Have It Your Way
By:Don Dunham

Hello, web and techno freaks. This months column is going to be a little short since I am going on a belated honeymoon to Hawaii I had to get it in early. I almost didn't write it at all but something had been nagging at me ever since I read Michael Rubin's book, "Nonlinear 4" on video editing (reviewed last month.) In the book, Michael gives a great, in depth description of the various screen formats of video. He describes these as, one: regular, plain ol' TV that we have all watched all our lives which is properly called NTSC (Europeans have a slightly different version called PAL) two: SDTV also known as Standard Definition TV and three: HDTV, aka High Definition Wide Screen.

That is all well and good and we can (and will) go into them in more depth. What nagged at me, however, was what all these formats looked like, what was available in the stores, how they might relate to the internet, and, the old nasty question, How much does it cost?

To get some answers, I grabbed a trusty yellow legal pad and headed off to Circuit City. The first distinction between these formats is pretty easy. Old fashioned TV (NTSC) is analog TV. All the other formats are digital. The next question is, where do these formats get their shape? This isn't really all that hard. First, lets look at a computer screen (we do that all day long anyway!). A computer screen (at its lowest resolution) is 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high and, due to that ratio, is known as "4 by 3" (4X3) format. The pixels are square and are called (you guessed it) square pixels. A regular Television set is the same shape but crams 720 pixels into the same width that the computer filled with 640. Thus, TV pixels must be a little skinnier than computer pixels. They are called non-square pixels.

SDTV is also 720 X 480 pixels but appears as wide screen because the pixels are little fatter than square.

HDTV is called High Definition Wide Screen because, instead of 720 X480 fat pixels like SDTV, it has 1920 X 1080 little square pixels. Watching such a TV you can readily see that going from regular TV to High Definition (HDTV) is like going from a 150 dpi to a 400 dpi print of a Photoshop file. It is much crisper and sharper. The screen is shaped like that in a movie theater.

I WANT MY HDTV

So you want to have high definition television in your living room. True High definition TV actually has two components. First, the monitor screen of the TV set must be able to display 1920 by 1080 pixels. Second, the receiver must be able to receive HD broadcasts. Be warned: 99 percent of the Digital Television sets in the stores (as of this writing and probably for a few more years) are only HD Capable. That is, they have the proper digital monitor screen but you must buy an external decoder box (why does that make me keep thinking of a Dick Tracy Secret Decoder Ring?) in order to watch High Definition TV.

So, what does it all cost? You can get into the Digital TV game at the low end with an RCA 36" Digital Television for about $1900.00. This is a direct-view (not projection) unit. It has the digital monitor screen but, as I already stated, needs an external decoder box to receive digital broadcasts. This TV screen has a regular 4X3 shape so an encoded digital broadcast (through the external box) would appear as letterboxed (black bars across the top and bottom). The same would be true if you played a DVD movie in letterboxed mode through the set. Movin' on up in digital society, you have the Sony 53" projection TV for approximately $3000.00, also a 4X3 screen (digital wide screen broadcasts would have bars across the top and bottom) or the 56" Wide Screen model, a true 1920 X1080 wide screen High Definition television for $4,000. On this set, digital broadcasts would have no black bars at the top or bottom. The 56" model is truly High Definition Wide Screen. The screen actually is shaped like movie theater screen. With this TV you have the opposite effect when you watch a non-wide screen picture (most everything on today or only old I Love Lucy reruns 6 years from now): you will get black bars at the far left and right outside edges to make up for the narrow 4X3 picture. Sony calls their digital sets "DRC" for Digital Reality Creation" claiming four times the picture detail of ordinary sets. Well, of course! HDTV pixels are one quarter the size of normal NTSC pixels so the quality would be four times greater. Even these high dollar Sony units still need the digital decoder box. Another factor affecting price is that the more expensive sets include part of your sound system. The cheaper units are video monitor only so you must provide your own stereo or surround sound amps and speakers.

Okay, what's a decoder box and how much? The decoder box receives the digital broadcast and unscrambles it for playback on the set. The decoder boxes run from $500 to $1,500 depending on whether you are satisfied with stereo sound output (the low end) or want 5.1 dolby surround sound (the high priced spread with stereo in front, stereo in back, center ((dialog)), and sub woofer. I suppose this is one time that the manufacturers have given us a break. We can by a digital television now, and wait a few months, (years?) for some more programming before we plunk down the extra thou for a decoder box. Isn't that considerate? Other options to the decoder box include a Direct TV box with which you must use a Direct TV satellite dish. Beware: only the higher option versions of Direct TV pickup and decode digital widescreen broadcasts so make sure your package handles HD before you buy.

There is one set made by Hitachi that has it all. HD wide screen, decoder box and a satellite decoder box all in one extremely large unit. The price for this behemoth is $6,000.00. If you have to impress the Jones, or the Gate's, this is the one to buy. One thing I did note while shopping around, er, doing my research: you must view these units eye level to the set. These sets are projection screen units. If you look down at them from a standing position or up at them if placed too high, they look dark and washed out. They are, however, flat screen so they can be viewed from the side without all the glare and distortion a regular TV has.

SO WHAT'S ON THE TUBE, DUDE?

Unfortunately, for now, not much. Monday Nite Football, Jay Leno, a few more shows. The near future promises much, much more. By 2005 all stations will broadcast everything in both digital and analog and by 2006, there will be no more analog broadcasts at all.

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE WEB?

I mentioned Michael Rubin's book earlier. Michael and other web experts foresee a time in the not-so -distant future when the web and TV as we now know it will merge into SDTV, wide screen but not high definition. Obviously, the internet is going to have to get a whole lot more speed and bandwith for this to happen, new compression schemes will have to be created to squash file size and there will (probably) be a whole new generation of devices to play this all on. High quality (image, not necessarily content!) programs, movies, etc., will be broadcast in digital High Definition.

Oh well, I said it would be short this time. You can watch Wheel of Fortune TV or come to Maui with us. Have it your way.

(Don Dunham is a freelance writer and tech head. He's also the vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of the band y2k. When he's not playing or writing about music and music gear, he races Pontiacs.)