5 Myths vs. Reality in the LCD and Plasma HDTV Debate

You've heard the hype. You've heard the sale pitches. Now learn what is myth and what is reality when it comes to the plasma vs LCD HDTV debate.

Reality: Plasma will lose it's brightness over time. Because of the phosphor in the plasma over time the screen brightness will diminish; LCD technology does not have this problem.
Myth: However, the time in which this happens is often over-stated. You will most likely be long gone before you notice it. Refer to the graph below from Fujitsu:



Reality: Plasma shows better contrast ratios/darker black levels than LCD. This is due to the LCD technology and how it displays pixels.
Myth: While Plasma may boast much higher contrast ratios than LCD, these tests are typically done in pitch-black rooms and when their is outside light pollution this high contrast ratio is much lower. Also, it is believed that most human eyes can only discern a much smaller contrast ratio than either Plasma or LCD manufacturers state.

Reality:Plasma, because of the phosphor, will display burn-in. You can see this often at airports that leave up flight times for hours at a time. This is not an issue for LCD technology.
Myth: Although Plasma does show burn-in, most new Plasma sets have built-in software to counteract the burn-in and manufactuers recommend not to display 4:3 images on a 16:9 display to further reduce the problem.

Reality: Plasma can show better color range than LCD. This is due to the way that Plasma emits pixels versus LCD use of sub-pixels.
Myth: LCD technology has better color accuracy in gray scaling and some color accuracy is actually better than Plasma because of this.

Reality: LCD image response times are more than Plasma which can cause a picture lag. This is due to the LCD pixels needing time to brighten and darken again.
Myth: Now that LCD displays have sub 8ms response times they are comparable to Plasma displays.

Plasma's claim of higher contrast ratios and darker black levels are lost to real world use. While Plasma does have better color accuracy and faster response time, LCD has now caught up if not passed Plasma in these categories. Plasma does still suffer from burn-in but with newer displays it is easily avoided. Not taking into price and screen size, Plasma still has a slight advantage over LCD.

Winner: Plasma

Take the poll below - what HDTV display do you think is better?

PVR Showdown: HTPC vs Tivo

PVR. DVR. Digital Recorder. Tivo. Call it what you want, but we are now in the age of place shifting our content with TV shows being at the forefront. But if you want to jump onto the bandwagon, then you have to decide: should I use a home theater PC (HTPC) or a Tivo? PVR Wire recently asked this question but I'm going to try to shed some more light onto the matter.

I priced out a standard Dell from their website and compared it to a Tivo HD Series 3 PVR from Best Buy. Here's how the specs compare:


This is just a sample HTPC to compare to the Tivo Series 3 unit. The Tivo does offer HDMI output and in order to get that from the HTPC you would have to upgrade the video card.

Cost

As can be seen, there is not a big cost difference between the HTPC and the Tivo. The base cost of the Dell HTPC was about 600 dollars but I added another 100 for a HD Tuner. You can get a Series 2 Tivo for a lot less (only about 250 dollars) but it can only record standard definition. If you went that route, you could configure a HTPC for a lot less than 600 dollars so I think the cost is still fairly close between the two. Also remember that Tivo requires a monthly subscription fee.

Winner: Tie

Ease of Use

In some sense this isn't a fair comparison because the embedded Tivo software just has to handle the recording TV aspect where the HTPC has a full operating system as well as the PVR software which is Windows Media Center Edition 2005 in this case. However, the Tivo software is definitely easier to use and a much higher acceptance factor among non-technical people.

Winner: Tivo

Setup/Maintenance

Again, the Tivo wins in this category as you simply have to plug and play while the HTPC is a full computer you have to setup. I will say that configuring Windows Media Center is very easy to setup and configure even for non-technical people, especially if you buy a system with the TV tuner cards installed.

Winner: Tivo

Upgrade Ability

While some people with Tivo will disagree with me since in the past you have been able to put in a bigger hard drive yourself (it involves some linux hacking) and with the Series 3 you can add an external eSATA hard drive, the HTPC wins this category. You can always add more TV tuners to your HTPC while the Tivo is limited to two. You can also upgrade the other components in the HTPC such as the video card and hard drive that will provide advantages over the standard Tivo.

