Consumer Video Education Blog

Move over cable, Verizon’s FiOS Internet is a quantum leap in speed and performance.

I’ve had the opportunity to “upgrade” to the faster FiOS Internet package delivering 20 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload speeds and have been extremely satisfied with the performance.  Verizon has the most advanced network hands-down and has been recently been cited as the only Internet provider possessing the capacity to provide the Governments new hi-speed Internet proposal!  The Feds have started a push to make ultra-high speed Internet available to the country with speeds of 100Mbps (megabits per second) which is about 5-10 times faster than the current average cable/DSL Internet hook-up.   What does that mean to you?  How about down-loading a full length movie (800 Mbytes) in 1 minute or a high quality MP3 file in less than 1 second! 

Anyway, the FiOS network has some pretty cool features like supporting phone, TV and Internet.  Nothing new, you say?  True, but they have found a way to interconnect them.  For instance, being able to show a slide show of pictures or video from your computer on your TV or having recorded a TV program (on the DVR) from one TV and watching it on any of 5 other TVs throughout your house.  Even pausing it on one TV and continuing it on another.  And the really cool thing is that they are constantly upgrading the system and adding new features all the time, most of which are free.  They even have the ability of interfacing with Facebook and Twitter right from your TV remote, while watching your favorite program.

Verizon even hooked up the resolving of technical programs and included it in the operating system of FiOS.  Many issues can be resolved by their automated system right from your phone or computer.  Talking to a live tech is also easy because FiOS has their own number and technical force and because everything it purely digital, problems, even intermittent ones can be tracked and taken care of.  They can even access your home network (everything runs off of your network) and see if you have a bad connection, an issue with your computer or something is unplugged.  I’m impressed.

Lots of really cool features, reasonably priced (in bundle packages) but I mainly got it for the speed.

Check it out for yourself at:  
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/aboutFiOS/Overview.htm

Now that the DVT transition has finally occured in the Providence, RI market, there are still some people who are not able to receive their free, over-the-air DTV stations. Why, because many were never told that they needed an antenna.

In our area, there are several stations that are close enough and powerful enough that a set top antenna (Rabbit ears) will provide you your free DTV. But, since most of the new digital channels are in the UHF frequency range, if you have a VHF only (the antennas that have just two metal rods) antenna, you may not be able to receive your favorite station.

What can you do? There has been a local run on these inexpensive antennas because of the missing information that was advertised about the need for an antenna, but the word is that shipments are on their way. Check some of the out-of-the-way places like Benny’s or even some department stores, as they are usually not the first place that people look for antennas.

You may have seen stories about people installing roof-top antennas with sophisticated rotating motors costing hundreds of dollars (the one I saw cost $387 including the installation). This is OK if you want to receive signals from Conneticuit and New Hampshire, but that is not worth the price (most of those stations are duplicates from the major networks). My own personal installation is a circular pre-amplified antenna that is designed for motorhomes. It is about 18 inches in diameter and on a 8-foot pole on the roof of my house (left over from the old analog TV days) and plugged right into my converter box and the first scan netted 33 channels! Stations as far away as Boston and Woorster Massachusetts come in crystal clear. I purchased this antenna from Radio Shack many years ago for $99 (they did have a smaller one for $69). Unfortunately, they are not sold (not at Radio Shack anyway) any more. But RCA makes a square version (model: ANT1550) that I’ve seen on the internet selling for between $35-$45.

WARNING: Don’t be fooled or mislead by advertisements or claims that you need a multi-hundred dollar antenna for DVT. There is NO SUCH THING as a digial antenna. The antennas that were made 20 years ago, before digital TV was even though of, will work perfectly OK with the latest Digital TV equipment.

More Facts:
Notices stating that if you receive your signal via satillite, you will not loose your local stations.
FALSE - you can get local channel via satillite but it will cost you $5-6 per month (for free TV).

Many cable operators are bundling the new DTV stations with their ‘digital bundles’ and charging you more for the privledge of receiving free TV. Check your cable plan to see if that is the case.

Good News: DTV is a good thing in that the digital signals allow to have more channels and add other cool features into the broadcast signal like an on-screen program guide and program descriptions. Some local stations have already added addition channels and additional programming. For example, our local NBC affiliate (WJAR 10) has started broadcasting a new station called RTN (Retro Television Network) which broadcasts vintage programming (mostly from the 80’s) 24 hours a day and offers their 11:00pm news (on the regular channel) at 10pm. All this on local channel 10-2. This is the designation that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has created for additional or sub-channels for a giving local channel. I have seen some that have a total of 4 sub channels, although most are the same content, but in a different format (HD, regular definition (SD), spanish language, etc).

Another tip is to re-scan your channels every once in a while as new channels are being added and unless you rescan your converter box or built-in tuner, you will never know that they exist or be able to receive them.

