TEA London News & Views

Tea London's Elton gives some thoughts on the future of home automation, and how the humble PC can play an important role in changing your TV viewing habits.

From a young age I have always been surprised how ideas and concepts imagined by the fertile minds of Science Fiction authors and scriptwriters became to be realised as significant technical accomplishments later on. I have come to understand that pretty much anything is possible if we have the vision to imagine it and the willpower to accomplish it.

Nowadays home automation presents home owners with the level of automation and integration so advanced that it is not so much what it automate for you, but more a case of how much you can invest in it. With the advent of affordable home control system products such as the hardware based Control4 systems to software driven systems like Stardraw Control, the notion of installing a home automation system no longer exclusively applies to the incredibly wealthy. It now puts it within reach of those consumers who can comfortably afford to buy, say, a Mac notebook computer.

In addition to installing home automation control systems, I still see the PC as the essential piece of 'kit' as the centre of any home AV system, and will likely will win out over more complicated and specialised home control systems as time goes on. It already provides a compelling array of Media storage and delivery services. Windows Media Centre, which is a 'built-in' feature of most versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7, provides you with a media-centric, intuitive user interface that is designed to be displayed and comforttably on flatscreen TV's.

We are looking forward to the next release in Windows 8, which is currently in test or 'preview' stages of development. The first version of the new Media Centre Metro application included in the latest preview release.

Some reasons why Windows Media Centre is good for you:

•  Simplified file sharing. File sharing is not a big deal, it can be achieved with most computers or even with NAS drives, however something like recorded TV is not something that is typically shared. Using Media Centre to record TV, means that recorded TV is stored as a video file, that can be opened by any other system capable of running Media Centre. If you imagine how, for example, SKY+ operates, where recordings are only accessible on the box that recorded a programme, you may being to understand how this subtle difference can bring about significant advantages to you.
• Windows Media Centre typicall supports 4 tuners of any type or combination. So it is possible for you to have 'PVR' that is capable of receiving and recording both terrestrial and Satellite TV. Normally a PVR is restricted to only receiving signals from either source.
• With satellite tunes, Windows Media Centre supports DISEqC switching. This allows you to connect either a motorised satellite dish or an array of fixed position satellite dishes to one tuner.  Again this does may not sound like a big deal, but it is possible for you to have up to 4 'positions' configured per satellite tuner, each position relating to a dish that is aimed at a different broadcast satellite. This greatly increases the number of TV channels you can view. Windows makes the selection of this various satellite dishes transparent, these positions are selected simply by you changing channel. Usually TV content is limited to 'unscrambled' channels only, but it is possible to get some PayTV or scubscription based TV services working on this system, if the encryption system used by the broadcaster is more 'open'. Sadly SKY is not one of them - we suspect that even if people wanted to pay a premium to watch their services on a system on this, they will never allow it to happen. Using a simple 2 dish configuration with a TV antenna, comprising of FreeSAT (ASTRA2) and a dish aimed at European TV Services (Astra1), you will have in excess of 1000 free-to-air TV channels at your disposal. A surprising number of them are broadcast in HD, with more and more broadcasters launched HD services on a regular basis.
• Although Media Centre can't natively decode scrambled services like SKY and Virgin, it is still possible for you to connect our set-top box to a Media Centre PC. The Media Centre PC will provide you with full TV listings in its programme guide, and can change channels on the set-top box automatically. The only real weakness in this ability is that it deliver video in full HD quality. You certainly can view and record HD channels, but the viewing experience will always be in standard definition. The ability to connect HD devices for the purposes of recording still remains a sensitive issue for the likes of Hollywood, so this is more political/business restriction, rather than a technological one.
• The killer feature of Media Centre is its fully interactive TV programme schedule guide. It will provide you with one, fully consolidated programme guide of all of your TV channels - regardless of whether it is a foreign satellite service or FreeView/FreeSAT services. It provides you with a 2 week guide that you can look browse not only in chronological order by category, genre, actor, director and using text searching. You can for example, browse for all films that will be broadcast across all of your available TV channels for the next two weeks. By selecting to record any of the films that suit your tastes, you can rapidly build up a movie library at no cost and perfectly legally. Remember the rest of the home can share and access these recordings too. The guide fundamentally works the same as any other interactive guide, however its two week time line and its flexibility in how you can browse the guide makes it by far the best interactive programme guide we have ever used.
• I don't think I need to remind people how easy it is to rip music CD's and built-up a music library. You can also rip DVD's and Blu-Ray content, but this is a more complicated area which also has copyright implications.
• As Windows Media Centre is a PC. This means it can playback all mainstream media file and disc formats. It is a truly universal media player, wiping out the need for you to adopt one video or audio standard or install additional equipment for the purposes of playing specific media (it makes installing a separate Blu-Ray player, DVD Player, CD Player, AppleTV, or media streamer redundant). It can play proprietary content such as Windows Media or Apple iTunes content as well as all other open video and audio file formats. Of course it can also access web based services, giving you access to a vast array of online, on-demand video and audio sources.

