The differance between HDTV, LCD, and plasma.
HDTV means high-definition television, which is the best TV image available today. HD signals are sent over cable, satellite and standard airwaves with a clarity never before seen in home entertainment.
Alternate definition: A world of acronyms, expenses and digital technology that has produced an array of decisions and a degree of confusion and misinformation.
More later, but here’s a start: High-definition television (HDTV) refers to a type of digital programming feed, not the television set.
The HD-compatible sets formerly were gadgets for the wealthy and those driven to have the best technology first. But sales and declining prices tell industry analysts that HDTV’s time has arrived in mainstream America, even though the larger HD sets still commonly cost over $1,000.
Oregon-based home-entertainment analyst Quixel Research LLC says 2.5 million HDTV-compatible televisions were sold in 2005; estimates double that sales mark for 2006 and predict even stronger sales for 2007.
For the most apathetic TV viewers, the digital moment will arrive when TV networks stop giving their standard television feeds over the airways and a TV using only an antenna stops getting TV reception. This moment is scheduled for 2009, by government mandate.
For today’s TV buyer, the choice of TV is narrowing to the premium-quality sets. Quixel principle owner and analyst Tamaryn Pratt predicts that, in the near future, stores will stop carrying the old-technology analog sets altogether. “It’s coming,” said Pratt. “It’s a steamroller.”
Stark contrasts
Advertising, availability and quality all are part of the drive toward the high-tech sets, said another analyst, Maryann Baldwin, who is executive director of Iowa-based Frank N. Magid Associations.
The wide, flat-screen televisions, displayed alongside the old boxes in retail showrooms illuminate the contrast, she said. To stare at cheaper analog tubes, she said, feels “like you’re looking at the dark ages.”
And in these stores, usually, the new sets aren’t even showing the maximum quality available on the high-def televisions. They aren’t showing HDTV on the HDTV-compatible sets in the showroom at Circuit City in Bloomington, entertainment salespeople noted. And yet the contrast is stark.
Circuit City senior entertainment specialist Blake Tobeck and entertainment sales manager Greg Lewis estimate the clarity and resolution for a “720p” digital TV at four to six times better than that of an old tube — even a great one — when getting HDTV programming.
The 720 is a pixel count and it is standard in the flat-screens. (A pixel is the smallest component of an image.) This past year, companies introduced “1080p” televisions, which deliver twice the detail of the 720s, said Lewis.
Falling prices
Prices for flat-screen, digital, HD-ready TVs have declined by roughly 40 percent over the past year and could fall another 30 percent in 2007, Pratt said. A primary cause for the decline is a decision by manufacturers to seek market share over profit margins, Pratt and Baldwin said.
Consumer Reports places the average price drop for flat-screen TVs over the past two years at about 50 percent. It provides these averages, citing DisplaySearch as its source:
• $1,360, down from $2,350, for a 37-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) set.
• $1,880, down from $2,610, for a 42-inch plasma TV.
Pratt has little doubt that the digital sets will soon reach comparable price with the non-digital. At that point, HD-ready TV becomes a fairly obvious choice, she said.
To get HDTV
But the cost to get HDTV doesn’t end at the TV purchase, because HDTV is the programming, not the TV set. Customers also have to figure on:
• Hookup: The special wiring accessories and hookups may require an additional $100, according to a National Public Radio report.
• The fees: Program providers charge roughly $12 a month for basic HDTV packages and provide premium packages beyond that. For Insight, the HDTV customer first has to get, at minimum, the basic and classic packages of regular cable, which totals $46 a month, before adding the extra HDTV programming.
HDTV miseducation
Television manufacturers, broadcasters, cable and satellite TV providers and retailers have done a poor job collectively in educating consumers on HDTV, Baldwin said. Consumers buy the expensive TV sets, get them home, plug them in and wrongly expect to have instant HDTV programming, she said.
Another misconception: People incorrectly think they have to purchase a programming package from cable or satellite to get any HDTV shows. Baldwin said some network shows and PBS shows are put into the airwaves in HDTV format. An NFL fan, Baldwin gets her football games in high-definition through the old-fashioned antenna hookup. She said the presentation is “stunning, absolutely phenomenal.” She said the only requirement for antenna-based network HDTV is that the TV is equipped with a “digital tuner,” and almost every HDTV-compatible television sold in the past year has one.
Some don’t care
Baldwin expresses an excitement at the HDTV onset, but with some mixed feelings. Research tells her a segment of society doesn’t care about having 1080-pixel, high-definition TV.
“A lot of people are just content to see their shows,” she said.
For those who don’t want HDTV, don’t care or can’t afford it, here’s what they need to know:
Baldwin says cable and satellite providers will continue to serve customers who don’t have HDTV sets even after the government forces all network programming onto high-definition in 2009.
The dilemma is for those with no special services — only an antenna to send the airborne signal into their TVs, she said. These people will need a converter box, or they will get no television at all. The converter will gather HDTV signals from local broadcasters and translate them into analog-quality programming.
The downside is, it requires a purchase, often from those least able to afford it, said Baldwin. One-time purchase of a converter box runs about $100, she said, adding some movement is afoot to push prices for converters to $25 or $50 so people without cable get service.
And the government may yet push back its high-def deadline, though it stands to benefit from holding to the deadline. Once the networks move exclusively to their HDTV feeds, the government plans to sell the old network TV spectrum for some other use.
