The Signal Formats in a Home Movie Theatre System
By Milos Pesic
Common to most households nowadays, a Home Movie Theatre has somewhat become a staple when talking about home entertainment equipment. Gone are the days when a home movie theatre would cost an arm and a leg, thus the now common prevalence of home movie theatres in most homes.
But as the price vs. “getting real” battle is coming to a resolution, another “battle” in the realm of home movie theatre systems is brewing. Selecting the ideal video signal format for one’s home movie theatre system poses to be a problem in setting up one’s home movie theatre and would be the “battle” being referred to.
For the longest time, only one kind of video signal was around and about: analog.
Analog signals travel constantly carrying information. With analog video signals, the signals contain a stream of data feeding a CRT television the needed information on how to “paint” the lines on the phosphor screen, which is known as the picture tube.
The downside to analog video signal is that once signals are transmitted, picture quality from the original source easily degrades. This is something a digital television set wouldn’t have to worry about, since digital technology depends on data streams consisting of sets of 1’s and 0’s. Sending information through a digital signal can’t degrade, carrying more detail, compared to analog signals.
Digital television systems, also known as DTV, are progressively scanned resulting to a much more fluid picture movement. Analog television sets are capable of reading standard-definition television signals (SDTV), which has 480 scan lines for picture information.
High Definition Television (HDTV) boasts of higher resolutions and is the highest resolution video signal in the market today.
Choosing an HDTV and a SDTV set isn’t exactly a simple thing to do, as these devices work with complimentary items like antenna types, satellite service signal receivers and cable service receivers. Buying the wrong type of television would mean getting a set that isn’t supported by one’s already set up equipment/services.
For example, buying an HDTV set without knowing that your cable service provider doesn’t support HDTV sets.
An HDTV set supports resolutions from 1280 x 720 to 1920 x1080, with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and frame rates ranging from 24p, 30p, and 60, where p stands for progressive video format. SDTV support smaller resolution rates ranging from 640 x 480, 704 x 480 and 704 x 480, the first two having an aspect ratio of 4:3, and the last resolution rate 16:9
What used to be the problem area of price, when it comes to home movie theater systems, has now been replaced with just what type to get, with regards to compatibility issues.
Milos Pesic owns a popular and comprehensive Home Theatre web site. For more articles and resources on home theatre systems, projectors, seatings, home theatre reviews and much more visit his site at:
=>http://home-theatre.need-to-know.net/
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