The KDL32V2500 is a HDTV. The new HD Ready 32" V series features Sony’s exclusive advanced technology, such as “Live Colour Creation”, “BRAVIA ENGINE” and high performance LCD panel for its high picture quality. In addition, this series has enhanced c onnectivity and convenient features.
LCD: Liquid Crystal Display technology is one of the methods used to create flat-panel TVs. Light isn't created by the liquid crystals; a light source (bulb) behind the panel shines light through the display. The display consists of two polarizing transparent panels and a liquid crystal solution sandwiched in between. An electric current passed through the liquid causes the crystals to align so that light cannot pass through them. Each crystal acts like a shutter, either allowing light to pass through or blocking the light. The pattern of transparent and dark crystals forms the image. LCD technology is used in direct-view, rear-projection and front- projection TVs.
Many common TV signal standards are based on a 50 Hz (or 50 times per second) picture update rate. At this update rate, pictures can display flicker. 100 Hz technology doubles the update rate and removes the flicker so the picture becomes smoother.
100 Hz Digital Plus
A development of 100 Hz technology that ensures a smoother transition from one frame to the next; it also eliminates line flicker.
1080i
The number 1080 relates to 1080 lines of vertical resolution, while the letter i stands for interlaced or non-progressive scan. 1080i is considered to be an HDTV video mode and is often used as shorthand to describe a group of video standards.
1080p
The ultimate HD format – 1080p provides more than 2 million pixels for a smooth high resolution image. Here the 'p' shows that the image employs the progressive or non-interlaced picture-scanning process where all the lines of the image are refreshed by every vertical scan. 1080p is the maximum resolution defined for HDTV use and this format is used for Blu-ray Disc® and PLAYSTATION®3.
14:9 Mode
Enables a 16:9 TV to display a 14:9 format broadcast to its full potential by expanding the picture until it fills the screen vertically.
16:9 Mode
TV signals coming from Laser Disc or camcorder in squeezed format can also be reproduced on 4:3 picture tubes without any distortion by manually switching to the 16:9 mode. Anamorphic recordings (squeezed recording) from a camcorder or DVD player can be viewed on a 4:3 set with no distortion.
3D Sound System
A three-way sound system with speakers for left and right channels and a passive subwoofer.
3LCD
Sony designation for rear projection televisions and front screen projectors that use three separate liquid crystal display panels –one each devoted to imaging red, green and blue– that turn pixels on and off.
576i
576i relates to the number of Horizontal interlaced lines used by a Standard Definition output device (e.g. a TV)
ANSI Lumen
An ANSI Lumen is a standard unit of brightness as defined by the American National
Advanced 100 Hz Digital Motion
Many common TV signal standards are based on a 50 Hz (or 50 times per second) picture update rate. At this update rate, pictures can display flicker. Advanced 100 Hz Digital Plus uses advanced Digital Signal Processing and Motion Detection to provide a sharper and smoother image, even for pictures containing fast-moving detail.
Advanced 100 Hz Digital Plus
Many common TV signal standards are based on a 50 Hz (or 50 times per second) picture update rate. At this update rate, pictures can display flicker. Advanced 100 Hz Digital Plus uses integrated Digital Signal Processing to provide a sharper, smoother image.
Advanced IQ Picture
Automatic picture adjustment depending on input signal. For optimal viewing conditions.
Aspect ratio
The ratio of width to height for an image or screen. More and more especially digital TVs use the wider 16:9 ratio (1.78:1) to better display widescreen material like DVDs and HDTV broadcasts.
Auto 16:9
Automatically switches the TV to 16:9 full-screen mode upon receipt of an encoded signal supplied by a broadcasting station.
Auto Convergence
Pressing a button on the front panel of a CRT rear-projection TV automatically adjusts the convergence of the red, green and blue CRTs to ensure true picture purity.
Auto Label
Auto Label utilises the additional information from teletext messages broadcast by individual stations. The identification label is used to automatically identify the pre-set stations.
Auto Standby
If you miss the end of a programme, Auto Standby automatically switches the TV to standby 60 minutes later.
Auto Start Up Tuning
When a TV is switched on for the first time, the viewer will be asked by screen message if he/she wishes to have the TV tuned in with all receivable channels. If yes, it will automatically tune all channels. If no, the viewer can either use one-button tuning or manual tuning.
