Home theater HDTV - What is all the hype about?

If you are wondering if HDTV is worth all the hype all I can tell you is have a look for yourself.  My first experience was watching a baseball game in High Definition.  Instead of just seeing a blob of colors and shapes in the crowd I suddenly could clearly see the father in the crowd with his son on one side of him eating a hot dog and his daughter on the other side talking on the cell phone.  I could see the catcher's signals to the pitcher.  I could see the expression on the batter's face and whether he shaved that day.  I could see the individual blades of grass and hear the crowd in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound.  I could see more of the game because of the wider screen.  In short I was messmerized with what I was seeing. 

You would have to be in a cave to not have heard the term HD or High Definition, but understanding what the term means is another story.  So what is this HDTV thing all about?

History of High Definition Television

It is recognized that the Japanese were the pioneers of HDTV technology where they began researching back in the mid 1960's.  MUSE as it was called was designed to improve the overall quality of the NTSC standard and developed HDTV standards similar to what we have today, but bandwidth requirements were too high for traditional broadcasts and it was not compatible with the televisions at the time.

In the early 1990's in the United States several competing groups joined forces to form the "Grand Alliance" which resulted in the ATSC standard.  In 1998 HDTV products became available to consumers.  By November of 1998 41 stations begin broadcasting digitally.  By the fall of 1999 regular HDTV broadcasts begin with ABC's Monday Night Football, NBC's The Tonight Show and CBS's prime time line-up except for the news and reality shows.

Another interesting date is February of 2009 when there is a federally imposed transition to digital television, although not necessarily true HDTV resolution, where broadcasters will need to turn off traditional analog signal and send programs digitally.

Resolution

HDTV standards for a broadcast or a display are 1080i or 720p.  It has long been debated about which format it better. 

• In 1080i there are 1080 horizontal lines of resolution.  The i stands for interlaced which means that only half of the lines (540) are displayed at one time, while the other half are then displayed.  The images on the screen are displayed 60 times per second in order to give a smooth display of the picture. 
• In 720p there are 720 horizontal lines of resolution.  The p stands for progressive which means that each time the screen is refreshed (again 60 times per second) all 720 lines are shown on the screen.
• Some would argue that for static images 1080i is better since there can be more lines of resolution giving a more detailed image, while others argue that in fast moving scenes and sports that 720p is better because of the ability to present a smoother image.

Whichever you prefer, the difference is clear.  The resolution on HDTV is 2-5 times greater then on standard definition programming.  The larger your screen size, the more you notice the difference.  The one danger of viewing HD programming on an HDTV is that you will never want to go back to watching standard definition programming again.  

1080p - the best of both worlds? 

1080p, as you can guess means that there are 1080 lines of resolution all shown on the screen at the same time.  This will certainly give you the best picture, but some will argue that it is hard to notice an improvement, especially in the small and mid-size televisions.  Also, at present there is very little 1080p material available.  If you are most interested in viewing HDTV for HD DVDs or for video games, then you may want to consider spending the extra dollars, but if you are mostly viewing cable or satellite broadcasts then it may not be worth it because none of the major networks have announced any plans for broadcasting in 1080p.

Widescreen

Ok, so you think you understand the difference between interlaced and progressive, but what makes a tv a widescreen television?

In the past, televisions had an aspect ratio of 4:3 - meaning the screen was 4 units wide by 3 units high, meaning they were much closer to square then the widescreen televisions of today which have an aspect ratio of 16:9.  HDTV programming is broadcast in 16:9.  You probably have watched widescreen movies in the past on your older 4:3 tv where there were black boxes at the top and bottom of your screen.  You will not see the black bars on regular HDTV programming on a widescreen tv, but you may still see some black bars at the top and bottom because some movies are even wider then the 16:9 format.  One disadvantage is that if you watch 4:3 programming or a "full-screen" movie on a widescreen tv you will have black bars at the sides of the screen.

Dolby Digital

HDTV also can broadcast Dolby Digital 5.1 so you can experience full surround sound capabilities.

What sources of High Definition are available

HD sources include digital cable, broadcast satellite, over the air broadcast (yes the old antenna can be of use again), high definition discs such as HD DVD and Blu Ray and some of the new console video games.

Is all the hype worth it?

To me there is no going back.  Movies in High Definition never looked or sounded better.  Sports, especially football in HD are incredible.  With the higher resolution and a wider screen you will see things you never saw before.  With Dolby 5.1 you will hear things you never heard before.  It is something you need to experience for yourself to feel the difference.