I recently got a 16X9 HDTV. I was wondering how wide spread HDTV is outside of the US?? Is 16X9 Common?
Korea’s got a small HDTV market, I’m sure Japan’s isn’t that bad either.
Can’t speak on any other foreign markets.
I bought the viera pz77u series or something like that from panasonic around christmas… i love the thing. Ofcoarse that had almost no relevancy to what u were asking… sorry 
~Haz~
From what I’ve read HDTV is a universal standard (480i/p, 720p, 1080I/P).
Japan has the second highest adoption rate, the UK offers some programing via subscription services, other parts of western Europe and Asia have less.
But the SD broadcasts in most places in the world have the PAL standard which is shaper then the US NTSC SD.
I did not understand 1 word you said… i do have 1080p tho 
The superbowl looked great this year… maybe it was because my team won 
Isn’t 720i the lowest form of HD and anything under that like 480 is regular tv? they also can only bradcast in 1080i right now right? or 720p… it was to my understanding that only blu-ray was capable of 1080p images…
~Haz~
There is some debate as whether or not 480p counts as true HD or if it starts at 720 (I believe they got rid of i for 720).
A traditional TV broadcast usually falls short of 480 by the time it reaches your set.
The “i” stands for interlaced and the “P” for progressive. A interlaced picture flickers making it seem to the eye like there are more lines of resolution, with a progressive one all the lines are displayed at once making for a much shaper picture.
The difference from a technical standpoint is the bandwidth required to deliver the picture. So while I think you’re right about there being no current broadcast in 1080p, I don’t see why direct TV and/or fiber optic cable wouldn’t be capable of it.
An annoying secret that most cable companies don’t want you to know about is that in order to fit more HD channels they downgrade the picture to less then 1080.
Yea i have a fiber optic cable conenction… when i went to buy the tv thee people at best buy told me that 1080p televisionw as years away yet… and that cable companies would need to completely re-wire to fiberoptic… then i thought to myself… “i already have that - this guys a fuckin loon…” and i went to electronics expo lol
~Haz~
With the switch to DTV broadcast signals in February 2009, we may be seeing 1080/24p broadcast signals in the sometime in the future. A lot of bandwidth is ‘wasted’ on transmitting analog signals…with the switch to a DTV standard in 2009, a great deal of bandwidth will be available to broadcast more and hopefully higher quality high definition content.
I’m using Comcast HD, and yeah anyone with a good enough eye can spot the difference between the uncompressed HD channels, and the crappy quality compressed ones. There also seems to be quite a bit of compression in the audio feed (probably more so than the video feed). Comcast is currently wasting bandwidth by supporting analog channels currently (the free kind you can watch without a digital converter box). Hopefully when they do away with that in February 2009, we finally get our uncompressed HD content, and a more robust selection of HD channels.
Most of the sales-reps at these big electronics stores are fucking loons…either that or they’re just spewing out false information to squeeze more money out of their customers. They’re worst when it comes to selling cables. When I bought my second LCD set earlier this year, the sales rep seemed intent on selling me 75 dollar ‘120hz hdmi cables’ (which don’t exist). I told him that I had already bought 4 hdmi 1.3a cables online for less than 1/3 for what his store was charging for one cable…and then he went on some rant about how great monster cables are.
Its unfortunate that so many consumers who don’t understand the technicalities put so much trust in these uneducated, often sleazy, sales reps.
Humm, I get 1080 from the air, 
I don’t have cable or dish.
But I did build a computer to do BluRay Playback, WOW, what a difference, the picture is clearer on my 47" TV and 5.1 digital surround sound!
(yes Phero talk is rather large on a 47" screen)
and it only cost $120 for the BluRay DVD drive for the computer, and $60 for an HD Video card for the computer.
I set my dad up with a similar computer for his HD projector, WOW, his is amazing, after getting a good HighGain High def antennae he can get NBC in HD just in time for the Olympics. mother is shocked at how much bigger and clearer the picture is.
What you’re getting from the air is 1080i (interlaced). Blu-ray and HD-DVD players output in 1080p (progressive), which provides a smoother, more consistent picture. An interlaced picture essentially paints the image in two passes, creating picture inconsistencies, while a progressive image paints the image in a single pass.
