#@: HDTV 1080p Best Tips

The new world of high definition TV is exciting and dynamic- never before have we had access to such amazing home entertainment gear, and never before have the options available to us expanded and changed so quickly over the course of a year. If you bought a cutting-edge HDTV five years ago, chances are good that you’re lusting over the latest “best” set right now. But finding the best HDTV these days is a little more complicated than it was five years ago, because of the expansion of the industry and the introduction of new technologies. Luckily, the internet offers a seemingly bottomless well of information and opinions on the new gear.

But this brings up another problem: how do you sort through all the different opinions, sales pitches, guides and reviews to come up with the one set that’s right for you? Reading the manufacturer’s data is one step, but it only takes you so far. The most important thing to know is how it will actually function in your home, not how many pixels are in the screen, or even what level of contrast it can display. For the real “dirt”, you need to spend time reading the reports of real people who have tried the set first-hand. Some of them will just verify what you already know, but others will steer you away from a big mistake. Here’s a list of some important topics to look for in HDTV reviews:

Customer service.

With HDTV or any other new technology, no matter how good the quality of the set is, there’s always a chance of problems. The happiest customers are not necessarily the ones with reliable TV sets, but are also the ones who bought from a reliable company.

User-friendliness and simplicity.

Some HDTV sets look great as soon as you plug them in, and others need plenty of tuning and tweaking to get the picture just right. Which kind you choose should depend on the type of person you are: are you a performance-oriented tuner and tweaker, or just a watcher?

Known issues.

There’s a handful of problems that are fairly common in modern HDTV sets, and even the big manufacturers can’t seem to make them all go away. These include issues like banding, burn-in, ghosting, and motion blur. The manufacturers won’t reveal these problems on their websites, but customer reviewers will.

The viewing environment.

Do you want to watch sports at night and soap operas by day? Is your HDTV going to go in a basement theater? Are you looking for a small set for your sailboat? If you look long enough, you are bound to find a review from someone who has the exact same set of requirements as you. See what kind of HDTV they chose, and how well it works for them.

Reviews are part of the whole research process when you’re buying a new HDTV. Use them wisely, ask questions if possible, try to be clear about your wants and needs, and you should be able to find a set that fills the bill perfectly. A great way to get started down this path is to visit a simple HDTV review index, to get a feel for what’s out there before you start making decisions.

See Also : Samsung hdtv 32 inch

3D is an exciting new feature for the home theater market. For some dramatic movies or soap operas, 3D might seem out of place. But for sports, action movies, etc. 3D makes as much difference as color vs. black and white. And the new 3D technology is superior to the 3D system that has been used in theaters.

The commercial successes of recent 3D films like “Beowulf”, “Meet the Robinsons”, and “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, is sparking interest with the movie studios to produce more 3D content material. Disney, Universal, Philips, Samsung, Sony, Thomson and IMAX are currently exploring the potential 3D HDTV market. Disney said it would begin making all its computer-animated films in 3D. According to Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, all of the major studios have 3D projects under way. There will be over 2,500 theatre screens equipped with the Digital 3D technology by the end of 2009. All of this content will be available to the home theater market. The Big Question: will the 3D market be pervasive enough for major networks, especially the sports subset, to broadcast in 3D?

3D Distribution

It will likely be the satellite TV companies like DirecTV and Dish Network that distribute 3D versions of HDTV programming first. 3D movies should take about the same bandwidth as other 120 fps (frame per second) high def movies. The satellite companies have enough broadcast bandwidth to support niche markets (the cable companies do not), and for now, 3D HDTV is a niche market.

“Satellite’s going to be constrained not so much by how many channels they can carry than by how many they can get,” said Bob Scherman, Satellite Business News.

By 2010, it is projected that 60% of TV receivers in the United States will use a satellite signal, up from 15% in 2002.

3D HDTV Home Theater Systems

Because of the high frame rate for 3D, and the need for synchronization, LCD screens are generally incompatible with advanced 3D. However, prototypes by Phillips have been demonstrated at upwards of $20,000, and this technology does not require glasses. The Phillips technology is optically very complicated. Unlike electronics, it cannot be assumed that the price will come down.

