Television buying options abound

Electronic products and cable providers are stumbling to keep up with the technological boom satellite has created in the television industry.

Televisions are stepping outside of boxy screens into wider frames that wrap viewers in a digital panoramic experience, made complete with home entertainment systems. Crystal-clear high definition images and surround sound have brought the theater experience into the home.

While recent advancements have made life more enjoyable, the dozens of buying options have flooded customers with confusion.

Walk into any electronic store and you will come across rows and rows of TVs. Big screens. Flat screens. Plasma screens. High definition televisions (HDTV). Each boast their superior qualities compared to the next model.

"It's very confusing for customers. I don't know how anyone buys anything," said David Michel, owner of Down to Earth Satellite. However, one contender does stand out according to Michel. He says high definition is now the "big buzz word" in the realm of television sets.

Eugene Holloway of Dutchtown was in the market for a new TV six months ago. He decided upon high definition, but not before doing his research to sort through the myriad available options.

"There are tons of them out there. Part of it is finding the right sales person who knows what they are talking about," he said.

High definition is in its infancy, and like many electronic products, more development can be expected in the next few years. But for right now, Roy Joyce, owner of Dish Doctor in Cape Girardeau, has not encountered many customers interested in HD. With only a few HD channels -- like HBO, ESPN, and Disney -- Joyce says the demand is not widespread. "I don't think there's that much call for it," he said.

Stereo One in Cape Girardeau, however, knows the proof is in the numbers. High definition television is currently their No. 1 seller. With the gradual increase in HDTV sales, the store now only carries one or two analog sets. This shift has just developed over the last two years, says manager Joe Belcher, but he believes HDTV's popularity will only increase.

Besides everything high definition, Belcher predicts other trends will continue on through 2005.

"Flat is definitely in. The TVs are getting flatter, better and bigger," he said. "The prices are decreasing and becoming more reasonable."

As electonric products adapt themselves to satellite programming, many cable subscribers are trading in their black boxes for satellite dishes. HD programming is available through cable, but James Dufek, communication professor at Southeast Missouri University, warns that the picture quality is broken down after the signal has been stripped and sent through cable's coaxial lines.

The sharper picture which high definition projects on the television screen is a clarity of what-you-see-is-what-you-get-proportions. Dufek explains that programs will have to adapt to the new configuration of TV as it is especially sensitive to light and little will remain hidden.

"With the new format, you will have to perfect the way you are telling the story," he added. "The future generation of people will never know how we used to watch TV."

cpierce@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

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A buyer's guide to TV essentials

What you'll need to know about new televisions before buying.

• Screen type. Console TVs use various technologies to display similar results. Plasmas use glowing phosphors energized by an electrically charged gas. LCDs transmit rays from a fluorescent backlight through color filters. And the latest rear-projection TVs use digital light processing or liquid crystal on silicon chips to control how light is reflected on the screen.

Beware of plasma TVs when gaming because static images can burn in a ghostly imprint. Plasmas can maintain high image quality from any viewing angle.

• Video connections. A digital connection yields top quality. Certain types of TVs can double as computer monitors.
• Resolution. An HDTV has 720 or more horizontal lines of pixels. Resolutions are expressed in horizontal and vertical dimensions (1,024 x 768). The second number is the more important of the two.
• Tuners. Most TVs pick up regular analog broadcasts with built-in tuners. Some sets also have tuners for high-definition signals.

Some other terms:

• 480i. A format for VHS, DVD and regular analog broadcasts that shows images with 480 lines in an interlaced pattern.
• 720p. One of two high-definition formats; shows images with 720 lines displayed progressively (all at once).
• 1,080i. The other high-definition format; it displays images with 1080 lines in an interlaced manner. The format is often converted to 720 or 768 lines because few HDTV screens have 1,080 lines.
• HD. High definition describes any television or videostream using a 720p or 1,080i format. There is also support for Dolby surround sound.
• Interlaced. To save bandwidth, many TVs receive only half an image at once. The screen flicks 60 times per second between the odd and even-numbered lines of an image. Because they flash so quickly, these sets of interlaced lines appear to the view as full screens. Progressive displays flash the entire frame 60 times per second.
• Reverse 3-2 pulldown. When movies are released on DVD, film (which runs at 24 fps) is transferred to video (which runs at 60 half-frames or fields per second). Making the formats mathematically compatible requires a so-called 3-2 pulldown process that leads to some choppiness and image distortion.

-- Compiled from Wired magazine's test issue.