The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro was online to field your personal tech questions and discuss his latest column, which explores high-definition television.

____________________

Rob Pegoraro: Good afternoon, gang... I had planned on an HDTV-centric chat today, but the Supreme Court has been kind enough to dump a couple of important, tech-related rulings in our lap this morning. One covers when the developer of software or hardware can be sued for contributing to copyright infringement, the other over whether cable companies can prevent other Internet providers from selling access over their lines. Should be lots to talk about all around, so let's get rolling here.

_______________________

Washington, DC: Long time listener, first time caller...Rob, when is HDTV not HDTV?

I was at a store over the weekend and saw a 15" LCD monitor. It said it was an HD monitor. This was with a 4:3 aspect ratio. My question is, who decides these things? Granted, most consumer electronics rely on buzzwords and large-style typography to sell features, but this is ridiculous!

Rob Pegoraro: Digital TV standards are more confusing than most! There are a total of 18 different DTV standards, only some of which count as HDTV--and all of those require a wide screen, 16:9 format display.

These standards, BTW, were set by an organization called the Advanced Television Systems Committee (www.atsc.org).

_______________________

Germantown, Maryland: I was just curious as to where you got your information about the first digital/HD sets being put out seven years ago. I was under the impression that front projection TVs have been able to handle those frequencies for somewhat longer than that. -I refer to the 'three gun' types as well as a few LCD's]

Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: According to the Consumer Electronics Association, the first HDTV set was sold to a consumer in August of 1998. Not sure what kind it was, but I'm guessing it was a *very* expensive rear-projection CRT model.

_______________________

washingtonpost.com: Fast Forward: As Prices Fall and Analog Dims, Digital TV Is a Clearer Choice (June 26, 2005)

_______________________

Arlington, VA: Comparing TV's is confusing. What does the aspect ration mean and what is the number that is sometimes 1280 by 720 mean?

Rob Pegoraro: Aspect ratio is simply how wide the screen is. Conventional TVs, and most computer monitors, have a 4:3 ratio--slightly wider than they are tall. HDTVs are 16:9, which is much closer to the wide screen ratio used in movie theaters.

The numbers you see in DTV specs refer to scan lines of resolution--roughly speaking, how many pixels, or individual dots of color, you can stack up and down the screen. An analog set has a maximum of 480 scan lines. HDTV have either 720 or 1,080 scan lines.

_______________________

Wichita, Kansas: What is your opinion on CRT or tube TV's today? I noticed some manufacturers are making them thinner. Will this trend get them even more thin? Should I wait for a thinner model? Are LCD's getting cheaper?

Rob Pegoraro: At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, a few manufacturers showed off some thinner CRTs--they had maybe 2/3 the depth of standard tube sets. But they weighed the same as before and cost a little bit more. I have seen coverage of much thinner sets, but I haven't seen any signs of them emerging in the market--and LCDs are getting cheaper all the time. I would guess that, just as LCDs have essentially shoved CRT monitors out of the computing market, they'll do the same in TVs within a few years.

_______________________

Silver Spring, MD: I read earlier somewhere that converter boxes will be available to convert HD signals to analog. Do you think these will be inexpensive? I don't like the idea of having to buy one of these boxes for every TV I have just so I can keep watching them. When the switchover to analog does happen, I guess all the portable TVs will be become useless too.

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, everybody in the industry says these converter boxes will be widely available and cheap. How cheap? $50 is the number I hear thrown about. Yes, you will need to buy one for every analog set in your house *if* you still want to watch over-the-air broadcasts on them. Ditto for portable TVs.

It's unfortunate that so many TVs will wind up in the scrap heap, but this sort of thing does happen all the time in the electronics industry. The difference here is that the U.S. government is mandating the transition.

_______________________

Arlington, VA: Some of the newer HDTV monitors have 1080P displays. How important do you think this feature will be in the next few years? For example, how likely is it that DVDs will be produced in both 1080i and 1080p? I'm debating whether to buy a 1080i or a 1080p LCD display and remain undecided because of this uncertainty.

