At 11:03 AM -0500 1/9/07, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
I have absolutely no problem, from my normal sitting position,
distinguishing between an SDTV program and an HDTV program, on a 26"
set. I agree that what I'm seeing is hardly as much as I *could* get out
of HDTV, but there is still a useful difference compared with SDTV, and
a very obvious improvement over digitized NTSC.
Duh.
Clearly there has been room for improvement, even with CRT displays. I
helped to get this ball rolling in the early '80s when we developed the
first analog component video production switchers at GVG.
It was equally clear by the early '90s that we could deliver much higher
quality video using progressively scanned CRT displays. But this did not
prevent the CE companies and broadcasters from going to the wall to
protect the legacy of interlace.
As for your ability to discern between SDTV and HDTV programming on a
26" display, you seem a bit confused.
How are you defining SDTV?
If it is the digitization of an NTSC source, as is still dominant today
with most SDTV programming, then the difference with HDTV will be
readily apparent. IF it is the digitization of analog or digital
component interlaced source (59.94 native, NOT 23.97P with 3:2 pull-up).
There will be a significant improvement, but you will still be able to
tell the difference from HDTV on that 26 inch display. IF the source is
progressive scan SDTV (23.97P or 59.97P) it is unlikely that you will be
able to tell the difference from HDTV source on that small 26" display.
This is the major reason why DVD was able to deliver a high quality home
theater experience using SDTV resolution, and why there is little
benefit from moving to HD-DVD or Blue Ray.
And finally, if you took HD source and downconverted it to 480P and
compared it with the original HD source it is HIGHLY unlikely that you
would be able to tell the difference on that 26" display.
Bottom line, you need a display larger than 40 inch diagonal to even
BEGIN to appreciate the extra resolution in HDTV.
Same as a sound system can be of various levels of quality, from tinny
sounding to sublime. Having HDTV available does not mean you must have a
60" 1080p set. Standard NTSC was simply unacceptable, for any screen
size above 19" at typical viewing distances, and even on a 19" set NTSC
is bad.
Agreed.
But there is a continuum of quality between NTSC and progressive scan
HDTV. Yes you will realize some of the quality improvements when viewing
an HD source on a smaller display, but this same improvement can be
obtained by properly encoding the source at a much lower resolution like
480P or 576P.
> I agree with Bert that HD has not be forced on consumers, except
for one important caveat. Consumers ARE being forced to buy ATSC
receivers that they will never use.
Even those who cave in to umbillical media can make use of the
ATSC/digital cable receiver. As a matter of fact, Verizon FiOS users
should also be able to use these receivers, because Verizon FiOS does
not use IPTV for the broadcast channels. This was Michael Powell's very
smart move. Make the built-in ATSC receiver usable by the majority of TV
users, just like the NTSC tuner was in the past. And I doubt anyone can
complain about added cost anymore, at least in the sets people are
buying in big quantities.
Why complain? We can't do anything about it except to buy monitors.
And to date, very few consumers are using the built in cable tuners,
when they are present.
You can make the same argument that radial tires didn't help auto
manufacturers. In some narrow ways, this might be true. But the fact is,
radial tires and many other innovations improved the whole product
category for all consumers. And it would be foolish for any auto maker
to stick with the old bias ply tires and leaf-sprung rear axles. As
people get used to HD quality, and buy larger screens, they will
prefernetially go to HDTV whenever they have the option.
What a weird attempt at an analogy. The only way that radial tires
"hurt" car manufacturers was the increased cost. But the increased cost
was perceived as a major benefit by consumers. First because the tires
last much longer; second because the car handles much better.
The evidence from the marketplace is that most consumers are buying only
one big screen, for their primary home theater system. But many
consumers are now buying smaller LCD panels for second and third
locations. While these panels have high pixel densities, because of
their size one cannot take full advantage of the extra resolution unless
sitting uncomfortably close. People are buying panel TVs as much for
aesthetics as for the extra resolution. In fact, the legacy NTSC content
looks much worse on my daughters 32" panel than it did on the old 26"
CRT display that it replaced - but DVDs and Playstation games look much
better. HD is not even a consideration.
Regards
Craig
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