High-definition television (HDTV) yields a better-quality image than standard television does, because it has a greater number of lines of resolution. The visual information is some 2-5 times sharper because the gaps between the scan lines are narrower or invisible to the naked eye. The larger the size of the television the HD picture is viewed on, the greater the improvement in picture quality. On some smaller televisions there may be no noticeable improvement in picture quality.

However people have gone to shopping stores and gone confused with a large number of available brands of televisions. Too many choices make it difficult for a common man to pick the right one. Many have already bought their HDTV and yet not satisfied by its look and feel. However the more people know the following few basic facts the clearer they will be in their minds regarding which one is the best pick.

Filed under: ABC, Primetime, Daytime

It’s one thing to simply fork out some cash for new equipment and pull the lever on HD newscasts, but Lexington, Kentucky’s WTVQ-TV is doing it real big when it takes its local news to high-def this month. Starting on October 30th, not only will locals view the evening news in HD, but they’ll see a new anchor team, a new news set, a fresh graphics arrangement and revived vivaciousness all around. We’ve always heard that going all out was the only way to go — guess we’ll see how the ratings react in around a week.

[Thanks, Eric]

Lexington, KY’s WTVQ gets major makeover as part of HD news transition originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While LIN TV and Time Warner Cable remain embroiled in all sorts of disagreements, two of the company’s stations in the Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut area are gearing up to trial Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet click through technology. If you’ll recall, we first heard of this worrisome interactive advertising platform back in May when MGM Grand at Foxwoods signed on. Now, WTNH (ABC) and WCTX (MyNetworkTV) have also agreed to participate in the company’s market trial, which is set to start next month. In essence, it will give viewers the ability to click on “non-intrusive icons at the bottom of the their TV screen” in order to bookmark offers for online viewing; obviously, all of the response data is forwarded on for use in soliciting more cash from advertisers. Why does the idea of having to engage with ads sound so dreadful from here?

Two LIN TV stations to trial Backchannelmedia’s TV-to-Internet ad platform originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: ABC, CBS, The CW, Discovery-HD, ESPN-HD, HBO-HD, NBC, Showtime-HD, Listings

What we’re watching tonight:

• Fox (720p) presents Game 4 of the World Series at 8 p.m.
• CW (1080i) lines up Valentine at 8 p.m. followed by Easy Money at 9 p.m.
• NBC (1080i) has Football Night in America at 7 p.m. followed by The 40 Year Old Virgin at 8 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has UCF/Tulsa college football at 8:15 p.m.
• ESPN2 (720p) airs IndyCar Racing @ Australia at 11 p.m.
• CBS (1080i) has Cold Case at 9 p.m. followed by The Unit at 10 p.m.
• ABC (720p) brings Desperate Housewives at 9 p.m. followed by Brothers & Sisters
• History (720p) drops in the season premiere of Cities of the Underworld at 9 p.m.
• Showtime (1080i) has Dexter at 9 p.m. followed by Californication
• HBO (1080i) tosses in Calzaghe/Jones 24/7 at 8:30 p.m. followed by True Blood, Entourage, Little Britain USA and The Life & Times of Tim
• AMC (720p) has the season finale of Mad Men at 10 p.m.
• Discovery (!080i) has Storm Chasers at 10 p.m.

HDTV Listings for October 26, 2008 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Reviews, Other hardware

While being the first DSLR to shoot HD video sounds mighty excellent on paper, it’s not worth much if the execution isn’t there, right? The general consensus was that Nikon’s D90 was a stellar DSLR, but the 720p movie mode was simply a so-so cherry on top. The gurus over at CamcorderInfo decided to take things one step further and actually write up an in-depth review on the movie mode alone. The long and short of it is this: the D90’s movie mode simply can’t produce the same results as a dedicated HD camcorder, and while it was “often able to produce impressive results (especially in moderately low light),” the unfortunate “wobble effect” really put a damper on things. In essence, the aforementioned problem causes objects to look like Jell-o when the user pans quickly from left to right, and the only real way to avoid it is to utilize a tripod or slow down your pans — neither of which are terribly convenient. Critics did find quite a bit to praise, and they certainly appreciated the inclusion in an otherwise amazing camera, but it’s still far from being ideal in all scenarios.

