If you just purchased a new display to see the Superbowl in glorious HDTV here are some useful tips to enjoy the best viewing experience.

There are three possible ways to see the game in High Definition

Cable (including phone companies such as ATT and Verizon Fios)

Over-the-air

Satellite

If you subscribe to Cable TV, you should also have a high definition set top box supplied by your cable provider. If you do, make sure it is connected to one of the two available high definition interfaces, HDMI or component video, otherwise the signal will not be in HD.

HDMI is the preferred HDTV connection, as some TVs do not provide as sharp as a picture with a component video connection. If you need to run out to get an HDMI cable locally first try your nearest Wal-Mart, K Mart or Target, according to their respective websites, they have HDMI 6ft cables available at selected stores for under $20. If you go to Best Buy or Circuit City, they will charge you a rip-off $79.99 for a six-footer. If you have no choice and must purchase an eighty dollar cable, get one, and order a second one for as little as $2.11 (plus shipping) from Amazon.com. When the cable arrives in the mail in a few days, simply return the overpriced one to the retailer you purchased from. I have no problem with retailers making a buck; but in this case, eighty dollars is excessive.

Over an HDMI cable the signal is digital. The picture you will see on screen will either be perfect or if not it black, (or with intermittent blackouts possibly sparkles). You cannot get a sharper image with a “better” cable, regardless of what the store salesman tells you. By the way I have yet to see any 6 ft HDMI cable that did not work perfectly, my experience includes a number of cheapo ones. There is more to this topic, you can refer to an earlier article at hdguru.com/?p=12

Once you have the cable and cablebox are connected you must make sure you have the proper settings on the box and the HDTV.

For the HDTV, you first need to select the input number on the HDTV which is connected to your HDMI or component video cable. Next, make sure the HDTVs aspect ratio is in the “Full” mode.

You will get a better HDTV image, if you change the general picture mode from the showroom “out of the box” setting (it usually reads Vivid or Dynamic depending on the make) to Movie or Custom and lower the contrast (often labeled as “Picture”) control to 50%-60% of maximum.

With these basic adjustments you need to make sure your set top cable satellite box is set to output the signal in HDTV. There are two choices 720p and 1080i. Superbowl XLII is on Fox meaning it is broadcast in 720p. If your HDTV display is 720p you may simply set the output of the box to 720p, if it is a 1080i or 1080p set, you can choose 1080i and the HDTV will automatically convert to that rate. If you not sure what you set native display is, adjust the set top box’s output to 1080i because all HDTVs accept this signal, some sets will not accept 720p signals (you can always try the other setting at another time).

Also make sure the cable box is set for a 16:9 display, otherwise the image will be distorted.

What If You Just Got A New HDTV and Don’t Have an HDTV Cable Box?

If you are a cable subscriber you may still be in luck. Most recent HDTVs have tuners that will accept an unencrypted HDTV cable signal. Here is how to connect.

You will need to take the cable from the wall and screw it into antenna/cable input in the back of the set (it is usually labeled ANT). Follow the set makers instructions to select cable signal (versus over-the-air, digital cable signals are also called QAM) and let the HDTV’s tuner scan all the channels as per your owner’s manual. The HDTV will display all the unencrypted cable channels, but you will need to manually check each one (use the Channel up or + button) to find the local FOX channel because many cable systems may not match the over the air channel numbers, i.e. your local HD FOX station may be 5 or 5-1 or 5.1 but with a cable signal it may be a completely different number such as 79.3.

If you don’t have cable or a HDTV satellite set top box or cable TV you can run out to your local Radio Shack an purchase an inexpensive indoor TV antenna and connect it to the ANT input on you TV, and aim the antenna it in the direction of the FOX transmitter tower in your area. Next, set your HDTV to over-the-air tuning, scan in the local channels and see if you get local FOX HD channel. If you are within 20 miles of the transmitter and have flat terrain between you and the broadcast tower, you may be in luck.

Enjoy the game.

Copyright ©2008 Gary Merson/HD Guru™. All rights reserved. The content and photos within may not be distributed electronically or copied mechanically without specific written permission.