Auto Surround
Auto Surround automatically activates the Dolby® Pro Logic® decoder if a programme is being transmitted with the relevant Dolby® Pro Logic® signal.
Auto Wide
Automatically switches Widescreen TV to the appropriate zoom mode for either 4:3 or letterbox broadcast.
Automatic Channel Installation (ACI)
If this feature is provided in your cable network, your TV can be tuned automatically, including all channel indications and labels.
BRAVIA
Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture
BRAVIA ENGINE
BRAVIA ENGINE is the high picture performance engine used in the latest Sony LCD televisions. An original picture tuning and noise reduction process was developed by Sony to guarantee vivid and high contrast images. The complex noise reduction process enhances low contrast images until they are crisp and realistic, and processes blues, greens and whites within each frame to generate the richness and colour accuracy.
BRAVIA ENGINE EX
BRAVIA ENGINE EX is an enhanced version of the now renowned BRAVIA ENGINE Intelligent Picture Technology. It performs many of the same functions, but at a far higher level. Four advanced technologies (Composite Component Technology, Image Format Technology, Flat Panel Display Driver Technology and Digital Reality Creation) combine to produce outstanding picture performance with even greater density and depth.
Black Trinitron®
Colours appear more brilliant if viewed against a black background. Sony Black Trinitron® picture tubes have a special dark tint that makes colours more intense and improves contrast.
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc is a high-density optical disc format designed for storage of high-definition video and data.
Bluetooth®
Bluetooth® is a low-cost short-range wireless system for communication of data and voice. A Bluetooth® device contains hardware and software that enables it to communicate with other Bluetooth® devices.
CRT
Cathode Ray Tube, used in direct-view television monitors, computer desktop monitors and `tri-tube' projection devices.
Clear Photo LCD Plus
Clear Photo LCD Plus is an improved visibility LCD screen with higher screen resolution and an increased colour gamut with higher contrast. This enables better film composition and focussing, in dark or bright environments and a sharper image during playback
Clipboard
This clipboard function is available on TVs that feature two tuners. When the clipboard is selected, the screen is split into two sections. The current picture is frozen on the right-hand side while the programme continues uninterrupted on the left section of the screen. This is an ideal feature for making a note of an address, phone number or even a recipe.
Coaxial cable
A cable in which one conductor is accurately centered inside another, with both conductors carrying signal ± primarily for the transmission of high frequency, such as digital signals or television.
Composite Video
The composite video signal is one where the luminance and chrominance are mixed together.
Contrast Ratio
The ratio between the darkest and lightest spot projected onto a screen by a projector or visible on a screen.
DDPEC
Dynamic Digital Picture Enhancement Circuit. See IQ Vision.
DLP
Stands for Digital Light Processing. It is a microdisplay technology invented by Texas Instruments, DLP is based on a digital micromirror device (DMD), a chip with millions of hinged, microscopic mirrors attached. Each mirror corresponds to a single pixel in the projected image. Red, green, and blue light filtered through a colour wheel is directed alternately onto the DMD, which switches on and off up to 5,000 times a second. The reflected light is directed through a lens and onto a screen, creating an image. High-end HDTV projectors use a three-chip solution, with separate DMD's for green, red, and blue, and forego the colour wheel.
DVI
Stands for Digital Visual Interface. This is a high-bandwidth video connection that carries digitised RGB picture information and can support copy-protection methods. The DVI specification allows for the presentation device and display device to agree on an optimal picture size and resolution to ensure the highest quality picture automatically.
Digital Comb Filter
(DCF) TV signals often combine black-and-white and colour information into a single signal. A Digital Comb Filter separates the colour and black-and-white picture information, ensuring crisp and sharp picture detail without the kind of picture vibration experienced with fine picture detail.
Digital Constant Image
DCI creates a completely flicker-free screen image for LCD projectors.
Digital Reality Creation
(DRC) Using unique Sony algorithms, DRC tries to replicate a high-definition TV picture from a standard-definition TV signal.
Digital Sound Processing
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) can alter the atmosphere of the sound reproduction, giving a heightened spacial feel to the sound.
Digital Zoom
Will zoom up 4:3 standard letterbox broadcasting without disturbing line structure.