When HD broadcast signals hit the market, there was a lot of debate on whether 720p or 1080i provided a better image. On one hand, because 1080i is displayed at a higher resolution, it would produce a cleaner, less pixelated image. On the other hand, 720p provides a smoother, flowing image. For smaller sets, the difference in resolution between 1080 and 720 is negligible, and 720p provide a better image because of progressive scan. For larger sets, users had to either sacrifice a cleaner image for a smoother image or vice versa.
With 1080p, users can reek the benefits of both a higher resolution AND a smoother display.
Movies in particular look much better in 1080p, as movies are shot in 24 frames per second. Along with 1080/30p (30 frames per second) most 1080p sets support 1080/24p (24 frames per second), and allows for a perfect conversion of the original source material down to the television set. Broadcast signals are output in 1080/60i (30 frames per second in two pass interlace), or 720/30p and force an imperfect conversion of the source material.
I knew you were OK . I’m sending you a GC for $17 (the winning score) just for being a NY GIANTS FAN 
The US is the only country using 8-VSB (vestigial sideband) as the modulation for the broadcast signals. The rest of the worldy is using some version of COFDM (coded orthagonal frequency domain modulation). Basicly, COFDM broadcasts multiple “streams” and you can capture those multiple streams on the antenna, so it has higher reliability. 8-VSB uses less energy and is not subject to impulse noise (refrigerator, air conditioner, hair driers), but the signal is more prone to having problems with “ghost” images.
The reason 8-VSB was chosen, when no other country uses it? Politics. At one time Zenith had some kind of patent on 8VSB, and now Zenith is not an American company. I have tried recieving HDTV over the air but it is very difficult, it almost requires an outdoor or attic antenna and a high signal strength. This is the absurdity/stupidity of the political process, when people focus on cronyism instead of objective interests.
I think in the long run broadcast TV is doomed. It will be superceded by cable/satellite/fiber-optic internet. You’ll have “pay per view” type stuff, as well as advertising-funded. I can’t stand watching most TV anymore. Most commercials just feel like noise. I like watching DVD’s or occasionally I’ll watch HDNet- especially the news shows are very good.
For my money, Blue-Ray is not worth it and I like DVD’s moreso. It’s a pitty HD-DVD did not survive, though, as it was the cheaper, more robust format. Blue-Ray OTOH is more highly “engineered” and only time will tell if the disks and systems are durable.
HAHA thanks man! I’m on my way to getting the A314 i want LMAO
Not to ruin the thread… but Eli is looking confident as ever… and from the looks of things, with shockey gone, kevin boss ought to be getting the starting tight end position.
~Haz~
My parents bought me a High Def DVD player right at the cusp of HDDVD’s downfall…
~Haz~
Blu-ray is still very early in its product life-cycle and as such, is associated with higher costs and niche market consumers. That isn’t to say that blu-ray prices won’t eventually come down, however, and reach a more mass-market appeal. In fact, Warner Brothers recently announced that it will be cutting the cost of blu-ray movies to retailers in September. If/when other production companies follow in suit, we should be seeing blu-ray titles for under 20 bucks. Ironically, had this whole format war between blu-ray and HD-dvd never taken place, we probably would be seeing much cheaper high definition discs by now.
Interestingly enough, if you inflation adjust the cost of a DVD when they first debuted in 97 (about 20 bucks), they cost about as much as a current blu-ray title in today’s dollars.
Oh and blu-ray discs are definitely more durable than DVD’s thanks to a scratch resistant coating on the disc. Blu-ray discs also feel ‘heftier’ than cd’s and dvds. In my experience with blu-ray, I haven’t had any problems playing a movie because of a scratched disc. The discs seem more sensitive to smudges, however, these are easily wiped away.
wow, and I went to school with Brandon Jacobs, watched him run like a horse carrying 3-4 guys 10 yards, and then listened to Coach Kill yell at him for not blocking on pass plays. (fore shadowing?)
College Football is so much better than Pro.
Interestingly enough, earlier today Direct TV announced plans to bring 1080p content to their service out sometime this year.
Nice.
Hopefully this will put pressure on cable companies to do the same.
I would just go ahead and get Direct tv but have been spoiled by VOD.
So the only choice seems to hope they hurry up and finish that fiber optic network the phone company claims to be building.
interesting, I guess I need to get my spacewalker card working in my computer then.