Go Back  DVD Talk Forum > DVD Discussions > DVD & Home Theater Gear
Reload this Page >

Difference between Digital TV and HDTV?

Community
Search
DVD & Home Theater Gear Discuss DVD and Home Theater Equipment.

Difference between Digital TV and HDTV?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 06-21-01, 06:34 PM
  #1  
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Sol Cal
Posts: 646
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Are they considered equal? Or is digital TV a picture quality that the TV can achieve and HDTV the signal being sent??

Thanks for all input.

-Jeff
Old 06-21-01, 06:51 PM
  #2  
DVD Talk Special Edition
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,155
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Digital TV is nothing more a Digital compression of the signal (data). HDTV is natively digital but the different HDTV levels such as 480P,480i...etc reference how the signal is incoded/decoded and the lines of resolution that will be available to be displayed. (i) is for interlaced which is like 30FPS and (p) is for progressive and is 24FPS of untainted signal.

Interlaced signal's take 2 passes ( odd then even lines ) to display an image and Progressive diplay's both odd & even lines in one pass resulting in a better picture.

To some it up Digital TV does not mean better picture.

This is of course what i've read so I could be wrong.

Cubanx
Old 06-21-01, 07:41 PM
  #3  
DVD Talk Hero
 
RandyC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: shine on you crazy diamond
Posts: 26,043
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
Just to add some more confusion...

HDTV is a standard that happens to require that the set be Digital (in the USA).

You can have a Digital TV that is not HDTV. But all USA HDTVs are digital (and handle the various specs). In Japan, HDTV is analog.

In very general terms, a digital set will have a better picture if the source material allows it. A fully digital set will be able to accept digital broadcasting.
Old 06-21-01, 11:37 PM
  #4  
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: 3rd Planet from the Sun
Posts: 3,701
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Digital television signals are "perfect", in the fact that you receive them with no degregation. There is no such thing as ghosting, or static in a digital picture. You either get it, or you don't. Watching a digital signal is better than cable quality.
HDTV is a much higher resolution picture than you are used to seeing on a regular TV. Many people equate it with looking through a window. It just so happens that HD uses a digital signal.
So for example, all the commercial stations in the Los Angeles area are currently broadcasting digitally, but very little of that programming is actually high definition.

I hope that was clear enough to be helpful.
Old 06-22-01, 01:52 AM
  #5  
DVD Talk Special Edition
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 1,452
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I would offer the following corrections to comments made:

Interlaced/Progessive has nothing to do with frame rates (fps). And interlaced refers to the two fields that make up a frame (29.97 fps w/NTSC). The two fields are not displayed simultaneously when interlaced, and are when progessive.

Digital TV, for example digital cable, is not necessarily superior to an analogue broadcast. With digital cable as supplied by Adelphia in Los Angeles it is in fact lower quality (look closely at water, reflections, clouds, smoke, etc.). It is also subject to interference, which it manifests as pixilating.

Digital TV/video need not be compressed. Only encoded. Your DVDs are mastered from digital video tape, specifically D5 which is uncompressed.

HDTV isn't quite like looking through a window. I suppose you can make that analogy when comparing it to broadcast NTSC video, but it pales in comparison to film. You would need to be viewing film acquired images (like upcoming HD DVDs of theatrical films) rather than HD acquired images (like HD video). In fact, 16mm film is superior in every way (resolution, colorimetry, etc.). I am not bashing HD btw, I shoot it, but consider this - the Panavision 24P HD camera, the best currently available, has about 2.2 million pixel resolution while an average speed Eastman motion picture 35mm negative has about 12 million pixel resolution.


Anyway, as has been conveyed, there are many incarnations of digital video but HDTV is the top of the video food chain.

[Edited by reverb on 06-22-01 at 12:12 AM]

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.