Every day thousands of new high definition televisions (HDTV’s) are flying out of retail stores.  People buy for various reasons ranging from the need to replace an aging or failed older set, to improving the look and feel of a room by hanging a new flat panel. Price and picture size are also major reasons why decisions to purchase a new HDTV are made. As we have seen prices have dropped a ton over the past couple of years.  Many consumers (not nearly has many as a couple of years ago) are not aware that you need a HD source like a HD cable or Satellite box or Blu-ray player to get the picture quality benefits from a HDTV.  If you like free HDTV some Canadian cities broadcast a few off air HDTV channels.  Newer HDTV’s come with ATSC (digital) tuners built in so with the appropriate antenna you can to pick up a local signal where available.

Many people are watching their HDTV with only a NTSC or standard definition (SD) signal hook up.  SD is a much lower resolution with a 4 by 3 picture format. HDTV’s are design for high resolution widescreen or 16 by 9 picture content.  All viewers prefer the picture they watch to take up the entire screen.  Unfortunately, watching standard definition material on a HDTV will produce the dreaded vertical black bars to maintain picture integrity.  What I find in 80% of households is people watching a stretch or zoomed image to fill the screen. This degrades picture quality by reducing picture resolution and/or geometrically distorting the image. In the case of a Plasma TV a stretched or zoom mode will reduce image retention (from vertical bars) when watching 4 by 3 content.  Image retention is not as much of a concern on newer Plasma’s as they were in the past.

By not having a HD source you are viewing a much compromised picture.  In fact it is likely your old CRT will reproduce a better picture with standard definition broadcasts then your new HDTV will.  A non CRT HDTV has a set pixel structure and requires very good processing to upscale a lower resolution source to fill the pixel structure of a high resolution HDTV.  It can never look like real HDTV and often looks very disappointing to people.  The bigger the screen size the worse the picture looks. Now DVD’s on the other hand maximizes the NTSC formats capabilities where the upscale processing has a chance to reproduce relatively good picture quality. Remember DVD is not HDTV but represents the best that NTSC can deliver.  Again HD quality on your HDTV can only be achieved with an HD source like HD digital broadcasts or Blu-ray.

Another kind of consumer buys a HDTV because he or she desires the vastly improved picture quality.  This consumer would not likely buy the set if they were not planning on watching it with a HD source.  This consumer can take advantage of the high resolution.  You can watch a much bigger screen and still get an outstanding picture.  That’s what HDTV is all about.  Bigger picture, better quality equals more enjoyment.

Now have we done everything we can to get the most out of the HD experience?

I mentioned video processing which is very important in digital picture reproduction. Now of course your HDTV has video processing built into the set but better processing quality typically comes with a bigger price.  A high quality video processor can be installed between the source and TV to vastly improve picture quality, especially for standard definition.  Not only will a quality external video processor improve the way HD sources look but will do a much better job of converting standard definition video to the HDTV pixel structure.  In a way I am saying you get what you pay for. More expensive sets generally have better panels, processing and supporting electronics.  Not to mention more and relevant adjustment capabilities.

Here is another aspect about picture quality to consider.

Is your HDTV able to give you the best picture it is capable of right out of the box?  The answer in almost all cases is no.  Why is this?  TV manufacturers know that consumers are attracted to bright blue biased images with artificial edge enhancement.  Also new HDTV’s are capable of reproducing colors that extend beyond the current HDTV or original CRT standards.  Manufacturers customize these capabilities to give there sets a unique look while maintaining a bright picture that will attract consumers to their sets on the show room floor.  Problem is your home viewing environment will be completely different then the show room floor.  Manufacturer practices and colour standards don’t align. You can bet that your set will require adjustment to maximize viewing contrast, shadow details and colour accuracy to mention a few.

Television and movie production studios spend a lot of money to make sure image quality and accuracy is maintained though out the process.  Accurate colour production is critical and is achieved by referencing to monitors calibrated to strict industry standards. When it comes to colour reproduction and accuracy consumer televisions are all over the map.  To achieve accurate colour reproduction the set must reproduce colour to the same standards that the source material was referenced too. 

Most sets need approximately 100 hours or so for the electronics, light engines and panels to settle into a more steady operating state call a burn in period. Once the initial burn in period has past then you should consider calibrating your display. Fortunately, today’s sets usually have some or all of the adjustment parameters required to calibrate a set properly in the user and service menus. If achieving the best picture with accurate colour reproduction is important to you then calibration is a must.  There are calibration disks available from AVIA and DVE (Digital Video Essentials) but require you to spend considerable time to learn the process.  These disks can help improve picture quality but can not get you the results that hiring a professional calibrator can. A trained professional will have the experience and sophisticated light and colour analyzing instrumentation to do the job correctly.  An excellent resource to finding a professional calibration is the “isfforum” at www.isfforum.com under “find a calibrator.”

If you are considering purchasing a HDTV or currently own one but are not watching it with a HDTV source consider installing one.  If getting the most out of your HDTV is important to you then consider calibration. Don’t short change your HDTV experience.  You will enjoy your investment a lot more.