Winner: HTPC

Functionality

Both the Tivo and the HTPC have a lot of extra media functionality such as viewing photos, playing mp3s from other devices and even streaming video from other sources. (The Tivo has its Home Media software) But the HTPC has two major advantages: the ability to have a DVD drive (or a HD DVD/Blu Ray drive in the future) to view DVDs and also the ability to better incorporate internet video content as well. Also remember that the HTPC is a full blown PC that can be used for other tasks as well. We can probably all agree that a dedicated HTPC wins in this category.

Winner: HTPC

Conclusion

The Tivo has come a long way and has lots of features available like the ability to upgrade the storage and operate as a central media server. This combined with its easy to use software makes it a tough contender. However, the overall functionality per dollar and upgrade potential you get out of a HTPC is still unmatched and overshadows the Tivo.

Winner: HTPC

Don't agree with the winner? Comment below.

Can the Xbox 360 IPTV Take on Cable?

Microsoft recently announced IPTV capability in the Xbox 360 with support from ATT using their new FIOS services. You can check out a video of it in action at Xbox's CES coverage. It seems to be very responsive and will include not only PVR functionality but the ability to download and view rental movies from the service provider via a video on demand service.

The bigger picture is will the Xbox 360 replace set top boxes? There was recent news where Comcast lost a court appeal against the FCC about opening the standards used for set top boxes so there will be more competition. This could be Microsofts big push into the living room and with a big company like ATT behind them they could really take on the cable companies. Over at Nyquist Capital Andrew has the same thoughts :

And whether you believe it or not, MSFT is shaping up to be the leading vendor of IPTV middleware. It isn’t a big leap to say an Xbox-Lite (no videogames, MOCA connectivity) would make the perfect set top box.

I think there is a lot more to the IPTV announcement than simply giving Xbox users the ability to watch TV. As some people have pointed out, there is not a huge IPTV user base right now so I don't think that's what so big about the announcement; it's about building the software and hardware to replace the set top box or be the 'box' in the living room whether it be for video games, TV, movies, music, or anything else.

Linux Love : SageTV Media Center Software for Linux

SageTV has recently announced the availability of its SageTV Media Center software for the Linux operating system. SageTV is a nice media center program that allows you to record and watch TV shows like a Tivo but also organizes and plays your music, photos, and other mulitmedia files. The really great thing about SageTV is that they are now selling wireless extenders so you can hook up multiple TVs in multiple rooms. Of course, there is MythTV for Linux which is a great program (and free) but I still find it difficult to install. With SageTV you install it right off of a CD  – no problems.

So if you want a drop dead simple way of setting up your digital living room running on Linux then SageTV is the way to go.

(via ehomeupgrade)

MythTv vs MCE 2005 Review

Josh Highland (via digg) put up a good point-by-point review of MythTV vs Media Center 2005. Here’s what he doesn’t like about MythTV:

• couldn't get my 802.11g nic card to work in Linux
• I had a hard time playing video files over the network from my windows 2000 computer up stairs
• Couldn't get the build in media player to play work that well (mplayer)
• NES emulation wasn't that great
• Hard to get the Hauppauge 350 remote to work
• I had to hard time redirecting the output of the media player to the Hauppauge 350 audio out
• Difficult redirecting the output of the computer to always go to the TV

He then goes on point-by-point comparing MythTV to Media Center 2005. I don’t have a MythTV setup to compare to my Media Center setup, but based upon what I have seen and read here is my ‘virtual’ point-by-point comparison:

Setup. Media Center is definitely easier to setup and configure. I did install a version of MythTV on an older computer a while ago and it went very smooth until I tried to get the TV signal setup and a few other things. Winner MCE

Live TV. For me, changing channels for live TV on Media Center has a noticeable lag. This could be dependent on my system setup, but I really haven’t seen anyone say this is a problem with MythTV. MythTV supports picture-in-picture and Media Center currently does not. Winner MythTV

