Top 10 HDTV Myths: Fact vs. Fiction, Hi-Def Style

popular mechanics ^ | June 2007

[george76]

High-definition television (HDTV) has evolved from an early-adopter indulgence to a mainstream technology in less than a decade. Enthusiasm for HD everything is driving the sales of flat-panel TVs and has inspired a next-gen DVD format war. It’s showing up in camcorders and on your local TV news.

Yet HDTV remains a widely misunderstood technology, muddled with misconceptions and half-truths born of marketing mumbo jumbo and senseless jargon. The advertised specifications read like bewildering math­ematical equations with “variables” such as 1080i, 720p, 4:3, 1080p and 16:9. To clear the air of confusion we’ve examined some of the most wrongheaded bits of received wisdom in the world of HD.

Myth #7 To get the best-quality HD, you need expensive cables.

Fact: Not true. If the cables running from your DVD player or cable box aren’t particularly long, you should be fine with inexpensive video cables. The extra shielding in expensive cables that prevents interference in analog equipment won’t improve the image of digital video through HDMI or DVI cables — the signal either comes through or it doesn’t. And the savings can be huge: 6-ft. HDMI cables range from $20 to $160.

[aruanan]

The mind of a TV junkie.

Or as Ken Nordine referred to him in Word Jazz: vidiot.

[TC Rider]

I got my cables here for roughly 10 cents on the dollar of Monster prices.

http://www.cablewholesale.com/catalog/hdmianddvicable.htm

[TC Rider]

I got my cables here for roughly 10 cents on the dollar of Monster prices.

http://www.cablewholesale.com/catalog/hdmianddvicable.htm

[TC Rider]

I got my cables here for roughly 10 cents on the dollar of Monster prices.

http://www.cablewholesale.com/catalog/hdmianddvicable.htm

[agent_delta]

ping

[NewsJunqui]

Wow, a Ken Nordine reference. That brings back memories of listening to WBEZ late at night (Sundays?) in Chicago. He ingrained Vidiot into my venacular.

[Terpfen]

There is nothing I love better then telling clerks to take their monster cables and shove them where the sun don’t shine

And then you wonder why "customers suck" websites keep popping up.

[aruanan]

Wow, a Ken Nordine reference. That brings back memories of listening to WBEZ late at night (Sundays?) in Chicago. He ingrained Vidiot into my venacular.

Some of the Word Jazz programs were SOOOOO excellent. I liked the one with the guy at the bar in a space station orbiting the earth. Also good was the one where he was earnestly telling someone to be careful, you've only got ONE life, and the someone, pitch-shifted, was telling him how he got exercise and ate right. Okay, well, you had to be there. And there was one about the Flibbertyjib.

[marvlus]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! :-)

[TC Rider]

You are very welcome. When I first went there and got cables, I became very angry that the stores had tried to rip me off with the Monsters.

I have had zero problems with these, and have recommended them to quite a few family and friends.

[BallparkBoys]

Hey....Got to ebay, they’re even cheaper...6ft HDMI - HDMI for $7 SHIPPED.....Thats what I did....

[stlnative]

I am looking for a FR Thread that was posted in the last week or so from today 10/19/07.
It was a HDTV thread but the title was short with short words and FR’s search will not pick it up for me. It was titled something like... Which TV should I buy?

Could you send me a link to it if you find it?

Thank you!

PS. Please add me to your HDTV Ping List.