DTV is EZ … and pretty cool too!

When you go into any store that sells TV and video equipment, you have probably seen all these numbers and letters but are confused by all the choices?.  What exactly do these letters and numbers mean and what exactly is the difference? 

Let’s look at the letters first;  SD, ED and HD.  SD stands for Standard Definition.  This is what you have been viewing on your TV for the past 50 years.  Until the advent of High Definition, you could only get your TV in one format and thus never had heard or seen the term SD.  SD has the resolution of 480 lines and is broadcast in interlaced format meaning that only 240 lines (or every other line) are shown at one time and they are alternated at 60HZ or 60 times per second … much faster than the human eye can perceive.   ED is a new version of television that sits between SD and HD and was created as a transition step by the manufacturers to make getting into newer “higher” definition TV less of a financial hit as the HD sets were going for $2000 and up.  ED sets are generally 480 lines put support both interlaced and progressive scans and wide-screen formats.  In the early years of HD, ED televisions were more common, but now that the price of real HD TVs have come down to under $500, it is almost impossible to find a EDTV being sold.  HD is now probably the most well know format for TV.  It is everywhere we look, in every newspaper ad and sales flyer and it is almost impossible to find a SDTV.  High Definition (HD) is now the new standard for viewing broadcast video.  They come in three different screen resolution formats and in a couple of dozen different sizes and in prices from about $200 to $6000.

Now lets look at the HD resolution numbers; 720 and 1080.  These numbers refer to the number of lines (or vertical resolution) that the TV or monitor can show.  Obviously, the higher the number the better the picture quality.  That’s a given.  BUT that little letter following the number plays almost as big a part in the actual picture quality.  

The letters “i” and “p” stand for Interlaced and Progressive and what this means is how the picture is presented for viewing.  Interlaced means that only half of the lines are shown at any given time and alternate between the two sets.  This happens so fast that you never see this bouncing back and forth.  Conventional TV (non HD of SD … Standard Definition) has always done this.  When TV was invented and available for the consumer, this was the only way that the resolution or picture quality was achievable because of the limited technology.  Now, with the capabilities of the current state of the art electronics, the new way of transmitting pictures is what is called Progressive scan.  What progressive scanning does is it shows all the picture information at once.  So a 720p TV or monitor would, theoretically have the same picture quality as a 1440i TV (even though there is no such thing). 

Can you see the difference?  Not really.  Most picture content would look good with either type of set.  Where the difference lies is in motion and with still images.  Because with a progressive scan TV you are actually seeing twice as much video content in the same time frame, the perceived picture quality is better.  When HD first hit the market, you could only get 720p resolution because of technology restrictions.  Progressive scan displays required much more information, twice as fast and limited the number of lines that could be broadcast.  With new technology, the current standard is 1080p.  This is mainly due to such innovations as mp4 (MPEG4) video encoding, DVT transmissions and other super hi-tech tricks that allow huge amount of video (and audio) data to occupy the same space to give us images that 20 years ago weren’t even science fiction.

Because of the new push to 1080p, manufacturers and retailers are pushing the 720p HDTVs, many now selling way below $500 for a 32 inch TV!  Will you be loosing picture quality?  Theoretically, but unless you are buying something over 50 inches in size, you will probably never notice any difference.  The good news is that as time goes on, these ‘old’ 720p sets will further drop in price because they are “old technology”.  Oh, and if you are going to purchase one in the near future, make sure that it has an “ATSC” (Advanced Television Systems Committee) tuner.  That is the designation for a digital tuner (DTV).  Older sets have only NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) tuners and will require a converter in order to receive over-the-air broadcasts.  Some stations have already ceased broadcasting in analog (NTSC) but all will follow suit on June 12, 2009.  Some HDTVs will have both tuners installed, just make sure that the ATSC option is in there or you will still have to get a converter (which would be counter productive).

The big buzz word going around today is becoming green.  Exactly what is that?  Well, becoming green is a combination of reducing your energy consumption (which also reduces your environmental footprint) and recycling. 

I have done considerable research on this subject for a couple magazines and other trade newsletters and blogs.  Professional video and multimedia people are conscience about the environment and there has been considerable interest in this trend and several requests were made from across the country about tips on how to become more green.  Although the average consumer may not have as much equipment or use as much consumables as a business would, there are several things that you can do to help save the environment and some cash at the same time.

