HDTV GlossaryHDTV - Plasma - LCD - Digital TVs
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NOTICE: Digital TV Deadline The FCC currently has a February 17, 2009, deadline for the transition to all digital broadcasting. On this date, all analog broadcasting will stop, and consumers will need to buy converter boxes to receive programming on their older TVs. This means anyone without a digital TV or a set top box will not be able to watch TV. This deadline has been pushed back several times in the last few years because of both broadcasters' and consumers' inability to meet the FCC's criteria for a successful transition to digital broadcasting. TV stations must have the equipment to send digital broadcasts, and consumers must have the TVs to receive them. Cable and satellite services have digital set up and you should check with them to see if you need any additional equipment. Is your TV digital? By March 1, 2007 all new TVs sold must come equipped with digital tuners. Check it for labeling with : DTV, ATSC, or Built-in Digital Tuner. If you don't have a digital TV then you will either have to buy one or buy a converter box. If your current TV has the initials "DTV" appear somewhere on its front, or its screen is rectangular, you're probably OK. If you still have the owner's manual, check there whether the tuner is digital. The new signal could mean the picture on some televisions will improve, but it doesn't guarantee high-definition visuals. That depends on whether a particular TV is set up to receive high-definition programming and whether a program is broadcast that way. If you're looking to replace your TV and pay the least then consider a Standard Definition digital TV which are cheaper than High Definition digital TVs (HDTV). If your TV is older than 10 years consider replacing it for safety reasons. As the wiring in TVs heats and cools they get brittle and can be a fire hazard. Another safety tip: if your TV is on all the time (uses a remote) unplug it when going out of town. |
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To help people who cannot afford new TVs the federal government will be subsidizing the sale of digital tuners for older TV's and each household is entitled to two coupons for the boxes. For more information on the transition to digital, visit the FCC's Web site www.dtv.gov. |
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HDTV Buying Tips 1. If you can't afford the HDTV, than you shouldn't buy it. Zero-percent financing is a gimmick. Many people think that because they qualified for a zero-percent financing deal that means they can afford it. If you don't pay for the HDTV within the promotional time period, you must pay interest as if it had been accumulating from the date you bought the HDTV. 3. You can get some great deals online, (like at our amazon store!). If you buy online or need to have the unit shipped to you make sure that the vendor insures it or that you can insure it. Check the box for any damage before signing for the delivery. Open the box and check the TV and report any damage immediately. Generally the delivery company works for the vendor not you. |
Have a Happy Holiday and enjoy your new TV. |
Read the glossary on these pages to help you in deciding
which Digital TV, HDTV- Plasma, LCD, Wide Screen, or Flat Panel TV is best for you.
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3/2 Pulldown (Progressive Cinema Scan)
Provides more faithful reproduction of film-based materials. Movies on film are converted to NTSC interlaced video (480i) for television by a process known as telecine conversion, in which the 24 frame-per-second film is converted to video at 60 fields per second. The fields are then paired to create 30-frame-per-second 480i video. Some of the frames will contain dissimilar pairs of fields derived from two different frames of the original film, which causes artifacts. Generally, when 480i video is converted to progressive scan (480p), the artifacts from the telecine process will remain. Progressive cinema scan circuitry, by contrast, converts 480i video to 480p while restoring the original frames of the film for a more faithful movie reproduction.
See also Progressive Cinema Scan.
4:3
The width-to-height ratio of standard televisions.
16:9
The width-to-height ratio of widescreen TVs and HDTVs. This screen ratio is presently considered the mostlikely contender to be adopted by the ATV committee for future widescreen broadcasts.
- Benefit: Allows you to watch movies in the original wide-frame format and not miss any imagery.
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AC-3 (Dolby® Digital)
See also Dolby® Digital.
Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)
Also known as ATSC, the committee responsible for digital television standards and development, as well as all 18 formats of DTV.
A/D
Analog to digital conversion (or converter). Used at transmission end of broadcast
Analog TV
"Standard" televisionbroadcasts analog TV. Analog signals vary continuously, representing fluctuations in color and brightness. The screen resolution of an analog TV is about 512 x 400 pixels.
Anamorphic
The process of compressing wide screen images, 1.78:1 or greater, to fit into the bandwidth of a standard 1.33:1 television signal. The images are then expanded for viewing in their original format on a widescreen display device.
Artifacts
Unwanted visible effects in the picture created by disturbances in the transmission or image processing, such as edge crawl or hanging dots in analog pictures, or pixelation in digital pictures.
Aspect Ratio
Refers to the width of a picture relative to its height. If an NTSC picture is four feet wide, it will be three feet high; thus it has a 4:3 aspect ratio. HDTV has a 16:9 aspect ratio. (The relationship of width to height in a television set. Traditional Color Television product features a 4:3 aspect ratio. Widescreen and future HDTV products will incorporate a 16:9 aspect ratio.)
A/V (Monitor) Inputs
Permits direct connection of your VCR, DVD or Home Satellite Receiver to your television set for playback purposes. When compared to RF performance (channel 3/4), direct video inputs can improve picture performance by as much as 20 percent.
A/V Outputs
These outputs allow you to easily send the audio/video signal to a VCR or DVD recorder for recording. Fixed audio outputs can also be connected to an A/V receiver to provide a cleaner signal for two-channel based home theater systems.
- Benefit: Simple connection of A/V signals to additional components for recording or amplification.
BBE® High-Definition Sound
Improves speech intelligibility, and restores the dynamic range of musical passages to help provide a more natural sound.
Licensed by BBE Sound, Inc. under USP4638258 and 4482866. BBE and BBE symbol are registered trademarks of BBE Sound, Inc.
Bit Rate
Measured as "bits per second," and used to express the rate at which data is transmitted or processed. The higher the bit rate, the more data that is processed and, typically, the higher the picture resolution.
Brightness
Brightness ratings are listed as cd/m² (candelas per square meter) raging from 250 to 400. The higher the number the brighter the picture.
Color Temperature
Color temperature is a way of measuring and describing the color quality of white light by comparing it to a theoretical black body heated to a specified temperature on the Kelvin scale. It's important in the design and use of HDTV's, computer monitors and digital cameras. Every time we watch a TV, use a computer monitor, take a picture or look at a photograph, our brains adjust the colors we see so that they look the way we think they ought to. Color temperature is a useful way to describe the whiteness of white light, especially when comparing one light source to another.
Contrast Ratio
This refers to the difference in brightness from full brightness and black. If a unit puts out 300 cd/m² (candelas per square meter) at full brightness and 0.3 cd/m² when black the vendor will divide 300 cd/m² by 0.3 cd/m² to get a 1,000:1 ratio. Some manufactureres will measure dynamic contrast ratio, in which the unit will analyze the signal and adjust the backlight to create an even higher contrast ratio.
D/A
Conversion of digital to analog signals. The device is also referred to as DAC (D/A converter). In order for conventional television technology to display digitally transmitted TV data, the data must be decoded first and then converted back to an analog signal.
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