I’m trying to figure out the thicket of terminology and buzzwords surrounding modern television sets and am stymied about one thing: what’s the difference between an HD-capable and HD-ready HDTV?
If you have figured out all the other terminology involved with modern television technology, I am quite impressed. Between HDMI, Component, S-Video, 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, Blu-Ray, HDDVD, 5.1, 7.1, 2.1, PAL, NTSC and oh, so many more elements of HDTV technology, if you have really got it all figured out except “HD capable” and “HD ready”, then you’re ready to be lead salesperson at Circuit City, I think!
Let me start with your answer, then I’ll offer up a bit more information about high-definition television technology and related. In a nutshell: HD-ready sets have the HDTV program receiver/decoder built-in, while HD-capable sets require the addition of an external receiver/decoder needed to receive digital broadcasts. As I’ll be writing about later this week (stay tuned for the link here) all television broadcasts will be 100% digital starting in 7 February, 2009, so if you have a TV that requires an analog signal, you will need a converter. Some companies don’t want to admit that their TV systems aren’t ready for a pure-digital television signal coming into the device, though, so they say that they’re “HD-capable”. Honestly, it seems to me that with the addition of a simple digital-to-analog converter (see DTV2009.gov) you could say that every analog TV is “HD capable”.
My advice: it’d be insane to spend the money for a high-def television that was only “HD capable” at this point in time. For the same price, you should unquestionably be able to find an alternative unit that is HD ready, and skip the silly converter box entirely when the big switchover comes to pass in 2009.
While you’re reading, though, a quick primer: North American television has a fast refresh rate of 60 frames/second (versus the European PAL format which works at 50 fps), but the way it does that is through a sneaky technology called “interlacing”. Interlacing means that half the image is sent on each refresh, alternating between the even numbered and odd numbered horizontal lines of information. So you get lines 1, 3, 5, 7, etc., the a 60th of a second later, you get lines 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. Works faster than your eye can recognize the sleight-of-hand and the result is smooth transitions and smooth motion, even during action scenes.
Problem is, it really would be better to have all the image information each sixtieth of a second and you’d have an image that would be ostensibly twice as visually stable and attractive. That’s what’s called “progressive” video and each frame has lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. In the early years of television technology there simply wasn’t the bandwidth to send that much information, but now there is, and more.
The result is that the default TV video signal is 480i, which means that your entire image is only comprised of 480 horizontal lines, even on a really big screen. Worse, it’s still interlaced, so each frame is really only 240 horizontal lines of information. Not much when you have a screen the sprawls across 40-50″ or even larger. (caveat: many TV systems can “interpolate” and artificially produce transitional information between lines, effectively producing a higher resolution image. This can also work with DVD players and is generally known in the industry as upscaling, taking a low resolution image and artificially boosting it to a higher resolution format)
This is where things get a bit confusing, because while 480i is the standard for TV signals, there are now signals in 480p (progressive, not interlace, but still only 480 horizontal lines), 720i (a boost up to 720 horizontal lines, but still interlaced), 720p (same resolution, but progressive), 1080i (high def resolution of 1080 horizontal lines, but still interlaced) and the holy grail of modern HDTV, 1080p.
All being equal, you want to have an HDTV that works with 1080p signals as that’s true high def. Any model I’ve seen that does that can also handle all the other lower-resolution signals that are produced by various devices too, all the way down to 480i, the “old” format.
*phew*
I hope that helps you understand some of the core technologies with your new HDTV unit. If it’s like mine, you’ll have many hours of enjoyment ahead of you too. (I have a Sony Brevia 1080p 40″ LCD TV, by the way, and it’s awesome. Highly recommended!)
I have a Sony LCD HDTV Monitor. I have cable and I am using a VCR as the tuner. I have 480 quality images. Is there a tuner that will give me the 720p the monitor is capable of utilizing?
Thanks for your help.
hd ready needs a seperate tuner eg sky hd box. Hdtv means the tuner is built in and you need is a signal from any ariel eg wire coat hanger (depending on signal strengh).
