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Be wary. Be very wary.

Posted by Joe S (A) on August 17, 2001 at 11:47:04

In Reply to: Re: HDTV Ready for Primetime? posted by sb2 on August 15, 2001 at 18:13:34:

In order of your questions: No, sometimes, satellite (maybe).

The thing about HD is its still in its infacny and the broadcasters are still sorting it out with varying degrees of success and commitment.

When it comes to the networks CBS is the most committed with 7 or 8 series each week broadcast in HD, NBC's got the Tonight Show, ABC has one series I think and Fox doesnt do it at all. Period. PBS reputedly has some of the best HD programming going, but thats where the real question about HD network broadcasts come in - Does your local affiliate broacast the HD signal anyway? In Boston my NBC local doesnt, even though they have a digital mirror channel of their analog signal which means you basically get 480i instead. And my PBS affiliate, one of the largest in the US, doesnt think there's an HD market so they dont even have a digital channel, never mind broadcasting in HD. So even if the programming gets produced you may not be able to get it in your market. This in one of the largest cities in the US. How are things in your town? Find out before committing to anything.

And just because a local station has a digital channel, dont assume that they pass on HD programming in 1080i. Many simply pass through a 480i or 480p signal, even on HD programming! And to get this signal you will have to buy a UHF antennae - either an indoor table top type or an outdoor unit with a rotator. It turns out these digital signals are HIGHLY directional and prone to multipath and you will find yourself frequently changing antenna orientation just to get a lock as you change channels. Welcome back to the 1950s world of crude, cumbersome antennaes! The dawn of a new age in broadcasting? I've got a $15 Rat Shack bow tie on top of my $4000 digital TV as we speak.

So if you want to go the over the air broadcast source route make sure your local affiliates actually offers the HD signal. And dont assume digital means HD. Make sure they actaully pass network HD programming in 1080i.

How's the OTA broadcast water once you've jumped in? Variable. Image quality, even on true HD programming ranges from startlingly good to no better than DVD or slightly worse. Sound? Substantially lower sound quality than ANY DVD player. And back to content. If you are expecting to turn the tv on in prime time and choose between 2 or 3 HD shows - forget it. Theres a lot less HD content out there than any HD booster I ever met is willing to admit. If you see 1 show a night you'll be lucky, even if every HD broadcast is passed through in HD form in your locale. And in most locales some of these network signals just arent offered since locals stations arent required to offer digital or HD even if the network offers it so that limits your choices even further.

And when it comes to the best form of HD content from an image quality standpoint - live sports - the choices narrow even further. In spite of pipe dream visions of HD superbowl, HD Monday Night Football, HD Masters, etc, and drule inducing descriptions of the "looking through a window" type - these events are painfully few and far between. The fact is that HD Monday Night Footballs been cancelled, and you can go months between HD sporting events assuming your local affiliate even broadcasts them in HD. Case in point - I've had HD OTA / satellite capability for over 3 months. The only HD sporting event I've seen in that time was a one time only Cubs game broadcast. The image was breathtaking, but 3 months is an awfully long time between breaths. Now that's supposed to be changing soon. ABC has commited to a series of Saturday HD college football games this year - 1 game each Saturday. But make sure your local affiliate will carry it and that they will carry it in HD. Otherwise you'll be watching it in NTSC even if you buy the necessary tuner.

How about satellite? Well Direct TV is out. They offer HD HBO and a HD PPV movie channel that only offers programming after midnight. Wow. And they have been telling subsribers that they are about to add HD Showtime and HD Discovery (which doesnt even exist yet) for two years. The reality? They never seem appear - so be wary of salesmens promisies that they will be adding new HD channels soon. They've lost lots of satellite HD customers to Dish for exactly this reason.

Dish Network looks much better on the surface. HD HBO, HD Showtime and a 24/7 HD PPV movie channel. But the reality of satellite is substantially compromised by source material. 90% of HD Showtime's movies are 1080i UPCONVERTED from 480p source material. That means not true HD and an image quality roughly comparable to a DVD player (I think a little bit worse actually) and sound thats a clear step down in dynamic range from DVD. HBO's HD movie content is quite variable, ranging from the outstanding to the sub DVD caliber level. Unfortunatley lots more of the latter than the former IMO. Why? They dont show movies in their original aspect ratios. 2.35:1 films are digitally zoomed to fill the 16:9 frame and this typically results in a loss in resolution. Their recent broadcast of The Perfect Storm was inferior in color purity and sonics and offered so little improvement in sharpness compared to the DVD of the same film I qued up and switched between during the film the difference was hardly noticelable. All in all I preffered the progressive scan DVD.

But there is always PPV right? Well yes, the image quality of the PPV HD channel is consistently quite good, its just that the selection is a bit limited to say the least. While its on 24 hours a day it only shows 1 or 2 movies a month simply running them over and over again! Movie choices only change once a month so if you buy both it'll be a month before you see anything new. Wow.

So make of it what you will. HD is still a brave new world. Its tweaky if you go the antennae / OTA route with inconsistent results depending upon your local staions commitment to the format. And the satellite requires an added dish and still deliver remarkably limited true HD content.

Things to remember:
1. Your local affiliates determines whether or not OTA makes sense for you
2. Digital broadcast does not necessarily = HD (see point above)
3. UHF antennates are a pain in the ass
4. Satellite isnt a panacea: HD is not always HD
5. Upconverted 1080i = 480p at best (see point above)

And a final thought. If I didnt already have a very good progressive scan DVD player (Panasonic RP91 level) I'd buy that first. It would be a wiser investment IMO. If you've already got that base covered and are a bit tweak oriented and willing to work to get a few worthwile hours of HD programming a week HD may be for you. If I had known it was this messy I would not have bothered. I'd have waited another year to let a little more programming appear and for more local affiliates to come on line....

Oh yeah, you can find a lot more views on this topic at avsforum.com on the HDTV Programming forum.

Good luck!

joe

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