By the end of this year (2008), more than one million 3D ready DLP HDTVs, manufactured by Mitsubishi and Samsung, will have been sold in the U.S. The technology functions by supplying a 60 Hz signal to each eye (equivalent to 120 Hz total). These sets can display standard HDTV, and are compatible with 3D material. Some source material is available for download, and Blu-Ray 3D discs are becoming available. “Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert” was the first 3D Blu-ray Disc.

The Glasses: Field Sequential 3D

Special glasses are used with the DLP 3D system. The system is called “Field Sequential 3D” or HQFS (High Quality Field Sequential). This technology uses electronic shutter glasses instead of red-blue lenses we are used to at the movies. The effect is definitely superior. Our eyes see a slightly offset view of a scene. The two slightly different views are combined by the brain to result in our ability to see in 3D. Field Sequential 3D simulates this experience with shutter glasses. The shutter is not mechanical, but instead an LCD filter, that blocks vision when the opposite eye’s view is shown.

A HDTV set with 120 Hz refresh rate is recommended for 3D viewing. The 3D system uses half of the total information for each eye. If we use a TV with a total of 60 Hz refresh rate, it would supply only 30 Hz to each eye, and that refresh rate would be visible (flicker).

When designing a 3D system with previous 3D techniques, we have the choice of either sending two equal bandwidth signals with full information, effectively doubling the signal bandwidth, or sending the signal such that either the horizontal or vertical resolution is halved, one half for each eye. Doubling the bandwidth would be a problem since the HDTV signal bandwidth capacity is already at a premium. Using the same bandwidth as non-3D material means that we can utilize the technology with current HDMI or DVI interfaces.

The alternative to cut resolution is unattractive, since we have worked to so hard to increase our system to high definition, we don’t want to compromise. By using alternate frames for each eye, we see a high definition signal without flicker.

Two sets of wireless shutter glasses, with a control transmitter (InfraRed (IR), the same technology as the TV’s remote control) cost about $100.

“Hang-Ups” Holding up DLP

Many consumers have a fascination with the idea of hanging their new big screen HDTV on the wall, like a painting. It’s worth noting that most LCD and Plasma big screen TVs never actually get mounted on the wall. It is a significant challenge to mount something that weighs 60-150 pounds on the wall, and once installed, it’s a continuing challenge for maintenance (for example, a 50 inch Pioneer PDP-5070HD weighs 128 pounds).

According to the NPD Group, only 13 percent of current LCD TV owners and 25 percent of plasma TV owners have their set mounted on the wall.

DLP is very popular among those who want larger high picture quality screens at affordable prices. For the money, DLP easily provides the highest quality-size value. An LCD of the same size and price will not have the picture quality of a DLP. DLP is also available in larger screen sizes then LCD televisions.

However, a DLP rear projection TV is a few inches thicker than an LCD or Plasma screen. LCD screens are usually 7-10 inches thick; DLP sets are usually 12-17 inches thick. Because of the fascination with mounting their sets on the wall, this difference of a few inches becomes the deciding factor for many consumers’ purchase decisions.

Texas Instruments, who manufactures the DLP chips in a foundry in South Korea, sees renewed potential for the technology, which uses tiny mirrors on a semiconductor. The new LED Light Engine call “Phlatlight” (manufactured by Luminus) replaces the arc lamp and color wheel design of previous DLP HDTVs. Samsung has had their own proprietary LED lamp system for a couple of years. The LED Light Engine will need to be replaced infrequently (unlike the cold-cathode fluorescent lamps that had to be replaced every few years).

DLP HDTVs with an LED engine are more energy efficient than comparably sized flat panel displays, and the lack of a moving color wheel in the design means they perform with less noise. The DLP chip is faster than any other HDTV technology, with the mirrors switching on and off more than 15,000 times per second to deliver a picture without blur for fast moving images such as sports.

DLP HDTV sets are a very smart choice for most people, but be selective. Many of the HDTV sets in stores still do not have important technology, such as LED backlights.

