Installing TV Aerials & Satellite Dishes

1080p LCD HD TV will be a revolution to you if you come from a background of watching standard analogue TV.

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is vastly different to prior cathode ray tube technology. The precision of the picture is determined by an array of electronic colour filters which emit or close off the while back light of a flat panel display. Each coloured filter adds to the whole picture image to make a complete colour picture.

DLP(tm), by Texus Instruments, is a semiconductor chip operating on mirrors and a colour wheel. The chip affords better dark levels and a closer packing of the image pixels.

Appreciation of the HD TV image quality can be like saying 'Looks are in the eye of the beholder'. There are some reasons why one technology may win out over another depending upon how you use your TV.

Colour Distortion - DLP can suffer from colour distortion due to the viewing angle. At more extreme angles the balance of colours will not be as true compared to the same seating positions viewing a LCD screen. This will be important if you fix your HD TV screen onto the wall because the viewing positions may change in future but the wall position will be less likely to change.

Black contrast levels make a big difference, depending upon what you are viewing. White is only white if seen in contrast to black. True deep black levels are as important as bright white levels. Contrast dark levels are measured as a proportion by which the light can be switched hard on and completely off. LCD equipment is measured as 5000 bright to a minimum one dark thus 5000:1 contrast ratio. DLP HD TV have a small advantage but you may only appreciate the difference with high quality movie scenes showing deep differences in light levels. New LCD technologies with much larger LCD panel fabrications are removing any such differences.

Viewing Distance This is subject to personal taste but generally you should be seated between 1.5 and 2 times the diagonal width of the screen. It also depends upon the use of the the HD TV - games with control cords comes to mind.

The complete picture to quality LCD HD TV will always depend upon all the components of a system. A DVD player with 720 pixels will better translate to a pixel screen resolution which also matches 720 pixels. A Blu-Ray DVD movie will feed the HD TV with the sound and vision to properly appreciate it. The advantage of picture resolution may not be appreciated if you are simply viewing close up facial shots. Many of such TV shots will be blurred in the background and transmitted in a compressed way where some fine details are lost.

LCD HD TV conclusion is to purchase and spend only to your requirements. If you appreciate HD TV movies then, at some point in time, the movies will be released in Blu-Ray format and you will appreciate the quality normally found in larger screen formats.

If you appreciate HD TV quality then check out the larger screen format specifications against the smaller screen sizes. Will you notice the difference?

Aspect ratio 1080p HD TV has a width:height ratio of 16:9. Analogue TV is 4:3 and you may want to check your DVD movie stocks for this new 16:9 format.

Resolution HD TV is high resolution with 1920 x 1080 pixels. Analogue TV is low quality being non-digital and having only 625 lines across the screen.

1080p Frame rate the whole screen is rewritten as one complete scanned picture 60 times a second so no flicker. Analogue TV is 25 frames per second and the line drawing is spit into two parts.

Have a good hard think about the time when you will most benefit from a quality 1080p HD TV picture. If you enjoy movies, on Sky for example, then you might as well consider a freesat enabled HD TV. This way you cover your options should you wish to keep the dish but drop Sky.

More HD TV transmissions will happen over satellite systems because of the amount of data needed to drive HD TV. So if you want to see more live HD TV then you should consider satellite HD TV as your best option. Get a dish installed and use a freesat enabled HD TV?

If your television enjoyment is to watch DVD movies then go for the best and keep an eye on Blu-Ray players as an option. On the other hand, if you like watching soap, talent shows and the like then these pictures will be flesh tone close ups. An all round capable HD TV with some sound output options may be important.

The 1080p progressive method of television picture, at 60 frames per second, is an improvement but as always it depends. The whole system has to be of this standard to produce such quality images and the old expression: 'Garbage-In-Garbage-Out' comes to mind.

Having said this, because the 1080p HD TV is the current high standard then it makes sense to purchase this standard and let the rest of the equipment catch up over time.

1080i HD TV is HD TV using what is called 'interlacing'. Interlacing is similar to the old analogue way of scanning odd and even lines. The updating of the pixel dots takes longer then 1080p. When you have rapid movement upon the screen then the image can fall out of date and the resolution will not appear as good as it should.

When purchasing HD TV technology it is good to keep in mind that older 1080i HD TVs may not be in current production. When this happens the manufacturer may only retain a stock of parts for say, seven years beyond last production date. One or two of those years could have already have gone for a 1080i TV!

For main family viewing choose HD TV 1080p rather than HD TV 1080i. If budget is tight then there may be some discount offers on HD TV 1080i TVs. You will loose out on smoother, cleaner image. This is especially with fast moving sports and other rapid movement TV images.

Freesat gives you more for your HD TV viewing pleasure. If you are not intending to have a satellite dish installed then you will want a Freeview enabled HD TV. An old aerial and old cable arrangement will likely be too inferior for digital reception and will need to be upgraded.

Freeview will only be able to carry a much smaller range of HD TV programs so if you want more quality HD TV broadcast viewing then you may wish to consider the satellite dish option.