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This season, two letters will stand out on wish lists. It’s definitely time to study up
By Timothy R. Schulte
CTW Features
Centerpiece: An HDTV clearly – actually, very clearly – is the focal point of any room.
There’s nothing more terrific than cutting-edge technology. There’s also nothing more terrifying. Every wow-inducing, crave-worthy feature is accompanied by a mind-numbing mishmash of letters, numbers and formats that can leave shoppers beelining for the door. Thankfully, there’s an antidote for electronics anxiety: high-definition technology.
From TVs to DVD players to camcorders, no other innovation this season has captured consumers’ attention like those two little letters: HD.
“It’s definitely a buzz word,” says Rick Souder, executive vice president of merchandising for electronics retailer Crutchfield, Charlottesville, Va. “People want to know what it’s all about.”
In short, high-definition technology presents a crisp, high-resolution display, giving consumers the most lifelike home-theater experience possible. According to the Digital Entertainment Group, a Los Angeles-based market researcher, nearly 35 million HDTV sets have been sold in the U.S. since 1998.
“There’s always been a good interest in home theater,” says Souder, noting that some analysts point out that when the economy softens consumers spend more on home entertainment. The adoption of HDTVs has helped spark demand for HD technology in other products. In fact, the camera/camcorder section of the HD market is one of the fastest growing in terms of percentage gains, says Souder. The ripple effect of HDTV popularity also has boosted sales of high-definition video-game systems, such as the PlayStation 3 and XBOX 360, and furniture and mounting units for fashionable flat-panel HDTVs.
“A lot more flat-panel TVs are being sold than ... DLP sets,” says Souder, referring to the boxier sets that use digital light display technology. Owning a flat-panel TV “really says ‘I’ve got the latest and the greatest,’” he adds.
Although shoppers may start shopping with a simple HD purchase in mind, they’ll still be faced with a raft of competing features. The best choice is an informed choice. Here’s a rundown on what to look for in all of this season’s hot HD categories.
TVs
Size – Two factors dictate the size of a TV screen, says Souder: existing furniture and budget. At the moment, 42-inch screens are popular, offering a big-but-not-too-big display. Larger displays are becoming more affordable as manufacturing becomes more efficient. Again, it’s about what fits in the home and what’s the most affordable. A consumer determined to acquire a 60-inch screen could get a DLP model for $3,000, but a 60-inch plasma display would cost upward of $5,000 and an LCD model in that size would weigh in at about $7,000, says Riddhi Patel, an analyst with market researcher iSuppli, El Segundo, Calif.
Display – There are three types of displays available in HDTVs:
• DLP – HDTVs with digital light display are a larger box set – although they are getting slimmer – so they cannot be mounted onto the wall. The heart of the technology is the rear-mounted DLP chip, which contains around 2 million tiny mirrors that project the screen image. What DLPs lack in sexiness they make up for in price. For the most size and picture quality, they’re the most affordable.
• Plasma – Plasmas are flat-panel TVs with a picture produced by tiny gas plasma cells. Plasmas are regarded for their high contrast ratio – brighter color – and wide viewing angles.
• LCD – Like plasma sets, TVs with liquid crystal display (liquid crystals sandwiched between glass sheets) are flat-panel and can be mounted to the wall. While they don’t have quite the contrast ratio of plasmas, LCDs are praised for their high resolution. They consume less power and are lighter and thus easier to mount, according to CNET, the technology clearinghouse.
High-def home theater from Pioneer
Resolution – There are two numbers when it comes to resolution: 720 and 1080, both accompanied by a P. The numbers refer to the amount of scan lines to produce an image; the P stands for progressive, the all-at-once fashion in which they’re scanned. These are the two formats at which a high-definition TV will display; 720p is high-definition (an upgrade from 480p, the standard for old-fashioned TVs) and 1080p is full HD, packing even more pixels into the screen. Early adopters of HD probably own 720p sets. As more 1080p sets reach the market, it’s important for consumers to verify that the TV they’re pricing is full HD, if the top resolution is what they yearn for.
