The HDTV Tuner Blog

Keep up to date with the latest developments in HDTV with our blog.

Sep 7, 2007, Panasonic TH-42PV60E.

Good in every aspect. Except that It has this unbelievable HDCP lock on its HDMI input. What an insult to the buyer. I have an DVDO IScan ultra

Jul 6, 2007, The HDTV Tuner

The HDTV Tuner takes the mystery out of HDTV with our guide to the kit, the content, and the technology behind it.

Jul 6, 2007, Tell us about your HDTV

Tell us all about you HDTV.

Dec 8, 2006, Panasonic AVCHD High Definition Camcorders

Panasonic has launched two AVCHD camcorders, including what it claims is the world's smallest and lightest 3CCD HD camcorder.

The two camcorders, the HDC-SD1 and the HDC-DX1 use the AVCHD encoding format jointly developed with Sony to record 1920 x 1080 pixel video to flash media, in the case of the SD1, and recordable DVD, in the case of the DX1.

The flash memory used by the SD1 is the new SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) format which allows a 4GB card to store one hour of high definition video. The HDC-DX1 can store up to 40 minutes of high definition footage on a dual-layer 8cm DVD disc.

Dec 7, 2006, Samsung 50in Plasma HDTV

If you're set on a Samsung 50in TV and this DLP doesn't do it for you, then how about the Samsung HP-S5053 50in plasma HDTV?

It has integrated NTSC and ATSC tuners and has a pixel resolution of 1366 x 768. Like the HL-S5087W DLP HDTV, it has a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. That relativiley high ratio means that blacks are very black and whites a re a brilliant, gleaming white. Brightness measures 1300 cd/m2 and the viewing angle is a fairly standard 175 degrees.

Dec 6, 2006, Samsung 50in DLP HDTV

This Samsung DLP HDTV, the 50-inch (count 'em) HL-S5087W is a 1080p HDTV with analog and HDTV (ATSC) tuners and connections for HDMI and component.

It has a contrast ratio of up to 10000:1 which means blacker blacks, whiter whites and colors that are so vivid they practically jump right off the screen.

Dec 5, 2006, Canon HV10 HD Camcorder - does it rock?

The Canon HV10 HD camcorder is the company's bid for some of the action in the consumer HD camcorder market. So far, Sony is the only camcorder manufacturer to make a serious bid for this market with its HDR-HC1 and HC3 video camera. lIke the HC1 and HC3, it captures high definition video to standard miniDV cassette tapes.

Dec 4, 2006, Xbox 360 HD DVD Player

The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player, which was released in November 2006, is billed by Microsoft as the "most affordable way to jump into the next generation of DVD technology," and if you own an Xbox 360, it certainly is.

Dec 1, 2006, How to buy an Indoor HDTV Antenna

You've got your HDTV and checked the signal strength and you've figured out that rather than hook up an external antenna, you can make do with an internal HDTV antenna for those off-air HDTV broadcasts.

Alternatively, you live in an apartment block, or have an unfriendly landlord and can't install an outdoor antenna. Either way, you're all-set to buy an indoor antenna. But which one to choose?

Nov 30, 2006, Elgato EyeTV Hybrid HDTV USB TV tuner

The Elgato EyeTV Hybrid is a USB 2 TV tuner that can be used to watch regular analog (NTSC) and HDTV (ATSC) broadcasts on your Mac.

EyeTV Hybrid comes with a copy of Elgato's EyeTV 2 software, which enables you to watch, pause, and record both HDTV and analog television. There's also a breakout cable which allows you to connect S-Video or composite video equipment so you can import analogue footage to your Mac.

Nov 29, 2006, Panasonic 32in LCD HDTV

The Panasonic TC-32LX60 32" LCD HDTV is a 32" LCD HDTV with both an ATSC (high definition) and NTSC tuner, and connections for component and HDMI.

Like most modern HDTVs it has a host of impressive sounding technologies built-into it to improve picture quality. These include: advanced LCD AI to improve contrast and picture quality; an expanded IPS (in-plane switching) LCD for 'extra-wide' viewing; and a 3D/Y comb filter which 'separates brightness and color signals better in 3D domain to eliminate cross-color, cross-luminance and dot-crawl distortion'

Nov 28, 2006, Sony DLP Projector: VPL-VW50 Pearl

This Sony DLP projector, the VPL-VW50 'Pearl' is a three-chip, 1080p/24 device that uses the company’s SXRD chip — developed to enable high resolution, high contrast display from a projector.

Other than the high spec and the dual HDMI inputs, the best news about the VPL-VW50 is the price, $5k. Given that the first generation SXRD cost $30k, and the second gen Ruby cost $10k, that represents a huge drop. In fact, Ultimate AV described the price as 'so outrageous …that I feel like I should be wearing a suit covered with question marks and shouting these specs at you!'

Nov 23, 2006, Apple Mac Pro with Blu-ray in February?

Apple will launch Macs with Blu-ray drives installed early next year, according to Think Secret.

