What’s the difference between DTV and HDTV? So what do I need to watch HDTV at home? HDTV Overview Types of TV Resolution Types of SDTV and HDTV Displays Common TV Connections

Q. Is DTV and HDTV the same? – A. HDTV is a segment of DTV DTV (Digital Television) broadcasts include SDTV (standard definition), EDTV

(enhanced definition) and HDTV (high definition). Digital TV just means the image has

been digitized and is no longer being sent by analog means. The broadcast resolution

determines the picture quality.

Current analog standard TV’s will display DTV with a converter box but cannot

show HDTV because the TV resolution is too low.

The lowest quality digital format is about the same as the highest quality an analog

TV can display.

Aspect ratio - Standard television has a 4:3 aspect ratio -- it is four units wide by

three units high. HDTV has a 16:9 aspect ratio, more like a movie screen.

Resolution - The lowest standard resolution (SDTV) will be about the same as

analog TV. The highest HDTV resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. HDTV can display

about ten times as many pixels as an analog TV set.

Frame rate - A set's frame rate describes how many times it creates a complete

picture on the screen every second. Common terms are interlaced and progressive.

HDTV is High Definition TV HDTV is available “free (over the air)” or via cable,

satellite or other services Better quality picture, more information Higher Resolution than SDTV

A High Definition TV An HDTV signal from a provider or HD disk player An HDTV tuner/display screen

HDTV Provider:

Over the Air or

Cable Service or

Satellite

or

Blu-Ray

Player

HDTV has higher resolution than conventional TV

Conventional TV = 480i▪ 480 vertical resolution x 720 pix/line

▪ 30 frames per second

HDTV resolutions are most

commonly 1080i and 720p 1080i = 1080 vertical res x 1920

pix/line, 30fps

720p = 720 vertical res x 1280

pix/line, up to 60fps

Early televisions were unable to

refresh at high speeds and

were limited to lower frame

rates which could cause flicker.

Interlacing helped reduce this

effect by splitting the frames

into odd and even rows. TV’s

will project these images odd

lines first and then even lines.

When the image is moving the

lines offset each other resulting

in smoother video.

Interlacing is still used today by

all TV analog broadcasts and

many cable systems.

The major disadvantage of

interlaced images is a reduction

in vertical display resolution.

Interlaced screens produce their images by displaying every other line of resolution from top to bottom

Advantages of Progressive Scan Higher vertical resolution Less artifacts or ‘Twitter’ (flicker) Better picture quality with higher

resolutions Better looking still images

Progressive scan screens display every line from top to bottom

Progressive scan displays all of the

lines of each frame. By

progressively showing each frame

on screen every 60th of a second

rather than interlacing the image

with alternate lines every 30th of a

second. The result is a smoother,

more detailed image on screen.

Progressive scan (1080p) is now

used on HDTV with Blu-Ray

players and select satellite

broadcasts.

Name Resolution Scanning Aspect Ratio

480i 640 x 480 Interlaced 4:3 (1.33) Conventional TV

480p 640 x 480 Progressive 4:3 (1.33)Conventional

TV

720i 1280 x 720 Interlaced 16:9 (1.78)

720p 1280 x 720 Progressive 16:9 (1.78)

1080i 1920 x 1080 Interlaced 16:9 (1.78)

1080p 1920 x 1080 Progressive 16:9 (1.78)

Until recently TV resolution didn’t matter much. The resolution on most TV sets before the

introduction of DTV was pretty much the same. But with the introduction of DTV that has all

changed. The chart below shows some of the different TV resolutions with HDTV starting

at 720i (1280x720 interlaced). The higher the number the higher the resolution…the

crisper the picture.

1080p is the highest resolution non-interlaced picture available.

Resulting in the best HDTV picture currently on the market.

CRT HDTV Flat Panel TV’s

LCD

Plasma

Projection TV’s

LCD Rear Projection

DLP Projection TV’s

Flat Screens

Large Cabinets

Wide viewing angles

Outstanding Picture

Quality

Capable of producing

true blacks

No danger of burn-in

A vacuum tube in which a hot cathode emits electrons that are accelerated as a beam through a relatively high voltage anode, further focused or deflected electro statically or electromagnetically, and allowed to fall

on a phosphorescent screen.

