Monthly Archives: April 2007

HDTV Mounts Ready for DIY?

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Last week, I wrote about the move to provide flat panel mounts for the do-it-yourself market. This could increase the “attach rate” for flat panel HDTVs to home walls, and perhaps provide more affordable solutions in this accessory market that up until now has enjoyed relatively high profit margins. But you can count on this segment shift to encounter some growing pains along the way.

Case in point: earlier this month, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Circuit City issued a joint, voluntary recall for Verge brand flat panel TV tilting mount brackets. According to the recall notice, if “upward force is applied to a mounted television, the bracket’s lock bar could unfasten. This could cause the television to fall and injure bystanders.” Hmmm… and it’s not likely to do much good to the 100 pound or heavier HDTV, either.

Circuit City has made a free repair kit available that corrects the defect.

FCC Requires Warning Labels

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On Wednesday, the FCC approved new rules that require retailers to include warning stickers on any television sold with an analog tuner but not a digital tuner. All new models are required to have digital tuners at this point, so this sticker requirement would apply to the existing inventory of products. If these units are not connected to a cable, satellite, or digital tuner box, they will not be able to receive television broadcasts after February 17, 2009 when the analog transmissions will end.

This is a responsible move on the part of the FCC, but it’s important to keep the issue in perspective. Most people are connected to cable or satellite for their video programming, and a small minority rely on just the over-the-air terrestrial broadcasts. And I expect the price for digital tuner adapters to fall rapidly as we approach the Feburary 2009 cut-off date (as demand increases and competition heats up). So not having a digital tuner is not likely to be a problem for most people. In fact, I expect to see lots of models appear with no tuners at all.

Consumers are going to continue to be confused about the analog broadcast cut-off, but this new sticker requirement will at least help make more of them aware of the situation.

More OLED HDTV News

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TMD's 21
First it was Sony’s revelation that they intend to bring their 11″ OLED HDTV to market this year. Now comes word from Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) that Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology (TMD) has demonstrated a 21″ model using CDT’s technology. According to reports, the company plans commercial production of these WXGA panels by 2009.

The OLED panels use a low-temperature polysilicon substrate, a technology that Toshiba has refined and that provides better electron mobility for improved performance. The OLED displays are unbelievably thin, even by LCD standards, and they combine all the best features of flat panel and CRT displays.

Still, the LCD industry is not likely to be developing a case of the jitters (at least not from OLED). Both the Sony and TMD panels are small by television standards, and are likely to be expensive. Furthermore, it will take a long time before production capacity can begin to come close to the LCD fab lines. As a result, OLEDs are likely to remain small — both in size and market share – for the near future.

Reader Question: 1080i Signal on a 720p HDTV

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Q: I’ve noticed that some HDTVs are listed as 720p, but their specs says that they supports 1080i. Why wouldn’t those TVs be listed as 1080i? With these types of TVs, would a 1080p signal come through as 1080i or 720? If an upscaling dvd player is used on those TVs, would it upscale to a 1080i or 720p image?
J Neubauer

A: This is an excellent question, and I can see why you and many others find this so confusing.

There are two specifications at work here. The first is the physical resolution of the display. In the case of a 720p panel, this is typically a matrix of 1,280 by 720 pixels. These are the physical dots that make up the image that you see.

Image signals come in a wide range of resolutions, from the (roughly) 640 by 480 standard definition image, to 1080p (which is a matrix of 1,920 by 1,080 points of information). If the display has more or fewer physical dots than there is information in the signal, the display has to scale the image to fit the screen. If there are fewer points in the signal, then these get expanded so that the are represented by more than one physical pixel. If there are more points, then some of this information has to be “boiled down” so that the picture fits; in the process, some of the detail gets thrown away.

So you can display 1080i and 1080p signals on a 720p display, but you won’t see all the information that is contained in the original signal.

As for upscaling DVDs, it depends on the model, but some let you select which output resolution you want. Note that your HDTV will also do the upscaling; the reason that the upscaling DVD players exist is that they often have better a better scaling processor than those found in some HDTVs.

Decide what resolution and size HDTV is best for you with help from Professor Poor’s Guide to Buying HDTV.