Rob Pegoraro: I forgot one other detail of HD specs--the "p" and "i" after those scan-line numbers. "P" means "progressive scan," in which every single line of resolution is redrawn 24, 30 or 60 times a second. That's how every computer monitor works; it should give you a flicker-free picture that portrays moving objects very well.

"I" means "interlaced," in which every other line is redrawn 24, 30 or 60 times a second. So first half the picture is refreshed, then the other half is refreshed in the next instant. That's how analog TV works now.

Right now, HDTV broadcasts come in two flavors--720p and 1080i. Nobody airs anything in 1080p, and I doubt anybody will for some time--that's a major step up in bandwidth, but hardly anybody will be able to benefit from it.

You might see prerecorded discs coming out with 1080p footage--but then we have to talk about how the industry seems committed to embarking on a pointless format war between two incompatible high-def video disc formats. You do *not* want to get me started on that, nosirree.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Do you think the Congress will push TV off analog signals making digital the norm? I hear they are still working on a bill for the deadline to be 2009.

Rob Pegoraro: It's quite possible, but that only means the deadline will get pushed back a few years, probably at the cost of making it unconditional. On one hand, nobody wants to vote to take away Grandma's TV. On the other, the government needs the money it will get from auctioning off the analog spectrum--not to mention the public-safety argument that's made for handing over some of these frequencies to cops, firefighters and paramedics.

_______________________

Baltimore, MD: One of the New Yorker's writers wrote an article several months ago about the paradox of choice: when there are too many choices for a given action, people often just turn off rather than make a selection.

That's how I feel with the new television formats and screen types. It is just not worth it to me to spend the time researching that stuff. Even when a columnist (such as you) does the research and presents it to his readers - well, my eyes start to glaze over when the acronyms and specifications (4:3, LCD, HD, 16:9, ATSC, HDTV, RS-232) start.

I'll go back to reading books I guess.

Rob Pegoraro: You got that right, Balto. If the feds had simply mandated one digital-TV standard back in the day, this would have been a much easier thing to sell.

_______________________

Rockville, MD: Hi, I've read about Samsung introducing their line of 1080p DLP RPTVs soon, but the date seems to keep getting delayed. Any word on when Samsung (or other companies) will release DLP TVs w/1080p resolution? And if you've seen one at CES, what did you think of its picture compared to a 720p DLP?

Thanks,

Rob Pegoraro: Samsung had a demo of two DLP (digital light processing, a way to make a projection TV that's only a foot or so thick) sets at CES, one with a 720p signal and another with a 1080p signal. I spent maybe 15 minutes watching them run through a sequence of test footage, standing about 10 feet away. And I had a very hard time seeing much difference most of the time. Only a still image of a bunch of computer windows looked notably sharper on the 1080p set *when seen from that distance.*

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Is it true that Plasma TV's have a problem with images burning into the screen? Seems like a fairly significant defect for something this expensive.

Rob Pegoraro: "Burn-in" with plasma sets, from everything that I've been able to gather, is a small to nonexistent risk, depending on the quality of the set and to what use it's put. For example, those plasma sets in airports that show the TSA's message of the day and nothing else? I'm positive they've got those graphics burned into the phosphors on their screen. But in normal at-home use, I don't think it's a hazard anymore.

_______________________

Baltimore, MD: So what's your take on the Supreme Courts decision regarding Cable companies? Looks like I will continue to be subject to Comcast's whims, inefficiencies, and every increasing prices (I don't have DSL in my area)

Rob Pegoraro: I was wondering when I'd get a question about Grokster or Brand X! Yes, Baltimore, the Brand X ruling means that Comcast can continue to prevent other companies from reselling its connectivity with their own service and support.

Since cable companies did not want to have to do that, I'm sure they count this ruling as a victory. But I suspect it's more complex than that; by forcing customers to buy only their service, they may artificially limit their appeal to customers who, when they find that Comcast won't give them the services they want, then decide to go with a DSL or other broadband provider who will. (If, that is, they have that choice.)

