Getting High

FCC speeds up digital-TV deadlines

This is great news! The faster y'all catch up and get HDTVs, the faster the networks will offer ALL their programming in that format. Right now it's piecemeal--Leno's in HD, Letterman isn't, the Masters is high-definition while the Memorial is a grainy mess--but the sooner people buy TVs that can handle the improved quality, the sooner everything will be filmed that way.

A bit of advice: If you're going to buy a new TV, make sure it's at least HD-ready. DO NOT BUY AN EDTV! Enhanced-definition is a code word for "cheaper version that cannot handle the improved quality of HD." This won't just impact TV; in two years the "DVD-quality" of EDTV will have been surpassed by HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, which are capable of the same quality images as high definition television, and in three or four that will be the standard. For everything. And none of it will look as good on your instantly-outdated EDTV.

One more thing: DO NOT BUY A TV WITH A 4:3 ASPECT RATIO! You will be throwing your money down the drain. In five years, there won't be any programs on TV that don't film in HD--and all HD filming is in 16:9, or widescreen, format. This is also approximately the format that lots of movies are shot in--meaning that when you watch a widescreen movie on DVD (or HD-DVD, soon), there are no black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. (That's not strictly true, actually; some movies are filmed in 2.35:1, whereas 16:9 is about 1.78:1, so The Lord of the Rings, for example, has small black bars. But nothing like what you'd get on a normal TV, where the image would only fill half the screen.)

By the way, if you want more reason to buy widescreen, look at your monitor. Really--look at it. Does it fill your field of vision? Position yourself so you feel like it fills your view from top to bottom--and notice that there's a lot of space on both sides that you can see quite clearly. That's because we see the world in "widescreen." Look in the mirror--are your eyes shaped more like a square or a wide rectangle?

I hope you're convinced. The sooner you buy your new HDTV, the sooner I'll be able to take full advantage of mine!