We'll bring you all the facts about the latest digital TVs and video cameras!
Guests
Bruce Jacobs
Bruce Jacobs
Bruce Jacobs serves as chief technologist, overseeing television engineering and information technology at Twin Cities Public Television (TPT). Prior to joining TPT in 1998, he served as director of engineering of Prairie Public Broadcasting in Fargo, North Dakota. Bruce holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from North Dakota State University and earned the Senior Television Certification from the Society of Broadcast Engineers.
Justin Proulx
Justin Proulx
Justin Proulx is a strategic technologist in the Consumer Technology Strategy and Services group at Best Buy where he has served in a variety of roles over the last six years. Justin is responsible for providing technical direction and leadership for Best Buy test stores and multiple merchant communities.
For Your Files
Bruce Jacobs, KTCA's chief engineer, described the differences in today's TVs: "Plasma tends to be not as deep but more expensive. The DLPs [digital light projectors] are nice and shallow; they're maybe only a foot deep and they're less expensive. And CRTs [cathode ray tubes] are [the] least expensive but you can't get them very big. So there's trade-offs and the consumer really needs to make [his or her] own choice.
Jacobs also said HD [high definition] TV has a better picture than normal CRTs because it has almost twice as many horizontal display lines: "It's like getting better glasses. And the more resolution you have the more of those dots [you have]: instead of 480 [you get] 700; instead of 700 horizontally, [you get] 800. That's like getting better glasses, as long as the programming is there with the higher resolution as well, because otherwise the better glasses [don't] do any good."
Justin Proulx, a technologist from Best Buy, talked about the various formats for video cameras: "There's mini-DV [digital video], which is the most pervasive in the market today. It's the best quality from a digital standpoint. There's digital 8 which is mostly a Sony format that allows you to actually take your old hi-8 tapes and use them in your new digital camera."
Digital Zoom
A way of making an image larger using a digital camera by increasing the size of the pixels. This is done within the camera and usually lowers the quality of the image. Standard analog cameras use optical zooming, which is done with the lens.
EDTV
Enhanced Definition Television. A TV that displays more than 480 visible lines vertically but less than 700.
HDTV
The abbreviation for High Definition Television. There is no officially recognized definition for HDTV, but it is generally agreed upon that HDTV has twice the resolution (vertically and horizontally) than standard definition.
Plasma
One of the most popular and first of the new digital display technologies. Plasma TVs have hundreds of thousands of little, tiny electron guns shining red and blue and green light to the front of the screen. They're only three inches deep, but pretty expensive.
SDTV
Standard Definition Television. An old-style TV that displays 480 visible lines vertically.