Learning From UPC : RFID News

Learning From UPC : RFID News: "can we learn from barcodes?"

What to know about big-screen TVs - Jan. 17, 2005

What to know about big-screen TVs - Jan. 17, 2005

To help sort through the maze of new toys and tools, a few definitions are in order.:


HDTV, or high-definition television, is digital television in a wide-screen display (a 16-by-9 ratio) with a resolution of at least 720 progressively-scanned lines or 1,080 interlaced lines. (Progressive scanning puts all the lines of a picture on the TV one after the other, while interlaced scanning does all the odd lines first and then goes back for the evens).


EDTV/SDTV. Lower down the digital picture quality scale is enhanced-definition television (EDTV) and lower still is standard-definition television (SDTV).


An HDTV monitor is a television that can display HD with the addition of a separate device to tune the digital signals.


An integrated HDTV has the tuner built in to the set.


A High-Definition Multimedia Interface, most often called HDMI, connects an HD tuner to an HDTV monitor. It is a successor to the older Digital Visual Interface, or DVI, and cables exist to adapt DVI to HDMI.

Then of course there are the different types of HDTVs.


Cathode ray tubes, or CRTs, are the most bulky and the least expensive HDTVs. Technologically similar to regular old TV sets, they can weigh close to 150 pounds with a large footprint.


Plasma televisions, sometimes referred to as PDPs, are bright, have large viewing angles, scale easily to sizes 60 inches and above, and are thin enough to hang on walls.


LCDs, or liquid crystal displays, are bright with high resolutions, though they have traditionally been smaller than plasma screens and suffered from some blurring during high-speed motion like sporting events.


DLP, or digital light projection, sets use very small mirrors to reflect light and are relatively thin and low-weight in the vein of plasma sets. They are also renowned for their brightness though are said to suffer some in dark rooms.