Full HDTV Facts

Written on December 14, 2009 – 12:42 pm | by James Junior

Since the federal regulation of mandatory DTV (digital television) signal, the subject of full HDTV (full high definition television) has become a more popular topic of discussion and has become more of an interest to the public. With the digital changeover, now everyone has access to HDTV signal. However, an HDTV display is still necessary in order to view high definition no matter what type of signal you have (cable, antenna, or satellite).

For HDTV, resolution is the key word, defining how detailed an image can be displayed without blurring. Those who opted for the HD converter box are still viewing a picture on an analogue CRT screen .NTSC-analogue TV resolution is defined as 480i. The ‘i’ means interlaced. This results from the TV camera having 480 horizontal lines of resolution while the CRT tube has only 240 lines available. So every other line of the 480 is simultaneously scanned for 1/60th of a second then the remaining lines are scanned. Hence, the TV signal is “interlaced” giving the appearance of more vertical resolution. With an aspect ratio of 4:3 (width x height), the analogue television resolution can be described as 640 x 480i.

The resolution of JDTV and full HDTV are what make them different from analogue TV. The full HDTV resolution is 1080i or 1080p. The standard HDTV has a resolution of 720i or 720p. The “p” stands for progressive scanning, meaning that the vertical scans are done at the same time instead of interlaced. With an aspect ratio of 16:9, the full HDTV has 1920 x 1080 pixels while the standard HDTV has 1520 x 720 pixels.

The full HDTC is the product that is most favourable, but on TVS with a smaller screen than 42 inches, the difference in the resolution between the standard and full HDTVs isn’t noticeable. Therefore, any TV that has a smaller screen than 42 inches is only available in standard HDTV. So, if you want to have full JDTV, you will need to purchase a TV that is 42 inches or larger.

The three options available for full HDTV are rear projection, full HD plasma, and full HD LCD TV. The rear projection TVs are still available, but the demand for them isn’t great and a lot of TV makers aren’t producing them any longer. Therefore, you should stay away from the purchase of these. This leaves you with the other two options. When deciding between the other two, response time, contrast ratio, and color reproduction should be considered.

Full HDTV plasma screens have a broad range in color, are very bright, and can have very large screens. Display screens of full HDTV plasma TVs can be up to 58 inches in size. Since the display panel is only about 2.5 inches thick, the televisions are only about 4 to 6 inches thick. Though there are claims of contrast ratios as high as 100K in plasma TVs, the highest contrast currently available in stores is 30K. The response time is .001 milliseconds while the refresh frequencies are 600 Hz. The advantages of a plasma TV over an LCD are that the screen has a better color reproduction and also has a wider viewing angle. Because of the fast response time, plasma TVs are great for viewing fast moving film such as sports.

One disadvantage is the power requirements in a plasma TV. The requirements can be as high as 500 watts. In addition, plasma TVs are traditionally heavier than LCD displays. However, the plasma can be mounted on a wall and the LCD display can’t.

Full HDTV LCDs have the same resolution as plasma HDTV screens. The effect of a slower response time in LCD TVs could possibly be ghosting on fast moving images. However the refresh rates have decreased to around 2 milliseconds with 240 Hz. The contrast ratios have also been enhanced to 30K. The biggest advantage of the HDTV LCD televisions is price since they are less expensive than plasmas.

With the exception of resolution, the other features, advantages and disadvantages of each of these types of TVs depends on what’s most important to you. In closing, if you have the extra money to spend, full HDTV is the optimum choice in TVs. When endeavouring in an entire home theatre, you should be sure that your full HDTV is compatible with the rest of the system.

James Junior writes about led tvs and watch hd tv online

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