• One of the biggest energy wasters in the average home is lighting.  This should be a no-brainer.  Swap out your regular light bulbs for Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFL’s).  The can be purchased literally everywhere; discount stores, hardware stores, even the corner convenience store.  At first look, then may seem expensive, but the fact that they last 8 times and use 1/4 of the energy of conventional light bulbs, their payback is real over the life of the bulb.    Look for multi-packs and sales to further savings.  How much can you save?  If you are consuming $25 per month for lighting and you changed all of your lighting to CFL’s, you could realize a monthly savings of $15 or more!  Really.  
• Removing wall transformers (commonly know as ‘wall warts’) when not in use.  These are everywhere.  Cell phones, cordless phones, portable GPS systems, the list goes on and on.  Companies are doing this because it is easier and cheaper for them to use one of these external transformer/power supplies that it is to build it into the product.  The problem is that we have a dependency to be lazy and leave them plugged in when the cell phone is charged.  This wastes electricity, even though nothing is attached to it.   Feel the transformer, is it warm?  That tells you that is is using electricity.  And unless you are using that to heat your house, you are paying the electric company money for nothing.   When you cell is recharged or any device that goes unused for any length of time, unplug it.  Over time, this electrical savings could add up to several dollars a month (all depends on how many you use).
• Any device that has a clock in it or uses a remote control uses electricity even when it is off.  TVs, VCRs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, CD & DVD players, stereo units are just some of the electronics that are guilty of this energy waste.  Solution?  Unplug these type of devices if they are not used for extended periods of time.  Daily use may not be worth the disconnection and many cable & satellite boxes and DVRs may result in loss of service is unplugged for any length of time, so I would not disconnect them. 
• Transportation.  There are several easy things that you can do to get better gas mileage and others to simply cut down on travel, all resulting in savings at the gas pump.  The first is to check your tire pressure.  Increase your pressure to the maximum pressure as indicated on the sidewall of the tire.  Doing so will increase the rolling resistance of the tire, meaning that it will take less power to roll the car and use less gas in the process.  The next thing is to clean out the backseat and trunk.  For every 100 pounds of additional weight in your car, it could mean 1 mile per gallon less in fuel economy.  So store the golf clubs, the case of oil and all the other sporting equipment somewhere else, not in the trunk.  Other “common sense” things like keeping your car tuned-up, oil changes, staying below the speed limit and avoiding quick starts and stops all will add to the savings at the pump.

All of the above suggestions will not only make you more “green” but will help you keep more of your hard earned dollars in your pocket and not in the wallets of the utilities, big oil and foreign oil producing countries. 

Now, some things that you can do to help the economy and not necessarily reduce your personal expenses, but will affect your monetarily in the long run.  Recycling.  There are several types of recycling that you can do to reduce the amount of trash going to over-flowing dumps and putting toxic products into the environment.

• No. 1 and No. 2 plastics are all recyclable.  They take over 100 years to breakdown in a land fill, so toss them in the blue recycling bin.  Those plastic bags that you get from most grocery and department stores are No. 2 plastic, BUT most communities do not allow them to be recycled (which I cannot understand).  You can, however, recycle them at almost any store that hands them out.  They will have deposit boxes at the entrance of the store to collect them.  Many stores are now deducting 5 cents (per bag) from your total bill if you reuse those plastic bags for your purchase.  You can also use the eco-friendly reusable bags and bypass the plastic all together (you will also get a 5 cent refund for using them).
• Batteries, especially rechargeable batteries are considered hazardous waste and should not be tossed in your trash.  Many businesses that sell these type of batteries (like Home Depot) will also have bins that you can deposit your batteries, doing the environmentally correct thing.  There is no charge for this service. 
• Ink Cartridges.  Home computer printers use ink that is contained in cartridges.  When empty, most people just add them to their trash.  Again, the remaining ink is toxic and should be disposed properly.  How?  Many office stores (like Staples) have collection boxes at their entrances for disposal.  Some cartridges (HP, Lexmark and Epson) are reusable and can either be refilled (some Walgreens offer that service for less than half the price of a new cartridge) or given rebates ($3 from Staples) if you hand them in when you make a purchase.

There is more things that the average person can do to reduce the amount of energy that we use and  to reduce the amount of waste that we produce.  All reducing that carbon foot print.  Look around your house or business and see if you can find any that you can do to help the earth.  And watch the savings in your utility bills.

I will be adding more ideas for you to “get green”

You have probably seen all of the public service announcements warning you that as of February 2009 you will loose your over the air TV reception unless you have cable or satellite. What you probably don’t know is that only cable will provide your local channels for free as part of all packages BUT if you have a satellite system, you have to pay for a “local channels” package and would only include a small number of the closest network channels costing $5-6 per month.

