Whether you’re ready to make the jump to HDTV yet or not, you’ve probably already waded into the water a little bit and discovered that it’s as muddy as the mighty Mississippi. What technology is better, Plasma, LCD, Front and Rear Projection (which further breaks down to CRT, DLP, LCD and LCoS)? What’s the difference between HD capable and HD ready? Do I want 720p, 1080i or 1080p resolution? What’s an HDMI cable and why the heck is it so expensive?

We’ll try to answer these and many other questions as we go along and we may well inspire some new ones. Don’t be afraid to use our feedback page. There is no such thing as a dumb question when it comes to today’s high tech devices. Not asking and ending up with the wrong product or setup is the only mistake you can make.

First thing, regardless of the technology you decide on:

When you make the move don't go cheap, you'll regret it later. If you want to keep the cost down go for a smaller set. Bigger isn’t necessarily better with HDTV.

The important things to look for are:

·         ATSC and QAM tuners – ATSC tuners allow you to receive broadcast (antennae) HD signals, QAM tuners allow you to receive unscrambled HD signals via cable without needing a set top box.

·         Viewing angle – The wider the better, look for at least 170 degrees vertical and horizontal.

·         Response time - 8ms or less, otherwise you will see artifacts or trails in fast motion scenarios.

·         Contrast ratio – The higher the better, although there are multiple methods of measurement.

·         Multiple HDMI ports - so you can plug in extras like an up converting or HD DVD player as well as your cable.

·         A variety of ports – HDMI, DVI, Component, S-video and composite.

·         PIP and PAP - picture in a picture (self explanatory) picture and a picture (side by side pictures).

Do your homework - Measure your mounting space and the distance to your favorite seat. This will help you decide on a size that's right for you (Crutchfield has great seat to set ratios, etc. There’s a nice table of contents in the right hand column.). And remember the “bigger isn’t necessarily better” rule I mentioned earlier.

Ok, let’s get down to some specifics.

Plasma, LCD or Projection?

Each technology has its strengths and weaknesses. Like so many things in today’s world it really comes down to your own needs and preferences. Here’s a brief rundown on each.

Plasma

Strengths:

Slim form factor so its wall mountable. Excellent color, excellent contrast, true blacks. The picture is comparable to the best tube TV’s and sizes start at 42” so you can get a whacking large TV if that’s what you are looking for. It also has great viewing angles.

Weaknesses:

Lighting, plasma screens reflect light and look best in a dark room. Weight, these babies are heavy. Burn in, plasma is prone to burn in marks from letterbox and side bars as well as the tickers that are so common today, although the newer models employ “bit shifting” technology that actually shifts the image a few pixels during each refresh to combat this. It’s not noticeable while watching TV but you can see it if you use the TV for slide shows. Price, while prices have come down and sizes have gone up on LCD’s, plasma is still pretty expensive.

LCD

Strengths:

No burn in issues making this a great choice if you’ll be using it for gaming or if you watch a lot of non HD content. Slim form factor so its wall mountable. Much lighter than plasma, a 32” weighs in at about 35lbs. No lighting issues as LCD screens are non reflective. Lower energy consumption than the plasma and traditional CRT’s (consumes 60% less energy than a comparably sized tube TV). Good viewing angles.

Weaknesses:

Slower response times than the other choices can cause motion artifacts although the higher end models have come a long way. Blacks are not as black as on the plasma. Not available in “drive-In movie size” yet, but they’re getting larger.

Projection

I'm not going to seperate out the strengths and weaknesses here. Front, rear, CRT, DLP, LCoS, they’re all huge behemoths. If you've got the real estate, they're great but they’re also heavy and deep, don’t look good in bright lighting conditions, and don’t have great viewing angles. Some even output a "color rainbow" effect that can be very disturbing to some individuals. All that being said they’re still the next best thing to the original CRT or tube TV’s we’re all used to when it comes to picture quality. Manufacturers seem to be going in too many different directions with them for my taste and that usually spells extinction of the species. 

Screen resolutions. 720p, 1080i or 1080p?

