Tuesday, Auguest 5, 2008
Program Preview:
What you Always Wanted to Know about HDTV, but May be Afraid to Ask.
Presented by Mark Weiss, Director of Video Production,
MWHD Professional Video Productions

By Flo Ferrara

Mark Weiss is a veteran of the electronics industry, having held positions in the electro-optical, data communications and applications engineering fields. His experience ranges from working with various types of lasers, to early Peltier coolers for solid state lasers, on up to the design of broadcast audio processors, multiplexers and RF generators for broadcast use.

Bringing a wide range of related skills to the business, Mark is a perfectionist whose uncompromising standards produce some of the finest video out there. With experience dating back to the mid-1980s in video and the mid-1970s in the audio field, Mark has warmly embraced the digital era of video and sound and fully understands the mediums in such a manner as to be able to achieve stunning results that represent new benchmarks in the industry. He is the architect behind MW HD Pro Video and has also custom designed all the video editing workstations used to produce the voluminous amounts of video that we work with each week. His philosophy is simple: use the best equipment and software to ensure on-time delivery of the highest quality product. He constantly researches new ideas, drawing from the best all around the world, and bringing fresh ideas to our local clients--ideas which make our products unique and original.

During the early 1990s, Mark ran the DTP SIG and was a DACS member.
After a slowdown in the DTP market in the late 1990s, he returned to the electronics engineering field, this time as a broadcast engineer. As digital video technology became viable, Mark could realize his lifelong interest in cinematography.

So it is with great enthusiasm that we welcome Mark back to the DACS fold. With this presentation Mark plans to clarify the various technologies involved in HDTV, HT and show us how to evaluate individual needs for equipment. Issues such as viewing distance versus visual acuity, the various resolutions offered by flat panel TVs, audio considerations, etc., will be given treatment commensurate with the scope and available time.

Mark will give us answers to these questions and more:

1. What are the different ways I can receive HDTV?
2. Do I need to buy an HDTV with a built-in HDTV tuner?
3. When is the deadline for cutover of broadcast TV to the new HDTV standard?
4. Will my current TV still work?
5. What resolutions does the HDTV standard support?
6. If I buy an HDTV, what resolution should I look for?
7. On what size TV will it matter?
8. What is aspect ratio?
9. How should I watch conventional 4:3 TV on my widescreen TV?
10. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different TV technologies: LCD, plasma, DLP, projection?
11. What new TV technologies are on the horizon?
12. How should I connect my HDTV tuner or other sources to my HDTV?
13. Should I pay extra for "higher quality" cables?
14. What is deep color?
15. What about DVD as a source on an HDTV? What is progressive scan?
16. What should I know about frame rates in film versus TV? What is 3:2 pull down?
17. What is an anamorphic DVD?
18. What will the HDTV successor be for DVDs? Should I buy HD DVD or Blu-ray?

Mark also plans to speak briefly about the production angles as well as the distribution and end-user applications.

Mark also hosts a weekly music program, on Sunday evenings, on radio station WQQQ 103.3 FM in Lakeville, CT, featuring movie soundtrack music from Japan.
Mark has been an avid audiophile for more than three decades, has designed and constructed numerous tube amplifiers, multi-way speaker systems and crossover networks. His sophisticated sound system is featured at www.basspig.com and has drawn international attention with its ability to levitate objects with infrasound.
Mark currently resides in New Milford, CT, with his wife, Mary Ann and daughter, Amanda.

I would also like to add that Mark stepped up to the plate on very short notice, as the scheduled presenter, Ken Yessin from Sounds Incredible bailed out on us at the last minute.

So come ask Mark your HDTV questions and show him how the DACS ‘family’ has remained a very curious and forward thinking bunch. We will all have to deal with the HDTV issue – if not now, certainly by February 2009. Don’t miss this opportunity to be the first on your block with the answers.

DACS meetings are held at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. Activities begin at 6:30 p.m. with registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a question and answer period (Ask DACS), followed by announcements and a short break. The featured evening presentation begins at 8:00.