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How to Help Your Customers Make the Leap to Sky HD+ (3/10/2005)

By Gordon Fraser, Convergent AV

With the impending arrival of high-definition TV here in the UK, we are told that we will get amazing artefact-free images. But just how much of the HD hype can we actually trust? And how can we avoid choosing the wrong displays?

No doubt some of you have Quali-TV 1080 HDTV receiver boxes in your stores, or have WMV HD content downloaded from the Internet that you are already using show off your best displays. These are nice sources, but for the moment Mr and Mrs Smith in the high street still have little or no idea about them. Thankfully, this is all about to change dramatically - just in time for Christmas!

The Quali-TV QS 1080

The driving force behind HD

So where is this push for HD going to come from? Well, for one thing, word of mouth. For some time now, most specialist retailers and custom installers have been advising their clients of the need to buy HD-ready displays as their next purchase (if not, shame on you!). Then there are the manufacturers, who are busily hustling up and down the country and at the shows, making sure everyone knows about how their better displays are already using HD resolutions, or are 'HD ready'. Then, of course, there are the broadcasters.

SkyHD is already available to pre-order. The initial channel line-up is now publicly available, and with both the Premiership football and first-run movies suddenly about to become readily available in HD, it is fair to say that Sky have kick-started the buzz around the HD revolution. So we can all count on there being a fair few early and eager converts. In fact, Sky's HD+ boxes have already been designed, and now only need to be made in quantity - which thankfully gives the rest of us a bit more breathing space to get our shops in order before the stampeding hordes arrive.

HD pitfalls

The USA and Japan have been enjoying 1080i and 720p HD content, on tape, off air, by cable and satellite, for some time now. The display manufacturers have been making and marketing HD displays to go with them, and these are pretty much the same displays we get over here that are marketed as HD-ready. But here is where the headaches start. Unfortunately many of these displays were already commercially available in the UK before our broadcasters had sat down and worked out what a UK HD-compliant or HD-ready device actually was. As you probably know, Japan and US are 60Hz territories, whereas we are 50Hz. So the question is, will that HD display you sold six months ago work with 50Hz HD content? Sadly, the answer is probably not.

So where does this leave you? Well, possibly in a bit of a mess actually. Forthcoming HD content for Europe is going to be at 1080i and 720p at a refresh rate of 50Hz. The sources for the bulk of this content are going to be outputting using HDMI. The exception is going to be SkyHD+ first-generation boxes which will have analogue component outputs as well, but make no mistake - both the hardware manufacturers and the content providers want to go 100% digital as soon as possible. The new HD formats of HD-DVD and BluRay are going to be HDMI, as will PlayStation 3. HDMI sources will apply copy-protection to 'protected content', i.e. virtually everything.

Incompatibility

What all this means is that just as we had issues with PAL progressive compatibility, we will have the same with HD. In other words, retailers and custom installers are in for the shock of discovering that most of the so-called HD-ready devices they sold their customers until about six months ago may not support these HD formats. They may have HDMI or DVI HDCP ports, but having the socket does not actually guarantee support of the resolution you require. Even worse, just because the manufacturer supplied you with shiny point of sale support materials with HD-ready and HD-compliant all over them is no guarantee that they will work at 1080i/720p using a 50Hz signal.

The solution

So what can you do? Well at the end of the day, this is retail after all. The first step is to take this big fat problem and turn it into a whopping opportunity. Now that you finally know what the UK HD standard is, you can be fully confident of being able to give your customer a much better picture, and get their display to support HD at the same time. With a bit of research you may even find that their entire system is suddenly easier to control as well.

The way to achieve all of this is to use external video processors to accept all the Standard, Enhanced and High Definition programming and then convert this to a resolution and refresh rate that the display you are using likes.

The following are some examples of the different resolutions supported by source and display equipment:

Sources
SatelliteTV: 576i usually by SCART or S-video.
VCR: PAL, Composite video.
DVD: Region1, 480i@60Hz via Component or possibly HDMI.
DVD: Region2, 576i@50Hz via Component or possibly HDMI.
ProgDVD: R1, 480P@60Hz via Component, HDMI or DVI.
ProgDVD: R2, 576P@50Hz via Component, HDMI or DVI.
HD Tape: 1080i@60Hz via Component or HDMI.
HD Satellite: 1080i@50Hz or 720p@50Hz via component or DVI HDCP/HDMI.

Displays
SD plasmas and clones: 852x480.
HD 42" plasma: 1024x768.
50" plasma and clones: 1366x768.
ALiS panels and clones: 1024x1024.
Pioneer 43" plasma: 1024x768.
Pioneer 50" plasma: 1280x768.
DLPs: 1280x720 or 1024 x576.
D-ILA: 1365x1024 or 1400x800 or 1920x1080.
SXRD: 1920x1080.
LCD: 1280x720, 1920x1080, 1366x768.
CRT front projection: variable from 480p up to 1080p or more!

Ideally you would try to match pixel for pixel, removing as much of the low-quality processing in the display as possible. An advanced video processor such as the budget Lumagen Vision DVI will accept everything you can throw at it up to 1080i via DVI (HDMI) or component, and can then output as DVI or analogue RGB. It can do frame rate conversion of these 50Hz sources and output them at 60Hz. It will even rescale that 1080i to 1366x768 to match your 50" plasma resolution! The real key here is to make sure whatever scaler you choose can accept HD and scale it as well as transcode to analogue or digital (taking into account copy protection issues, of course). Pass through of HD is not of any use in this scenario.

Rear of the Lumagen Vision DVI Video Processor

Adding the video processor

Although for the moment the whole notion of adding a video processor to a display might be as alien to the average consumer as HD itself, this too is all set to change dramatically in the coming months. For one thing, let us not forget just how many varied video signal resolutions there are, or how even more varied the display resolutions are. This problem is unlikely to resolve itself much for several years to come, so there is always going to have to be some form of video conversion going on. High-quality off-board video processors, designed specifically to optimise moving images, are going to be needed to make your customers' pictures better, and to solve your installation and compatibility issues.

But look on the bright side, at least they are also going to make you some money and win you some happy customers in the end!

Gordon Fraser is an AV Consultant and Managing Director of Convergent-AV, the UK distributor of Lumagen video processing solutions.

www.convergent-av.co.uk