The Video Guru® H/DTV FAQ
(Last updated on May 2, 2008)
The Video Guru® H/DTV FAQ
(Last updated on May 2, 2008)
What are the basic differences between digital and conventional (or analog) television?
If I have cable or satellite, will I need to buy or rent more equipment to watch digital television?
What's the difference between the most popular type of digital TV sets?
Where can I find the correct antenna to get digital TV over-the-air?
Why does my television black out the picture on both sides and sometimes the top and bottom?
Why did the federal government decide to make this change from analog to digital?
Where can I find digital and HD programming for my new digital TV set?
What about my old VCR or DVD player, will it work with my new digital TV?
Buying an HDTV is no different than when you bought your current TV. When you bought that TV, you probably only thought about four things: price, size, features, and the picture.
It's the same with buying an HDTV. Figure out how much you want to spend. What size TV you want--based on how far away you'll be when watching TV or the size of an entertainment center or TV stand you'll use. What features you need--such as inputs, outputs, a built-in DTV tuner, and if you want a flat panel, big screen, or front projection TV.
Then it's time to go shopping and find the HDTV sets that meet your price, size, and features. Then find the one that you feel has the best picture...and buy it.
Don't worry about plasma, LCD, or DLP. Lots of people change their minds once they see the pictures for themselves.
For a more detailed answer, see The Video Guru Guide on How To Buy An HDTV (will open in a new window).
While 720p and 1080i are both high definition TV formats, there are some differences.
A 720p picture is made up of 720 lines drawn progressively, one right after the other, on your screen.
A 1080i picture is made up by first drawing 540 odd numbered lines...lines 1, 3, 5, and so on, and then slightly later, the 540 even numbered lines...2, 4, 6, and the rest. Your brain makes this interlaced picture look like one picture.
Which is better? It depends. For fast action like sports, 720p makes a better picture, but for drama where action is minimal, then 1080i looks best.
A lot of people wonder about how big of an HDTV set to buy. The rule of thumb is based on your viewing distance.
For widescreen TVs, sitting three picture heights away from the TV is best--you'll actually be sitting closer to the screen than with a conventional 4x3 TV with the same picture height.
But that's just a guideline. You don't want a TV that's so big it's overwhelming to look at. And you certainly don't want a TV that's too small.
For a more detailed answer, see The Video Guru Guide on Going Wide: How Big of a Widescreen TV Should I Get? (will open in a new window).
The first thing people notice when they watch digital television is the clarity of the picture, especially with HDTV. With digital HDTV, watching television is more like watching a movie with its wider 16x9 aspect ratio. And it's so realistic, it's like looking through a window. Audio is also digital and can have up to 5.1 channels of surround sound, so it really is like watching a movie.
A lot of people are confused about the differences between DTV and HDTV. HDTV is the high definition form of DTV. If a program is on DTV it's digital, but not necessarily in high definition, unless the program says presented in HDTV.
HDTV isn't better than DTV because it's a form of DTV. But it is the highest quality of DTV available.
If you're wondering what programs are available in HDTV in your area, you can go to titantv.com (will open in a new window), enter your zip code, and you'll get a digital TV program guide for your area.
If you subscribe to cable or satellite, the answer is no. But if you get your television over-the-air (with an antenna) after February 17, 2009 (when analog TV shuts down), you'll either need to have your current analog TV hooked up to cable or satellite service, or use a DTV converter box to convert the DTV signal to analog for your TV.
If you have cable or satellite service, then you might not need anything else to watch digital TV, even on an analog TV set. With cable, whether or not you've got digital television depends on the programming package you've bought--digital cable is a type of digital television. Satellite is an all-digital service, so subscribers get digital television now.
If you want to watch digital television from broadcast stations, you will need to contact your local cable provider or satellite service to see if they offer those channels.
DTV sets have become less expensive since their introduction a few years ago, but they're still more expensive than their analog counterparts. This is because the display and tuning technologies used in DTV sets are more complicated and more expensive to manufacture.
Flat screen TVs are LCD or plasma type TVs. They are light-weight and can be wall mounted.
Big screen TVs are rear projection TVs using LCD, DLP, or a newer technology--LCoS. They are the traditional large sized TVs we're all used to and tend to cost less than flat panel TVs.
The best thing about digital TV is that you can get it for free--no cable or satellite bills. All you need is a digital TV set with either a built-in DTV tuner or a stand-alone DTV tuner and an antenna.
You'll be able to find out what the best antenna type for your home is by going to checkhd.com (will open in a new window) and entering your address. The website will locate your home and the location of all the digital TV transmission towers in your area, suggesting the correct antenna type for the best reception.
A lot of people wonder why their current TVs have black bars on the top and bottom during some programs. That's because those programs are shot for HDTV and its wider 16x9 theater-like aspect ratio. To get the full widescreen picture to fit into standard 4x3 TVs, producers put black bars on the top and bottom to fill the TV screen. The technique is called letterboxing.
With DTV and HDTV, you not only get a better picture than today's analog TV, but you get better sound. Digital sound with up to 5.1 channels of surround sound.
Officially, there are two reasons why the federal government decided to change TV from analog to digital (we'll give you the third unofficial answer):
First, converting to DTV will free up parts of the radio spectrum for public safety and new wireless services.
