Posted on 10/10/2007 2:29:29 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
Industry Execs: HD Sets Lacking Picture Quality Panelists at high-def conference say the picture often gets diluted in the transmission process.
Washington, D.C. (October 10, 2007) -- Several industry officials said today that the average HDTV owner is not getting the best possible picture on his set.
At a panel discussion today at the HD World conference in New York, officials from Scientific-Atlanta, Discovery, Motorola and SES Americom said the high-def signal gets diluted during the transmission process.
The corruption in image quality can be blamed on everything from the HD network's decision on how to transmit the signal to the consumer's often faulty display choices, the officials said.
Consequently, they added, the HD picture diminishes in quality once it's displayed on the consumer's home screen.
"Good HD quality -- I believe that people have never really seen it," Brian Morris, vice president of digital media for cable set-top maker Scientific-Atlanta, told HD World attendees. "But what we're seeing today is not good HD quality."
Charles Myers, vice president of distribution and technology for Discovery Communications, compared the high-def transmission process to a "meat grinder," meaning the signal is chopped up along the way.
The panelists cited the following reasons for the HD picture to lose quality after it's originally recorded and/or transmitted from the studio:
1. Network's Transmission Some networks decide to send the high-def signal at a quality rate lower than necessary for a variety of reasons, including cost savings.
2. TV Providers Compress the Signal Likewise, cable, satellite and telco providers often reduce the signal strength once they receive the transmission to save system space, thereby allowing them to offer more channels.
3. High-Definition Display Issues Panelists said LCD and Plasma flat-panel sets often exhibit motion artifacts and "noise" on-screen. Although the occasions are rare, it's a disruption in an otherwise complete picture.
4. Consumer Error "Consumers will sometimes simply set the wrong format on their cable or satellite set-top," said Bryan McGuirk, president of media and enterprises services for SES Americom. "If the native resolution for their set is 720p, and they set it for 1080i, the set will upconvert the picture and it won't look as good."
Morris expressed optimism that the home HD picture will improve "over time...We have people who are doing nothing but optimizing video."
But he added: "The eco system is the real problem. It comes down all the way from the beginning to the end."
The pinged subjects will be those of HDTV technology, satellite/cable HD, OTA (over the air with various roof top and indoor antennas) HD reception. Broadcast specials, Blu-ray HD-DVD, and any and all subjects relating to HD.
Lasvegasdave
My brother has a big LCD HD (1080I, 42 inches or so, widescreen). I have an HD CRT from back in the day (32', square, 480p and 1080i). I swear my picture looks better than his does because of transmission and artifacts. Even the Xbox 360 picture (we both run 1080i) looks better on my tube.
One of the things they forgot to mention, is the production of content. Some of the movies they broadcast on HDTV have been terrible reproductions of the orginal content. Either they didn’t use a good master, or the technician was using techniques the equivelant of turning out a sloppy batch in the bathtub.
It all has to come together for HDTV to be optimal. Bad master, bad technician, poor infrastructure, poor transimission and poor television operation by the customer, can contribute to a bad situation.
One thing I found rather odd in the article, was the inclusion of 720 or 1080 settings. When you subscribe to cable, you don’t know what a program is being broadcast in.
Is it 720i/p or 1080i/p? You can’t tell.
HD DVD Claims Lead In Player Sales
The format’s leading booster cites new research.
Washington, D.C. (October 10, 2007) — Toshiba says standalone HD DVD players are once again outselling standalone Blu-ray players.
The company, which makes HD DVD players and is the leading supporter of the high-def disc format, is basing that claim on new research from NPD Group, according to Video Business.
Toshiba says HD DVD players began outselling Blu-ray set-tops in mid-September after several weeks of victories for Blu-ray.
Blu-ray sales rose during the summer, most industry observers agree, after Sony dropped the price of its entry-level player to $499. Toshiba’s entry-level HD DVD player costs $299.
“When new models hit stores there will be a surge in demand. There were some weeks where we lagged,” Jodi Sally, Toshiba’s vice president of marketing, said yesterday at a DVD Forum conference, according to Video Business. “But overall HD DVD continues to dominate.”
Sally says standalone HD DVD players now generate 53 percent of sales in the high-def disc category, with Blu-ray getting 44 percent and dual format players receiving 3 percent.
Sally did not reveal individual unit sales for the two high-def formats.
However, the statistics do not include Sony’s PlayStation 3, which has a Blu-ray player inside. If PS3’s nearly two million unit sales were included, Blu-ray would have a wide advantage over HD DVD.
No surprise there - a good CRT looks better than just about any LCD for a number of reasons, not least because LCDs lose a tremendous amount of their nominal resolution when they display moving (as opposed to static) images, an anecdotal finding now largely confirmed by tests run on 75 monitors by Gary Merson in Home Theater magazine.
Why don’t they blame the real source.
Cameraman can’t focus.
My set has a tuner, but I need to pick up a receiver (digital rabbit ears) for it.
Shouldn't that be the problem of the provider? I know it won't be, because if the company piping into your home is always going to say that it's the better format, regardless if 99% of their content is at 720i...
And, while artifacts are a problem with the technology, I find the networks induced bugs to be annoying.to the point of just canceling the service. Massive logos that now include ads all the time. It's not worth the annoyance factor any more.
BUMP!
Fox, ABC, and ESPN broadcast 720p content. NBC, CBS, PBS, Universal HD, HBO, Showtime, Starz, TNT, and Discovery HD Theater broadcast 1080i content. I’m missing a few channels here - perhaps another FReeper can fill in the blanks. Still, it would be a huge PITA to have to switch cable or satellite box resolution output everytime a channel is changed. :-(
How do you receive OTA? Please ‘splain.
Just like in the old days. A UHF or VHF antenna, a wire, and there you are (assuming your tuner is HD and the HD signal is broadcast in your area).
With an antenna. Don’t believe the cable companies claims that you “must” have cable to get HD.
You don’t need a special digital antenna to get locals broadcast in HD (is somebody really marketing “digital” rabbit ears? LOL - bet they’re charging more because “digital” is in the name!). It’s very dependent on your locale, though. For example, in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, OTA HD is simply unobtainable, despite the large number of available channels in NYC - I’ve tried vertually every size and type of antenna on the market, from small set-top models to humongous outdoor types, and it’s no go. Digital broadcasting has a lot of anomalous behaviors like this; all you can do it try a couple of antennas yourself and see what works.
Well this just plain irks me. Why NOT allow the costumer pick what they want and are willing to pay for? This is like being forced to take everything offered at a buffet.
hmm.. my DVR box (that I rent from my cable company) has a little display area on it, that lets you know when the signal received is 720 or 1080 dpi.
I don’t have to change anything about my cable box’s output when I change channels. I just told it what my TV can handle, which is everything, and it sends to the TV what it gets from the network, it even displays in a corner on the box what it’s sending.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.