Q: What is HDTV?
A: HDTV stands for high-definition television, with the emphasis on high definition. Currently your television is receiving an analog signal. In analog TV, a 6 MHz signal produces 500 horizontal pixels (dots). These pixels comprise the picture you see on your screen. HDTV can have a resolution of up to 1920 by 1080 pixels, or more than two million pixels. That's more than six times the detail of regular television.
Q: How do I get HDTV?
A: Once you have a high-definition television, you can access HDTV programming by calling us.
Q: Is there really a noticeable difference between HDTV and regular TV?
A: Yes. HDTV is the ultimate home entertainment experience. HDTV allows you to experience more of the TV picture with a wider viewing area, life-like picture quality, and the depth and clarity of true Dolby surround sound. It's like having a movie theater experience in your home. HDTV is the highest quality in digital signals, offering better resolution and sound than a standard digital signal.
Q: What is aspect ratio?
A: An aspect ratio is the ratio of the
width to the height of the TV screen. The aspect ratios differ
because the television industry manufactures both standard-screen and
wide-screen HDTV's to appeal to consumer viewing preferences.
A
standard screen HDTV has a 4:3 aspect ratio. The screen is 4 units
wide for every 3 units tall. A wide-screen HDTV is one-third wider
than a standard-screen HDTV. The screen is 16 units wide for every 9
units tall.
Q: What is screen resolution?
A: The screen resolution indicates the amount of
detail that the picture displays. Resolution is identified by the
number of display lines on the screen. The techniques that an
HDTV uses to "paint" the picture on the screen are referred to as
progressive and interlaced.
For example, a resolution of 1080i
indicates that the screen shows 1080 lines in an interlaced display,
and 480p means that the screen shows 480 lines in a progressive display.
Note: The screen resolution (1080i, 480p, etc.) is sometimes referred to as the scan rate. The terms are interchangeable.
With
the progressive method (top photo), every pixel on the screen is
refreshed simultaneously, whereby the interlaced method (bottom
photo) involves refreshing pixels in alternation - first the odd
lines and then the even lines.
Q: How do I know which picture format to use?
A: The type of screen your HDTV has determines how the set-top displays programs on the screen. The following examples show how programs will look when the pricture format is set to Normal mode (not Stretch or Zoom modes).
Q: What does component video mean?
A: It means that video is represented as three different components which may be combined in an HDTV to provide video. There are different component video formats such as YPbPr and RGB.
Q: What does YPbPr mean?
A: YPbPr is the component video format in which the luminance (Y) is represented separately from the color components (Pb and Pr). The majority of HDTV’s today support this format. The Y output on HDTV’s and HDTV receivers is provided as a Green jack, the Pb is provided as a Blue jack, and the Pr is provided as a Red jack. The colors themselves are not to be confused as an RGB output.
Q: What does RGB mean?
A: RGB is the component format in which the primary TV monitor colors (red, green and blue) are transmitted as three independent components. Some older HDTV monitors have only RGB inputs. If you have one of these HDTV's you need an RGB adapter.
Q: What does DVI mean? What is HDCP? What is HDMI?
A: DVI stands for Digital
Visual Interface. DVI is an all digital link between a video/audio
source such as an HDTV settop and a display device such as an HDTV. The
DVI link provides an uncompressed digital stream. The DVI link does not
contain audio, so audio is still needed to be connected from the settop
to the HDTV or home theatre system. One advantage of DVI is that the
link allows graphics to be sent along the link as well. This allows the
user interface from the settop to be displayed on the HDTV. The DVI 1.0
connector on the settop and HDTV looks as follows:
HDCP stands for High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection. HDCP is the copy protection standard that is tied to DVI.
HDMI is the next generation of DVI. HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Inteface. The main difference between HDMI and DVI 1.0 is that HDMI adds audio to the DVI link and is a smaller connector. The HDMI interface will be backwards compatible to the DVI 1.0 interface, meaning that you can connect up a set-top to an HDTV, where one has DVI 1.0 and the other has HDMI. HDMI became available in most HDTV's in 2004. Most new HDTV's have HDMI. Those that don't most likely are equipped with DVI, which is backwards compatible.
The HDMI connector on the settop looks as follows:
