All About HDTV Cass Lewart © All About HDTV TCF April 2010

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © The Pictures Look Great 50” Vizio

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © All About HDTV - Outline Digital TV (DT) and High Definition (HDTV) Frequency Allocation What are Broadcasters Doing Where are the Signals Coming From Plasma, LCD and DLP Displays How to Hook Up HDTV to Your System HD Recording Consumer Guide New Developments

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Analog vs. Digital TV (DT) OTA Analog transmissions ceased in 2009 after over 50 years. DT offers better picture quality – no “snow”, no geometric distortion, no convergence problems Each pixel separately generated Stereo and surround sound (5.1) built-in MPEG-2 compresses 1 Gb/s video stream One 6 MHz Channel can carry 20 Mb/sec or several DT (HDTV and SDTV) sub channels and other data (8-VSB and QAM)

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Digital TV and HDTV (cont.) DT Formats – 480i, 576i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p (1080p Blu-Ray only) Native HDTV Formats - 720p or 1080i, up or down conversion is required Aspect Ratios – 4:3, 16:9 – black stripes, missing foreheads or 300-lb bodies On-Screen Daily Schedules

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © TV Receivers Sets with HD display, NTSC/ATSC and QAM tuners with or without cable cards (most common) Sets with SD display (LCD or CRT) and NTSC/ATSC tuner (least expensive)

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Frequency Allocation Old Assignments: VHF (Ch. 2-13) and UHF (Ch ) New Assignments: Upper VHF, lower UHF (Ch. 7-53) Government Will Auction the Vacated Channels for $$ Billions, issued rebate coupons for converter boxes

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © What Are Broadcasters Doing? Broadcasters take advantage of uninformed public Saving on Quality for Profits – more channels, less HD Few Broadcasters provide a consistent true HD Signal Cable and satellite providers degrade the HD signal by further compressing it Over-the-air still the best – not publicized and hushed up by cable providers and retailers

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Transmission and Modulation NTSC/ATSC/QAM Tuners Video Stream 1 Gbit/sec + MPEG-2 20 Mbits/sec QAM (Cable) 6 MHz 8-VSB (OTA) 6 MHz

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Digital Transmission 6 MHz Channel

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Are You Watching HDTV? Sleeping in the Garage Doesn't Make You a Car Nearly half of the 24 million households with HDTVs don't actually watch high- definition programs HDTV Material Doesn't Grow on Trees

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Where Are the Digital Signals Coming from? Digital Cable Satellite (Dish Network) Over the Air – An old antenna, even rabbit ears will often do Blu-ray DVDs and other new formats

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Over the Air (OTA) Transmission Free and of excellent quality No such thing as an HD Antenna Depending on location – Rabbit ears, a good antenna on the roof or in attic An inexpensive RF amplifier may help For available channels, signal strength and directions:

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Plasma, LCD and DLP Displays Plasma – Generates its own light, vivid colors, best viewing angle, but subject to burn-in, ambient light a problem (glare, reflections), may cause problems with remote controls LCD – Backlit, (LED or Fluorescent) good pastel colors, poor blacks, low power consumption, low weight, good in lighted areas, 42” or less DLP – Reflected light (Rear projection), bright colors, relatively expensive, fragile, 50” and up,

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Plasma Display Panel Cross Section

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Plasma Display (cont.) Cell arrangement

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © LCD Display Polarization

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © LCD Display (cont.) More Details

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © DLP (Projection) Display How it works

How to Hook Up HDTV to Your A/V System Typical Input/Output Panel in Back of the TV 20

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © How to Hook Up HDTV to Your System (A/V Components) Over-the-air and cable combination Analog vs. digital cable (cable cards, boxes) Use of additional tuners (VCR, ATSC) Analog and digital audio to your HiFi Use with laptop as monitor DVD Player Games, computer and other components

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © How to Hook Up HDTV to Your System (Inputs and Outputs) Varies between Manufacturers and Models Composite (3 RCA cables) – OK quality Component (5 RCA cables) – Excellent quality HDMI – Excellent quality but DRM restrictions S-Video + audio – Good quality RGB (15 pins) + audio Analog Audio (Stereo) Digital Audio (5.1)

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © How to Hook Up HDTV to Your System (Cable Types) HDMI, RCA, S-Video, RGB

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © How I Hooked Up HDTV to Your System (OTA and Analog Cable) Combining Over-the-air with analog cable VCR HDTV Antenna CableAV1 DTV/TV

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Recording of HD/SD Programs Lack of video outputs on most HDTV sets makes recording difficult (DRM raises its ugly head) Recording to PC hard drive with external tuner Regular VCR if analog output available from HDTV or digital cable box TiVo recording to hard drive DVRs with built-in ATSC/QAM tuners and DVD recording. 2 hours ur less, SD only

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © HD Picture on PC Screen

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © HD/SD Programming Networks now have additional channels Plenty of weather, cooking, children, and audio only channels News, sports, specials and some shows in HD PBS HD channel with high quality documentaries, cultural and science programs.

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Government Coupon Program Analog OTA transmission ceased on June 12, 2009 with a whimper, not with a bang. There were no street protests. 1-2 $40 Rebate coupons per household were issued. ATSC OTA Digital to analog converters gave new life to analog TVs and VCRs

D/A Converter Hook Up 30

All About HDTV Cass Lewart © Consumer Guide Fit Size to Your Viewing Area Built-in ATSC/QAM tuner or HD-Ready Plasma, LCD or DLP Availability of Inputs and Outputs Price, warranties, repair cost Ask questions on alt.tv.tech.hdtv and check

New Developments 3 D Displays LED/LCD OLED Displays NET TV - Internet Enabled