Internet TV and other on-demand service clearly will become more popular with consumers than traditional off-air TV viewing (broadcast TV).  All mid-ranged or better flatscreen TV's have networking capabilities. They have buildin-in 'apps' that will give you access to online services like YouTube, BBC iPlayer and Skype, even access to LoveFilm's online content. This to some extend negates the need for a media PC to be attached directly to the TV. You could access media stored on the PC using DLNA. Flatscreen TV's are becoming 'smarter', and they are progressively becoming purpose built 'appliance computers'. Soon plugging your laptop into the TV will become a thing of the past.

The manner in which TV and PC's are merging it would make sense to only install one or the other in any room - why have both?

Tablet PC's  will ultimately become your remote control that can handle almost all control of your home automation system. From TV remote control to the light switch. You can view your CCTV cameras, or answer your door phone from the same device. Perhaps you might want it to open the window for you and automatically turn off your air con at the same time.

The automated stuff we used to watch in Sci-Fi movies is becoming reality. Things that seem far fetched today will more than likely be accomplished sooner than you think.

The now end of life Philips 42PFL5604 represents the 42″ model of entry level 5000 series range. Despite it being Philips’ entry level 42″ LCD TV, it is still a Philips product; this means at around £650 it certainly is not entry-level pricing, but then it certainly does not deliver entry-level performance.

The 42PFL5604 is a compelling choice as an entry level Full-HD 42″ monitor. Large format, entry-level monitors are only capable of displaying screen resolutions of 1024×768, and carry a price tag similar to that of the 42PFL5604. Most TV’s, even Full HD ones, can only display VGA video at resolutions no higher than 1368×720, but Philips are different in this respect, it can natively display VGA at the Full HD resolution of 1920×1080. To get similar results, you would need to spend over  £1400 on a Full HD capable monitor, and you wouldn’t get built-in speakers or the same diversity of inputs.

First impressions

In the box you get a manual, CD manual, remote control and table-top stand.

First impressions of the set is that it is well built, but only as solid as a plastic trim can be. The styling and the bezel is similar to that of a BenQ monitor or even a Sharp LCD TV, nothing spectacular. The curved piano black plastic bezel is fairly chunky, but then it does need to hold a sizeable LCD panel in place. The unit has none of the high-end Philips features such as Ambilight or advanced video post processing.

The back of the unit has only a basic set of inputs, which should be sufficient for most applications, these include VGA, 3 HDMI, 2 SCART, Component, USB and composite. The table-top stand is sturdy and heavy, and provides solid support for the TV set and allows for the set to be pivoted on the base over a reasonable arc.

Usage tests

After powering on the unit you are run through a set-up menu, which is notably, err, prettier than most set-up menus, in fact it is better than most TV sets we have worked with. The same smooth graphical style reappears when the TV provides feedback on remote control commands (volume, input selection, etc). The set-up process also includes basic image calibration process which anybody can complete.