_______________________

Silver Spring, MD: Re: TV. Just wanted to let you know that there's still one house out here still living in the 90's.

We have a plain old 19-inch TV and a VCR that are 10-15 years old. The previous owner put a nice Radio Shack antenna on the roof so we get all the local channels. We're too cheap for cable/satellite and are still getting along with dialup ($10/month).

I've thought about DSL but a Verizon tech said that our 50 year old hookup would need to be upgraded. Also, Verizon can't tell me what my monthly bill would be - "It's $29.99 per month plus taxes plus you have to have the Verizon Freedom package plus another $10 a month for dialup access when the DSL goes down or when traveling plus $99 for the setup." When I ask what that adds up to, Verizon can't give me an actual answer.

As for the TV, I'm one of those folks that hasn't decided that I need to see the "Amazing Race" in high definition. The picture is pretty good just the way it is. But you could tell already that I'm cheap.

Love your column and look forward to the newsletters.

A DOS-head in Silver Spring

washingtonpost.com: You can sign up for Rob's e-letter here .

Rob Pegoraro: Don't even talk to me about DOS :)

You might actually like digital TV in this case--not only should your existing antenna work perfectly well for pulling over-the-air DTV broadcasts, you'll get a much sharper, clearer signal, along with the chance to watch the second and third channels that broadcasters can send out digitally. (For example, a local station can provide an all-news channel and a weather channel over the air in addition to its primary feed, something impossible with analog TV.)

_______________________

Raleigh, North Carolina: What stops me from buying a rear projection DLP or LCD is the cost of bulb replacement. Retailers are vague about both the price and the number of hours a bulb will last. My impression is these bulbs cost about $250 or more. That is a stiff price to pay every year or two to keep a set working. I am tempted to buy a rear projection CRT, bulky as they are, to avoid the bulb replacement cost. Any thoughts on this?

Rob Pegoraro: I've never heard that the lamps on rear-projection DLP or LCD sets need replacement "every year or two." Three or four years seems to be more like it. Don't forget that these sets are also considerably brighter than rear-projection CRTs.

_______________________

Washington, DC: What are the primary differences between LCD Panel TVs and Plasma Panel TVs?

Rob Pegoraro: I'll try to be brief about this very complex question. Lessee... LCD TVs are basically scaled-up versions of what's in every laptop. Plasma sets run on a different technology entirely. For now, they complement rather than compete with each other in most cases: Nobody that I know of makes plasmas smaller than 37 inches across, while LCDs become crazy expensive after 37 inches or so wide. (That'll change as both types of display get cheaper.)

As far as advantages/disadvantages, the consensus seems to be that plasmas deliver much deeper colors (black on a plasma is really black, not dark gray) and redraw a picture far faster. LCD is often brighter and has gotten its refresh rate much quicker in recent years. Plasma can use more power and run hotter than LCD, but that's not a given.

_______________________

Treo -- Verizon vs. Cingular: My office is preparing to order a bunch of Treos and may give people choices between using Verizon and Cingular as providers. If you look online, the Treo gets different reviews depending on which provider you use -- and it doesn't appear to be limited to differences as to download speed and/or coverage. Could you explain?

Rob Pegoraro: Each carrier can configure this smart phone in different ways--as a result, software patches have to be released on a per-provider basis, instead of for Treo smart phones in general. It's kind of silly how this works, but that's the cell-phone biz for you...

_______________________

Jersey City New Jersey: Have you any recommendations as to what size and aspect ratio in HDTV is the best to buy? I recognize there are personal preferences on that - I can't stand to watch a letterboxed film on a regular 5:4 aspect ratio television, which is why I will probably buy a widescreen HDTV (assuming, of course, there will be a choice between the new and old shapes.) It would seem though that it would be good advice for a buyer to get the largest and therefore widest screen their budget allows.

Rob Pegoraro: Don't forget that the TV has to actually fit in the room! I do think buying widescreen makes a lot more sense; that will let you watch movies without (much) letterboxing, and it's also the format that a lot of TV shows are or will be produced in.

