FAQ
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- So what’s the big deal?
- High-definition television is more than a fad in home entertainment. It’s a breakthrough some people liken to television’s transformation from black-and-white to color. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a look. The best place to sneak a peek: Your local electronics retailer.
- You’ll see an assortment of television screens and sizes displaying what makes “high-def” (or HD) so breathtaking. About the closest thing most of us have experienced before, at least in terms of picture detail and crystal-clear sound, is a movie at a theater. HD television even uses a similar wide-screen approach that provides an expansive, theater-like view of television. And with Dolby 5.1 surround-sound, the sound experience associated with HD can be breathtaking.
- So what’s on?
- Just about everything from your favorite cable premium network to primetime on broadcast. There’s a wealth of programming available today in HD. NFL football games, popular sitcoms and dramas, nature and documentary shows, plus more live sports and more everything.
- What does it cost?
- If you’re a cable customer, your main expense is the HDTV set itself. After that, you can get dozens of channels in HD for little or no extra charge from your cable company. And special premium HD programming, and HD On Demand, also may be available.
- How does it work?
- The big change from standard television to HD is the way the pictures are drawn on the screen. With HD, there’s more detail packed into the picture thanks to a greater number of lines of resolution. You can’t see each individual line, of course, but taken as a whole the effect is striking. You’ve never seen a television set produce these kinds of pictures before.
- Speaking of televisions, will HD work on mine?
- Not unless you've recently purchased a new TV specifically for HD. To enjoy HD television, you need a new type of TV set capable of rendering the tremendous detail that’s part of every HD TV show. The majority of the TV sets used in the U.S. don’t display HD signals. The good news is that prices for HD sets have declined dramatically. Your local retailer now has a wide range of HDTV sets ready and waiting to be oohed-and-aahed over. And have no fear: your new HD set can display both HD television programs and normal TV shows. So you can watch anything you want.
- Savvy consumer tip 1: You can buy an HD set with its own built-in, internal tuner/decoder. Or you can buy an HD-capable TV set without its own decoder. The HD-capable set without its own decoder is probably less expensive, and your cable company will provide the decoder, so you don’t have to pay extra.
- So I go out and buy an HD TV set. What next?
- You go home, pace about madly, and wait for the delivery guy to show up. When the TV does arrive, you’ll want to have something to watch, of course. Which means you need do one of three things:
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- Buy a special rooftop antenna that’s able to see over-the-air broadcasts of HD television.
- Buy a special satellite TV receiver that can handle HD television.
- Ask your cable company to install a special box to provide HD channels and TV shows. And they’ll show up on the day your TV arrives, if you call ahead.
- What’s the advantage of cable?
- Cable companies not only deliver lots of channels and shows in HD, including some of your favorite over-the-air stations, but they’ll provide you the box used to receive and decode HD shows and channels. There’s no need to go out and spend hundreds of dollars to buy your own. (Hey, you paid enough for the TV set, right?)
- I already receive Digital Cable. Is this the same as HDTV?
- It’s not. In fact, this may be the most frequently asked of all frequently asked questions. It’s common to confuse Digital Cable or digital television with high-definition television. They’re not the same thing. Digital Cable delivers a wealth of television and music channels using crystal-clear digital signal technology. But unless you have an HDTV set, and receive special HDTV programs from your cable company, you won’t see anything in HD.
- But do I need Digital Cable to get HDTV?
- Yes you do. HD television is a new form of digital television, and it operates from a digital foundation. That’s why you need Digital Cable, digital satellite service, or a new digital rooftop antenna to receive it. Digital Cable is like a restaurant menu, and HDTV is one of its choices.
- Whether it’s HDTV or not, I keep hearing someday we’ll all need “digital TVs” just to get regular television. Is that true?
- Not if you’re a cable customer. Here’s the story. The U.S. government has mandated that the entire TV broadcasting system be transitioned to a digital environment by February, 2009. By then, you will need a way to receive digital signals and display them on your TV sets. You can certainly go out and buy a new set of digital-ready TVs for your home, if you want. But if you’re a cable customer, you won’t have to. With cable, even your “old” TV sets will continue to work as long as you have them connected to your cable service. That’s because your cable company does all the work required to convert the new digital signals for you, using special receivers that are placed in your home.
- What is the digital TV transition?
- The switch from analog TV (the traditional TV system using magnetic waves to transmit and display TV pictures and sound) to digital television (the new TV system using information transmitted as "data bits" -- like a computer -- to display movie-quality pictures and sound), is referred to at the digital TV (DTV) transition. In 1996, the U.S. Congress authorized the distribution of an additional broadcast channel to each TV broadcaster so that they could introduce DTV service while simultaneously continuing their analog TV broadcasts. In addition to improved picture and sound quality, an important benefit of DTV is that it will free up parts of the broadcast spectrum for public safety as well as other valuable uses. This is possible because the modern technology of DTV is more efficient than analog TV technology. DTV allows the same number of stations to broadcast using fewer total channels (less of the broadcast spectrum) which will free up scarce and valuable spectrum for public safety and new wireless services. For more information, go to: www.dtvtransition.org.