Our tests centred on typical ‘TEA London’ usage scenarios which is almost exclusively computer generated video – Windows Media Centre  et al, so although this is a TV, we have not conducted intensive testing on its tuner capabilities – and given that over half of the FreeView channels are highly compressed, there seemed little point to test this as our viewing would invariably settle on the best, BBC and the worst, Viva/ITV/Five.

VGA output is clear, well defined and sharp. Using standards Windows applications are displayed legibly at our test distance of 3 metres away from the screen. There is a slight softness to text and hairlines, so the display output is not as well defined as a professional monitor, such as the Panasonic TH-42PF11 series plasma monitors, so this monitor is perhaps not the best choice for the display of text based video output, such as spreadsheets, high resolution charts and small text.

With graphics applications it is certainly is comfortable size to be working off. The TV’s settings give you quite a number of display calibration settings, and with some work you can get accurate colour reproduction on the screen, although I would not go so far as to recommend that professional photographers, publishers and graphic designers would use the 42PFL5604 as a primary reference, but if you don’t have the cash for a monitor, this is the next best thing you can buy, although to any professional I would always recommend they spend their £850 on a high-end sub 26″ monitor instead.

When it comes to video, this is where the 42PFL5604 starts to shine. The TV did need some image calibration, the out of the box settings are not bad, but the image can be greatly improved by applying some manual tweaks to the settings applied by the set after running the initial Philips Image Set Up routine. No matter what video we threw at the monitor, it produced an excellent images, that is well defined and shows no strong or visible motion blurring in fast moving scenes. The set smooths out lower resolution video cleanly, and shows pin-sharp definition with HD content such as blu-ray movies. In fact we can find very little wrong with the 42PFL5604′s performance considering its price point, you would be hard pressed to find something with similar performance for the same money.

So what we have is a TV set that is capable of being used as a monitor which opens up a number of possibilities at this very compelling price point. To put it simply, no TV can match the sharpness and brightness of a professional monitor, nor would a TV be flexible to reliably display resolutions other than its native resolution. The build quality of professional monitors is far better than any entry to mid-high level TV, the monitor will have a glass front, normally uses a higher quality display panel and is engineered to have a very long lifespan – so please do not take this review as an endorsement that a TV should be chosen over a monitor for computer generated video, but the Philips 42PFL5604 does provide you with a compelling choice for an entry level large format LCD display.

I have noticed an increase in the press about the recent announcement of high definition (HD) broadcasts that will be made over the UK terrestrial digital TV service known as FreeView; these announcements that HD broadcasts will be broadcast over our airwaves, rather than exclusively over satellite services is a big boon. We are very happy that almost everyone home in the UK will be able to receive HD TV without the need for a satellite dish is good news.

What is perhaps not good news is that the vast majority of FreeView receivers, being both the set-top box variety and those tuners that are built-in to your TV, will not be capable of receiving, or at least, decoding these HD broadcasts over the FreeView service.

The press, not all of the press, but the sort of press that is aimed at the lowest common denominator, and has some ties to BSKYB (like those owned by News International, or those that broadcast their Porn channels on Sky), have decided to call foul on this limitation found within the vast majority FreeView tuners.

The theme that most of these news articles follow is consumers are being deceived, no conned, when they are sold an HD-Ready, or Full HD capable TV without the ability to tune in and decode these HD broadcasts. Not 5 minutes after FreeView made the announcement that they will begin HD broadcasts in 2010, did the alarmist and techno-ignorant press jump on the caveat emptor bandwagon stating that if you buy a TV set today, you will not be able to receieve HD TV. Surely the consumer will expect to be able to receive HD broadcasts out of the box, especially when their TV set has an ‘HD-Ready’ logo sticker on it?

