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Televisions and computers - the HD ready world explained
With all the different standards that have come out over the last few years and the changes in labelling that have occurred, many people have been left rather confused as to what it all means and what sort of equipment is best to go for when looking to buy a unit capable of displaying high definition films and television programmes. Nowadays an LCD TV that is capable of receiving and rendering a picture in high definition will be subject to the labelling standards that have been agreed on in Europe. Computers, having the capability of displaying images at a higher resolution than most televisions on the market, are nevertheless not generally marketed in the same way because they often do not meet the necessary connector requirements to be labelled as HD ready. Despite this, there are videos available from the internet that are high definition and can be watched on your PC. If you do not watch regular programming very often and like to be able to watch a film while away from home, perhaps on a long car journey (not when driving of course!) a laptop is more than capable of fulfilling your needs. If you planned to use one for this purpose regularly then you would probably be better off with one of the higher specification models that are aimed at the gaming market. These have high performance video cards, decent sound systems and a generous screen size, making them a good substitute for an HD ready television.
What about my old collection?
If you have opted for a new television and you have set it up and it is happily beaming high resolution images into your home, the next thing you may want to know is if you will have to throw all your old discs away and start your collection again. Happily the answer to this question is no. Any DVD player will still be able to playback old discs on your new screen or television as long as it has an analogue video connector, which most of them should have. If you are unsure then do check with the sales assistant when purchasing new equipment. Of course, if you use an analogue connector to hook your existing player up to your new HD ready television set then although it will playback discs with no problem, they will only be in standard definition. One of the things that puts many people off making more use of their computers for watching films and listening to music is the difficulty that can be encountered when trying to hook all the equipment up together. A DVD recorder or player is usually a much more simple affair to get up and running and whilst they have their place in any modern home, it is a shame not to utilise the power of your computing equipment as well. There are many companies that will help you to set your home computers up so you can use them as well as your HD ready TV for entertainment.
Sizing it all up
If you take a wander through your local electrical goods store, you might be forgiven for thinking that if you want a modern television you will have to put up with a monster in your living room. Whilst some people live by the maxim, “the bigger the better”, huge screens are not to everybody’s taste. Furthermore, a small TV may just happen to be more suitable for the room you are planning to put it in. There are some very nice nineteen inch models that will look good in a bedroom or smaller living room and have the same high definition capabilities as their larger cousins. You will most likely find it easy to get help setting your new HD ready unit up if you are not that technically minded, although a good read through the accompanying manual should make things clearer. With your PC equipment, apart from setting it up to watch films on, you can get help with tasks such as setting up a home or office network, either wired or wireless and even with installing software too. A big TV far exceeds the size of the largest computer monitors generally available at the moment, if you are actually looking for a very big screen, with ones over fifty inches not uncommon these days. The latest action movies do look impressive on these giants and if you are a keen sports fan, watching the big match on a large HD ready unit can be almost like being there.
Making your old films look better
As mentioned earlier in this article, you should have no problems hooking your existing equipment up to your new television in order to watch your old collection of films that you have built up over the years. It does seem a shame to waste all that new technology though, and there is a way to increase the quality of your old films with something called an upscaling DVD player that will give you near high definition quality when watching them on your new TV. Many of the newer players will also play films that you may have downloaded on your PC. Although not quite as good as actual high definition films, in combination with your HD ready TV it will give your old collection a new lease of life. These players accept standard format discs and then literally, as the name suggests, will upscale them to the higher definition that you can now take advantage of. Both computers and players with the right connectors can send a high definition signal to a unit that will accept it. With your HD TV the sales assistant should be able to advise you on how to hook it all up. If you are employing someone to set your computers up at home and install all the software that you need they will more than likely be able to help you sort it out as well. A good technician will be familiar with the HDMI connections that you need to hook up for this.
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