Contrast ratio – This is the measurement between the brightest white and the darkest black. The higher the contrast ratio the better picture and color quality on the TV. A quality HDTV should have a contrast ratio of at least 10,000:1.
Components – An HDMI cable is needed to deliver the high-definition picture from a cable box or DVD player to the TV set. HDTVs generally will have two or more HDMI ports, so there can be a designated cable running to both the cable box and DVD player – no switching back and forth.
DVD players
First and foremost, know that a standard DVD player will work just fine with an HDTV – the picture just won’t be in high definition. However, there are a few options for improving the DVD display on a high-definition TV.
Upconvert DVD players – These players are standard DVD players that, by way of an HDMI cable, upgrade the quality of the DVD from a standard 480p resolution to a high-def resolution. All that’s needed is an HDTV and an HDMI cable. Keep in mind, though, that these are not high-definition DVD players. The hot new HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs that are much in the news will not play on upconvert DVD players. Which brings us to the 21st century version of the Betamax-versus-VHS debate: HD-DVD versus Blu-ray.
HD-DVD & Blu-ray – First, be aware that one of these high-definition formats likely will meet the same fate as Betamax: obsolescence. These players each play their respective discs, and upconvert standard DVDs, to a full 1080p high-definition format. Again, all that’s needed is an HDTV and HDMI cable. Television networks and movie studios currently are taking sides – some choosing both – for which to release their titles. Toshiba is main manufacturer behind HD-DVD players. Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung and Sony all manufacture Blu-ray players. LG produces a dual-format player. In the HD video-game arena, PlayStation 3 supports the Blu-ray format, while the XBOX 360 supports its own HD-DVD player that can be connected to the console.
Hitachi's Blu-ray camcorder
Remember, it still may be a few years before the high-def DVD war is settled, and players in both formats are not cheap. Until a winner is decided, an upconvert DVD player is a less risky, less expensive option.
Camcorders and Cameras
Just as HD has projected itself from TVs to DVD players, it’s also found itself in the camcorder and camera markets.
“Our largest product category is high-def TVs,” says Jeff Fochtman, product marketing manager for Hitachi. “It makes sense that we support it with other HD products.”
Hitachi in August debuted the world’s first Blu-ray camcorders, a straight-to-disc model and a hard drive/disc hybrid camcorder. High-definition camcorders, though, are pretty sophisticated cameras – they’re not just for posting videos on YouTube.
“Inspiration for a purchase of a camcorder really hasn’t changed,” says Fochtman. “Really, the base of the market… [is] purchasing a camera for a family event. They want to keep those memories for a long time and be able to share them with a family member.”
But it’s not all confined to a disc or computer. Remember the influence of the TV.
“Viewing pictures on a TV really is one of the unfulfilled needs from a consumer market,” says Richard Ford, a business manager for Kodak, which is implementing HD video capabilities in some of its new digital cameras. For quality HD technology in the palm of your hand, keep these specs in mind:
Kodak digital camera with high-def video
Memory – Camcorders that feature internal hard drives will save video directly to the camera, which can be played back on the camera or on a TV or computer. Some cameras record straight to storage devices, such as MiniDV discs or flash memory cards (and now Blu-ray discs). How much media can be stored is dependent on the format for which it’s being saved.
Resolution and megapixels – Here, camcorders and cameras flip-flop. HD camcorders offer full-HD resolution at 1920x1080 but only capture stills at around 2mp. Digital cameras, however, are upward of 12 megapixels for stills but capture HD video at resolution best fit for 720p.
Screen – The LCD screens on both near the 3-inch mark (the screen on Kodak’s V1253 HD camera is 3.1 inches). The larger display allows for better viewing when capturing picture and video and it allows for more ease of use in functionality.
Aspect ratio: 16:9 – these are the numbers a shopper will want to see. This widescreen format means photos and videos will display in sync with a widescreen HDTV.
It all may sound like the market is driving the consumers, but it might be the other way around.
“People like to move their content around and have it accessible in a lot of different ways,” says Hitachi’s Fochtman.
And when this technology allows for seamless integration in multiple categories, it’s easy to see why this is the year to put the HD in “holidays.”
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