Details are sketchy, to say the least, at the moment, with the only real meat being that the shipping date is slated for February. However, based on Apple's previous behaviour, we can make a few educated guesses. Blu-ray drives for computers currently sell for between $650 - $850, which means that even if Apple's wholesale price is significantly less, it will be impractical to put the drives in anything but the Mac Pro and the MacBook Pro, initially at least.

Nov 21, 2006, Vizio 37" HDTV

This Vizio 37" HDTV offers very good picture quality for less than a thousand dollars.

Nov 20, 2006, Samsung 23" LCD HDTV

This Samsung 23" LCD HDTV, the LN-S2341W, which can be ordered via Amazon for under $600, is something of a bargain. Unusually for a 23" LCD HDTV, this Samsung has HDMI, VGA, and two component inputs. It also has room for an RF input for connecting an antenna for those over the air HDTV channels, and a couple of composite connectors to hook up a camcorder or older games console.

Nov 13, 2006, Sony Bravia HDTV Advert - Video

The TV adverts for the Sony Bravia HDTV range are great. See the latest one here.

Oct 11, 2006, How to choose an outdoor HDTV antenna

So, you've got an HDTV and an off-air receiver and you're ready to watch all the wonderful, free off-air HDTV channels available to you. The last step is to hook-up an antenna.

Find out how to choose an outdoor antenna here

Oct 10, 2006, How to watch and record HDTV on your Mac

So - you've got a shiny new Intel Mac and you want to use it to watch and record HDTV. Or maybe you've got an older Mac and want to know which new one to buy to watch HDTV?

Wonder no more, as we bring you the definitive guide to watching and recording HDTV on your Mac.

Oct 4, 2006, Samsung SIR-T451 HDTV Receiver

The Samsung SIR-T451 is a high definition terrestrial tuner for receiving over the air HDTV broadcasts and viewing them on a TV which doesn't have a built-in ATSC tuner.

Sep 20, 2006, Will Apple's iTV be HD Ready?

The web has been buzzing with speculation about the new iTV device Apple will ship in 2007.

Unusually for Apple, CEO Steve Jobs gave a brief overview of the new device at the company's Showtime even in San Francisco in early September – Apple never talks about products before there finished.

Before dealing with the possibility of it working with HDTV, lets deal with what we know for sure.

More here...

Sep 6, 2006, Apple 24in iMac: The Perfect HDTV PC?

Apple's new 24in iMac is the first consumer Mac, and the first all-in-one computer of any kind as far I can tell, to sport a display with a resolution of 1900 x 1200 pixels. The significance of this? Well, it means that it can display 1080i or 1080p HD without having to down sample it to fit on the screen. The 20in iMac had a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels.

Read more...

Sep 4, 2006, How to Hook up an HDTV

Confused about the best way to hook up your HDTV? Let us help.

Once you've bought your new HDTV, had it delivered, and unpacked it, you'll be desperate to hook it up and get watching. If you have a TV with an integrated HD tuner and only plan to watch off-air channels, connecting it up is a simple as plugging in an antennae and switching the TV on.

If you have and external tuner, whether it's for off-air, cable, or satellite HDTV, you'll need to connect it to your HDTV. There are three different types of interface that you can use to hook up your HDTV to your tuner; HDMI, DVI, and component. If you've bought your HDTV recently, you'll almost certainly have HDMI or DVI inputs, older HDTVs tend to have component inputs.

More...

Aug 24, 2006, When is HDTV Not HDTV?

We've covered the definition of HDTV pretty comprehensively on the The HDTV Tuner, in particular here and we've also dealt with the differences between EDTV and HDTV, but a question from a reader the other day prompted me to think that it's worth covering again.

In order to receive and watch an HDTV signal you need a number of things. Firstly, you need to be in a country and area where HDTV is broadcast, either over the air, by cable or by satellite. If you live in the US, you can almost certainly receive HDTV by one, if not all of these media. In Europe, you will be more limited.

Aug 23, 2006, ATI TV Wonder 650

ATI's TV Wonder 650 is an HDTV tuner on a PCI card that comes with HD PVR software and support for formats including DivX, H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and WMV 9.

ATI says that the TV Wonder 650 produces 'outstanding picture quality' thanks to its Theater 650 chip which has the same kind of motion-adaptive 3D comb filter and noise reduction you get in HDTVs. The tuner can connect to up to 125 off-air channels and encodes to MPEG-2 in hardware so that the recorded footage can be easily transferred to DVD.

Aug 2, 2006, HD-DVD vs Blu-ray Update

The ongoing HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray battle is rapidly developing into a war of attrition, and, as usual, it's you and I who are missing out.

The latest twist in the tale is that the European Commission has said it will investigate the licensing terms of both formats. At the moment the investigation is what the EC terms 'unoffiical' so it won't name the companies involved. However, Sony has publicly stated that it has been contacted by the EC as part of the investigation.