_______________________

Baltimore, MD: Follow-up about BrandX:

Some have even suggested that cable companies may now feel free to deliver less than the entire internet (example: Comcast might prevent access to Vonage or other VOIP providers that complete with their own offering). I think Comcast is just slimy enough to consider it, but they wouldn't actually do that would they? (I shudder to think what would happen if they started deciding what other kind of 'services' they might keep from their users!)

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, that is a risk with this ruling. The bigger risk in my book, however, is that the phone companies go back to the FCC and ask for the same right to kick other companies off their networks. That shuts out most of the more creative competitors in the business. I mean, think about it--do you want your choice of broadband service to be limited to Comcast and Verizon? Do you really think both of those companies have all the answers to Internet access?

_______________________

Alexandria, VA: Hey Rob,

Just a heads up for those considering buying a new HDTV: Consider buying a projector! For less than 1k, I purchased a fantastic Infocus 4805, which I have projecting at around 110 inches.

Jaw drops when people come over and see HDTV or DVDs playing on it. Then they all swear that's their next purchase!

Pros of a projector are plenty: cheap, big size, easy to move/setup, and can project various sizes. Of course, there are some drawbacks, namely you can't have too much light coming into the room.

Not saying its right for everyone, but its definitely worth considering!

Rob Pegoraro: We did a story on this option a year or so ago. It is an option--but you need a flat expanse of wall that's clear of obstacles and, preferably, all white. And, as Alexandria notes, the picture's a lot better if you can keep the room dark.

I can see this being a nice way to watch movies on special occasions, but I can't see doing this to catch SportsCenter before I go to bed. (If my living room met these requirements anyway, which it does not.)

_______________________

McLean, VA: Hi Rob, thanks for the wonderful chats. I understand the difference between interlaced and progressive scan, but I am curious which is better, 720p or 1080i? Would the jump be really that big or noticeable?

Rob Pegoraro: Great question. 1080i certainly seems better, just from the higher number--but then you have to consider that the picture then becomes liable to flicker effects from the every-other-line refreshing. ESPN could have used either standard but opted for 720p over 1080i (as I said before, progressive-scan is supposed to work better for depicting motion).

The other thing to consider--what tips the scale for me--is that 1080i display can cost quite a bit more than 720p. So I think 720p will do just fine whenever I get around to buying an HDTV.

That's right! I haven't done that yet. My pathetic old TV set refuses to die, allowing me the luxury of continued indecision as I watch HDTV prices erode week by week.)

_______________________

Washington, DC: RE: Letterboxing (potentially dumb question)

I understand that even with a widescreen TV, the letterbox effect can still occur (though to a lesser degree than with 4:3 TV's). Do the opposite happen on wide screens if you watch 4:3 shows and movies? (i.e. vertical bands instead of horizontal on Simpsons DVD's for example) (I notice the stores always show movies or HD shows on their floor models -- never run-of-the-mill TV shows)

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, on a widescreen set 4:3 content can be shown with vertical letterboxes. It can also be stretched to fill the width of the screen, at the risk of making people's heads look elliptical.

_______________________

Arlington, VA: What do you think about convergence in TV-watching devices, like VCRs, DVRs, digital tuners, DVD players/recorders...will the TV manufacturers be partnering with other manufacturers, or will customers want to buy all components separately?

Rob Pegoraro: I think people will still want to have separate recording devices--mainly because HD-recording technology is behind TV-set technology. Also, you don't want to risk having to send the entire TV into the shop when the recording widget built into it blows a gasket somewhere.

_______________________

Boston: I have been looking for over-the-air receivers for my digital TV, but information seems scarce. The few models available are expensive (over $300). Should we expect these to become cheaper?

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, much cheaper. I'm amazed that they are still being sold for $300. When I started covering digital TV back in '98 or so, everybody in the business told me it would be far easier to drive down the costs of tuners--everybody knows how to make chipsets and processors cost less over time. But the sets themselves would remain expensive, because precision glass manufacturing isn't something that allows for the same economies of scale.

