In just over a year our old analog (NTSC) TV's will start their eternal slumber. Gone are the days where one can simply walk into the electronics department and buy any TV without much thought. The same could probably be said of home entertainment centers (ok, maybe a little bit more difficult in terms of compatability).

HDTV has been around for 25 years or so? But has recently taken off. Everywhere I go you see HDTV's and very few analog TV sets.

What irritates me is the pain that HDTV is. Yes, digital does have inherent advantages over analog (noise immunity, error correction, freeing up bandwidth), but what's up with all the confusion with HDMI, DVI, component, up scaling, formats, contrast ratio, DLP vs. LCD vs. Plasma, "blacker than black", organic LED crap?

It is marketing engineers at these companies purposley making this ridiculous nonsense more difficult than it already is. Not to mention no one whispers the other horrors of HDTV:

HDCP and future upgrades. You know that $2500 dollar HDTV you bought last year? Well it is obsolete and we come out with a better model!

I have a fear that HDTV will end up like computers...every given year or so there will be a better TV. For the most part an analog TV was an analog TV.

Thoughts?

 

We live in a consumer society and people live for that crap. I believe that it is a superior technology and I don't think it will be evolving as quickly as you speculate.

Standards are extremely difficult to finalize and prepare and require millions to do so. Also, there is a great deal of compliance involved in this procedure. Changing formats, etc, will not be tolerated. Look how long it took to get rid of NTSC, we cannot live in the past and we should embrace the next standard of broadcasting.

Steve

 

I concur. Although there are technical benefits to HDTV, having seen the sets on sale in stores across the UK I am at a loss to really notice the difference (there is a difference but it doesn't jump out at you - maybe its my eyes!) - I doubt many other people will notice any difference. The other problem is the complete lack of HD content for these TVS, maybe as time goes by it will become standard to make programs in HD but till then there seems little point in going HD.

I agree that the benefits of digital TV outweigh those of analog TV, being able to put upwards of 6 digital channels multiplexed onto the bandwidth of 1 analog channel is probably the most obvious. That said, the analog switch off in the UK is 5 years away when we all go digital, still I want to know why I can buy only digital TVs now. From a personal perspective I want to buy an analog TV and a separate digital tuner because the tuner is more likely to go obsolete than then the TV - if the tuner is part of the TV in my eyes it defeats the point.

HDTV is the next things the manufacturers are aiming at to make the consumer part with their money - you can't blame them really, it is business after all.

Dave

 

I keep applying the Gilligan's Island test - if the newer technology does not make the content better, then the improvement isn't worth the money.

 

I'm with Beenthere! My wife and I gave up watching TV years ago. High definition garbage is still garbage.

Regarding standards, market forces will surely push a choice within a few years. That choice should stand for many years. The choice will not necessarily be the best technology, however. Remember VHS vs Beta?