Gary Merson must see pixels in his sleep. This industry analyst, reviewer and HD freak has tested 150 HDTVs this year, presides over the trade publication HDTV Insider Newsletter and is launching a website for consumers called HDTVguru.com. A: That there is a vast amount of free, high-definition programming available via a roof or indoor antenna, though one's ability to receive it depends upon proximity to the broadcast antenna. Many stations multicast, turning a single digital channel into two or more. The extra channels can be more news or around-the-clock weather services, music videos or whatever the stations wants. Q: What advice do you give people before they go out to a store to buy their first HDTV? A: Be aware of the distance you sit from the screen, the amount of ambient light in the room and if you plan to get your HD programming from the cable or phone company, satellite, over the air (with an antenna) or a combination. This will help the salesperson guide you to the best choices. Q: What are a couple of your favorite lower-cost big-screen (42 inches or bigger) HDTVs? A: I like Mitsubishi's 1080p DLP-based rear projection sets (starting at about $2,000) as well as 42-inch Hitachi ($2,500) and 50-inch ($2,000) Panasonic plasma models. A: First, change the factory default picture setting (usually called Vivid or Brilliant) to a less-bright one (sometimes called Cinema or Pro). Next, turn down the contrast (also known as "picture") to around 50 percent to 60 percent of maximum. Picture quality will improve, and the life of the display - or the bulb, in the case of rear-projection sets - will be extended. Many bulb-driven sets also include a low or "natural" setting, which should be selected for extended life. A: Depends on the cable system. Many cable systems transmit fewer bits than they're sent by using an HD image quality degrading technique they call statistical multiplexing, or "stat mux." Stat muxing sacrifices picture quality in order to provide more channels. A: CBS consistently broadcasts the highest-quality HDTV pictures, but they have fallen behind in upgrading their live telecasts, showing only three out of eight NFL games a week in HD (Fox shows all the games in HD). On cable, HDNet and the "in studio" content on Wealth TV, currently available via Verizon's FIOS system, look amazing. A: Each has particular benefits, depending upon needs and desires. CRT offers excellent 30-inch and 34-inch images for under $1,000, though the sets tend to be heavy and bulky and don't produce as bright a picture as flat-panel LCD, the only alternative below 37 inches. At 37 inches and up, LCD offers the brightest, highest resolution (1920x1080) performance, though color gamut (range and accuracy) and viewing angle su
... read the whole article |