Apparently, I was misinformed.

_______________________

Tampa, FL: Hi Rob,

What are your thoughts on the new cable card ready sets and do you see them eventually becoming more main stream?

Robert

Rob Pegoraro: I like CableCards--wish the same thing were possible with satellite reception! It's true that current CableCards don't allow for two-way services, like video on demand, but I think that's an acceptable tradeoff if it means you can watch TV with one remote, eliminate one box from the home-theater stack and save the cost of the cable-box rental.

Most cable companies, however, have done an utterly awful job of promoting this option.

_______________________

Blacksburg, VA: Every once in a while something odd happens when using Firefox 1.04 on Win XP SP2. I'll start to type in an address, select what I want from the address bar, and the browser will go to a site that has a similar start that I've never been to before. For example, wimbledon.org will go to wim-wenders.com, hotmail.com will go to hoslap.com. Trust me, I've never been there. What gives? I run antivirus, Spybot, and Adaware and come up with nothing.

Rob Pegoraro: Are you sure nobody else has used your computer? (I'm at work, and I don't think I want to find out what "hoslap.com" is)

_______________________

Herndon, VA : What's the difference between DLP and HDTV and can a TV have both? Also, I see a lot of TVs that are HDTV ready yet I do not seem to find a lot of HDTV tuners for sale out there. Lastly, LCD, DLP, or Plasma, among the three, what is the best bang for the buck.

Rob Pegoraro: DLP is just a TV-set technology, like LCD or plasma. It's one of a class of what are called "microdisplay" technologies--although they allow for really large screens, they use a tiny display element inside the TV chassis. (The other two microdisplay contenders are rear-projection LCD and LCoS, or liquid crystal on silicon, which JVC sells as D-ILA.)

For big screens, any microdisplay technology is going to be much cheaper, in terms of $/inch, than plasma or LCD. The battleground seems to be at around 40 inches of width, where I could easily see flat panels getting close enough to microdisplay prices to take over that sector (because people certainly will pay a little more for a flat screen--the whole "OMG, that flat screen is so cool!!!" effect).

_______________________

Augusta, ME: What is the difference in quality between HDTV and Enhanced Definition on, say, a 42" flat screen? Is HDTV substantially clearer or is the difference more obvious on larger screens?

Rob Pegoraro: On a 42 inch set, you probably will be able to notice the difference at least some of the time. (Enhanced Definition means 480 scan lines, not 720 or 1080.) I, personally, would not buy an EDTV in that size--I would consider it for a 30-inch or smaller set, but then I think that I might want to use it as a backup monitor, in which case I *would* want higher resolution (because people use computers from much closer up than they watch TVs).

_______________________

Alexandria, VA: Hi. Do digital TV sets, including flat panel ones, provide quality viewing without having cable or satellite service? I am on a fixed income and need to get as much for my money as possible.

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, they do. HDTV broadcasts began with over-the-air signals (here, WETA was the first station to broadcast digitally).

_______________________

Bethesda, MD: Which is the better contrast ratio on an LCD, for example, is 1-500 better than a 1-900 or is it the opposite?

Rob Pegoraro: In this case, more = better.

_______________________

Alexandria: I'm considering replacing a slowly failing 27" conventional TV with a 34" CRT HDTV. Should I buy now, or wait -- are prices going to continue to go down gradually? And should I get one with or without a tuner?

Rob Pegoraro: On CRT HDTVs, no, I don't think you're going to see a lot of additional erosion in price (well, except for some flagship models from Sony, which still charges a hefty premium for its CRT HD sets--but not, oddly enough, for its rear-proj. LCD HD sets). Yes, you should get one with a tuner.

_______________________

Houston,TX: I have recently purchased a 30' HDTV monitor;however, my cable company does not yet have HDTV converter boxes. what am I to do?

Rob Pegoraro: How backwards of your cable operator! If that HD set has an ATSC tuner, you can connect an antenna and watch over-the-air broadcasts; otherwise, you can watch DVDs in significantly higher quality (480p instead of 480i) by connecting a progressive-scan DVD player to your set.