On the downside, the year also witnessed the continuation of the ruinous Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war, a drop in small size (<30”) LCD flat panel image quality due to price compression pressures on the set makers, industry consolidation and market turbulence with Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony announcing their exit from the rear projection market, and plasma maker Fujitsu deciding it will vacate the US HDTV market altogether.

Here are the HD Guru’s predictions for 2008

1) Laser TV

Missing its planned 2007 introduction, Mitsubishi will ship large-screen DLP rear projectors using three (Red, Blue and Green) lasers for illumination. The HD Guru expects the sets will ship in late second or early third quarter 2008. What’s the promise of laser HDTV? Incredible, rich deep colors never before seen in a display, record brightness with extremely high contrast ratios and possibly the best image quality available. Mitsubishi will demo “Laser TV” to the press on January 7 at the 2008 CES. The HD Guru will be there to report all the details.

2) Price Reductions

HDTV prices will continue to drop, not as much, however, as in 2007. The HD Guru predicts about 20%. Flat panel manufacturing costs have been trimmed almost as far as possible, so the pace of the price reductions will finally begin to slow.

3) Greener HDTVs

2008 will bring HDTVs with higher efficiency and much lower power consumption. HD Guru expects a number of 2008 plasmas HDTV will consume half the power the 2007 models, making them far more efficient than fluorescent backlit LCD flat panels (called CCFL).

More companies will offer LED backlit LCD flat panels like the Samsung’s LNT-4081. There will be more 120 Hz LCD sets with smaller price premiums than in 2007. The higher refresh rate decreases motion blur, but it will not save energy, as all 120Hz panels to date use inefficient multiple CCFL backlighting .

Laser-driven rear projectors will produce high light levels with very little power consumption.

4) HD Disc Format War Continues

Expect Blu-ray and HD DVD to continue battling it out in 2008. Currently, both LG and Samsung offer players that accept both formats. Look for more companies to introduce new combo players, at lower prices. A combo high definition disc player is the best insurance against being stuck with an orphaned format beyond 2008.

5) 3D HDTV

3D TV (it is actually stereoscopic but is universally referred to as “3D”) will arrive for HDTVs with the anticipated release of 3D movies on HD discs using a 3D compatible Blu-ray player and HDTV from Mitsubishi. The player will be compatible with Mitsubishi’s DLP rear projectors including the new Laser TV. LCD 3D flat panels may also arrive in 2008.

6) OLED HDTV

It has been reported that Samsung will show a 31” Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) with HDTV resolution with a ship date in late 2008. Expect Sony and one or two other vendors to announce OLED HDTV for 2008. OLED TVs are just a few millimeters thick and have excellent contrast ratios and black levels. Expect the first generation OLED HDTVs to be expensive. The big question is will the drive circuitry provide good motion resolution or will first generation HD OLED TVs suffer from motion blur? Stay tuned for an evaluation.

7) Thin Plasmas and LCD Flat Panels

Both technologies will go on a diet with Hitachi and at least one other vendor offering really thin (about 1.3 inch depth) LCD HDTVs. Plasmas will shrink down too. Expect them to be in the two-inch deep range.

Many More HD Channels

2008 will see a seismic shift to HD for a very wide array of cable channels. In addition, HD newsgathering will commence for the network news and all major sports and events such as the Democratic and Republican conventions and the summer Olympics. To accommodate the expansion of HD offerings, many cable companies will need upgrade their systems. DirecTV will launch another HD satellite to provide the bandwidth for all these new channels.

9) The Return of CableCARD

A number of top tier HDTVs will return to using CableCARD to allow reception of HDTV and standard definition cable channels without a cablebox. In 2007, most manufacturers abandoned the CableCARD due to lack of support by the cable providers. An FCC mandate in mid 2007 forced the cable providers to utilize CableCARD in their own set top boxes.

10) More Screen Sizes

Expect the return of the 32” screen for plasma as well as more affordable plasma HDTVs in the 60-inch and larger sizes. Look for an plasma in the 80” size range from at least one vendor.
The set makers will concentrate on image improvements in the 50” and above category, while pricing pressures will force under 40” LCD flat panels to lose features once considered standard

11) Chinese Brands to Enter the US Market

As reported earlier by the HD Guru, a Chinese LCD panel maker will enter the US HDTV market to compete directly with Vizio, Polaroid and other “off brand” HDTVs. If anticipated LCD panel shortages occur, the panel maker will have price and supply advantages that will cannibalize sales from the off brand companies they supplied in 2007.