The compatibility of the TV for 3D can be verified by looking for an input on the back of unit, marked “3D Ready”.

Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC)

An important trend in the home theater is the integration of the personal computer (PC) with the home theater. Integrating a PC into your home entertainment center has many advantages in addition to enabling 3D video. Downloading movies is one of the advantages. The HTPC should have a graphics card with a DVI connector (Digital Video Interface). Both XP and Vista will support Microsoft’s product for the home theater.

HDTV and 3D video is computation intensive, meaning a high-performance computer. For 720p videos, a dual core microprocessor is needed; 1080p or 1080i videos require a quad core microprocessor for smooth playback. Video files are very large (!), so the larger the hard-drive, the better.

DirectX 9 graphics drivers (software) need to be installed, if they are not already present. To find your current version, Click “START” and then “RUN” from your Windows desktop. Type “dxdiag” in the “Run” box.

Software is available from several different vendors; “StereoPlayer” (Version 1.3.4) from 3DTV.at is available. Purchase of StereoPlayer is about $50. While you are at 3DTV.AT also download the GPL MPEG-1/2 Decoder. Alternatives to Stereoplayer include “Dynamic Digital Depth” (ddd.com), “Stereoscopic Player” and “Tridef Visualizer”.

Summary

3D technology has become a major force in Hollywood. It is probable that this trend will repeat in the home theater. CRT and DLP work best with 3D technology, though plasma systems are also available. DLP offers the better value for big screens using HDTV, not just 3D HDTV.

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Getting the home theater room set up right is just as important as getting the right home theater components but in most cases you can’t change the room much. It may be your lounge or a special room but you are hardly going to knock out a wall just so that you can watch movies. Thus it is important to make sure that the home theater components fit into the size of the room and the existing layout. One such component of the system might be an HDTV or high definition television. There are virtually hundreds of different makes and models of HDTV’s so what do you go for and what considerations should you make so that it fits into your lounge or living room ? This article will help you decide.

The first thing to consider is the type of technology that is used to create the display. There are three types : Flat panel, projection and CRT technology

Flat panel technology - Plasmas and LCD

Flat panel technology is all the rage at the moment. Flat screens can attach to the wall so that you can save space in a small room. There are two types of flat screens that are popular at the moment. Those are Plasma and LCD. Both types have pros and cons. They have superior picture resolution to other types of HDTV s. However plasma TV’s can suffer from burn in, whereby a repetitive image will leave a ghosting image after some time. This is supposed to be getting better with the newer models. LCD’s have a limited viewing range before the picture becomes distorted.

Projection technology - Front and Rear Projector systems

There are two types of projection systems available : Front projection and rear projection.

Front projection is probably the most expensive HDTV you can get. It consists of a projector and a separate screen across the room. You would need a large room to fit this system in or maybe a room dedicated to your home theater system. With this system you can get large screens that have great pictures but the system is hard to set up and requires regular maintenance and tweaking to get the best picture.

Rear projection is a screen built into the HDTV. This is a considerably cheaper option. A rear projector system can be quite thin if it is using a micro projector but also suffers from limited viewing angles.

CRT Technology

The cathode ray tube technology is the one that most people are familiar with. Essentially they use a tube that makes them quite bulky but would be no bigger than a standard TV. In general a CRT HDTV would have a great range of color and a superior contrast ratio to the other types of technologies. The screen sizes are often smaller than the other technology types and the picture resolution is lower.

Selecting the best HDTV ultimately comes down to choice. If money and space are no object then a front projector system is your best bet. After that is comes down to how you prioritize the amount of money you want to spend, where the HDTV will go and what you plan to do with it (watch TV, watch movies or play games).

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With the mad dash to buy stuff this Holiday season, it is always interesting to see who is leading the pack in any given product, in any given market.

Well in the Flat Panel 1080p LCD race at the moment the clear winner is the Samsung 46-inch LN46a550 at Amazon.com. They have really made a push this year to top their completion.

