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PUBLISHER’S LETTER
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Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD
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2 Silicon Chip
Don’t wait for digital
broadcasts if buying a
new TV set
One of the questions we are often asked at
SILICON CHIP concerns digital broadcasting
and whether it is worth waiting to buy a digital TV receiver. Often the person concerned
has a relatively old TV set, maybe 10 years
old or more, and is looking for an excuse to
upgrade to a new set. But with all the puff
about digital TV at the moment there are
doubts. Supposedly, digital TV will be so
much better than present-day broadcasts
and people do not want to be caught with a
newish but obsolete set.
The short answer to these questions is to go out and buy a new set, if that’s
what you want. If you do, you will get the immediate benefit of a new set - a
much brighter and sharper picture and at a price that is not likely to reduce
in the short term now that GST is in force.
Perhaps you still have doubts. If so, perhaps I can dispel them. First, if
you do not intend buying a large screen set, say 80cm or larger, there is little
point in worrying about whether you will get a better picture when digital
broadcasting comes in. With the smaller screen sizes, it is just not possible
for the average viewer to discern any improvement in picture quality, even
if you had high definition broadcasts. Perhaps I should qualify that. If you
are comparing the picture quality with good ghost free reception and studio
broadcasts or DVD playback on a 68cm or smaller set, there will be very
little, if any, improvement when digital broadcasting comes in.
If you can afford it, you should seriously consider buying an 80cm or larger
set because that’s where the real developments are happening and where
prices are dropping the most. For example, it is now possible to purchase
an 80cm Teac set for as little as $1499. Not comfortable with a low-cost
brand? Then what about a Philips or Panasonic 80cm set for under $2000?
Not only can you get features such as picture-in-picture and NTSC playback, you can also expect “component video” inputs which are desirable
for the very best picture quality from DVD players.
Alternatively, you might decide to go for one of the larger rear projection
sets and here you really do get a large screen for quite reasonable amounts
of money. Well, OK, for many people $3500 or more is not a reasonable
amount of money but it is a good deal less than you would have paid a few
years ago. And some of the new rear projection sets are now coming out
with ghost-free line-doubling (100Hz horizontal scan rate for flicker-free
pictures) and pixel doubling as well.
When digital broadcasting does come in, you can expect the new digital
TV receivers to be a great deal more expensive and most people will opt for
a set-top converter. But even then, if we follow overseas experience, such
set-top converters will be available as part of the deal from Pay-TV companies
and they look like having more features such as multi-cameras and so on.
So if you are thinking of buying a new set, there is not much reason to
hold back. Go out and buy it. Remember, the price of a new TV set will be
the cheapest entertainment you will ever buy.
Leo Simpson
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