Watch Out for the “Extras.”

     One of my coworkers at CET recently asked me for some advice about what type of cable she should use to connect her new HD TV to the various components.  She noted that the salesperson at the store from which she bought the new TV was insistent that she needed to use a very expensive HDMI cable when connecting her television.  Wanting to get the most out of her new purchase, she complied and bought the $70 cable, all four feet of it.  After talking to some others, I found out that many who are buying new sets are finding a dizzying array of cables and accessories and service plans that can add hundreds of dollars to an already expensive purchase.      

     Well the bottom line for most of these add-ons is …Don’t do it!   It brings to mind the final steps we have all had to endure when buying a new car.  The salesperson finishes up the “deal’ and then you are sent to the “finance guy” to “just fill out a few papers.”   Once in the office you are confronted with extended warranty plans, undercoating options, glass guard, ultraviolet ray paint coating, fabric protection, cures for acne and several other options.  All of  these of course cost extra and in most cases are a total waste of money.  It seems that some of the electronic retailers have spent a few too many hours shopping for cars, because they are adopting some of these lucrative “up selling” techniques with their customers.       

     Let’s talk about HDMI cables.  Yes, you should get one for each component that uses this interface to connect to your new HD TV. No, you should not spend $70 on a single cable.  You can get HDMI cables on line and at discount stores for as little as $10 to $15 and they will work just fine.  Sure, the sales person will confront you about impedance mismatches and the benefits of gold plated connectors and any of a host of other “Klingon” jargon.  When you are watching your new TV, you will not be able to tell the difference in picture quality from a set connected with a $15 HDMI cable from one that uses a $100 cable.  The same holds true for the most part for audio cables.   There are slight differences, but they are not worth the steep mark up.      

     The pitch for purchasing an extended warranty will also be an issue as you walk toward the check out counter.  Modern electronic devices will either work out of the box or will fail in a short time, well within the regular manufacturer’s warranty period.  Except for a laptop computer, I can think of no other device that should be protected with an extra warranty policy.   Three years is an eternity in the world of digital electronics.  A DVD player purchased 18 months ago for $200 can now be found on sale for $29.95 and it will come with more features.  Purchasing a $75 warranty for a $200 machine  just does not make sense.  Just say No!      

     Another rip-off is the HDTV Antenna.  If you see a box marked “designed for HDTV,” run out of the store.  There is no such thing as an HDTV antenna.  The design of an antenna, either for set top or outdoor use,  is no different for picking up an HDTV digital signal than it is for analog signals.  The fact is that the new digital over-the-air broadcasts use the same channels as we have used since the beginning of TV in the late 40s.  Don’t pay extra for an antenna just because it says that it is for Digital or HDTV use.  The only difference from the one you bought five years ago is the box.      

    It is a scary world out there …”caveat emptor”…that’s Latin, not Klingon.

What are those white marks on the left side of my picture?

     Some of our viewers using HD sets to watch CET programs may notice that on a few  episodes of Authur, there appears series of white hash marks running along the left side of the picture.  These are only visible when you are watching on a wide screen HD set.  Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to eliminate this part of the video.  On a standard analog set this part of the picture bleeds off the screen and is not visible at all.  On a high definition wide screen set is it quite noticeable.  The good news is that it is only on a few of the older Arthur programs. 

     So what is it?  Well a few years ago some of the kid’s programs on PBS had a special feature that allowed certain Arthur and Barney stuffed animals to interact with the TV.  The computer coding to allow this interaction was embedded in the video signal. 

     This was a short lived technology. Unfortunately the old programs still have the coding and in HD it is visible.  Again it is only on the older Arthur programs.

     Ah…the growing pains of  new technology.

Oh! You wanted it to work…..

One of our CET employees stopped me in the hall the other day and asked  how a certain major discount store could be selling digital TV sets that were not going to work after February 2009.  It seems she was shopping over the weekend and noticed that the TVs in question all had stickers warning of their pending obsolescence.  “I thought that the whole point of getting a digital TV was that it would work after the February 2009 analog cut off,” she said.    

Well she is right and she is wrong.  You will need a TV set with an ATSC (that is digital) TUNER to receive TV broadcasts over the air after the 2009 cut off.  It so happens that there are still digital TV sets that have analog tuners only.   For the most part these are older models that have may have been sitting around in warehouses for a couple years and it seems that some retailers are trying to unload them.    

Well. “Caveat Emptor!”  I can see no reason to buy one of these sets.  I have seen small digital TV sets with ATSC tuners at some of the big box electronic stores selling for as little as $120.  Now they are small sets with 15 – 17 inch screens.  They are not high definition and don’t have the wide screens.  They do have both analog and ATSC tuners, so they will work just fine for watching over the air broadcasts after February 2009. 

    There continues to be confusion about Digital TV and what will happen in February 2009. Here are some simple rules of thumb;

If you have cable or satellite service you need to do nothing.  Your analog TV will work with no modification.

If you watch over the air, you will need a new set with an ATSC digital tuner or use your old TV set with an inexpensive digital converter box.  These boxes will be available in early 2008 and will retail at between $50 and $70.  The government will offer each US household two coupons worth $40 each to help defray the cost of two converters.

Stay tuned here for more information.