News: DTV Confusion 2002: What's Up With HDTV?

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DTV Confusion 2002: What's Up With HDTV?

Sat Oct 30, 2004

The content in the following article regarding FOX TV has since been updated, check out the complete update at: HDTV Update: FOX Finally Joins In. However before you read the update, check out the background info here.)

In the aftermath of FOX Broadcasting's rejection of HDTV with its 480p standard definition broadcast of the Superbowl, the controversy regarding the future of HDTV is resurfacing amongst industry professionals and consumers. Manufacturers ponder their degree of commitment to producing HDTVs and related products and consumers who own HDTVs reflect on the wisdom of their purchases. In addition, future consumers may re-evaluate whether or not they should buy an HDTV. All the while, the FCC timeclock is ticking closer and closer to 2006, the "magic" date for total conversion to digital television broadcasting.

Despite this potential quagmire, networks such as PBS, CBS, NBC, and ABC are pressing on with their commitment to HDTV. Although there are technically 18 different standards for digital TV broadcasting (all Digital TV tuners are required to decode all 18 standards), the practical application of DTV has come down to 3 standards. These standards are: 480p, 720p, and 1080i.

480p

If you have a progressive scan DVD player and TV, you are familiar with 480p. 480p is similar to the same resolution of standard broadcast TV, but the image is scanned progressively, rather than in alternate fields. 480p does provide an excellent picture (especially on smaller 20-27" screens). It is much more film-like than standard cable or even standard DVD output, but it only provides half the potential video quality of an HDTV picture, therefore its effectiveness is lost on larger screen sets. Although 480p is part of the approved DTV broadcasting scheme, it is not HDTV. This standard was included as one of the DTV broadcasting standards to provide broadcasters the option of providing multiple channels of programming in the same bandwidth as a single HDTV signal. In other words, 480p is just more of what we already have with only a slight increase in image quality. Also, since most cable systems currently cannot accommodate the full bandwidth several HDTV signals in conjunction with all of the SDTV signals it must provide, 480p provides them an out as well.

720p

It has been debated back-and-forth between technicians and home theater enthusiasts as to whether 720p is true HDTV, but suffice it to say, that it is much more acceptable as an enhancement to standard TV than 480p. As such, ABC has committed to 720p as its HDTV broadcasting standard. Not only does 720p provide a very smooth, film-like image due to its progressive scan formula, but image detail is at least 30% sharper than 480p. As a result, 720p provides an acceptable image upgrade that is visible on both medium (32"- 36") size screens as well as larger screen sets.

1080i

Considered by most as true HDTV, 1080i has been adopted by PBS, NBC, and CBS (as well as satellite programmers HDNet, Showtime, and HBO through special feeds) as their HDTV broadcast standard. Although there is still debate as to whether it is that much better than 720p in the actual perception of the viewer, technically the 1080i provides the most detailed image of all the 18 approved DTV broadcast standards. On the one hand the visual impact of 1080i is lost on smaller screen sets (below 36"). However, with the increasing amount of large screen projection sets and custom front projection home theater setups, 1080i provides the detail needed for such large images. The two drawbacks to 1080i however are: 1. It takes up the most bandwidth of all the DTV broadcast formats. 2. It is an interlaced signal, which means that the displayed image is made up of lines that are scanned alternately instead of progressively as in 480p and 720p. However, if you have the bucks, Faroudja markets a processor that will actually convert a 1080i image into a 1080p image. This essentially removes any visible scan lines present in the interlaced 1080i image, resulting in very smooth edges. The results of this conversion are truly spectacular.

Programming

OK, so what does all the above stuff mean with regards to programming? What is there to watch on HDTV anyway and how can you receive the signals? Right now there are only two sure-fire ways to receive an HDTV signal (provided you have an HDTV with either an integrated or external HDTV tuner).

For more go to www.hometheater.about.com/library/weekly/aa021102a.htm

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