HDTV on the Wall

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Ask the average person why they want to get a flat panel — LCD or plasma – even if it costs more than a rear projection model of the same screen size, and you’re likely to get the answer “…because I can hang it on the wall.” The fact is that most people don’t hang their flat panels on the wall. The mounts can be expensive, and it’s not a job that you might want to tackle on your own. When a 50″ plasma HDTV weighs more than 100 pounds, you’re not going to just nail a tack into the drywall to hang one of these puppies. And even if you do manage to find the studs and hang the panel securely, what about the wires? Sure, you can get a professional installer, but that can cost as much as the HDTV itself if you use a high-end installation service.

But as the dropping prices have exploded the HDTV market, they’re having an impact on mounts as well. The mount makers are looking to sell to the consumer, providing do-it-yourself installation solutions. And two weeks ago, Monster and Tzero announced that they will work together to produce new products that will be available this fall. Tzero has wireless HDTV technology, so once you get your panel on the wall, all you need is AC power. The signal can be transmitted to the panel wirelessly, eliminating the mare’s nest of cables. The wireless features and power conditioning will be built right in a wall mount capable of holding a 60″ panel. These will be available from Monster dealers around the world.

This announcement does not toll the death knell for the high end installers, but it does provide additional evidence that they are not likely to share in the rapid growth of flat panel sales. The new customers coming into the market are more price sensitive than the early adopters, and are more likely to want to save some money and do their own installations. So by next fall, expect to see mounting solutions right alongside the HDTVs in your favorite big box store. And just maybe the percentage of flat panels mounted on the wall will start to climb.

Court Rules Almost HDTV Is Okay

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According to a report in the Newark Star-Ledger, a federal court in New Jersey has decided to dismiss a case in which a California man, Jason Ford, claimed he was defrauded by Panasonic for selling him a plasma television as an HDTV even though it did not have enough pixels to qualify. The Panasonic model — like many plasma panels — has a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels. This is enough lines of resolution to display the 720 lines required for HDTV, but does not have enough horizontal pixels to display the 1,280 specified in the ATSC standard for 720p images.

According to the report, the judge ruled that HDTV standards are “absolutely clear” and that the Panasonic set meets them. That’s curious, because the pixel count is described clearly by the ATSC; see page 24 of the Guide to Use of the ATSC DTV Standard for a table that looks pretty clear.

The entire industry has turned a blind eye to the question of horizontal resolution on plasma televisions. The federal judge even cited a Consumer Reports review that picked the Panasonic model as the best HDTV at the time Mr. Ford bought his. The missing 256 pixels represent 20% of the information. This is a lot, though with good scaling and video processing, most people may not notice the difference.

The problem is that settling on the number of lines is not sufficient to define set resolution. We’ve already seen manufacturers come out with plasma panels with 1,080 lines of resolution. Does this mean that they handle 1080p? Well, some have only 1,024 horizontal pixels; they’re missing nearly half of the 1,920 pixels required for 1080p. Why do they do this? It is much harder for plasma makers to increase the number of horizontal pixels for a panel of a given size, so they look for other ways to compete with the higher resolutions offered by LCD panels.

The judge reportedly said that the buyer was “told what he was getting” in the specifications for the set. And that points to the solution for this problem. The court is leaving it up to the consumer to be informed and make their own judgments about whether or not a given model is suitable for their purposes or not. So it remains up to the buyers to choose whether or not to purchase those models that do not meet the ATSC standards.

What should you buy for your needs? Professor Poor’s Guide to Buying HDTV will give you the answers.

Truth Patrol: Are DVDs HD?

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HDTV Truth Patrol

Everyone knows that people are confused about HDTV. And lots of people are trying to help consumers understand this technology and the various choices; that’s why the HDTV Almanac exists in the first place. These efforts are commendable. But sadly, many responsible individuals and companies spread confusion and misinformation rather than eliminate it. Under the Truth Patrol’s spotlight this time is Crutchfield.

The company’s latest catalog has a “Televisions Shopping Guide” on page 31 that has some good information. One of the highlights is one of the better viewing distance/screen size tables I’ve seen (though it doesn’t take resolution into account, so I still think the one in Professor Poor’s Guide to Buying HDTV is better.) But then they go and stub their toe big time:

If most of your viewing is DVD-quality or better, you’ll see more details by sitting closer. If you watch more regular (non-HD) video, sit farther back for a smoother picture.