_______________________

Stafford, Va: Rob: Just a comment about TV size. I have a 50 inch Hitachi rear projection HDTV. I thought at first that it would be too large for the family room but at 18 feet away, a 50 inch TV is perfect. A 42 inch would have been too small. Incidentally, your readers should know that if they buy an HDTV a wide screen is the only way to go.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Stafford!

Because of the deluge of questions I'm getting, I'm going to stick around a little longer. Oh, wait, I do that every time...

_______________________

Vienna, VA: Yes, thank you for writing about how irksome it is that none of the small sets seem to have ATSC tuners! I wanted to get one to fit into my RV (where I'll definitely will need it), and I am having a tough time finding any! What goes?

In addition to this, how can I tell if broadcast flag circuitry hasn't been built in? You mention RCA DOES have it--any other brands we should watch for?

PS--Do the manufacturers really think they are making consumers happy by being vague about what is in the sets?

Rob Pegoraro: I had hoped to get up/down answers from a bunch of manufacturers on broadcast-flag support, but some blew off all my questions (Sharp) and others weren't shipping any sets with ATSC tuners yet, hence no broadcast flag chip either. I did hear from a Panasonic exec in March that none of their sets with ATSC tuners included flag support, but the Panny rep I talked to last week wasn't sure if that was still the case and didn't get a clear answer by deadline.

_______________________

Baltimore, MD: How is today's Supreme Court decision likely to stifle technology?

washingtonpost.com: Supreme Court: File-Sharing Firms Can Be Sued

Cable Companies Don't Need to Share Lines

Rob Pegoraro: I think Baltimore is referring in particular to the Grokster ruling. I haven't read that yet, but when I do I'm going to look to see what the justices wrote about the responsibility/duty of developers to employ "easily available" roadblocks to copyright infringement. It's one thing if the ruling simply lets companies go after other companies that are in business explicitly to make money by helping users steal their products, but it's another if this allows Hollywood to force software and hardware firms to act as copyright cops.

_______________________

Mt. Airy, MD: I'm looking for a new widescreen TV in the 30" - 32" range and don't have space issues. The HDTV tube models I've looked at seem to have pictures as good, if not better, than the top LCD models I've compared against. Combined with the fact that the tube TV's are less than half the cost, they seem to be the only financially-wise option for me. Am I missing something in my comparisons here?

Rob Pegoraro: No, you're not. There is a major fashion issue attached to TV buying--see how many people have bought plasma sets that only show enhanced definition, then don't hook them up to any HD signal--but if you set that aside, a CRT HD set is perfectly reasonable at up to 30 inches. (Past that, they become hard to find and not much less expensive than LCD sets, and I don't think anybody makes a CRT bigger than 34 inches these days anyway.)

_______________________

Arlington, VA: So how long should I wait to buy an HDTV? I want a bigger TV, and I recognize prices are going down, but I don't want to wait forever. So will this Fall be significantly cheaper?

Rob Pegoraro: Prices should be significantly cheaper this fall, and cheaper still next spring, and cheaper yet next summer. This is going to continue for a while. But as costs keep getting lower, the amount of money saved by waiting starts to get less and less.

_______________________

Arlington, VA: re: 16:9 distortion of "regular" TV pictures... This is definitely something to check out before you buy. I think most sets these days do a pretty good job of stretching without distortion. I bought my Panasonic plasma 2 years ago and it have stretch modes that work quite nicely and do not distort the picture.

Rob Pegoraro: These are the stretch modes that only widen the image at the edges, right? I don't know how many sets offer them, but it certainly seems a good thing to have, inasmuch as a lot of people don't like letterboxing of any kind.

_______________________

Glenn Dale, MD: I have a samsung HDTV, but most of the local HD broadcast still broadcast in appear in 4:3 format. Just trying to find out if this a problem with the TV or a normal occurrence. Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: What kind of HD feed you'll get is entirely up to the local broadcaster. In general, you should expect the best HD production on prime-time network shows, while things like the local news probably won't be offered in HD at all.

