Gateway Puts Plasma Within Reach
I haven't yet been invited over to his house to watch TV, but I've heard that Bill Gates has several large-screen flat-panel displays at his $53 million mansion.
I don't live in a $53 million house, but -- for a few days last week -- I was able to sit back on my couch and watch TV and DVDs on a 42-inch flat-panel display. And you don't have to be the richest man in the world to afford such a set.
Gateway recently introduced a 42-inch flat-panel plasma display for $2,999. While that still may be beyond the budget of most families, it's a lot cheaper than the going rate for similar displays.
The screen, which weighs 68 pounds, may be large, but it's only about 4 inches thick. That's because plasma, like LCDs (liquid crystal displays), doesn't require a large electron gun as do standard picture tubes (CRTs or cathode ray tubes).
Plasma screens look a lot like large LCD screens, although they use a different technology. Electrodes between the glass panels change the state of the plasma, controlling how the red, green and blue elements of each pixel emit light. If you're curious, you can learn more about this at www.howstuffworks.com/plasma-display1.htm.
One advantage of a plasma screen is that it's a lot thinner and lighter than a standard large-screen TV. I still needed my son to help me take it out of the box, but it was easier to handle than my 36-inch Sony Vega CRT.
As you would expect from something as high-tech as this, there were a few challenges getting everything set up, but that's mostly because of all the optional inputs at the back of the unit.
Unlike some large plasma screens, the Gateway does come with a tuner, so it's ready out of the box to watch TV via an antenna, cable or satellite. It also has all the usual audio-video connectors including S-Video, RCA jacks and digital audio.
I connected it to my AT&T cable TV system and to my TiVo personal video recorder. I also plugged in a DVD player and a PC laptop to see how the screen performed as a computer monitor.
The quality of the TV signal was OK, though by no means spectacular, but that's because of the relatively poor quality signal coming from the cable box. Watching a DVD movie on this screen, however, was terrific. Aside from being larger and cooler looking than our standard Sony TV, the signal was actually a bit sharper, which is saying a lot, considering how good a job Sony does with its CRT displays.
As a computer monitor, the Gateway screen was mediocre. It was quite fuzzy when I used my laptop's full 1024-by-768 resolution, but it got better at 800 by 600. This monitor is fine for presentations, but while it's possible to use as a PC monitor for regular use, it really isn't optimal.
Gateway markets the screen as "HDTV Signal Compatible," which means that it can receive signals from a high definition TV decoder. However, it doesn't come with a decoder and it doesn't have the same resolution as a true HDTV set. The Gateway screen has a resolution of 852 by 480 pixels, which classifies it as an EDTV (enhanced digital television).
EDTV isn't as high resolution as HDTV, but it's noticeably better than the standard definition TV that most of us are used to. When you view a DVD, for example, on the Gateway, you will notice that it's clearer than on a standard TV. HDTV has a minimum resolution of 720 by 1280; Standard TV is 480 by 640.
Like most HDTV sets, the Gateway does have progressive scanning, which means that it refreshes the entire picture every sixtieth of a second, which is smoother than a more traditional "interlaced scan" that refreshes the screen every thirtieth of a second.
If all these numbers confuse you, welcome to the wacky world of digital TV and its confusing standards. To make life easy, here's a simple guide: Standard TV is OK, EDTV is very good and HDTV is almost like being in a movie theater. Personally, I'd be willing to settle for "very good" and save the extra $3,000 or so for 335 tickets to my local movie theater. Or, I could wait until HDTV prices come down, but by that time I may be ready for the local theater's senior discount.
Like most of today's large-screen TVs, the Gateway model has the 16-to-9 aspect ratio, similar to what you get in a movie theater. This means that the ratio of the width of the display screen to the height is 16 to 9. Standard TVs have an aspect ratio of 4:3, which is closer to a square than a wide format rectangle. Wide-screen TV advocates claim that that makes for a more "immersive" and intense viewing experience.
I find that a bit hard to measure, but I must say that I prefer watching movies on this wide format because, unlike a standard TV set, what you see is exactly what the director wants you to see. In some ways, the screen's format is its greatest assets. The higher resolution is nice, but the shape of the screen really does seem to enhance the viewing experience.
The sound from the set's built-in speakers is nothing to get excited about, but you rarely get good sound from internal speakers. If anything, these were tinnier than what I get with my conventional Sony Vega, but the Vega is much thicker so there's room for larger speakers. Anyone who plans to spend $3,000 for a TV set already has or ought to buy an external surround system with a sub-woofer. Gateway offers an optional Bose speaker system, but any good surround sound system will do just fine.
By Larry Magid