the HD Guy

Looks like I wasn’t very far from the truth when talking about a final Brazil-France… France did play against Brazil during the quarter-final on its way to the final where the team lost against Italy during a penalty shout-out.

The whole “FIFA World Cup” in HD was a real success and the image quality was amazing. Being one of the lucky one who did actually attend one of the game live in Germany, and watched many of the games in HD, I even have to admit that if it wasn’t for the “being there” feeling and the ambiance, watching the game in HD would be the best.

Considering that an estimated 751 millions viewers worldwide did watch the final (yes, that’s way more than viewers for any Olympics Ceremony or Superbowl), the question is how many of them did get a chance to watch it in HD?

Hopefully that number will be much higher next time…

For the very first time, all the games of the Football World Cup (Soccer for those who don’t call it like everybody else in the world) will be available in HD!

In the US, ABC-HD and ESPN2-HD will share the games, and show all of them in HD.

When you know the level of quality you get when watching the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals in HD, you can only dream of what a Brazil-France final would look like in HD.

What is HDTV aka High Definition TV?

High Definition television is a set of new formats for TV broadcasting, that considerably increase the picture quality. For 50 years, we’ve been watching TV with only 480 lines of useful information. Moreover those were actually interlaced, meaning odd lines and even lines would not be displayed at the same time, but alternatively.


What are the benefits of HDTV?

HDTV increases the resolution of the image, improves the picture quality and changes the aspect ratio of the screen from 4:3 to 16:9. Moreover it’s digital (versus regular TV that is analog), meaning that the picture still looks good on larger screen.

What are the different HD formats?

The most common TV formats are:
480i : standard analog video used for 50 years
480p : aka EDTV… even though the resolution only has 480 lines, the images are progressive (no interlacing of odd and even lines) making them look much better. Most DVD players can now output 480p.
The most common HD formats are:
720p : resolution of 1280x720 progressive
1080i : resolution of 1920x1080 interlaced
1080p : resolution of 1920x1080 progressive - recent resolution that most TV (even HDTV) don’t support yet

What do I need to watch HDTV?

You need a TV that can display HD format (at least 720p and 1080i) such as RPTV, LCD or Plasma, and an HD source: the easiest is to get an HD Cable Box, or and HD satellite receiver… But you can also us an ATSC tuner (most of the times inside your TV) and an antenna.


What channel can I watch in HD?

Currently Discovery, HBO, PBS, ESPN, NBC, CBS and ABC among others have programs in HD.


Where can I find HDTV channel guide data?

Have a look at titantv:
http://ww2.titantv.com/ttv/home/HDTVUpdate.aspx


Can I record HD content?

Yes you can. There are several ways to do that, including D-VHS VCR, and HD Digital Video Recorder such as Motorola 6412 or HD TiVo.


What does it mean for me?

You’d better get an high definition TV soon… you’ll wonder how you could live without it.

Thinking about getting a new TV to watch High Definition shows? Not quite sure if you need a Plasma, an LCD or a RPTV?
If you are ready to jump in the LCD world, the Samsung LCD 32″ Wide HDTV is a very good choice.

With its nicely designed 32″ wide LCD display, its improved picture quality thanks to the Samsung DNIe technology, its easy to use interface and the multiple input available (including HDMI), this LCD is a very good choice.

This LCD has a good resolution of 1266x768 allowing a very good display of HDTV signal, and Picture In Picture (PIP) feature to watch two programs at the same time.

On the bad side, the PIP feature doesn’t work with all the inputs available.

Price in store is around $1700 at this time.

Available inputs: 1 HDMI, 2 Components, 1 VGA, 1 NTSC tuner, 1 S-video, 2 composites, 2 audio stereo.
Contrast: 3000:1

LN-R328W on the Samsung web site

Have you ever found yourself stuck to your TV watching a weird guy playing with very dangerous snakes, animals playing in the wild or even some folks building yet another chopper while being late?
If you had, chances are you have already tasted the wonders of HDTV.

Take my word for it: get a Motorola 6412 DVR and the right service, and you will never watch TV the same way any more. Mix the quality of HDTV videos, dolby digital audio and the power of a dual tuner DVR and your TV life will never be the same.

Of course, this box is no ReplayTV full of geeky features, but you gate the basic features you expect from a DVR, with the high quality of HDTV, and a dual tuner allowing you to watch a HD channel while recording another one! And let’s not forget the HDMI/DVI output connection…

Ethernet and SATA connection at the back of the unit really make you wonder what this unit will be able to do in the future.

On the downside, the 6412 phase 3 only has 120GB (space fills fast with HD signal), a few bugs and no commercial skip (That’s where you really miss your ReplayTV)…

And if you like hacking everything, it is possible to program a 30 seconds skip button, and to extract videos over the firewire connection!