Recorded TV. It’s really easy to record and view recordings in Media Center. But MythTV has a better interface to viewing your recorded TV by showing thumbnails. And MythTV has built-in editing functions to cut out commercials so you don’t need an external program. Plus the recorded TV is not in a proprietary format. Winner MythTV

Music and DVD. Media Center has a nice interface for playing your music collection. I really like to be able to view my music by album art covers. And the new My DVD feature is a great way to view your DVD collection. I think MythTV has the same functionality so I will call it a tie. TIE

Content. Well, Media Center definitely wins this hands down with it’s Online Spotlight content and future ability to support cablecard. Winner MCE

Well, it looks like it’s a tie between MythTV and Media Center 2005. I think both programs will do the job well and one may offer a few features over the other in the end that make it a better program based upon your own needs. Obviously the setup of MythTV is the major issue, but besides that, what program do you think is the winner?

Another Home Theater PC Program to Try

Xlobby is a free home theater PC program available for windows. I’ve seen quite a few people mention it and it looks like it has all of the standard features you would want out of a Media Center alternative like the ability to view and play your music and DVD’s. The user interface is similar to Media Center but the implementation is quite different and has some nice features that Media Center doesn’t. It has an open architecture so you can write your own plugins which is always nice. What really interested me about this program is that over on the AVS forum someone mentioned that there was a plugin available to control certain DVD changers via the serial port.

Does anyone have any feedback on Xlobby – good or bad?

Best Motherboard for Multiple Screen Home Theater PC Setup

I’ve mentioned the motherboards with onboard video before as a great option for a home theater PC setup and I think the ASUS A8N-VM CSM motherboard with onboard Nvidia GeForce 6150 video is the way to go. With the onboard Nvidia 6150 chipset you can watch 1080p high definition video. It has dual video output with a DVI and VGA; so you could connect up your high def display and a monitor at the same time. I think this is the best feature of this motherboard. It does only support Socket 939 AMD cpu’s and doesn’t have a lot of extra PCI slots but overall it’s a pretty nice motherboard. Here’s my quick list of ‘nice to have features’:

• Onboard 128mb video with Nvidia GeForce chipset
• DVI output capable of up to 1080p output
• Additional VGA output for multiple screen hookup
• PCI Express slot for future graphic card upgrades
• Two PCI slots for tuners/additional cards
• Up to 4 SATA II devices with built in Raid 0/1 support
• HD Audio
• USB and Firewire
• MicroATX form factor

Some people might have issues with the onboard video but if you are not a serious gamer then I think an onboard video option like the ASUS motherboard makes for a perfect home theater PC. For my setup, I could envision using the DVI connection to drive high def content to my Dell 21’ widescreen LCD monitor and then the VGA connection to drive my 800x600 projector; I get the best of both worlds with one setup.

What do you think – is onboard video the way to go?

Front End Tablet Remote Control for Your Home Theater

Someone over on the AVS forum posted some information on their home theater setup using a Fujitsu Stylistic tablet PC and it is pretty slick. It’s not a new tablet PC but an older style that uses a stylus pen (like a PDA) but it has a 10 inch screen, 6gb hard drive and a PCMCIA slot for wi-fi card. This would be the ultimate front end control for your Media Center PC or even MythTV setup. Although I’m not sure if you could get Media Center to properly install on this or not but it would would perfect. Here are some more specs:

 400MHz Intel® Pentium® III

• 10.4" SVGA TFT
• Outdoor viewable
• 64MB RAM
• 6GB shock-mounted
• Built-in 56K¹ V.90 modem
• 10/100 Ethernet

 

Great HDTV Antenna Guide

HDBeat has a great guide to setting up a HDTV antenna so you can record HDTV over that air (OTA as it is often called). It should be a pretty simple thing; buy a HDTV antenna, stick it on your roof, and watch local HDTV programming. But getting good reception, choosing the right antenna, and positioning the antenna can have a big affect on the quality of the HDTV stream.

We have all read the horror stories about how difficult it can be to receive a good OTA (Over the Air) signal, especially with DTV. There are a few benefits to OTA today that we didn't have before the US started the DTV transition. Some of the best picture quality possible can be obtained with an antenna, at least until High Definition DVDs are released. It's FREE, it's recordable on some computers like Windows Media Center Edition and it works sometimes when cable and Satellite doesn't.