One of the unique features on the Flat Screens this year is a DNIe Which means (The Samsung Digital Natural Image engine). This exclusive technology dramatically improves the picture by enhancing the contrast, detail, white balance.

The LN46A550 has full 1080p HD resolution and an amazing 30,000:1 dynamic-contrast ratio for the sharpest, most realistic picture quality ever, all on a 46-inch screen. And if you want to watch action-packed movies and fast paced sporting events like never before, a fast 5 ms response rate produces smooth-motion scenes. This TV turns your high-definition dreams into a definite, crystal-clear reality.

Other HDTV Features are:

* Wide Color Enhancer technology and Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) offer a wider color range.

* Simultaneous viewing with Picture-in-Picture (PIP)

* V-Chip system allows blocking of rated TV and movie programs determined by the parent to contain objectionable content.

* Displays in English, Spanish or French.

* Variable sleep timer to turn the TV off in varying time intervals.

* 3-dimensional operational auto wall mount via TV’s remote control.

* Swivel stand included

* And Many More..,

As you can see we are the beneficiaries with all the LCD TV advancements. These TVS are awesome. Now is the time to buy before prices shoot up.

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Happy Holidays !!

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Do you have a small laptop with a beautiful LCD display?

Active matrix is now the standard for laptops and, as a result, the quality of images on most laptops is comparable to most desktops.

Why should you let your TV and your desktop have all of the fun with high-definition programming?

High-definition (HD) programming allows you to view movies and television as they were meant to be viewed. Almost all TV viewers who have the opportunity to view HD broadcasts say they strongly prefer them to standard digital and analog broadcasts. Many TV’s now come with HD tuners standard and it is very easy to find HD tuners for PC’s. Unfortunately these have only been available as PCI cards traditionally. PCI cards require you to open your computer and install the card on the motherboard - this is not an option for laptops.

Take advantage of USB 2.0 to watch HD programming

Now you can use your USB 2.0 port, which comes standard on virtually every laptop manufactured today, to watch HD programming. Note that USB 1.1 is much to slow to stream video without a lot of choppiness. This technology comes from Korea and has been available in Korea for about two years - now various manufacturers are embracing the technology and products are starting to appear on the American market which will allow you to stream HDTV to your laptop.

DVR-like attributes will be coming

Along with the ability to stream HDTV to your laptop comes the ability to record programming to be viewed at a later date. This technology, commonly referred to as digital video recording or simply Tivo-ing, offers you the ability to record HD programming for playback. The USB HDTV adapters available in the US right now do feature time-shift technology, but the ability to download the programming information will require you to find a third-party service. Fortunately these are popping up all over the place to fill the pending demand.

See Also : Samsung LN40b650 hdtv 1080p best price

Acer Company has a very good reputation on the market among many other laptops producers. Ferrari series are considered to be the most popular among many users. Acer Ferrari 4005WLMI is very stylish and powerful. Those customers who chose this model of a laptop are very satisfied with the product quality and affordable price.

This model of Ferrari laptop has a very creative design. Many customers admit that stylish look is the first thing they paid special attention to. A 15.4 inches screen is very bright and clean. Watching movies and playing your favorite game is a real pleasure on this screen. The screen is perfect for watching DVD movies.

Roomy hard drive disk is considered to be a very significant advantage of any model of a laptop. 100 GB of hard drive disk allows users to store all necessary staff they have. Users have an opportunity to store not only documents they need for work but also a lot of video and audio files.

The Acer Ferrari processor 2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64-bit is very powerful. The Acer Ferrari 4005WLMI work very quickly thanks to integrated processor. Wireless LAN, 802.11b/g, allows users to connect quickly to the Internet, even if you are not at home. Bluetooth allows users to connect to the Internet through mobile phone.

This model of a laptop is sold together with pre-installed Windows XP Professional edition. This operation system is absolutely great. The Acer laptop is not heavy at all, it can be taken anywhere you go.