Hmmm… they make a distinction between “DVD-quality” and “non-HD” video. Folks, unless you’re watching a Blu-ray or HD DVD disc, you’re watching “non-HD” video when you watch a DVD. Yes, there are “upscaling” DVD players that take the standard definition DVD signal and scale it up to fill an HD screen. For every 10 by 10 block of pixels, these enlarge the image to about 20 by 20 pixels. In other words, they take the 100 original pixels and expand them to use 400 pixels. They do it very cleverly, so that lines look smooth and you don’t get a big blotchy image that looks like a mosaic. But these players still can’t invent detail that’s not already in the image, so a DVD still only has standard definition content. Lots of people think that DVDs are high-definition because they look good on a large screen, but they’re not. Crutchfield has a good reputation for reliable information, so it’s unfortunate that they have added to the confusion.

Thanks to George in Chicago for pointing this one out. If you see something about HDTV that is wrong, or just makes you go “huh?”, write me at alfred@hdtvprofessor.com and you could win a cool Truth Patrol t-shirt.

Reader Question: Plasma vs. LCD Energy Use

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Q: Is there a difference in energy consumption between plasma and LCD? And does size make a difference; how much more energy do you use as sets get larger?
John Kin

A: As I’ve said, I expect that consumers will start paying more attention to environmental issues for all sorts of products, including HDTV, so this is a very timely question.

First, LCDs tend to draw less power than plasma. At random, I took specs for two 42″ plasma sets; a Panasonic model is rated at 395 watts, and an LG model at 329 watts. Two 42″ LCD sets selected at random are a Sharp model rated at 247 watts, and an LG model rated at 210 watts.

However, you can’t just use the specs to make comparisons. The largest power draw on an LCD comes from its backlight, which is on all the time whether the image is light or dark. The power draw with a plasma panel comes from actually creating the image on the screen; more light requires more power, so the power consumption for a dark movie scene will be lower than for a bright one. So depending on what you’re watching, the LCD may or may not require less power. I suspect that there is less than 100 watts of difference, which is the amount drawn by a bright household lightbulb.

Size does make a difference. Sharp shows the following specs for a series of LCD TVs:

Size 32 37 42 46 52
Watts 165 203 247 270 302

It appears that the power consumption increases faster than the linear diagonal for smaller sizes, but then increases at a slightly lower rate for the larger sizes. I don’t know why this would be, except that perhaps the backlights are more efficient in larger sizes.

Confused about which HDTV technology is right for you? Get Professor Poor’s Guide to Buying HDTV and make a confident choice.

Sharp Goes Green with LCD HDTV

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For the month of April, anyone purchasing a Sharp LCD HDTV with a screen size of 37″ or larger can have their old television set recycled for free. The purchase has to be made on Sharp’s online retail site and the new screen has to be at least as large as the one being recycled. The new set comes with free home delivery, and the service will take away the old set at the same time.

Expect to see HDTV companies pay more and more attention to recycling and other environmental concerns such as power consumption. I’m not going to get into the scientific merits of the situation, but one fact is indisputable; global warming has captured the attention of the media, politicians, and consumers. This will drive a wide range of new initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. I expect that almost all of these efforts will be well-intentioned, but it is also likely that they will range from highly effective to silly to counterproductive.

Still, encouraging recycling is generally good for the environment, and we now take for granted programs that collect used printer ink and toner cartridges. These efforts do reduce the quantity and content of waste delivered to our nation’s landfills. Sharp is to be commended for the is program, and should be encouraged to make it permanent. And as consumers, we should consider energy consumption and what happens at the end of a product’s life when we make our purchase decisions, not just for HDTVs, but for all electronic products.

Sony Goes Wide on Projectors

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If you want the biggest HD image for the lowest price, the clear choice is a front projector. Until recently, however, there was not much middle ground in your choices. The standard business projectors with their XGA and SVGA resolution are perfectly capable of displaying a wide standard definition image — often called Enhanced Definition — and you can take your pick for $500 to $800 or so. For the home theater installations, add a zero to that price. Sony and Mitsubishi made waves last fall by bringing out 1080p projectors for under $5,000, which was about half the price of competing products at that point.

But if you wanted a high-definition projector at an affordable price, your choices were limited. Now Sony has filled in the gap with two new LCD projectors. Both are 720p resolution, and have automatic irises that adjust the amount of light depending on how bright the scene is, which enhances contrast. Both have a brightness rating of 1,100 lumens, and are scheduled to ship in June. The VPL-AW10 is expected to have a $1,000 retail price. The VPL-AW15 adds more features, including vertical and horizontal lens shift, and will sell for $1,300.

Couple one of these with one of the new (and expensive) screens that rejects ambient light, and you can have an impressively huge image for about the price of a plasma display that only has about one-fourth the display area.