To all our readers, a Happy High Definition New Year!

Copyright ©2007, 2008 Gary Merson/HD Guru™. All rights reserved. The content and photos within may not be distributed electronically or copied mechanically without specific written permission.

DirecTV wants to be king of the HDTV providers, offering a total of around 50 high definition channels beginning next month (September) and up to one hundred HD channels by the end of 2007 (according to its press releases) and confirmed to the HDGURU™ by a DirecTV spokesperson.

DirecTV says in order to receive any of these new additional channels, you must discontinue use of your current HD DirecTV Receiver or HD DirecTV TiVo DVR (which only accept MPEG2 video compression) and change its own branded H20 and HR20 DVR HD (MPEG2/MPEG4) satellite receivers. In addition, you will need to upgrade your satellite dish to its 5LNB model to connect to the new set top boxes. What DirecTV doesn’t tell you is that the new receivers now add something to the image you don’t want or need, namely black vertical stripes that may permanently damage your expensive HDTV screen when viewing its standard definition 4:3 programming!

The image above clearly shows the offending black strips. This screen shot is of the DirecTV broadcast of our local NBC station WNBC, NY. Stripes appear on all standard def channels (except the DirecTV barker channel) when using either of my two DirecTV + HDDVR s (HR20) on my connected HDTVs. They are a plasma and CRT based rear projector. I had the new DirecTV equipment installed this past Thursday in preparation for the launch of its new HD channels. (At his local Circuit City, The HD Guru also confirmed that this problem occurs using the DirecTV H20 model after he had the DirecTV representative switch the box over to standard definition channels on the store’s demo set top box.)

What’s the problem with black stripes on the screen?

Keep a 4:3 standard definition program on a phosphor-based screen (plasma or CRT rear or direct view) too long and your HDTV can suffer from uneven phosphor wear, commonly called “burn in”. This burn-in can leave two vertical areas permanently on the image when you view content that is active across the entire screen such as the HD channels or widescreen DVDs, Blu-ray discs or HD DVDs. A high definition capable satellite receiver properly displaying a 4:3 standard definition channel, should place the gray bars directly adjacent to the left and right sides of the program material to prevent “burn in”.

While the latest plasma displays are less prone to burn-in than previous generation sets, they are not immune under the conditions that occur when using the new DirecTV HD set top boxes. That’s because black stripes “on- screen” indicate no light is being produced by the phosphors within the stripe area. With no light produced, there is no wear, however all phosphors very slowly diminish their brightness as they emit light. At some point the unused black area when lit up will be noticeably brighter (lighter) than the surrounding areas, and be seen as two brighter vertical stripes when you switch to full screen content such as a high definition program.

The HD Guru called DirecTV customer service regarding this serious design flaw and was informed that currently there is no fix to the problem! The HD Guru advises the following:

Avoid purchasing one of these units until DirecTV comes up with a fix, or:

Do not view 4:3 content using these boxes or:

Turn the picture (contrast) control down to less the 50% of maximum, in the “standard,” “movie” or “custom” modes of your HDTV and view as 4:3 (“pillar box” mode with gray bands as pictured above) no more than 15% of your viewing time.
Only use lamp-based projection TVs such as a DLP or LCoS
(LCD flat panels do not have phosphors on the screen but there is some evidence of other issues when displaying fixed images i.e. black stripes for extended periods of time)

There are two other aspect ratios available on the DirecTV boxes; they are called “Stretch” and “Crop”. The former stretches the image horizontally distorting it, and the latter enlarges the image horizontally and vertically. Unfortunately, viewing either of my two HDTVs (a 2007 Panasonic Plasma and an older Mitsubishi CRT rear projector) revealed these other aspect ratios would not usually eliminate this problem but instead move the black stripes to the left and right edge of the image. Perhaps some TVs may overscan the image enough to fill the screen in one of these modes, but if not, you will risk the same burn-in problem occurring at the edges.

The HD Guru called a DirecTV spokesman to inquire as to when and if DirecTV will remedy this flaw. To date there has been no response. The HD Guru will follow up when he receives a reply.

Copyright 2007 HD Guru ™ All Rights Reserved