HDTV Clarification
Dear Gary: Being a frequent reader of your magazine, I can always count on a straightforward, no-holds-barred response, so here goes it. I’ve got a first generation Pioneer Pro700 HD RPTV (16:9 screen) combined with an RCA DTC100 HD Satellite Receiver. Three questions: 1. When watching many of the non-movie programming (i.e. Chris Rock Show, Sex In The City, concerts, etc.) on HBO-HD, I receive it in 4:3 mode (with gray bars on the sides). The HBO menu indicates that the broadcasts are 16:9. Movie programming is received with no problems in the full widescreen 16:9 mode. Why the discrepancy? 2. I’m confused about how non-HD programming fed by the RCA receiver in the “HD” mode to the Pioneer is treated with regard to doubling. The RCA supposedly upconverts all non-HD programming to 540p, whereas the Pioneer has its own internal doubling and upconverts to 480p. Can you please explain how such non-HD is treated and eventually seen on the monitor. 3. I’m presently using a Pioneer Elite DV-05 DVD player. Would I realize a pronounced better picture by switching to one of the new Pioneer progressive DVD players? My efforts to get layman’s responses from the various manufacturers and HBO have been unsuccessful. Your candid responses are appreciated.
Norm Green
Video Technical Editor Greg Rogers comments:
1. The HBO high-definition channel (DirecTV channel 509) mirrors the programming of the HBO East channel with both movies and original series. High-definition transfers of movies are broadcast whenever they are available, but most HBO original series are not produced in a 16:9 HDTV format. For the HD channel, those 4:3 aspect ratio programs are upconverted to 1080i. Since the HD format is 16:9, the 4:3 pictures are windowboxed inside the 16:9 HD frame (with black bars on the sides) that is transmitted. This is why the DTC-100 still reports that a 16:9 picture is being received. You can also select the HBO East channel for viewing the same programming, or any other standard-definition channel, and the DTC-100 will upconvert the pictures to 540p if you use the HD output. Since these programs are transmitted as 4:3 pictures, the DTC-100 provides three options for displaying them. First, the 4:3 picture can be displayed windowboxed in a 16:9 frame. You may choose to have either gray or black bars at the sides of the picture. Second, you can choose to enlarge the picture in both the horizontal and vertical directions to fill the width of the 16:9 frame. This cuts off the top and bottom 12.5 percent of the picture. Or third, you may enlarge the picture horizontally to fill the 16:9 frame. The latter preserves all of the picture content but geometrically distorts the picture. 2. The DTC-100 provides 540p upconversion for any standard-definition programming including satellite or over-the-air channels. The 540p format was chosen because it has the same picture scan rates as 1080i. This makes switching between a high-definition channel and a standard-definition channel upconverted by the DTC-100 seamless to the HDTV monitor. Alternatively, you could feed the interlaced 480i S-video output of the DTC-100 to your monitor. If your monitor has an internal line doubler, it will display that picture as 480p. The DTC-100 upconverter works quite well, and in many cases, you may prefer the picture quality of the DTC-100 upconverter to that of a monitor’s internal line doubler, but that decision would depend on the specific products being compared. Incidentally, the DTC-100 will not output signals from both its RGB and S-video ports at the same time, so you must manually switch both the DTC-100 output and your monitor’s input to select between the DTC-100 upconversion and your monitor’s internal line doubler. 3. If you read our reviews of progressive-scan DVD players, stand-alone line doublers, and TV monitors with internal line doublers, you will see that there is considerable variation in the picture quality of their deinterlacing (conversion of interlaced to progressive scan video) for movies or native video sources. It is likely that one of the newer state-of-the-art progressive-scan DVD players could produce visible improvements in picture quality over the internal line doublers of older monitors. But again, it depends on the specific products being compared. Our product reviews can steer you toward the best products to compare with your existing monitor.
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