Hd channels are few and far between and only a few are free to view (hdtv or hd ready tv and tuner required)
All lcd or plasma tvs will be digital (hd capabilities will vary) all crt tvs will be analoge and will not work without a digital tuner eg freeview box, once the digital switchover happens. Analoge vcr recorders (or any other analoge recorder) will also require a digital tuner in order to record programs.
The info is completely wrong. You NEED a tuner for a HD ready TV !!!
Dave i have a Sansui HDLCD3200 Model tv. It doesn’t say if it is HDTV ready. On the front of the set it says HDTV tuner, does that mean I do not need a converter box. I am confused.
“In a nutshell: HD-ready sets have the HDTV program receiver/decoder built-in, while HD-capable sets require the addition of an external receiver/decoder needed to receive digital broadcasts.”
I do not think this is entirely accurate. I have a Sharp LC42D64U, and it does have a Digital receiver built in, so I do get digital programming. I still Do not get any HDTV programming without an external HDTV receiver. I think HDTV receivers are different than plain Digital receivers. So every analog TV cannot be HD capable unless it supports a 1080p resolution.
I use a philips 26inch HD ready TV I got “HD” on me old DVD PLAYER i aint sure whether it is HD or not as it showed stuff at 576P what is 576P anyway?
ok.. so there may be a glut of non-HD-Ready BIG SCREENS coming next year for those who still think they have to go get another tv.
I’m ready to ditch Cable TV and run off of the internet..
Can i use a non-HD 37″ to 50″ lcd tv that can take my computer signal like a big ol’monitor, or will i need some sort of HD receptor for internet television?
This I’d be highly interested in, if possible. It would change my watching habits, definitely, but that can be a good thing.
Advice, please?
thanks
-dav
Hi Dave,
You’re wrong here on the tech. Thought I’d let you know before a bunch of people go out and buy the wrong things, and then come back here to complain. “HD-Ready” is an industry standard term that refers to resolution. See:
http://www.hdtvinfoport.com/hd-ready.html
http://www.engadgethd.com/2005/08/30/hdtv-ready-vs-hdtv/
http://www.hdready.org.uk/
“HD Ready” TVs DO indeed require a separate tuner. “HDTVs”, however, do not. “HD capable” is not an industry term, it’s a marketing one, like “HD Compatible” and doesn’t actually refer to anything specific.
Hope this helps.
Patrick, unfortunately, there’s no magic involved here, so if the signal from the broadcast system isn’t in 1080p HD, then there’s no way for it to be converted into a 1080p signal. Indeed, I’ve found it interesting to see that on my Sony I get HD channels but that most of the broadcasts are in 480p, which doesn’t seem very “HD” to me. On the other hand, there are some channels that are broadcasting in full 1080p HD and they’re gorgeous.
Dave
Re my previous post above, I am in the UK, does that make a difference to your reply?
Thanks – Patrick
Read you answer to the question – What’s the difference between “HD-capable” and “HD-ready” televisions –
Very informative and well presented.
I am told however, that the quality of TV signal we will be getting from digital TV is not as good as the 1080P discussed, if so where does that leave us?
Can you throw some light on this please.
Patrick
Maybe for computer input or something, but as far as I know, even the state-of-the-art high def units (Blu-Ray or HDDVD) have a max output resolution of 1080p, so while the TV might have these higher resolutions, I have no idea how it’s going to get a signal!
So i know a company, that makes 1440i and 1140p TVs are those real?
Hey, we have the same TV you do, and we love it.
Even without any upscaling, standard 480i DVDs look great. Of course, now that we also have a 1080p player (which also upscales standard DVDs) and some BluRay movies, standard 480i TV (even digital channels) just look so “old fashioned”.
And, if you get an “HD-ready” TV, I would highly recommend letting the initial setup scan for all channels, even if it does take 20-30 minutes. We found 45 digital channels in addition to the NTSC channels, including some 1080i HD-TV channels.