It would be easy to be cynical about the EC's involvement, and some commentators have been quick to suggest that it's just a way of imposing a tax on the new formats. Given the ridiculous levies on DVI computer displays and digital camcorders with FireWire inputs over the past few years, its easy to understand the cynicism. However, the EC has a legitimate role to play in ensuring that competition is fair and that consumers get a good deal.

Aug 1, 2006, What is AVCHD?

AVCHD is yet another video format for recording movies on a camcorder. Just when you thought you'd got a handle on all the abbreviations and acronyms in the world of video and HDTV, Sony and Panasonic roll up with another one.

However, this time, there's a very good reason. Until now, HD camcorders, such as Sony's HDR-HC1 and HDR-HC3 have had to make do with relatively inefficient encoding algorithms for recording and storing video. As these camcorders stream video to tape and the video streams at the same rate as DV video, this hasn't been too much of a problem. But tape, thankfully, is declining rapidly in popularity as a format for video, and is being gradually replaced by DVD, flash media, and, best of all, hard disk. These media store footage differently and DVD and flash media in particular have very limited capacities. Thus, there was a need to come up with a way of encoding video that allowed it to be reasonably highly compressed without losing quality. Step forward AVCHD.

Jul 31, 2006, Sony HDR-SR1 HD Camcorder

The Sony HDR-SR1 is the first high definition camcorder to store video on hard disk.

Sony's first consumer high definition camcorders, the HC1E and HC3 stored movies on tape. While this allowed them to be imported to a PC or Mac for editing relatively easily, using an old-fashioned medium like tape, with all its inherent problems, to store the latest, greatest video format always seemed like an anachronism. Tape gets tangled. It breaks. And you need to shuttle back and forth, putting stress on the heads, to find a specific clip. Hard disk does away with all these problems.

Jul 24, 2006, Sony VPL-HS51 HDTV Projector

The Sony VPL-HS51 HDTV projector is stylish and light weight. Its range of features and short throw may make it ideal for your HDTV home theater.

Jun 22, 2006, Philips 26PF5521D/10

The Philips 26PF5521D/10 is a 26-inch HDTV with a built-in Freeview tuner and evey connectivity option you could want.

And at less than £600 on Amazon, it's something of a bargain.

Jun 21, 2006, Sky HD and Telwest Lead Quiet Revolution in UK TV

Sky HD and Telewest's TV Drive are leading the way as the UK gradually enters the world of HDTV. Currently, these are the only two avenues open to UK TV viewers who want to watch in HD.

Jun 19, 2006, How to Buy The HDTV That's Right for You

So, you've decided the time is reight to buy an HDTV. You've saved up the money, cleared a space in the living room and persuaded your wife, husband, partner, significant other that it's time you got with the 21st century.

How do you make sure you buy the HDTV that's right for you?

Hopefully the articles in this site will help you reach a decision, but the aim of this piece is to re-cap the things you should consider before you buy.

May 17, 2006, Apple MacBook: A Mobile HDTV Media Center

Apple's MacBook looks great and its powerful processor and great screen make it ideal for watching HDTV on the road.

Apr 12, 2006, FTA Receiver

What's an FTA receiver and why should you care....?

Apr 5, 2006, Blu-ray Disc Media

Everything you wanted to know about Blu-ray disc media but were afraid to ask.

Apr 4, 2006, HDTV Switch

Yesterday we told you about HDMI cables, so it's only right and proper that today we turn our attention to their partner, the HDMI switch.

Read all about it...

Apr 3, 2006, Expert Guide to HDMI cables

Only everything you need to know about HDMI cables

Mar 29, 2006, The 30th Anniversary Mac that Apple should Announce...

Apple should join forces with Sony to knock Microsoft oiut of the living room

Mar 28, 2006, HD DVD Players Delayed

Manufacturers of HD DVD players are delaying their launch until there's content available to play on them. Toshiba, the co-developer of the format and the first to announce two HD DVD players, the HD-A1 and HD-AX1 at the CES show in January, said it would now ship them in April rather than March.

Mar 27, 2006, We want your HDTV Reviews!

The HDTV Tuner needs you!

More specifically, we need your input. We'd like you to write a short review of your own HDTV and submit it to us for publication the site.

Clict the Permalink to read more

Mar 2, 2006, Mac mini HDTV Media Center Update

UPDATE: Some readers have pointed out that Apple's minimum system requirements for playing HD movies in QuickTime call for a 1.83GHz Core Duo for 720p movies and 2GHz for 1080i. That's true. However, they are for playing back H.264 encoded content in QuickTime Player. HDTV is transmitted as MPEG-2 and played by El Gato's EyeTV software. That's a different proposition.

Mar 1, 2006, Mac mini HDTV Media Center

Spotted: Apple's new Mac mini HDTV media center. Much of the reporting on the new Mac minis announced by Apple on February 28 centrered on its transition from PowerPC to Intel processor. That's an important step, particularly for Apple, which has said it will move every Mac over to Intel processors by the end of 2006.