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Introduction
Key Features Overview
Your TV is equipped with features that will add to your TV viewing experience. The following section
highlights some of your TV’s most unique features. Go to Chapter 3 for more details on these and
additional features.
Resolution (it’s math...that works for you)
The crisp, lifelike picture that people rave about when experiencing true HDTV is due to the resolution this
technology provides. The resolution is measured by calculating the number of active lines of pixels. A pixel
(which stands for picture element) is a small dot. The picture you see on your TV is composed of these dots.
A regular, analog television only has a resolution of about 200,000 pixels (480 vertical pixels x 440
horizontal pixels = 211,200 pixels). The HDTV format is capable of more than 2 million pixels (1,920 x
1,080 = 2,073,600).
More pixels equal more detail. In summary, HDTV is capable of resolution that is up to 10 times the
resolution of the picture on a regular, analog TV!
16:9 Aspect Ratio
4:3 Aspect Ratio
Aspect Ratio
Aspect ratio is simply the width and height of the picture. Regular TVs
use a 4:3 aspect ratio, which means the picture is a little wider than it is
tall (a screen that is 20 inches wide is about 15 inches tall).
When the standards were being developed for television broadcasting
in 1941 by the NTSC (the National Television Standards Committee), it
made sense to adopt the 4:3 aspect ratio that the film industry was
using at that time.
As TVs dropped in price and people prospered in the 1950s, the movie
industry had to find a way to get people out of their living rooms and
back to the movie theatres. That’s when they created the 16:9 aspect
ratio (also called widescreen format). When the standards for HDTV
were being developed by the ATSC (Advanced Television Standards
Committee), the 16:9 aspect ratio was chosen as the format for HDTV.
This widescreen format makes sense because it’s much closer to the
way we see. Our field of vision is actually much wider than tall
because of our peripheral vision. Not only is it closer to the way we
see, but the pictures are crisper and cleaner with more detail in the
close-up and panoramic views.
Feature Analog (NTSC) HD Digital (ATSC)
Total Scan Lines 525 1125
Effective Scan Lines 480 1080
Aspect Ratio 4:3 16:9 (Widescreen)
Max Resolution 720 x 480 1920 x 1080
Sound 2-ch Stereo 5.1 ch Surround
16339320.00 Intro 5/27/04, 4:03 PM1