I would agree that it is a realistic expectation for consumers to expect to receive HD TV from their TV set, but the reality is that out-of-the-box, almost all TV sets require some sort of additional hardware to in order to watch HD pictures. Think about it… if you want:

• High definition films, your DVD player will not cut the mustard; you need to get yourself a blu-ray player; and yes… blu-ray movies to play on the blu-ray player. These players can play DVD’s, so this does not mean you have to chuck away you entire DVD collection, but it does mean that these discs are standard definition, and whilst your player, TV or AV receiver may be able to upscale the standard definition picture to a high-definition picture (like 1080p), the source still remains standard definition
• HD TV, you need a HD TV service. TV’s that have FreeSAT tuners are capable of receiving HD TV broadcasts through a satellite dish, but more often than not those consumer who are serious about receiving HD TV will subscribe to a pay-TV service like SKY HD or Virgin HD; this will enable them to receive more channels than the standard FreeSAT offerings. This is my biggest suspicion as to who’s agenda is being circulated around the press… the press is stating you will need to buy a new HD FreeView receiver in order to receive the FreeView HD broadcasts, but none of saying that the same applies to existing SKY and Virgin Media subscribers too. If you are a SKY subscriber, and you purchase an HD ready TV, it does not mean you will receive HD TV. Only once you have ordered this service, had a new box installed (which does carry an installation cost) and subscribed to a HD TV package, which costs more than a standard SKY/Virgin subscription, will your HD Ready TV show off its capabilities. The FreeView HD service will incur a once-off cost for the purchase of a HD capable receiver, and these are very modestly priced, some cost as much as the installation costs of the pay-TV services, or a modest £140 will get you a HD capable PVR.
• Games consoles: Nintendo Wii does not display HD, Xbox 360 and PS3 games consoles do, all you need to purchase is an HDMI cable… the PS3 has the added bonus of being able to play blu-ray movies
• Audio: Most older AV receivers are not capable of decoding the newer high-definition audio soundtracks found on newer blu-ray moview releases, meaning that for those who really love their home surround sound will likely need to purchase new kit here… again the press has nothing to say about this, this of course is merely the advancement of technology; why is the announcement of FeeView HD any different?

Consumers should not confuse the the ‘HD Ready’ moniker as being description of the capabilities of the TV tuner, no more than you can expect to view HD using a standard SKY receiver, Virgin Media cable box, DVD player, video machine or games console, unless these devices are HD capable themselves.

Quite simply there are no HD channels at the present time being broadcast on terrestrial services, so how on earth can TV manufacturers be realistically be expected to have this capability ready, this is also a very recent announcement by the FreeView group, and thus manufacturers will need to ‘catch-up’ with this announcement to their commitment to the broadcast of HD TV.

A set that is ‘HD ready’ has nothing to do with what TV signals it is capable of receiving and displaying, it merely describes the maximum level of resolution, or detail the TV is capable of displaying; this does not mean the TV set is magically going to be able to take a lower resolution (standard definition) picture and magically convert it into anything better than what it receives in the first place.

What the press are also failing to mention is that the announcement of the FreeView HD services, due for launch in 2010, is actually an outstanding technical achievement. They have developed a technology that was first launched as the doomed ITV Digital service, a service that is well over 10 years old (and its technology equally old) into something that was initially thought to be impossible to achieve. Yes, they have made a technological achievement that means if you want these new features, you will have to upgrade your existing set-top box, or simply be patient and wait for the TV manufacturers to announce when their TV sets will be capable of receiving Terrestrial Digital HD TV. Buy a TV set today, you will most definitely need new hardware only if you want FreeView HD, otherwise you can continue using FreeView unhindered without any changes required to your TV or set-top box. You can even have HD TV today if you opt for FreeSAT (available on Panasonic TV’s), or you can wait for the TV manufacturers to catch-up and develop tuners that will take advantage of this very positive announcement.

Remember, whenever a new innovation and positive announcement is made in the TV broadcast arena, and this is quickly slagged off by the press, always question what the true motives are… more often than not it will be something that threatens someone’s comfortable and unchallenged position in the TV market, and will bring about some healthy competition.