HDTV When and what connections

I recently bought a CRT iDTV which I am extremely happy with.



I now am on the look out for a LCD Display for my PC and was reading a
review of two 20" Widescreen displays (Apple's Cinema Display & a Dell one)
that talked about using them with a HDTV Set-top box. This got me thinking.



When HDTV finally reaches the UK on a big scale (i.e. all the major channels
start broadcasting it), I assume there will be STBs like we have now for
Freeview etc.



Will they be able to work with CRTs and LCD/Plasma screens?



Has a connector been decided upon that will be used to connect them to say a
PCs Display?



Are there any LCD Displays for use with a PC that I can buy now (around the
20"+ size) that will then allow me to get superior quality than my CRT using
the best connection type? What is this connection type, what do I need to
look for?



TIA



Neil

The connector type for set top boxes will be HDMI (or HDCP compliant
DVI). Most new front projectors and rear projection TVs have them now,
and they're starting to become more common on LCDs and plasmas (look out
for the HD ready logo
http://www.eicta.org/content/default.asp?PageID=249). I don't think
there are currently any CRTs with this type of connector though. Rights
owners are keen that copying should not be possible, both for HDTV and
HD-DVD, so they're insisting on HDMI (or HDCP compliant DVI) being the
only HD output on STBs and DVD players.

The issue of connectors for PC monitors is an interesting one.
Technically there's no reason why you couldn't use the ordinary 15-pin
VGA connector or DVI (indeed I am currently watching HD films in exactly
this way), but they offer no copy protection. Its hard to see how the
PC-monitor link could be equipped with the same level of copy protection
as the STB-TV link.

Ben wrote:
The connector type for set top boxes will be HDMI (or HDCP compliant
DVI). Most new front projectors and rear projection TVs have them now,
and they're starting to become more common on LCDs and plasmas (look out
for the HD ready logo


They are on the T.vs that are a couple of thousand quid, once you drop
into the sub £1000 bracket, you will find none of them got a HDMI socket.


http://www.eicta.org/content/default.asp?PageID=249). I don't think
there are currently any CRTs with this type of connector though. Rights
owners are keen that copying should not be possible, both for HDTV and
HD-DVD, so they're insisting on HDMI (or HDCP compliant DVI) being the
only HD output on STBs and DVD players.

That is one of the reasons that it may fail.


The issue of connectors for PC monitors is an interesting one.
Technically there's no reason why you couldn't use the ordinary 15-pin
VGA connector or DVI (indeed I am currently watching HD films in exactly
this way), but they offer no copy protection. Its hard to see how the
PC-monitor link could be equipped with the same level of copy protection
as the STB-TV link.





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Ben wrote:
(snip).
Rights owners are keen that copying should not be possible, both for
HDTV and HD-DVD, so they're insisting on HDMI (or HDCP compliant DVI)
being the only HD output on STBs and DVD players.

Is this the same proposal to prevent copying as in the US? This link is a
bit out-of-date, and the proposal may have been challenged in the US
courts:-

http://www.eff.org/broadcastflag/

(see bottom half of page)

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

Ben wrote:
The connector type for set top boxes will be HDMI (or HDCP compliant
DVI). Most new front projectors and rear projection TVs have them now,
and they're starting to become more common on LCDs and plasmas (look
out for the HD ready logo


I went in Richer Sounds today and they had about 10 or 12 large displays
hanging on one wall, so I asked them a few questions about them, partly
for clarification, and partly to see how much they knew about HD-Ready:

Q: what resolution are those displays and what resolution do you need to
be HD-Ready?
A: 1024 x 1024 (that was one answer amongst others...)

Q: which could handle HDTV?
A: all of them

Q: which are officially HD-Ready?
A: those 4

Q: so are you telling your customers that the other ones will not be
able to receive Sky's HDTV transmissions?
A: they should all be able to receive HDTV because HDMI on the Sky box
to DVI is okay. Another thing they said was that you'd be able to use
components.

All in all not the best advice in the world, especially when some people
may well be forking out £1000+ for large displays that might never be
able to receive Sky's HDTV.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview, DAB & MP3 Player Prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/da...tal_radios.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp...rs_1GB-5GB.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp...e_capacity.htm

DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:
Ben wrote:

The connector type for set top boxes will be HDMI (or HDCP compliant
DVI). Most new front projectors and rear projection TVs have them now,
and they're starting to become more common on LCDs and plasmas (look
out for the HD ready logo



I went in Richer Sounds today and they had about 10 or 12 large displays
hanging on one wall, so I asked them a few questions about them, partly
for clarification, and partly to see how much they knew about HD-Ready:

Q: what resolution are those displays and what resolution do you need to
be HD-Ready?
A: 1024 x 1024 (that was one answer amongst others...)