Currently HD programming is served to us at 1080i or 720p, with the bulk of it coming in at 720p. The i and the p stand for interlaced (painting the screen twice, half the lines each time, to show you a single frame) and progressive (painting the screen once with all the lines). Unlike tube TV's, fixed pixel TV's like Plasma, LCD and DLP are progressive in nature. If you feed it a 1080i signal it converts the interlaced signal to progressive, and shows you 1080p. So with the exception of certain plasma sets by Hitachi and Fujitsu that use ALiS technology, all 1080i capable sets are really outputting a 1080p picture.

The up or down conversion of the signal is the biggest factor in screen lag. The conversion takes time and consequently skews your screen response time, possibly resulting in screen artifacts. Confused yet? Here's a real world example:

I have a great top of the line HDTV but I have both it and my cable box set for 720p and here's why. The networks are sending out 720p for the most part, so having your cable box set to deliver a 1080i signal means you are asking the box to upconvert the signal for you. It does this by repeating sections of the lines it does get to make up the difference. This takes time and slows down your response time. If you change this setting on your cable box you may also need to set your TV to 720p, otherwise the TV will upconvert the signal. While most TV's are better and quicker at upconverting than most cable boxes, it still can slow you up just enough to cause problems. My problems were minute but I wanted perfection so I tried every possible setting and the 720p straight through delivers best. I was seeing digital noise when I watched football when there was a shot of a wide receiver streaking down the sideline with the stadium signage as a backdrop. This cured the noise problem and did not detract from the image quality at all as it's a 720p broadcast to begin with.

So, with the exception of Blu-Ray and HD DVD players there are currently no 1080p broadcasts via any medium and there won't be in the near future. Whether you get your signal via antenna, cable or satellite the best you can expect to receive is 1080i or 720p. A 1080p TV will take a 1080i or 720p signal and upconvert it to 1080p. As stated before this takes time and skews your response time, so it will give you more lines, but at a price, and speaking of price, that's where I'm going with this.

The way the technology is changing and the way prices are dropping on the 720p and 1080i sets, it's not a good return on your investment to buy a 1080p set right now. Spend less money now and buy what's right for the current delivery method, then you'll have more money to invest in 1080p when they finally settle on a frame rate standard.

Check this out from Wikipedia:

Due to bandwidth limitations of broadcast frequencies, the ATSC and DVB have standardized only the frame rates of 24, 25, and 30 frames per second (1080p24, 1080p25, 1080p30). Higher frame rates, such as 1080p50 and 1080p60, could only be sent over normal-bandwidth channels if a more advanced codec (such as H.264/MPEG-4 AVC) were to be used. Higher frame rates such as 1080p50 and 1080p60 are foreseen as the future broadcasting standard for production.^[3]

In the United States, the ATSC is considering amending its standard to allow the incorporation of the newer codecs for optional usage like the DVB Project consortium already has done with DVB-S2.^{[citation needed]} However, doing so is not expected to result in widespread consumer availability of broadcast 1080p programming, since most of the existing digital television sets or external digital receivers in use in the United States would still only be capable of decoding the older, less-efficient MPEG-2 codec, while the bandwidth limitations do not allow for broadcasting two simultaneous streams on the same broadcast channel (e.g. both a 1080i MPEG-2 stream alongside a 1080p MPEG-4 stream).

So, like Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, 1080p at the current frame rates may be the new millenniums version of Betamax.

Here's CNET's take on 1080p:

The truth about 1080p

In the last couple of years, there has been a big influx of HDTVs with 1080p native resolution, which typically cost a good deal more than their lower-resolution counterparts. But as we've been saying all along, once you get to high-def, the difference between resolutions becomes much more difficult to appreciate. We've done side-by-side tests between two 46-inch LCD HDTVs, one with 1366x768 resolution and the other with 1080p resolution, using the same 1080i source material, and it was extremely difficult for us to see any difference. It becomes even more difficult at smaller screen sizes or farther seating distances--say, more than 1.5 times the diagonal measurement of the screen. We've reviewed a 37-inch 1080p LCD, for example, where it was impossible to see the separation between horizontal lines at farther than 45 inches away.