Recommend : LG 32 inch HDTV Sony KDL 46XBR9 Sony KDL 52XBR9

The FCC standard for HDTV broadcast is having a huge impact. The amount of information to be digested can be intimidating, even for the professional. The old hardware does not become obsolete, but it will require a tuner to convert from the new signal if you get your signal from a VHF/UHF antenna. If you have cable or satellite TV, this will be taken care of by the service provider.

However, this might be a good time to upgrade your hardware. The new standard offers a much better picture. In the current world of digital projectors, LCD, LCOS, Plasma, and DLP are the four different kinds of televisions that dominate the HDTV market. Each has unique advantages over the other. Plasma and some of the LCD screens can be mounted on the wall, although surveys find that few people do mount them on the wall. DLP and LCOS and some of the LCD units are both projector technologies. Rear projector units are usually the most cost-effective. The size of some systems is now less than 12 inches in depth.

• Video quality on the best projectors now surpasses that available in a conventional commercial movie theater.

SYSTEM TYPES:

• Traditional TV: also called direct view, has the images displayed on a picture tube (Cathode Ray Tube).

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and Plasma TV can also be direct view. The LCD and Plasma TV systems are the “flat-panel” units.

• Rear Projection TV (RPTV): uses a combination of mirrors and lenses to project the image from behind onto the viewing screen. This enables the displayed picture to be significantly larger, up to 70 inches or more. This technique usually offers the best value (picture size vs. cost).

• Front Projection TV (FPTV): this is like a movie theater. The image is projected forward, to an external screen. But like a movie theater, a very dark room is required because the screen will reflect any light in the room. This technique is usually more expensive than rear-projection, but the footprint (the area consumed by the equipment) of the system is smaller.

DISPLAY TECHNIQUES:

CRT (Cathode Ray Tube):

The established standard for television displays; good value, picture quality. The maximum size of the screen is smaller with the technique. The technology is still a good choice where a smaller picture is desired, and bulkiness is not a concern.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD):

Thin design, but has problems displaying images in motion (sports), the images tend to streak. These projectors usually contain three separate LCD glass panels, one for red, green, and blue components of the image being projected. As the non-colored light passes through the LCD panels, individual picture elements (pixels) can be opened to allow light to pass or closed to block the light. This produces the image that is projected onto the screen.

Historically, LCD sets have had a problem with visible pixilation. This is less apparent on newer sets with higher screen resolutions.

Most LCD systems use a fluorescent backlight, to shine through the LCD screen. This type of backlight will need to be replaced every few years. Some manufacturers are introducing sets with LED backlights, with a 10X longer lifetime. Even though the initial cost may be more, the cost of ownership advantage can make this design worth a look.

Pros:

• Better color saturation, more rich and vibrant

• Better sharper image, important for text

• More energy efficient

Cons:

• Poor black levels and contrast

• Problems displaying images in motion (sports)

• LCD panels (mainly in the blue channel) can degrade, causing shifts in color balance

• Visible pixelation

Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS):

A type of LCD Technology, LCOS uses liquid crystal rather than mirrors to project (usually rear projection) an image on the screen. LCOS is a good value compared to plasma and LCD sets, but expensive when compared to all other rear projection television technologies such as DLP. This technique uses a chip like a DLP (see below) set does, but the chip is coated with liquid crystal, which reflects the image seen on the screen. LCOS based systems allow for higher screen resolution than an LCD display or a plasma display.

Pros:

• Sharp, vivid colors, and deep black levels

• It does not slowly change over time as a plasma set does

Cons:

• Dead pixels usually happen because the technology is partially reflective

• High Maintenance Cost: LCOS requires frequent bulb changing requirements (anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 hours, about 3-4 years with normal usage) versus 50,000 or more for most LCD or plasma screens. A replacement bulb will cost about $400

• Reproducibility: Image quality can vary greatly from machine to machine

Digital Light Processor (DLP):

The DLP is a Texas Instruments product that is manufactured in Korea. It uses a chip with many mirrors (can be more than one million mirrors on a chip of about one square inch) that can be mechanically steered to reflect the correct color. This technology offers excellent display, at a moderate cost.