Q: which could handle HDTV?
A: all of them

Q: which are officially HD-Ready?
A: those 4

Q: so are you telling your customers that the other ones will not be
able to receive Sky's HDTV transmissions?
A: they should all be able to receive HDTV because HDMI on the Sky box
to DVI is okay. Another thing they said was that you'd be able to use
components.

All in all not the best advice in the world, especially when some people
may well be forking out £1000+ for large displays that might never be
able to receive Sky's HDTV.

Hmmm, the "projector specialist" at Sevenoaks told me a projector was
high definition when in fact it was a 480 line model. When I pointed out
to him that, unless you're watching NTSC material, the native resolution
is actually lower than standard definition he didn't seem to know what
the hell I was talking about. It had the correct inputs (which it did)
and that was good enough for him. I'm starting to think that this new HD
Ready logo is really to educate the staff, not the customer.

Ben wrote:

Hmmm, the "projector specialist" at Sevenoaks told me a projector was
high definition when in fact it was a 480 line model. When I pointed
out to him that, unless you're watching NTSC material, the native
resolution is actually lower than standard definition he didn't seem
to know what the hell I was talking about. It had the correct inputs
(which it did) and that was good enough for him. I'm starting to
think that this new HD Ready logo is really to educate the staff, not
the customer.


I agree, and it's scary to think that people take these salesmen's word
for things that they know so little about and consequently spend £1000 -
£2000 on a large display that they might well not be able to watch HDTV
on.

We should start a uk.tech.digital-tv name and shame campaign.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview, DAB & MP3 Player Prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/da...tal_radios.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp...rs_1GB-5GB.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp...e_capacity.htm

DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:


I agree, and it's scary to think that people take these salesmen's word
for things that they know so little about and consequently spend £1000 -
£2000 on a large display that they might well not be able to watch HDTV
on.

I never take sales peoples word, if I am interested in a product, I will
look around on the net for information on it.
As for big screen displays, not everyone wants HDTV, but then if I was
paying £2000 for a display, I would expect it to have the connections.

I was looking at a budget LCD Goodmans and for the price it looked good,
the picture quality was very good and that was in Comet, where they are
not normally set up that well.
Being a budget system, you would not expect it to have HDTV support, but
then by the time HDTV becomes a strong hold in the u.K, that is if it
ever do, the T.V will be on its last legs anyway.


I doubt I will change my t.v now until it had enough of living. I hope
that will be for at least another 8 years or so.


We should start a uk.tech.digital-tv name and shame campaign.


Maybe,



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This is very much a situation of caveat emptor. There is a LOT of
misinformation & misunderstanding. It's not helped by the fact that,
AFAIK, there are no DEFINITE standards. Plenty in process.

There is a very informative article by Gordon Laing in the current (June
2005) edition of PCW on this very topic. He is of the view that if a
dispaly device doesn't support HDCP over a DVI or HDMI interface there's
a good chance you will see only standard definition at best or Llareggub
at worst!

All this talk about "HD Ready" monitors with analogue component inputs
looks like being an expensive dead end.


In article , Ad
writes
DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:

I agree, and it's scary to think that people take these salesmen's
word for things that they know so little about and consequently spend
£1000 - £2000 on a large display that they might well not be able to
watch HDTV on.

I never take sales peoples word, if I am interested in a product, I
will look around on the net for information on it.
As for big screen displays, not everyone wants HDTV, but then if I was
paying £2000 for a display, I would expect it to have the connections.

I was looking at a budget LCD Goodmans and for the price it looked
good, the picture quality was very good and that was in Comet, where
they are not normally set up that well.
Being a budget system, you would not expect it to have HDTV support,
but then by the time HDTV becomes a strong hold in the u.K, that is if
it ever do, the T.V will be on its last legs anyway.


I doubt I will change my t.v now until it had enough of living. I hope
that will be for at least another 8 years or so.

We should start a uk.tech.digital-tv name and shame campaign.


Maybe,



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--
Keith Bailey

"Ad" wrote in message
...
snip

I never take sales peoples word, if I am interested in a product, I
will
look around on the net for information on it.

And what does that prove ?! You will either be seeing sales pitch or
an opinion, either or both could be wrong....

NEVER trust what you see or read on the 'net' unless you can back it
up by the manufactures tech sheets etc. - only then can you make a
reasonable assumption that the info is correct (if it isn't you will
then have some recourse).