We're not telling you to ignore 1080p HDTVs. They technically do deliver more detail, which can enhance the viewing experience for more eagle-eyed viewers. Also, many manufacturers build other picture-quality benefits, such as better contrast and/or color, into their 1080p HDTVs simply because those sets are the high-end models. And given the continuing march of technology, we expect more and more 1080p models to become available at lower and lower prices. Today, however, the premium for 1080p is still pretty steep, and unless you're getting a very large set, say 50 inches or more, we don't recommend basing a buying decision on whether or not the television has 1080p native resolution.

Size doesn’t matter

I’m of the belief that the picture on a top quality 32” HDTV is infinitely better than the picture on a larger set, especially if the bigger set is a bargain or cheaper model. The smaller the set the sharper the picture, period. I personally favor TV’s in the 26” to 42” range, depending on the application. Not everyone has a gi-gundo family room, and not every TV is for the family room. Besides, I’ve always been creeped out when the news anchor is bigger than real life.

We favor a cozy environment when we watch TV. Our family room has the seating placed in the middle of the room in a semi circle facing the TV, which is only 6 to 8 feet away. In this room we have a Samsung LNS3251D which is a 32” set. My sports watching friends and relatives have a variety of sizes and types of TV’s, mine being the smallest (TV that is!), but it’s become the place to watch the Pats games because of the picture quality and intimacy, plus the kick ass surround sound. When you’re watching on a bigger TV you tend to sit further back, sitting close is NOT an option. The funny thing is that people don’t seem to realize its only 32”. When the subject turns to TV’s and screen size, the comment is usually “Really? I thought it was bigger than that.” Personally I think it’s because the aspect ratio and signal quality are the most impressive part of the HD experience. TV was meant to be seen in 16:9 mode with vibrant eye popping colors and room filling high quality audio. Once you experience it like that you can never go back.

Final word

So, if you haven’t gathered by now, my current HDTV of choice would be a top of the line LCD in the 26” to 42” range. Top LCD's of the moment are Sony, Sharp and Samsung. Matter of fact, all 3 manufacturers uses the same suppliers. Each has various grades, always go for the higher end i.e.: Sharp Aquos, Sony Bravia or the Samsung LNT53H series. If you’re looking to keep the cost down, you can save money by avoiding the 1080p models and the ridiculously big sets.

One last thing, you know I’ve always got at least one last thing, this time its cables. Here are your options for cabling between your HD set and your cable box or HD DVD player. I’ve listed them best to worse in descending order. Only the first 4 options are truly digital. This is important because going from a digital source to an analog cable and then back to a digital TV you run into the same problem as up/down converting the resolution, time lag and possible screen artifacts.

• HDMI - HDMI cables are considered the best way to bring both video and audio signals from the source to the set via a single cable while keeping it in the digital format. They are the only cable that will also carry 5.1 audio.

• HDMI to DVI – Some cable boxes have DVI outputs instead of HDMI. Still keeps the signal digital but will not carry audio. You must also hook up digital coax or composite (RCA) for audio.

• DVI – For applications where both the TV and the cable box have DVI only. Again, audio must be supplied via digital coax or composite.

• Component – Component consists of 5 RCA type connectors, 3 for video and 2 for audio. This is what the cable company will offer you unless you specifically ask for the HDMI to DVI cable.

• S-Video – This is an analog cable that has a 3 pin connector in place of the 3 RCA video connectors used in composite hookups. A pair of Composites are needed also for audio.

• Composite – Also an analog cable consisting of 3 RCA connectors. Yellow is video, red and white are audio.

• Coax – Coax is an analog connection also. If you are connecting directly to cable and have a QAM tuner, you will be able to receive unscrambled HD. You would also use this to connect an external antenna to the set for broadcast HD.

Now you don’t need to pay a small fortune for your cables, but you do want to get good ones that are the right length. Because you can’t put your cable box on top of a flat panel and it looks cheesy to have it behind the set you may need a longer cable than the standard 6 ‘one. A good rule of thumb is: the longer the cable you need, the better the cable quality needs to be. Longer cables are more prone to interference and need better shielding. I have my cable box in with my stereo now because I found a 12’ HDMI cable to be cheaper than a 12’ digital audio or fiber optic audio cable. Putting it close to the stereo allowed me to use a 6‘audio cable. I went with the medium grade Monster cable on both and spent about $100 total. Best prices are online.