In the best DLP projectors, like the ones in use at your local movie theater, there are three separate mirror chips, one each for the red, green, and blue channels. However, in the DLP projectors marketed for the masses, there is only one chip. In these sets, to define color, there is a color wheel that consists of red, green, blue filters. This wheel spins between the lamp and the DLP chip and alternates the color of the light hitting the chip.

The spinning color wheel used to project the image can produce a problem on the screen known as the rainbow effect, which is colors separating out in distinct red, green, and blue. At any given point of time, the image on the screen is either red, or green, or blue, and the technique relies upon your eyes not being able to detect the rapid changes from one to the other. However, not only can some people see the colors separate, but the rapid sequencing of color may be responsible for reported cases of eye strain and headaches. But the vast majority of the people cannot detect the rainbow effect.

Newer sets have the color wheel rotation speed doubled. Also, newer sets utilize a six-segment color wheel (instead of a 3 segment) that has two sequences of red, green, and blue. Because the wheel is at double speed, and because the red, green, and blue are seen twice in every rotation, the effect is a quadrupling of the rotation speed. This eliminated the visibility of rainbows for most of the people who previously saw the effect.

Samsung and other companies have introduced DLP sets with LED lamps and no color wheel. The lamp bulbs in the older designs need to be replaced every few years. The LED lamp should last the lifetime of the television.

LaserVue (Mitsubishi) is being introduced in the United States now in time for the Christmas season. LaserVue is a DLP system (Texas Instruments “Dark Chip 4″ Digital Light Processor) that eliminates the conventional bulb and replaces it with a solid state laser. The performance of the video is outstanding, but the technology will cost you about $7000 for a 65″ HDTV. The reliability/lifetime improvement may be better, but there is little data on this new laser. An Argon ion laser would be expected to have a lifetime of about 8000 hours (5-6 years of normal usage). The Mitsubishi LaserVue uses a laser system made by Arasor, an Australian startup company, made from lithium niobate (PPKN). Mitsubishi is currently performing accelerated stress testing, but has so far released no results. A LaserVue HDTV draws under 200 watts of electricity. That is approximately half that of comparable LCD HDTV, and less than a third of a plasma High-Def system.

Pros:

• Small package size

• High contrast image with deep black levels

• Good value

Cons:

• Less bright images

• Rainbow effect

• High Maintenance Cost: DLP requires frequent bulb changing requirements (anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 hours, about 3-4 years with normal usage) versus 50,000 or more for most LCD or plasma screens. A replacement bulb will cost about $300-$400. Samsung is using LED illumination instead of lamps. The LED should not have to be replaced.

Plasma Display:

Thin design, high contrast ratings, Size up to 60 inches or more; some display limitations: costly, older systems had a high burn-in risk (over time, a memory of what was projected was retained); This could pose a problem for those who like to play video games or watch taped movies. If you put the game or tape on pause for too long, this could burn an image into your screen.

Pros:

• Exceptional picture quality: It can produce up to 8.6 billion colors, an accurate color reproduction and wide viewing angles

• Large screen sizes: Some Plasma TV units are now manufactured in screen sizes that can span up to 100 inches

• Lifetime: Plasma TVs are also known for their extended lifespan capacity of approximately 60,000 hours and great contrast (deep blacks)

• Less Expensive than LCD

Cons:

• The displays are very bulky, heavy, and fragile

• Burn-in

• Slowly degrades over time

• Energy inefficient

Coming Soon: OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) HDTV sets are now available, but it will be a couple of years before they warrant serious consideration. An OLED set is less than 1″ thick. OLED has already used in digital cameras and cell phones with small panels, because of their energy efficiency, which is important in portable devices.

STANDARDS:

• NTSC Analog TV or Standard Definition TV (SDTV): The current system that is being phased out (National Television Systems Committee).

• EDTV (Enhanced Digital TV) : basically high-end Standard Definition TV: While these sets may be better than standard sets, the picture quality is not equal to HDTV. Technically, there is little difference between an SDTV and an EDTV (except for the higher price).

• ATSC Digital TV: This is the new system (Advanced Television Systems Committee), which is not necessarily High Definition.

