The latest issue of Mark Schubin's regular memo on digital television is available on the OpenDTV list.
Mark links to an interesting article that reminds us of the limitations of the human eye in discerning the added resolution of HD from smaller screens at normal viewing distances. In DVD in High Def? The Difference Is Not Eye-Opening, David Colker writes:
"... Last week, a milestone in viewing was reached with the debut of the Toshiba HD-A1, which costs just shy of $500. ...¶ Should you care? Probably not. Because unless you already have a state-of-the-art high-definition television at least 40 inches in size, you won't notice much of a difference. ¶ Here's my advice: If you've got a spare $500, use it toward an upgrade to a bigger set instead. In the time it takes to save up another $500, the price of HD disc players will probably drop and a pending format war may well be decided. ..."
Link: Los Angeles Times. I have two HD sets, a 27" LCD unit in the livingroom and a 30" CRT unit in the bedroom. I've tried my DTT set-top box on both of them and HD programming looks great on them -- from 3-4 feet away. However, my normal viewing distance is about 10 feet. --Dennis
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