Dolby Digital 5.1 creator
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Creator lets you produce memories complete with surround sound when played back on compatible equipment
Dolby ProLogic Dolby Digital
When a Dolby Surround soundtrack is produced, four channels of audio information are encoded onto two audio tracks. These two tracks are then carried on stereo program sources such as videotapes and TV broadcasts into the home, where they can be decoded by Dolby Pro Logic® Dolby Digital to recreate the original four-channel surround sound experience.
Dolby® Pro Logic® II X decoder
The Dolby® Pro Logic® II X decoder is the first and only technology to expand any existing stereo- or 5.1-channel audio for a 6.1- or 7.1- channel playback. This creates a seamless, natural surround soundfield that immerses the listener in the entertainment experience.
Dolby® Pro Logic® Surround Sound
Technology enabling the creation of three-dimensional sound effects.
High-definition television (HDTV) is a television broadcasting system with a significantly higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL) allow. Except for early analog formats in Europe and Japan, HDTV is broadcast digitally, and therefore its introduction sometimes coincides with the introduction of digital television (DTV): this technology was first introduced in the USA during the 1990s, by the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance (grouping together AT&T, General Instrument, MIT, Philips, Sarnoff, Thomson, and Zenith)[1].
While a number of high-definition television standards have been proposed or implemented on a limited basis, the current HDTV standards are defined in ITU-R BT.709 as 1080 active interlaced or progressive lines, or 720 progressive lines, using a 16:9 aspect ratio. The term "high-definition" can refer to the resolution specifications themselves, or more loosely to media capable of similar sharpness, such as photographic film.
In the context of HDTV, the formats of the broadcasts are referred to using a notation describing:
A frame or field rate can also be specified without a resolution. For example 24p means 24 progressive frames per second and 50i means 25 interlaced frames per second, consisting of 50 interlaced fields per second.
Most HDTV systems support some standard resolutions and frame or field rates. The most common are noted below.
It should be noted that the terminology described above was invented for digital systems in the 1990s. Before that, analog TV had no true "pixels" to measure horizontal resolution, and vertical scan-line count included off-screen scan lines with no picture information while the CRT beam returned to the top of the screen to begin another field. Thus NTSC was considered to have "525 lines" even though only 480 of them had a picture (625/576 for PAL). Similarly the Japanese MUSE system was called "1125 line", but is only 1035i by today's measuring standards. This change was made because digital systems have no need of blank retrace lines unless the signal was converted to analog to drive a CRT.
The optimum formats for a broadcast depends on the type of media used for the recording and the characteristics of the content. The field and frame rate should match the source, as should the resolution. On the other hand, a very high resolution source may require more bandwidth than is available in order to be transmitted without loss of fidelity. The lossy compression that is used in all digital HDTV storage/transmission systems will then cause the received picture to appear distorted when compared to the uncompressed source.
Photographic film destined for the theater typically has a high resolution and is photographed at 24 frame/s. Depending on the available bandwidth and the amount of detail and movement in the picture, the optimum format for video transfer is thus either 720p24 or 1080p24. When shown on television in countries using PAL, film must be converted to 25 frames per second by speeding it up by 4.1%. In countries using the NTSC standard, (60 fps) a technique called 3:2 pulldown is used. One film frame is held for three video fields, (1/20 of a second) and then the next is held for two video fields (1/30 of a second) and then the process repeats, thus achieving the correct film rate with two film frames shown in 1/12 of a second. (See also: Telecine)
Older (pre-HDTV) recordings on video tape such as Betacam SP are often either in the form 480i60 or 576i50. These may be upconverted to a higher resolution format (720i), but removing the interlace to match the common 720p format may distort the picture or require filtering which actually reduces the resolution of the final output. (See also: Deinterlacing)
Non-cinematic HDTV video recordings are recorded in either 720p or 1080i format. The format depends on the broadcast company if destined for television broadcast; however, in other scenarios the format choice will vary depending on a variety of factors. In general, 720p is more appropriate for fast action as it uses progressive fields, as opposed to 1080i which uses interlaced fields and thus can have a degradation of image quality with fast motion. In addition, 720p is used more often with Internet distribution of HD video, as all computer monitors are progressive, and most graphics cards do a poor job of de-interlacing video in real time. 720p Video also has lower storage and decoding requirements than 1080i or 1080p, and few people possess displays capable of displaying the 1920x1080 resolution without scaling. 720p appears at full resolution on a common 1280x1024 LCD, which can be found for under $250. An LCD capable of native 1080p resolution costs close to 300 dollars.