Nikon D90’s 720p movie mode gets crituqued originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Thanks, Scott]

Yes we know this isn’t news, but you’d think it was based on the various stories around the web like this one from Yahoo Tech. We don’t mean to pick on this one specifically because honestly it is a very common mistake — even though this particular article is way off as the newer Macs do support HDCP — but as draconian as CableLabs and the AACS can be, the analog hole is still open. Now that doesn’t mean these DRM requirements aren’t crazy or that this protected path we always hear about is a joking matter, but it is all for not when the HD signal hits the analog outputs — the digital outputs do require HDCP though. This means you can watch any Blu-ray Disc or digital cable program recorded with an ATI Digital Cable Tuner at full 1080i via VGA or component — Blu-ray Discs can be played back at 1080p via VGA but component doesn’t support it. Now we are not trying to state this will always be the case, as both technologies support down-rezzing via analog outputs, but as it stands now these bits have never turned on. Now to the main point of this particular article, which is why Macs do not have a CableCARD option. Our best guess would be that Elgato doesn’t want to pony up the $200k for the CableLabs certification process and hoestly we don’t blame ‘em.

Filed under: Industry, Displays, Media streamers, HP

Chalk this one up as rampant speculation for now, but word on the street has it that HP may be fixing to axe its LCD TV business and kill the MediaSmart HDTV while it’s at it. In taking a step back, it’s easy to see how logical this move seems — HP has never been a giant in the LCD HDTV arena, and its MediaSmart line serves an even smaller niche. Couple those facts with plummeting LCD prices and diminishing margins, and you’ve got yourself a pretty strong case to hit the eject button. If all of this pans out, it’ll surely hurt Microsoft’s chances of getting even more TV manufacturers to sell sets with Media Center Extenders built in, but at least those still on the hunt for a MediaSmart HDTV on the cheap would have an opportunity to find just that.

[Via ElectronicHouse]

HP exiting LCD TV biz, killing MediaSmart HDTV line? originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Blu-ray, Players, Others, Pioneer, Sony

Ah, the sweet smell of progress. Just months after Blu-ray Mods hosted up a wave of BD-Live decks with multi-region support, the site is now offering up the next gaggle of units in the same fashion. For those scouting a high-end player with an ICOS HD mod baked right in, you can order up a number of Pioneer players (the BDP-LX91 and BDP-09 Elite included), Denon’s DVD-1800BD / DVD-3800BD and Sony’s BDP-5000ES. We won’t even scare you with the prices here, but you can venture to the read link if you’re suddenly curious.

Multi-region capabilities come to third-generation Blu-ray players originally appeared on Engadget HD on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Displays, Sports

You know that ridiculously large HD-X LED scoreboard that keeps tabs on which Arizona Diamondback is up to bat? Yeah, one of those things is coming to Target Field in 2010. Said ballpark is slated to open in under two years in downtown Minneapolis, and Daktronics will be installing a 101- x 57-foot high-def scoreboard (the fourth largest in MLB) that can be “operated as a single giant display or be divided into multiple zones.” If you’ll recall, this isn’t the first gigantic HD scoreboard to be ordered up by a Minnesota-based team, but this particular deal also includes a variety of ribbon boards and a sophisticated out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field that measures 109- x 12-feet. So, any Twins fans jazzed to see their club at the new park? Or are you really just jazzed about the new ‘boards?

[Thanks, Andrew]

Daktronics HD-X LED scoreboard coming to Twins’ Target Field originally appeared on Engadget HD on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Media streamers

With the latest announcement from boxee, we are really starting to wonder what’s left? Sure we know there is plenty of internet content out there that isn’t accessible on boxee, but not much. At the very least with that addition of ABC.com, you can now stream video from every major online video source worth mentioning. The bad news is that at this point only boxee Mac users can enjoy the season premiere of Lost via boxee, but the team is working furiously to add it to the Apple TV build just as soon as possible — hopefully in the “next few days.”

boxee adds ABC.com to its slew of internet video sources originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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