• HDTV: is digital TV where the image is a wide-screen picture with many times more detail than is contained in current analog television pictures. Most consumers will see a huge improvement in image quality. HDTV has a better quality image than SDTV because it has a greater number of lines of resolution. The image is two to five times sharper because the gaps between the scan lines are narrower.

SUMMARY

Any of the four technologies can be a good choice. The competition is intense, and all of the technologies will continue to improve. Buying a TV will never again be as simple as it was before HDTV, but the benefits can be worth the headaches.

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The move is on. Last year millions of Americans switched from cable TV to satellite TV.

Why? When you compare satellite TV to cable TV you’ll discover the main reasons are cost, picture quality, program choices, and customer satisfaction.

Let’s check out the differences …

Cable vs. Satellite TV Fees

Cable TV fees across the country average $39.99 per month. In our area the cost for cable TV is $37.30 a month for 64 channels, plus $10.95 a month to add digital channels. Installation in one room is $39.95, plus $9.95 for each additional room.

Satellite TV fees from Dish Network are $31.99 per month for 60 channels, while DirecTV charges $41.99 per month for 115 channels. Both satellite TV providers currently offer free satellite TV equipment and free installation in up to four rooms.

Cable vs. Satellite TV Programming

Cable TV in most areas offers almost as many channels as satellite TV, and is broadcast in analog (over-the-air) format. If you want to have digital picture and sound you’ll have to pay an additional fee, usually $10 to $15 a month.

Satellite TV offers more channels than cable TV (more than 250 channels), and more HDTV (high definition TV) programming. All satellite TV channels are broadcast in digital format for the highest quality picture and sound.

Cable vs. Satellite TV Equipment

With cable you only need cable boxes that connect the incoming cable line to your televisions. There is usually no charge or rental fees for cable boxes, however, If you want a digital video recorder, you’ll have to pay an extra fee.

With satellite TV you need a satellite TV dish and TV receivers. Both Dish Network and DirecTV offer that equipment, plus installation, for free. Dish Network will give you a DVR (digital video recording) receiver or an HDTV receiver at no charge, while DirecTV charges $49.99 for DVR receivers and $299 for HDTV receivers.

Cable and Satellite TV Reliability and Customer Satisfaction

Cable TV outages average 3% to 5% per year. J.D. Powers and Associates ranks cable companies as good to poor in customer satisfaction.

Satellite TV outages average about 1%. J.D. Power and Associates has ranked the two satellite TV providers — Dish Network and DirecTV — higher in customer satisfaction than any of the cable TV companies for the last five years

The Bottom Line

If you only watch a couple of shows a week, and you live in an area where you can’t get over-the-air TV and cable TV costs less than $20 per month, then cable may be your best option.

If, on the other hand, you want the biggest variety of shows, movies, sports, and news for the least amount of money … you want to watch your all your shows in digital video and sound … and you want the option of watching them in HD format and recording them on a DVR receiver, then satellite TV is what you’re looking for.

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Gone are the days when the analog television was the only tool to watch TV entertainment. Watching the free to air channels on analog televisions was often problematic. Along with poor quality image that used to get distorted at the slightest of disturbances, there was no scope to enjoy TV during natural calamities like storm and snow.

With time the TV technology underwent some huge change. The cable TV paved its way to the living room of the viewer and introduced better quality entertainment both in terms of quality and quantity. However, there is always scope of improvement and a lot of research started taking place in the domain of television entertainment. This resulted in satellite TV services. Digital television also paved its way to TV entertainment.

With the emergence of digital TV, television watching got a whole new dimension. People can now watch amazing quality visuals on TV. The sound quality also improved to a great extent. As in digital television the TV signals are transmitted through the digital codes or binary codes, the image distortion due to some external factors have also reduced to a great extent. Thus the overall quality of entertainment reached a new high with digital television. Along with satellite TV connection the viewers started having a wonderful viewing experience with digital TV. However, a digital quality television can offer the optimum viewing experience with only 100% digital channels and hence, 100% digital dish channels were introduced.