_______________________

St. Paul, Minnesota: My family is looking into buying a widescreen high def set. The plasma sets seem to deliver the best picture, but I've heard a lot about "burn in". Even in your latest article you mention it, ...but is it real? If I'm going to spend over $3000 on a nice set, I want it to last a long time. We leave our set on most of the day, even if we're not actively watching. If "burn in" is real, then it seems our habits would accelerate it.

Rob Pegoraro: From what I've heard from both users and manufacturers, burn-in is not a real risk these days unless you keep the TV nailed down to one station or input all the time. (Don't forget that CRTs can suffer burn-in too; the odds are that the CRT I'm looking at has a ghostly image of the Windows taskbar stuck to it.)

If you're not watching the set, you should, y'know, think about turning it off. Electricity still isn't free, and any large flat-panel set will use a decent amount of it.

_______________________

Madison, WI: For a 60 inch DLP what is your recommendation? Make and model.

Rob Pegoraro: I'm not going to answer that. I haven't personally reviewed competing sets in this size category--my advice wouldn't be worth anything to you.

_______________________

Washington, DC: I don't have cable and don't want it. I use rabbit ears and am happy with them, since I am not spending money for programs I don't want to see. Can I still buy an HDTV-ready set? Will they work with my rabbit ears or does upgrading require me to buy cable services that I don't want?

Rob Pegoraro: HDTV does not require you to subscribe to cable or satellite at all. But if you do want to keep using your rabbit-ears antenna (something our own tests show is perfectly possible with digital broadcasts), you'll need a set with a digital ATSC tuner.

_______________________

Del Ray, Alexandria: Hi. What do you know about the cheapie off-brand HDTVs sold at Best Buy? They have a 27" tube one for $400 or something. Good deal or bad deal?

Rob Pegoraro: Don't know either way. CRTs are a proven technology, but HDTV is not. I'd want to see what these manufacturers' reliability records were (Consumer Reports surveys this regularly), along with what sort of warranty you get with the set.

_______________________

El Dorado, AR: Hope I'm not too late, and this is on another subject, but it's timely, too. As with many of your readers, I'm going on vacation soon, and want to use an e-reader.

What's the best one? I'm so confused - are any of them easy to use? How do I find out about them (and get books)? I wish someone would invent an I-Pod for books!

Rob Pegoraro: Don't bother. E-book readers are a technology that's gone nowhere outside of some "vertical" markets (i.e., education, tech support, etc). That's because the publishers have been so determined to protect electronic books against any sort of theft that they've made them unusable--without even at least offering a particularly good deal on price.

Just get a few paperbacks.

_______________________

Potomac, MD: On the question of whether one needs a built-in HDTV tuner, my answer would be definitely no. If you are going to get your service through Satellite or Cable you are going to have to buy or rent a separate HDTV box regardless of whether your TV has a built in tuner. The tuner is only useful for over the air signal, which most people buying an HDTV are unlikely to be relying upon anyway.

Rob Pegoraro: True, most people get TV via cable or satellite--at least on their first TV set. But do you want to foreclose this option entirely? (What if your cable or satellite goes out?)

_______________________

Fredericksburg, Va: Rob, To the Glenn Dale writer. The only local show in 16:9 HD is Channel 9 news. Otherwise the other HD shows are your prime time shows on the networks, ESPN programming, and other HD networks such HBO, Starz, Showtime, Discovery, TNT, HD Netand INHD.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Fredericksburg!

_______________________

Vienna, VA: Rob- Recently bought Samsung 30" wide-screen slim-fit CRT w/built-in HDTV tuner. Death of my 10-1/2-yr-old 20" TV hastened the purchase. Love the picture but getting the digital stations to tune in is tricky - need to be much more precise than analog stations. I'm using indoor HD antenna - no outside antenna let alone cable or satellite. But sometimes can't get the HD stations to come in at all. What's my best option? Also, had bought Panasonic combination DVD-recorder/hd-dvr machine, but got 2 defective machines, out of the box. Trying a similar Toshiba model now but it doesn't seem to want to work either. Considering that I've already got the HDTV, am I better off waiting for HD-dvd format issues to resolve themselves before looking for dvd-recorder?