Second, DTV is more flexible and allows broadcasters to provide HDTV and multiple programs at the same time, including multiple HDTV programs.
Third, and unoffically, the federal government will auction off parts of the spectrum no longer used for analog TV to fund the treasury. This will be in the billions of dollars.
The current law, as written, states that the end of the DTV transition and the switch to full digital television will happen on Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009.
While you might find it difficult to pick up your local stations over-the-air with an analog TV and antenna, you might be surprised with digital TV. With DTV, there's no snow, you either get a picture or you don't. Of course, picking up a station has a lot to do with your TV set, your antenna, how far away you are from a TV tower (which might not be the same tower used for analog TV), and any obstructions between you and the tower.
To get an idea of the digital TV service in your area, go to checkhd.com (will open in a new window) and enter your address. You'll get a list of DTV stations in your area, how far away their towers are, and in what direction.
If you don't want to buy a new digital TV or subscribe to cable or satellite, you can still watch digital TV. To do this, you'll need a converter box that receives digital TV signals over-the-air and an antenna. They will convert the digital signal to analog to feed your current TV.
To make sure that no one is left behind once analog TV shuts down, the federal government has authorized a subsidy program.
The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced the final rule for the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program that has been in the headlines since the announcement of the end of analog broadcasting at 11:59 pm on February 17, 2009.
Coupons will be made available to all U.S. households--not just over-the-air television households--until March 31, 2009 or as long as the allocated $1.5 billion (enough for 33.5 million coupons) lasts.
Starting January 1, 2008, all U.S. households can request up to two $40 coupons by phone at 1-888-DTV-2009 or via the government website at www.DTV2009.gov.
Best Buy,Wal-Mart (and Sam's Club), Circuit City, Target, Sears, Kmart, and RadioShack will sell the devices. Digital Stream Technology, LG, Magnavox, and Philco all have converter boxes that have been approved by the government. NTIA is expected to certify several more devices in the next few weeks.
Once you have your digital TV set, you'll want to watch digital and HD programs. Just like your current TV, your digital TV will let you auto set-up your analog and digital channels. But to get an idea of what digital and HD programs are available in your area, you can go to titantv.com (will open in a new window), enter your zip code, and you'll get a digital TV program guide for your area.
When you get a new digital TV, you'll still be able to use your old VCR or DVD player. Your new TV should have standard analog inputs so that you can attach your VCR or DVD player. The signal will still be analog, but you'll still be able to use them and watch your videos and DVDs.
Terms4x3 is the aspect ratio of analog TVs, for every four inches wide, the TV screen is three inches tall.
16x9 is the aspect ratio of HDTV, it's widescreen, so for every 16 inches wide, the screen is 9 inches tall.
In 720p, the "p" stands for progressive. A 720p picture is made up of 720 lines drawn progressively, or one after the other, on your screen.
In 1080i, the "i" stands for interlace. A 1080i picture is made up by first drawing 540 odd numbered lines...lines 1, 3, 5, and so on, and then slightly later, the 540 even numbered lines...2, 4, 6, and the rest. Your brain makes this interlaced picture look like one picture.
1080p is the ultimate in HDTV with 1,080 progressively drawn lines. While HDTV broadcasts aren't in 1080p, HDTV sets and high definition DVDs are available in 1080p.
ATSC stands for the Advanced Television Systems Committee, which came up with the standards for broadcasting digital television. When your talking about a DTV signal, your talking about an ATSC signal, which is why DTV tuners are also called ATSC tuners.
DLP stands for Digital Light Processing. The technology was invented by Texas Instruments and uses chips with up to 2 million hinge-mounted microscopic mirrors to send an image onto a screen.
Flat screen TVs, like LCDs and plasmas, are the new thing in television sets. They can sit on a stand or hang on the wall. If you've got a cable or satellite box that sits on your current TV, you'll need to figure out where to put them with a flat screen.
An HD monitor is just a TV screen without a tuner (and sometimes without speakers). You need a separate tuner or device like a DVD player to get a picture on an HD monitor. An HD-ready TV is a regular TV capable of displaying HDTV if a high definition source like a DTV tuner or high definition DVD player is plugged into them. HD-capable means a TV can accept a high definition input from a device like a high definition DVD player or DTV tuner.
HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface. It's an all-digital audio/video interface used to connect digital equipment like HDTVs and high definition DVD player.
HDTV is high definition television, the highest quality of digital television, in either 720p or 1080i formats.
LCD stands for liquid crystal display and is the most popular type of digital television set because it's the least expensive. LCD projectors send light through a silicone chip, which manipulates the light. In flat panels, images are created by lighting up a fixed grid of pixels.
In a plasma HDTV, light is created by phosphors excited by a plasma discharge between two flat panels of glass. Plasma HDTVs are expensive, but many think they make the best picture.
There are two types of projection TVs: Front projection, like in a movie theater; and rear projection, the "big screen TVs" where an image is projected on the back of a large TV screen.
QAM is the format that cable companies use to transmit signals to the home. Digital TVs with a built-in QAM tuner can get unscrambled digital cable channels without a cable-box.
SDTV is standard definition television, it's what we've been watching for years, but now delivered digitally with DTV.