The 100% digital dish channels are well known for digital quality visual and sound output. These channels have transformed the TV viewing experience of millions of TV viewers across the country. At present al the channels broadcasted d through Dish Network providers are of 100%digital quality. Thus the viewers can have a never before viewing experience with dish TV. The number of dish channels and dish TV programs has also increased in recent times. At present there are over 500 dish channels catering to the entertainment needs of over 12million viewers.

At present the viewers are now constantly looking for ways to improve their viewing experience and at the same time a lot of progress is also going on in the field of TV technology. HDTV or high definition television is the latest addition to the field of TV development. Through this kind of TV you can now enjoy the programs with the highest quality visual clarity possible. With the HDTV you can get life-like images that improve your overall TV viewing experience.

There is nothing like viewing the HD channels on HD TV. The HD channels offer amazing image quality that transforms the way you used to see your TV visuals. At present you can get a wide variety of HD channels on satellite TV. Dish Network offers over 80 dish channels of HD mode. Thus you can have a wonderful TV viewing experience with Dish Network. Apart from the HD channels the satellite TV provider also offers high quality digital entertainment in standard definition mode. Thus you can have amazing TV entertainment all day long with dish TV.

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The Sony Bravia KDL-46V3000 46″ 1080p LCD HDTV is an elegant looking set with its piano black frame. The black finish is reflective, but not annoyingly shiny like a mirror as long as you don’t put it directly in front of a light source. It’s a serious looking LCD HDTV with its black finish and anti-glare screen. Not only does it look nice aesthetically, but it looks awesome where it counts the most, the picture.

The picture, like the Sony Bravia V2500 models, looks amazing. No annoying glares will ruin your viewing experience and the fogging that hit some of the owners with the V2500 model is gone. If there are any, you must be unlucky. The Sony Bravia KDL-46V3000 1080p LCD HDTV has a 60 Hz refresh rate while the higher end models have 120 Hz so the motion blurring will not be as smooth as the more expensive sets. That doesn’t mean it’s blurry though. It’s still pretty smooth during fast action sequences and you probably won’t be able to tell anyway when playing HD content.

The Sony Bravia KDL-46V3000 1080p LCD HDTV up-scales 480i standard definition content with its Reality Creation Multi Function v1.0 technology and you can see that it truly helps make SD stuff less horrible than it otherwise should be. This basically means watching standard programming is good, but not at the level you’re used to when watching with a CRT, but also not as bad as many other LCD TVs.

The black and the contrast is good unlike what has been expected of LCDs. The colors are rich and the picture comes to life more so than other LCD HDTVs. Side by side with the Samsung or Sharp, the Sony looked better. In fact it can even compete with some of the plasma TVs out there. Just switch to normal mode and not use vivid mode and make some tweaks from there to your liking and the image will be near perfect. Try sharpening the image and increasing the black.

Configuring the settings in the Sony Bravia KDL-46V3000 1080p LCD HDTV is a breeze with the highly regarded XMB menu system that’s also in the PS3. Speaking of the PS3, watching blu-ray on the KDL-46V3000 is simply stunning. If you don’t have a PS3 or a Blu-Ray player, you need to get one if you’re getting an HDTV. HD-DVD is dead.

The Sony Bravia KDL-46V3000 1080p LCD HDTV does not have PIP or picture in picture, but it does have P&P or picture & picture. You can play video from two input sources at the same time, but only from HDMI, TV tuner, and video on the left side of the TV and component on the right. That means no watching HDMI & HDMI at the same time. It’s not a deal breaker since the picture quality is way up there.

Sound quality is good should you choose not to invest in a home theater surround sound system, but it does lack some oomph in the bass department. It’s much better than many LCD panels out there considering how small the piano black frame is.

I recommend the Sony Bravia KDL-46V3000 1080p LCD HDTV if you don’t want to spend a few extra Ben Franklins on the XBR4 and you don’t want the older, but still excellent KDL-46V2500. You can’t go wrong with this choice and it’s one of the best bangs for the buck.

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