Surround Sound Primer

Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelty has an updated article on Surround Sound Processors and Receivers that covers all of the basics of surround sound system. They cover the history of surround sound and the many ,many different formats available today such as Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, and so forth.

Dolby Pro Logic, like Dolby Stereo in the movie theater, converts two tracks of sound into four channels.

Dolby Digital (also known as the AC-3 Codec) was first made available to consumers on special Laserdiscs.  It came into the mainstream when it was chosen as the multi-channel codec for the DVD Video format.  It is an extremely flexible codec which can carry from 1 to 6 completely separate and independent channels of digital sound.  The full six-channel configuration consists of the front left, center, front right, rear left and right, and the LFE channel (or Low Frequency Effects channel). The LFE channel has a restricted frequency range, while all the other channels are full range (8 Hz - 20 kHz), so the system is often called "5.1".

Digital Theater Systems, or DTS, is another 5.1 digital surround sound format, first developed for movie theaters and then later appearing in homes on Laserdiscs.  It is now technically an optional format for DVD.  The system utilizes a completely different lossy compression codec from AC-3, and only manages a 5:1 compression. …  There are some who feel that the DTS codec results in better sound because it uses less compression, but because the two codecs are different, the bitrates cannot be compared at face value (i.e.,  it could simply be that DTS is less efficient than AC-3 as opposed to actually sounding better).  We at Secrets have never been able to definitively show that DTS sounds any better than Dolby Digital.

Dolby Pro Logic II is a much improved decoding system for Dolby Stereo encoded material and also caters to the decoding of non-encoded material such as regular two channel music.  It differs from it predecessor by achieving a more intelligent extraction of the channels, so much so that instead of a single surround signal, Dolby Pro Logic II yields stereo left and right surrounds.

Dolby Digital Surround EX first appeared in movie theaters with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  This system starts from a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack but then applies a form of Pro Logic decoding to the two rear channels only, and derives a third surround channel, positioned between the other two.  So from a 5.1 soundtrack, Dolby Digital Surround EX derives a 6.1 soundtrack.

DTS also delivered some 6.1 systems.  The first, DTS ES, is in all practicality the same process as Dolby Digital EX in that the playback system applies a matrix decoder to the two surround channels to derive a third between them.  DTS ES Discrete on the other hand actually added a sixth discrete main channel.

This is really a great read if you are building a home theater system. Dolby Digital is probably the most known surround sound format introducing the 5.1 speaker system (front left, front right, center, rear left, rear right).

Here’s an excellent description of 5.1 surround sound:

True surround sound formats rely on dedicated speakers that literally and physically surround the audience.  There is one center speaker which carries most of the dialog (since the actors usually speak while making their on-screen appearance), and part of the soundtrack.  There are left and right front speakers that carry most of the soundtrack (music and sound effects), and may carry parts of the dialog (when the director wants to intentionally off-set the source of the dialog to either side, from its default dead-center screen location).  There is a pair of surround sound speakers that is placed to the side (and slightly above) of the audience to provide the surround sound and ambient effects.  Finally, a subwoofer can be used to reproduce the low and very low frequency effects (LFE) that come with certain movies (e.g., the foot-stomping bass effects in "Jurassic Park" and "Godzilla").

So what surround sound format is the best for a home theater PC, considering most of your video is coming from a DVD? Does anyone recommend anything other than Dolby Digital 5.1?

HDMI Switcher On the Cheap

HD Beat is reporting on a cheap (less than 100 bucks) 2–port HDMI switcher with remote. This is a great low cost solution to have multiple devices (DVD player, home theater PC, set-top box, etc.) hooked up to your new plasma TV.

This switchbox is cheap, has support all the way up to 1080p, and most importantly is HDCP compliant. The remote is...well...cheesy, but let me make some generalizations.

Video Codecs Easily Explained

Cnet has a very easy to read article explaining what video codecs are, how they are used, and what and why there are so many competing codecs. Here’s what you need to know:

What is a codec?

