Introduction
Thank You for Choosing rCa
Congratulations on purchasing this RCA High Definition Television (HDTV) featuring Texas
Instruments Digital Light Processing® technology–a true viewing experience. Your purchase
decision represents an investment in a new generation of technology–DLP and HDTV. Even
though this is a technologically advanced HDTV, it is the most user-friendly of its kind–with
comprehensive on-screen instructions that guide you through all of the TV’s features. There are
three main things about HDTV that bring you a superior viewing experience: (1) resolution, (2)
aspect ratio, and (3) digital signal and sound.
resolution
The crisp, lifelike picture that people rave about when experiencing true HDTV is due to the
resolution this technology provides. HDTV is capable of resolution that is up to almost 10 times
the resolution of the picture on a regular, analog TV!
aspect ratio
Aspect ratio is simply the width and height of the picture. Regular TVs use a 4
x 3 aspect ratio, which means the picture is a little wider than it is tall (a screen
that is 20 inches wide is about 15 inches tall).
As TVs dropped in price and people prospered in the 1950s, the movie industry
created the 16 x 9 aspect ratio (also called widescreen format) to get people
back to seeing movies. When the standards for HDTV were being developed by
the ATSC (Advanced Television Standards Committee), the 16 x 9 aspect ratio
was chosen as the format for HDTV.
This widescreen format is much closer to the way we see and the pictures are
crisper and cleaner with more detail in the close-up and panoramic views.
Digital Signal and Sound
The analog television broadcast system that has been used in the United
States for the past 50 years transmits signals as electronic waves. These waves
can suffer degradation as the signal travels to your home. Digital signals, in
contrast to analog signals, can be reproduced precisely because the images
are transmitted and received using the computer language of 1s and 0s. Such
precision yields a signal that is capable of displaying studio-quality picture and
Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound.
DLP® is a trademark of Texas Instruments
16 x 9 aspect ratio
4 x 3 aspect ratio