Slim design and

lightweight

Place them

anywhere

Wide viewing angles

Good energy

efficiency

Liquid Crystal Displays sandwich a layer of crystals between

polarized glass and use external backlight

Super Slim design and

lightweight

Bright Picture

Deep Blacks

Eco-Friendly

Contains no mercury or

lead

Low power consumption

40% less power used than

non LED LCD TV’s

Liquid Crystal Displays sandwich a layer of crystals between polarized glass and

use an external LED backlight

Display is made of thousands of tiny, glass, plasma gas filled

chambers that glow

• Intense colors – Can display up to 68

million colors

• Slim design– Sometimes no more than

4 or 5” thick

– Place them anywhere

• Great contrast ratios

• Wide viewing angles

• Good energy efficiency

TV signals are sent to miniature Red, Green and Blue LCD

chips, then illuminated with an ultra-high intensity lamp

Space saving design But still larger

Impressive brightness and contrast

Advanced inputs HDMI

Very good energy efficiency

Space saving design

Impressive black levels, contrast ratio and picture uniformity

Bright Picture

Advanced inputs HDMI

Low Maintenance No alignment needed

Very good energy efficiency

Digital Light Processing TV’s use millions of tiny mirrors tuned to be

either ON or OFF thousands of times a second. Each mirror acts as

a pixel; colors are created by passing a color wheel in front of the

light source for each mirror

Coaxial RF cable can be used to connect

antennas, cable boxes, VCRs, TVs, DVD

players, DVD recorders and DVRs. Coaxial

RF cable carries video and stereo audio

signals on one cable. It is the lowest quality

cable for carrying audio and video signals

and should only be used when connecting to

a TV that has no other inputs

Composite cables plug into the composite

video jacks found on many kinds of A/V

components, including DVD players, VCRs,

DVD recorders, A/V receivers, and DVRs.

They are better to use than coaxial RF cable,

but are still the 2nd lowest quality. These jacks

are often yellow, and are attached to red and

white stereo audio jacks. These connectors

are found on virtually every component in a

home TV set up, and the audio jacks are

commonly used with other video cables.

S-Video cables feature round, 4-pin

connectors, and transmit the chrominance

(color) and luminance (brightness) of a video

signal separately. As a result, they provide better

color accuracy and detail than either RF or

composite connections do. Most new TVs and

many DVD recorders and DVRs include S-

Video. A common home set up is to use S-Video

and RCA audio to connect a DVD Recorder or

DVR to a TV or A/V Receiver.

Component video cable , found on most DVD

players and recorders and some DVRs, deliver

better detail and color accuracy than you get with

RF coax, composite, or S-video. They do this by

splitting the video signal into three parts, with each

part transmitted via its own cable. Unlike the other

three types of connections, component video is

capable of passing high-definition and

progressive-scan video signals. In order to use

this cable with a DVD Recorder or DVR you must

have component inputs on your TV.

DVI stands for (D)igital (V)ideo (I)nterface. DVI is a popular form of video interface

technology made to maximize the quality of flat panel LCD monitors and modern video

graphics cards.

DVI cables are becoming increasingly popular with video card manufacturers, and

most cards nowadays include both a VGA and a DVI output port.

In addition to being used as the standard computer interface, the DVI standard was, for

a short while, the digital transfer method of choice for HDTV, EDTV, Plasma Display,

and other ultra-high-end video displays for TV, movies, and DVDs. The digital market is

now swinging towards the HDMI interface for high-definition media delivery, and DVI is

being again constrained to the computer market. DVI does not support audio

transfer.

Used to connect Hi-Def equipment like DVD players,

HDTV tuners, AV receivers and HDTVs to deliver

crystal-clear, all-digital, high-definition video and multi-

channel audio in one cable. HDMI can carry standard-

definition and high-definition digital video signals.

HDMI is also capable of carrying digital audio