In order for you to receive the “free” on-air channels you have to either purchase a Digital TV converter box (if you have an older TV without a ATSC (digital) tuner) or purchase a new TV with a digital tuner. In addition, you will also have to have an antenna to receive the new channels. The new digital channels are located in the UHF band (where the old channels 14-83 currently are located) so if you have an antenna that can receive UHF channels now, you are all set for receiving the new digital channels. I personally have one of those circular, flying saucer shaped antennas that were originally designed for RVs and mobile homes and have tested it with a digital TV converter and works perfectly! Located approximately 30 miles south of Boston, Massachusetts, I have a hard time receiving stations from that area with a current TV, but with the digital converter, I receive every Boston station (some transmitted in HD) like I was hooked up to cable. In fact, when I first plugged in the converter and did the auto channel scan, I was surprised to find that I was within range of 27 digital channels. And everyone came in in all its digital picture quality and stereo audio (some in 5.1 surround). What a huge difference.

Now some advice. If you haven’t already signed up for the government’s offer of the $40 coupons to buy a digital converter because you either forgot or figure that because you get cable or satellite, do it anyway. What happens if your cable goes down (due to storm or malfunction)? How about because of a severe storm, you can receive satellite? You will be without TV, period. You know all of those little portable TVs that you probably own (or 2 or 3)? They won’t work either. No standard TV will be able to receive a digital TV broadcast with out one of those converters. So do yourself a favor and sign up for at least one of those $40 coupons (many digital converters are going for $49.95, leaving you to pay about $10 after using the coupon). The link to get one (or two) of those coupons is: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/index.html . Just remember that these coupons expire in 90 days. So don’t just stick them in a drawer somewhere and forget them.

Which converter should you buy? Doing some research, I found the Insignia NS-DXA1-APT (only available at Best Buy) the best of the low-cost ($49.95) converters. Independent tests showed it to have the best picture quality. Other features are that it has a analog feed-through (so you can use it now along with regular (analog) TV and an on-screen program display.

This subject has been at the top of the list of many consumers who purchase DVDs from local video production companies. DVDs that contain dance recitals, graduations, school events, etc that have purchased from local video companies or received from a friend or parent may have trouble playing in your DVD player. There are several reasons, but the main cause is the media (blank DVD) that is used to record the event. Many people simply buy that is locally available or what is on sale and lack the knowledge that there is a difference in the quality and playability of DVDs.

Currently, many office supply stores and discount houses are selling what is labeled as 16X DVDs. What this means is that you can record the program at up to 16 times normal speed. At this rate, a one-hour program could be recorded in 4 minutes! This may sound like a great time saver (it is), but very few consumer DVD players have the capability of playing this 16X media.

The common misconception is that if you record the program at a slower speed, it will work better on most DVD players. That is not the case. Each blank DVD is digitally encoded to include the type of DVD that it is and that includes the maximum speed. The DVD itself is also constructed differently with a different dye (the bluish/purple stuff on the backside) and other internal components. The problem is that most DVD players that are in our homes were built BEFORE there were 16X DVDs and what happens is that the DVD player doesn’t know what to do when it sees the digital data (the program) and sometimes has problems “seeing” the digital information in the new-type dye. 16X type media should only be used in computers that have DVD drives built in.

The sad fact is that some older DVD players have problems play DVDs labeled 8X (the previous generation of blank DVD media). These machines have been manufactured at least 5 years ago and have the same problems with 8X medial as with 16X media. Some higher-end DVD from some manufacturers exhibit less problems playing in older DVD players than many cheaper and store brand DVD media. Again, more established video production companies know this and have taken the steps to ensure that their DVDs are the most compatible they can be and to minimize difficulty in playback.

Keepsake Video and KVI Media has been using 4X media to produce DVDs that are 99.5% compatible. Unfortunately, all DVD manufacturers have stopped making these 4X DVDs over 1 1/2 years ago and are no longer available. At that time, we purchased the remaining stock of 3 different suppliers and are quickly running out of those much sought after DVDs.

So in conclusion, if your DVD is skipping, stopping, showing digital pixels or simply not playing, try playing the DVD in another DVD player or your computer (if DVD equipt). If it plays without
any problem, the problem is what is described here. My suggestion is to purchase one of those inexpensive (under $30) DVD players from your local discount store. They will play just about anything. This is the best way to go since the problem will never go away and if you want to watch the DVD that you have already purchased, it is an easy solution. In some cases that $30 for the new player is less than the DVD that you bought and most local video production companies are no longer producing VHS tapes. If they are, is only be special order and are more expensive to purchase.

Ed Wardyga
Keepsake Video/KVI Media
copyright 2008

Welcome.

This blog is being created and maintained to provide education to the general public on video related matters.

This blog will be updated frequently and cover such matters as DVD playback problems, differences in video formats and HD, what to expect with the upcoming DTV (digital TV) conversion, and many other video related subjects.

Questions are also encouraged and can be emailed to CVEB@kvimedia.com

This blog is subscribed to the RSS feed which allows you to receive alerts when ever there is a new post.

Thank you for your interest.

Ed Wardyga
Keepsake Video Inc / KVI Media