is accomplished in one step or two? If you remove the middle man don't you get a better deal? So why do so many networks broadcast in 1080i? Because it's partly utilizing a technology that is already in existence which makes it somewhat easier, right? In the not too distant future 1080p will be a reality and we won't have to fight about it. Hopefully by then we will also be able to agree to a worldwide standard for HD broadcast. On the upside, whatever format you choose it will be infinitely better than standard analog TV as the clarity, depth of color, sharpness and sheer beauty of the images are amazing to behold. Oh yeah, all HDTV's are 16x9. So forget the past where we all had square TV's. Get used to the widescreen format because it's here to stay, but don't worry when you are all set up you will actually be able to watch movies (and everything else) like you are in a movie theater (just not with those black bars).

So now that you have a deeper understanding of what HD is, what do you do with it? Run out and buy the right TV? Maybe you already have and you were disappointed when you got home, plugged in the TV and whammo! the quality is the same or worse! Let's not pull any punches, it down right sucks! Don't fear my young apprentice (gratuitous Star Wars reference) it's because most channels and companies don't broadcast in DTV. But, before you protesteth too much, you might say; "my cable company is providing me an expensive upgraded service and a special set top box that specifically state they are HDTV”. Sorry Charlie, that's not going to work. Unless a broadcast program also states it’s being broadcast in true HDTV format, all you are watching is something comparable to digitally cleaned up, old-fashioned analog TV that’s been on the air since before you were born and it isn't HDTV. How about the “Digital Cable TV” service that your provider says it’s pushing down the pipe into your home? Isn’t that HDTV? Again, no, it isn’t. Regular digital cable TV is nothing more than analog TV that’s been digitized so your cable provider can squeeze hundreds of channels over the wire and, by the way, squeeze more money out of you, never mind the fact that they are still using old-fashioned, analog coaxial (standard definition) cables to transmit into their HD receiver box.

At this point only satellite companies can offer somewhat true HD and by end of next year they will be able to offer "true" HD fully with both 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolution. The main hold back to all of this is the compression. The very definition of compression is to make things smaller. So apply this to TV signals and you have loss of resolution which results in quality degradation. The new MPEG-4 format compresses the signal with minimal degradation at a smaller size, and this is being adopted by many companies. But in order to maximize clarity and get "true" HD then cable companies and satellite providers MUST transmit in industry standard HD formats over DTV signals from the get go directly to the HDTV set top boxes directly to your new shiny HDTV.

So, the best way is to deliver the content is from the source to your set top box to your TV without any compression, alteration, "up rezzing", "up converting" or so on. Remember, we are going to all DTV signals by 2009 so that's a bit of a comfort. Again you might ask, why the hell should I buy one of those HDTV's? Besides the fact they look cool? The bottom line is that Plasma TV's just look better than regular "Tube" TV's and LCD TV's look even better still. They both have their own positives and negatives but there is a new technology called SED (unveiling in 2007) that will bring a third option and by the looks of it, it will probably replace Plasma's, but we'll see how that plays out.

Part 2 of "Debunking the Myths of HD" will focus on HDTV's including:

1. What's better: Plasma, LCD's, or Rear-projection TV's?
2. What type of resolution and features should I look for?
   
3. What kind of connections do I need for HDTV?
4. Should I wait to buy my first (or next) HDTV?

The info I wrote about in this blog was provided as a service to all of you out there in the hope that you all will make informed decisions about HD, and that you won't let salesmen and companies sell you a "bill of goods" just to make their bottom lines. And I of course reserve the right to be wrong about dates and figures.

Thanks and stay tuned for Part 2!