Video codecs (a contraction of "coder-decoders") are important because they determine what quality of video can be squeezed into a given amount of digital storage space, or can be sent over a DSL or cable television line. The codec is an essential part of a DVD. … A technology for squeezing audio or video into smaller packages for easier storage or transmission.

Basically video takes up a lot of ‘space’ so we compress it and shrink it down and then we need to decompress the video before it hits your screen so you see the video in full screen and full quality. That’s what the codec does, handling this compression/decompression.

Here’s the three major codecs you will hear about:

MPEG-2 A set of multimedia technologies finalized by the MPEG group in 1994. Typically used as shorthand for the video codec, finalized in 1994, that is used today on DVDs, cable networks and in many other places.

MPEG-4 AVC A later video standard finalized by the MPEG group. Also known as H.264 or Advanced Video Coding.

VC-1 The version of Microsoft's Windows Media 9 video codec submitted to industry standards bodies for use on DVDs and elsewhere. Was temporarily known as VC-9.

So Apple supports the MPEG-4 or H.264 and Microsoft supports the VC-1 codec and Sony still wants to use the MPEG-2 codec for future Blu-Ray high-def DVD’s. The newer video codes are supposed to be faster and offer more compression (less disk space) but some say the MPEG-2 can still offer the same quality but time will tell when high-def DVD finally hits the streets.

Is Onboard Video Good Enough for Your Home Theater PC?

I’ve started to see more and more people use the onboard video of their motherboards for their home theater PC’s. A good example is Nvidia’s GeForce 6150/NForce 430 chipsets that support high definition video. I believe the 6150 utilizes the PCI-Express bus architecture which is the latest and greatest interface for graphics. (Of course ATI has it’s own integrated onboard graphics chips that are comparable to Nvidia’s)

Sudhian has a nice review of some motherboards that have the 6150/430 and while it doesn’t perform great in 3D games it does seem to perform well for video playback (Anandtech came to the same conclusions for the 3D gaming as well):

I think most people building a home theater PC are going to fall more into the causal gamer category or will be willing to sacrifice some game play for a cheaper system and maybe better system for video playback. You can get a motherboard with the 6150 for around 80 bucks where a stand alone dedicated PCI Express (or even AGP) video card will run you at least 50 bucks. Using an intergrated motherboard like this will definitley save you some money in the end.

So what do you think of onboard video – is it good enough for a home theater PC or do you need a dedicated video card?

Build a MythTV Frontend to Tivo

If you’ve been looking for a way to share your Tivo around the house then you might want to follow this project to build a MythTV Frontend.

The primary goal of this project is to have a device that I can connect to my TV in my bedroom to view content stored and recorded elsewhere in our house. The main goals are to be able to:

• Watch Programmes Recorded By My TiVo
• Watch MPEG Files Stored On My File Server
• Listen To Music Stored On My File Server
• View Images Stored On My File Server
• Watch DVDs

I'm going to do this by building a Linux based system running on an ASUS Pundit device and using MythTV Frontend software to achieve the above.

Note that this is a bit different from most MythTV Frontends in one important respect: I won't be using any MythTV Backend to record programmes, all my recordings are beind done by my TiVo device and the MythTV Frontend is being used to view those.

Basically you build yourself a nice little home theater PC and load MythTV on it , pull your recorded TV shows from your Tivo using the Myth2Tivo plugin and everything else like photos and movies off a file server.

Pretty slick if you can get through installing and setting MythTV up properly. Anyone got a fool proof method of installing MythTV on a new linux machine?

Home Theater PC Case Reviews

Anandtech has a HTPC case roundup comparing four cases suited for your future media center PC: 3R Mstation HT-100, Antec Overture II, Lian Li PC-800B, and the Thermaltake Tenor. The final results weren’t that clear, but they seem to like the Overture:

In our own opinion, the Tenor makes the boldest statement aesthetically and would probably fit in nicely with a more modern d�cor. At the other end of the spectrum is the more discrete Mstation, but with the problems with both of these case's optical drive systems, it's a bit of a gamble if they're the right case for you. Looking at the heat and noise charts alone, the Overture II appears to be a solid winner, and it's true that if noise and temperatures are the most important aspects, that would be a smart choice.

