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Informative Articles

BlockBuster offers DVD's by mail
We all know Blockbuster rents DVD movies and video games. However, did you know they also rent dvd's and video games by mail? Here is how it works, you sign up at Blockbuster for their service, which can be a trial if you like. You then choose...

Cheap Satellite TV -- Who Has The Best Deals?
Just a few years ago there was no such thing as a cheap satellite TV system. A decent system cost anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 for a satellite TV dish and the array of electronic boxes that came with it. Not only that, it cost hundreds of dollars...

Cincinnati Karaoke
Cincinnati, like most cities these days, has a multitude of Karaoke bars to choose from on any given night. If you are ever out on a Friday night, you might want to try the Pirates Den on Anderson Ferry Rd. in Western Hills, where Cincinnati...

Curb The TV Habit In 3 Easy Steps
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Press Release

Sony and MBNA Launch the SonyCard, the Official Sony Credit Card in the Republic Of Ireland

Sony and MBNA Ireland today announces the launch of the SonyCard Credit Card ( www.SonyCard.ie ) in the Republic of Ireland. DUBLIN, IRELAND July 15, 2004 -- Leading Consumer Electronics and...

 
The Difference between EDTV and HDTV

Confused by EDTV vs HDTV? We don't blame you. The number of acronyms floating about with regard to digital TV is frightening. What's even more worrying is that very often they are used by people who have little or no knowledge about what they mean. If the person selling you doesn't know the difference between EDTV vs HDTV, how are customers supposed to decide which TV or projector to go for?

In our guide below, we've tried to distill the technical info into as few words as possible and make it as straightforward to understand as we can.

To properly explain EDTV vs HDTV, we need to step back a bit. Traditional TV has 525 lines of video which are interlaced. Interlacing just means that every frame of video is split into two fields and each field is shown alternately. Although there are 525 lines in the signal, only 480 lines contain video, so it is sometimes referred to as 480i (480 lines interlaced). This is known as Standard Definition TV, or SDTV. While this has worked well enough for fifty years, as TV sets have got bigger and projectors more popular, the quality deficiencies have become increasingly apparent.

The ultimate answer to improving the quality of the image displayed on your TV is HDTV, however, as a step on the road to HDTV, the industry came up with Enhanced Definition TV, or EDTV. This system contains the same 480 lines as SDTV, but


BP Spill Report Spreads Blame, What About Liability?
BP says its report released Wednesday was not designed to assign blame to any one company or action. But it does say other companies including BP were at fault in the accident. Will this change the company's legal or financial liability?

Thad Allen On Lessons Learned From BP's Spill
Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen is the National Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He tells Steve Inskeep that he doesn't think the U.S. was prepared for a deepwater event in the Gulf.


they are progressive scan. Hence EDTV is also known as 480p. Progressive scanning just means that instead of splitting the signal into two fields and showing half the lines at a time, all 480 lines of video are shown at once. This results in a noticeable improvement in the quality of video.

The bad news in relation to EDTV vs HDTV is that you need a completely new TV or projector to display both EDTV and HDTV. Most DVD players on the market today are progressive scan, meaning they output EDTV signals, however, in order to view the progressive scan picture in all its glory, you need a TV or projector capable of displaying it and that, unfortunately, means getting a new TV.

In terms of content, there is very limited TV content available in HDTV format, and there is still wrangling about the standard for HD DVDs. However, every DVD disc on the market can be displayed in EDTV right now.

Bottom line? Pretty much every HDTV projector or TV on the market today will display EDTV as well. So while there may not seem like a great deal of point in getting a new display for the limited HDTV content that is available today, it is worth it to watch your DVD collection in EDTV, the difference between SDTV and EDTV really is that big.

About the Author

Kenny Hemphill is the editor and publisher of The HDTV Tuner