Moving up to DVD is not cheap, says Angus Kidman

Published in AustralianIT, March 25 2003

ONCE you're used to watching movies on DVD, it's a bit disappointing to switch back to ordinary television broadcasts.

Who wants to exchange digital near-perfection for the same analogue TV signal we've been watching for half a century?

Obviously, the government thinks the same way (and possibly not just because Telstra recently loaned lots of ministers widescreen televisions).

Digital television broadcasts, which offer resolutions up to six times better than current transmissions and also enable features such as selectable camera angles and interactivity, began on a limited basis in early 2001.

By July all channels will be required to transmit at least 20 hours of high-definition television (HDTV) each week.

So, how can you join the digital revolution? The most basic option for getting access to a digital TV service is to simply purchase a set-top box, similar to the ones used for accessing pay TV channels.

To date, around 25,000 such boxes, which typically cost around $600, have been sold in Australia.

However, if you connect a basic set-top box to your existing television, you won't be able to take advantage of the higher definition image or widescreen pictures offered by digital TV.

If your wallet is as deep as your desire for high-quality images, then the solution is easy: purchase a widescreen television which already has a built-in digital television receiver.

These don't come cheaply, though, and are only available from a relatively limited number of vendors.

Industry association Digital Broadcasting Australia, which tracks the local market for widescreen TVs, lists just two manufacturers offering integrated TV sets in the conventional cathode ray tube - Grundig and Sony - with prices ranging from $4000 to well above $8000.

One reason these integrated TVs are so expensive is that they are currently only available in fairly large sizes (the smallest on the market is 76cm).

As demand for digital television grows, a wider range of integrated models is expected to appear.

The next-best option is to purchase a new high-definition, widescreen television, and then connect a digital TV set-top box to it.

This is somewhat less convenient, especially if you fancy a minimalist style of decorating - most modern televisions are too slim to balance a set-top box on top of them. (Some manufacturers will optionally install a digital tuner directly into their pricier widescreen models.)

On the upside, you'll have a much wider range of models to choose from.

There are more than a dozen major brands offering widescreen televisions, including Fujitsu, Grundig, LG, NEC, Orion, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, RCA, Samsung, Sony, TEAC and Thomson.

Prices range from $1000 for basic entry-level 21in models through to more than $10,000 for an 32in system.

If you want to get really fancy and use a plasma screen, you can expect to quadruple that price.

Of course, a widescreen television won't just be useful for taking advantage of digital broadcasts.

With the majority of DVD releases (outside the children's market) sporting widescreen versions of films, your movies will also come out looking better.