The FlatHDTV Blog

Making the jump from regular TV to HDTV usually means switching from a square-ish screen to a flatter, more rectangular screen. Speaking technically, most of the TV screens we are used to have a 4 to 3 aspect ratio, meaning they are 3/4 as high as they are wide. Almost all HDTV sets have the “widescreen” format, with the slightly more movie-like 16 to 9 aspect ratio.

So, if you want to replace that old Trinitron with a similar-sized HDTV, you’ll need to do a little (very little) geometry to make sure your viewing experience will actually be better.

TV sets are measured diagonally, from corner to corner. So, because of its flatter shape, a 25 inch widescreen HDTV will be wider than a 25 inch regular TV, but will be lower in height. To match the height of a 25 inch regular TV (which is 15 inches, incidentally), a widescreen would need a diagonal measurement of 30.6 inches:

Maintaining the same picture height is important, because there’s still a lot of content out there that is designed for the old 4:3 format. This is what happens to regular content on a widescreen:

So, your new HDTV will need to be about 20 percent bigger, in the diagonal measurement, to display standard content as big as you are used to seeing it. If not, a good portion of the shows you watch will actually be smaller on the widescreen.

Of course, the easy option is just to “go big” with the new set. The extreme sharpness of HDTV, especially 1080p HDTV, makes it hard to go wrong by going too big.

Digital TV and HDTV have been changing the way we entertain ourselves for a while now: super-lifelike images, integration with computers, and near-effortless access to content are just a few of the things that make it feel like future technology is coming to fruition now.

But, there’s one aspect of HDTV technology that makes us feel like it’s still the 20th Century: all those damn wires to trip on. Your cell phone doesn’t need wires. Why should your TV?

Luckily, there’s a movement in the electronics industry dedicated to establishing a new standard for wireless transmission of high definition audio and video content. It’s called the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) Special Interest Group, and has been established between Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Motorola, Ammion, and Hitachi. They are hoping to implement the new standard in a video-modem that can transmit 1080p HD content, wirelessly on the 5GHz band, throughout several rooms in a house.

For more information, check out WHDI’s news page or their FAQ page.

Samsung’s new 120 Hz, 1080p, super-fast and super-sharp A650 is winning huge praise from consumers for its performance and quality. None of its specs are much different from the other top-of-the-line LCDs, like those from Sony and Sharp, though. So why is the Samsung so hot?

A high performance HDTV is a fickle beast, and those exciting new features sometimes come at the expense of something else, like reliability or display problems. The LN46A650 seems to be one of the first HDTVs to blend all the latest features into a good, solid, reliable package.
Check it out here: Samsung LN46A650

And more from Samsung, by way of FlatHDTV.net: Samsung’s HDTV Lineup

The answer is no, of course, since Plasma didn’t really go anywhere.

Sales of LCD sets have been increasing fast over the last few years, mainly because LCD technology has enabled builders to make sets in the 40 and 50 inch size range that can compete well with Plasmas, in terms of picture quality and cost. In the past, LCD dominated the smaller sizes and Plasma dominated the larger, so this trend seemed like a death knell for Plasma.

However, North American sales of HDTVs have surged since last quarter, with Plasma sales growing about 17% faster than LCD. One possible cause for this is the emergence of smaller sizes, like the Vizio 32 inch Plasma and the Panasonic 37 inch UK Series Plasma.

source: PC Magazine

One of the big questions most HDTV buyers have these days is: which of the three most popular technologies (LCD, Plasma, DLP) should I choose? Or, should I wait for the next big thing I’ve been hearing about, OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode)?

The answer is no- unless you’re willing to wait several years. Buy your favorite HDTV that’s on the market now, and when that one wears out, you will probably be seriously considering an OLED. Here’s why:

• OLED screens are made with a synthetic organic substance, which is similar to the chemical that lights up fireflies and deep-sea fish. This substance shines bright and cool, doesn’t need a backlight like LCD sets, and so consumes very little energy.
• The construction process allows OLED screens to be extremely thin- an 80-inch HDTV might be as thin as a quarter inch.
• The OLED screen will be more durable, will handle greater temperature ranges, will change images quicker, and will even be flexible.
• They will eventually be produced in much larger sizes then current HDTV sets, and should be cheaper when production gets up to a certain level.

There are still a few bugs to work out, though. Here’s an example: the OLED screen is made of several layers of the organic substance, each of which is responsible for displaying a different color. The red and green layers have proven to last up to 40,000 hours in some laboratories, but researchers are having trouble getting the blue layers to last more than 4,000 hours in prototype screens.

The bugs aren’t preventing the big HDTV companies from spreading the word, though. Here are some recent updates and press releases on OLED:

http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/05/sony-previews-03mm-or-is-that.html

http://www.current.com.au/2008/05/29/article/RXKLVDONVA.html

http://gizmodo.com/393734/giz-explains-oled-the-future-of-tv

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/05/sony-to-acceler.html

Sony makes what is arguably the highest-quality LCD HDTV on the market, the Bravia XBR series. Over the past few years, the latest model has been the XBR, XBR2, XBR3, XBR4, and XBR5. Now, to the surprise of no one, they have named their new model XBR6.

The word on the street is that this one has a little bit better picture than the XBR4 and 5, and a lower introductory price, but it is lacking a few of the advanced features. The first ones to be available online are the 32 inch, at about $1100, and the 37 inch at about $1500.

Check them out here:

Sony 32 inch XBR6

Sony 37 inch XBR6