In North America, Fox, ABC, and ESPN (ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney) currently broadcast 720p content. NBC, Universal HD (both owned by General Electric), CBS, HBO-HD, INHD, HDNet ,TNT, and Discovery HD Theater currently broadcast 1080i content.
HDTV is capable of "theater-quality" audio because it uses the Dolby Digital (AC-3) format to support "5.1" surround sound.
The pixel aspect ratio of native HD signals is a "square" 1.0, or 1 pixel length = 1 pixel width. New HD compression and recording formats such as HDV use rectangular pixels for more efficient compression and to open HDTV acquisition for the consumer market.
For more technical details see the articles on HDV, ATSC, DVB, and ISDB.
Within television studios and other production and distribution facilities, HD-SDI SMPTE 292M interconnect standard (a nominally 1.485 Gbit/s, 75-ohm serial digital interface) is used to route uncompressed HDTV signals. The native bitrate of HDTV formats cannot be supported by 6-8MHz standard-definition television channels for over-the-air broadcast and consumer distribution media, hence the widespread use of compression in consumer applications. SMPTE 292M interconnects are generally unavailable in consumer equipment, partially due to the expense involved in supporting this format, and partially because consumer electronics manufacturers are required (typically by licensing agreements) to provide encrypted digital outputs on consumer video equipment, for fear that this would aggravate the issue of video piracy.
Newer dual-link HD-SDI signals are needed for the latest 4:4:4 camera systems (Sony HDC-F950 & Thomson Viper), where one link/coax cable contains the 4:2:2 YCbCr info and the other link/coax cable contains the additional 0:2:2 CbCr information.
Main article: Analog high-definition television systems
The term "high definition" was used to describe the electronic television systems of the late 1930s and 1940s beginning with the former British 405-line black-and-white system, introduced in 1936; however, this and the subsequent 525-line U.S. NTSC system, established in 1941, were high definition only in comparison with previous mechanical and electronic television systems, and NTSC, along with the later European 625-line PAL and SECAMs, is described as standard definition today.
On the other hand, the 819-line French black-and-white television system introduced after World War II arguably was high definition in the modern sense, as it had a line count and theoretical maximum resolution considerably higher than those of the 625-line systems introduced across most of postwar Europe. However, it required far more bandwidth than other systems, and was switched off in 1986, two years after the final British 405-line broadcasts.
Japan was the only country where commercial analog HDTV was launched and had some success. In other places, such as Europe, analog (HD-MAC) HDTV failed. Finally, although the United States experimented with analog HDTV (there were about 10 proposed formats), it soon moved towards a digital approach.
Main article: High-definition pre-recorded media and compression HDTV can be recorded to D-VHS (Data-VHS), W-VHS (analog only), to a HDTV-capable digital video recorder (for example DirecTV's high-definition TiVo or SkyHD's set-top box), a HDTV-ready Windows Media Center, DirecTV's Plus HD DVR H20 or Dish Network's DVR 921, 942 or VIP622.
The massive amount of data storage required to archive uncompressed streams make it unlikely that an uncompressed storage option will appear in the consumer market soon. Realtime MPEG-2 compression of an uncompressed digital HDTV signal is also prohibitively expensive for the consumer market at this time, but should become inexpensive within several years (although this is more relevant for consumer HD camcorders than recording HDTV). Analog tape recorders with bandwidth capable of recording analog HD signals such as W-VHS recorders are no longer produced for the consumer market and are both expensive and scarce in the secondary market.
In the USA, as part of the FCC's "plug and play" agreement, cable companies are required to provide customers that rent HD set-top boxes with a set-top box with "functional" Firewire (IEEE 1394) upon request. None of the direct broadcast satellite providers have offered this feature on any of their supported boxes, but some cable TV companies have. As of July 2004, boxes are not included in the FCC mandate. This content is protected by encryption known as 5C. [2]. This encryption can prevent someone from recording content at all or simply limit the number of copies.
Source: Wikipedia
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