Thanks! - Love your columns, newsletters, chats...

Rob Pegoraro: Vienna might be a little too far out of town for an indoor antenna to work. The writer who did our testing of digital-TV reception last fall lives out in Clifton and has to use a rooftop antenna--while he found that indoor antennas worked fine in Arlington and Georgetown.

Getting an HD-specific antenna may help. Zenith makes one called the Silver Sensor that a lot of folks seem to regard highly.

_______________________

Projector?: my son is saying we should get a projector for the basement. Meets your criteria-- white wall and dark. (And when you say it's OK, I believe you, and validates what my son is saying.) When was your review? I couldn't find it in the archives. Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: I think your son's got a pretty good case spelled out there.

I don't have any links to the review handy, unfortunately.

_______________________

Springfield, VA: Hi Rob:

I'd like to stream music from Itunes on my PC to my home stereo, but my receiver, although still in fantastic shape, is a bit of an antique and has only RCA-type inputs. Do you know of anything available I could use to bridge the technology gap, i.e., something that plugs into the headphone jack or the like? Thanks!!

Rob Pegoraro: RCA inputs (meaning, those red and white plugs for the left and right stereo channels) should be fine--every media receiver that I've tried allows for them.

_______________________

Does anyone broadcast in 720p?: I have DirecTv and the dual tuner HD Tivo. To my knowledge and experimenting, I haven't even been able to find a broadcast in 720p, though obviously 1080i is no slouch!

Rob Pegoraro: Try ESPN and Fox, for starters.

_______________________

Owings, MD: With the switch to digital broadcasts, will cable still support the analog TVs with their set top boxes. Currently, I have not seen any reason to give Comcast anymore money for digital cable just view a few HD programs and have more choices to give them more money for pay-per-view.

Rob Pegoraro: I'd expect they would. I mean, these folks have yet to get around to an all-digital transmission setup (where they take analog TV and compress it digitally, as the satellite providers do), even though that ought to save them a good deal in bandwidth costs.

_______________________

Baltimore, MD: RE: Supreme Court decision about P2P

I sure hope the P2P companies like Grokster, et. al. weren't dumb enough to actually promote the illegal uses of their products. Do we need to worry that VCR's, DVD'S, Browsers, and even the internet itself, may be subject to this bizarre decision?

Rob Pegoraro: Not as the decision has been described to me--folks like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge are calling this ruling a victory because it maintained the Betamax standard. Your interpretation is actually correct, from what I've read--only companies "dumb enough," as you put it, to encourage people to use their services to get movies/music for free are liable. Not that people filing lawsuits for movie studios and record labels won't look for ways to stretch the definition of "encourage."

_______________________

North Shore, NZ: Hi Rob, Nothing to do with HDTV, ignore if not OK to ask. I have a new Thinkpad and an older IBM desktop. Am thinking about replacing desktop however I am getting "pressure" from the "Apple" members of my extended family.

What do you think about buying a Mac Mini and a KVM switch to connect to the desktop? This would likely please everyone and I wouldn't mind playing with the Mac. Regards, Jack.

Rob Pegoraro: Oughta work fine, although using a PC keyboard with a Mac (and vice versa) can be confusing until you memorize how the various special-function keys, like the Windows-logo and Apple-icon keys, work in either environment.

_______________________

McKinney, Texas: I am going to purchase as new TV in another month or so and have been advised by my techie friends to get the DLP model versus the LCD. I also have cable and TIVO. Do you agree that DLP is better than LCD/Plasma?

Thank you

Rob Pegoraro: Better? Don't know--take a look at each type of set in a good store and see for yourself. It's certainly cheaper, especially in the larger screen sizes.

_______________________

Rob Pegoraro: OK, y'all have worn me out! Thanks for all the questions... I should be back here in a couple of weeks.

_______________________

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.