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Click for Presentation Materials: |
HD TV (pdf) Digital Video Recorders (pdf) |
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Computer and Technology March 15, 2007 |
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By Jack Bevis (Branch 116), CTG Secretary/Web Correspondent |
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"Acquiring a High Definition Television and/or Are you thinking about buying a High Definition Television and/or a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and are bewildered about the products being offered? Should you select a Plasma, LCD or DLP Television? What about the new 1080p Resolution? “Don’t have a DVR -- why you should!” Which one to pick? Should you buy a TIVO or use one of the DVR’s provided by the Cable or Satellite Companies? Phil Goff and Floyd Skelton (Branch 116) teamed up to de-mystify the terminology and products offered and to tell you the pros and cons of each technology and help you select the right product for you. Their full presentations are available on this website. Phil started with the premise that HD television is the greatest improvement since color TV. He says, “Just go do it!” He presented a comprehensive analysis of the choices to make in doing it. Select Size. He recommends 32” or more. Select Technology. Choose from old CRT (still available – good picture}, LCD, DLP, LCD Projection or Plasma. For himself Phil choose an LCD. Select the brand. Currently Sony and Samsung sell the most LCD sets. There are many less expensive sets on the market, eg you can buy a 37” LCD for as little as $700. Phil’s comment on this question was that HD in any brand is better than not having HD. Select the resolution (720p or 1080p). The most dramatic difference occurs with the change from normal television (480p) to 720p. 1080i offers some improvement.1080p is currently the Holy Grail but there are now and probably for the foreseeable future will be no broadcasts in 1080p. Only Blu-Ray and HD DVD players will output 1080p resolution. 1080p is the high end set with more features and is the set of the future. It’s a personal decision as to whether it’s worth the extra cost. Select the purchasing source. (Retail or Mail Order}. Consider Costco or Costco .com. The main thing is just do it. Prices are excellent so there is no reason to wait. Digital Video Recorders Floyd says, “Don’t have a DVR (Digital Video Recorder)? This is why you should”. He says that it is perhaps the neatest home entertainment device since color television. Tivo (The “Gold Standard” of DVR’s) is a brand name that is becoming the generic term for DVR similar to Xerox for copiers. It is also pricy. Floyd likes it very much but decided to go with the HD recorder offered by Comcast. It adds $6.25 per month cost to the other cable charges. It is on a month-to-month basis without an extended contract. A DVR records a program to hard disk, as opposed to tape, providing more efficient storage and easier access. Depending on your equipment it is possible to record two programs and to watch a third. ‘Live recording’ allows for ‘time shift’. This is the ability to pause, rewind and replay the program currently being viewed. This means that you can take a phone call and pickup where you left off when you return. ‘Time delay viewing’ allows you to record a program while watching it and zap all of the commercials. ‘Season Pass’ programming allows you to select what future programs to record, how many sessions to save, whether to include first runs only or also reruns, how long to save recordings. Interactive ‘Program Guide’ provides a means to check what is coming up as well as a one-click setup for recording a show. See Floyd’s presentation for an extensive sequence of slides showing the programming steps and options available from both Tivo and Comcast. |