All of the cases go for about 100 bucks – so what’s the best case to get for a custom Media Center PC?

Top 5 Things NOT To Look for in A New HDTV

Since everyone is so fond of doing a ‘top 5’ or ‘top 10’ list I thought I would do my own list: The Top 5 Things NOT To Look For In A New HDTV.

1. Forget about all other connections besides HDMI. HDMI is going to be the ‘defacto’ standard for high-definition programming in the future so you mine as well get use to it. HDMI uses a copy protection scheme called HDCP which means that eventually both your source (like a DVD player) and your viewing device (like your new plasma HDTV) need to have HDMI to work properly.

2. You don’t need a comb filter. Since you are using HDMI as your connection, and it’s all digital, you don’t need a comb filter in your new HDTV. A comb filter does exactly what you think it does – it filters out all sorts of distortions/colors etc. to make the picture look better. But it only works for composite video like standard TV but you’re not really going to watch standard TV on a high-def TV are you?

3. It doesn’t matter if has progressive scan or not. You can read my previous post about progressive vs interlaced video but basically most video sources (TV and DVD) are interlaced sources and you use ‘progressive scan’ to get a smoother and more stable image. A lot of new TV’s do their own progressive scanning but so far most progressive scan DVD players are much better. Plus, for some TV’s based upon your video connection, will actually take your analog signal, convert it to digital for deinterlacing, and then covert back to analog – so you may be doing extra conversions that will drop some quality.

4. Only look at the native resolution. The native resolution of a fixed display panel (ie plasma, lcd, rear-projection) HDTV is the resolution that you will always see on the TV no matter if it’s standard TV, from a DVD, or high-def programming. The HDTV will convert, scale, slice and dice the source video to fit it’s native resolution. For example, if you buy a new plasma TV with a native resolution of 1024x768 and give it a HD signal (say your favorite HBO show) in 720p (which has a resolution of 1280x720) then you will lose some picture quality on your new plasma even thought it upconverts the image. It’s tough to say what resolution to go with because some HD programming is in 720p and some is in 1080i – and 1080p is on it’s way. Check out this CNET article for more on HDTV resolutions.

5. Don’t buy a HDTV based upon just one thing. Just like anything in life, buying a HDTV shouldn’t be based upon one variable like screen size or resolution. Make sure you can connect your HDTV to your existing home theater and more importantly that you like the way that it looks because in the end that’s what’s going to matter the most.

Take Another Try at Building a Linux HTPC

Extremetech has a recent article out about building a Linux HTPC using MythTV – I think they have tried this before. The cool thing is that they are offering a download of a custom linux distro with MythTV – hopefully it is more feature friendly than KnoppMyth. (It looks like it’s their custom version of KnoppMyth?) That’s one thing that Media Center has going for it – it’s an operating system plus a media center.

Given the repeated difficulty we've had trying to build a Linux-based HTPC, we've reached the conclusion that a Linux-based HTPC can be a fun project, but don't enter into this endeavor some morning thinking you'll have a glitch-free HTPC by day's end. You're likely in for is a lot of tweaking, twiddling, some frustration, a few choice expletives, and if you're persistent enough, a working HTPC.

So once you have been warned, they go through the steps to get MythTV up and running. The article is basically a run through of how to get KnoppMyth up and running with little details – there are better tutorials out there. And they don’t get MythTV working 100% in the end either:

What doesn't work:

• Commercial, encrypted DVDs won't play unless you load the libraries that enable playback of encrypted content.
• We couldn't bring up the color, brightness, or contrast adjustments for playback during TV viewing. We could adjust these settings for recording, but these are independent of the playback settings.
• StreamZap remote didn't work. (It seemed we needed to tweak the LIRC config file to specify this particular remote control.)
• DRM-protected content won't play on this system (this will require quite a bit of futzing to "enable," and this functionality will in all likelihood be technically illegal).

I’ve used the KnoppMyth distro and it does work pretty well. I got a machine up and running in no time– but I didn’t have a TV tuner and that seems to be the hardest part.

Anyone get an easier way or almost foolproof way to get MythTV up and running – and working?