Tech Glossary: HDTV's

You probably know by now that HD stands for High Definition, but what about all of those other terms people are tossing around?

1080p/1080i + 720p/720i - I'm going to breeze right over this one. A higher number means a more detailed, sharper image. "p" stands for progressive scan, and "i" stands for interlaced. Progressive scan is better than interlaced in terms of visual quality. If you want a more detailed explanation, you can find one here.

Contrast Ratio/Dynamic Contrast Ratio - Contrast ratio is basically a measurement of the range between the lightest and darkest colors displayed on the screen. The larger the ratio, the brighter the brights, the darker the darks. If what your are reading says simply "Contrast Ratio" without "Dynamic", they mean the ratio of just what's capable of being displayed at the same time on screen. Dynamic Contrast Ratio is used to describe televisions where the entire screen adjusts its brightness level, and compares the darkest possible black to the brightest possible white, but those two will never be visible at the same time.

What it means to you: A fixed contrast ratio is the easier to interpret. Small numbers mean that the image on the screen will look a little faded or washed out. Blacks will glow or appear dark grey. Large numbers mean more realistic images, with truer colors. Dynamic contrast ratios really mean nothing to you as a consumer, and manufacturers will not post the meaningful ratios on the outside if they have Dynamic Contrast Ratio listed. They are intended to sound impressive without actually meaning anything about quality(like megapixels when buying a camera). You could ask to see the manuals, or you could simply just look at the display and form your own opinion of the image quality. Look at the black areas on the images, if they are dark enough for you and you can still make out everything else on the screen, that's all you really need. Ignore the numbers.

NTSC/ATSC
NTSC is the "old" analog tv signals that just disappeared from the airways, but are still being sent to your non-HD TV's from the cable/satellite companies. ATSC is the new digital signal. Any HD TV will definitely accept ATSC, and should certainly still accept NTSC, which is important if you don't plan on abandoning your VCR or DVD player anytime soon. Chances are very good that you won't need to be concerned with this for a few more years at least, as it is standard for HD TV's to accept both signals. If you are planning on buying a TV Tuner for your computer, however, you will need to remember this.

HDMI/Component/DVI
These are the commonly accepted inputs for transferring an HD signal to your TV. The main distinction here is that HDMI also sends audio across the same cable, while Component and DVI transmit only video. Technically, component is made up of 3 cables(red, green, and blue) plus whatever audio cables you need(usually the red and white RCA cables), but they tend to sell these as a single cable. There are differences in the video quality across these different cables, but if you are starting off with this guide, chances are good that any of the three would be perfect for you.
-Coax/Composite
These are the old standards of cables for your Standard Definition TV's. Any HD TV will have at least 1 coax(the round, black cord with a single pin in the middle that needs to be screwed in), and many include composite(the red, white and yellow plugs). Having these will be important if you plan on hooking up anything that's not brand new, such as a VCR, DVD player that's a few years old, or any video game consoles from more than a couple years ago. If you have your cable plugged into your HD TV via coax, there are some things to note, which I've mentioned below.

Plasma/LCD(+LED)/DLP/(AM)OLED
The two most common types of HD TV are Plasma and LCD. Plasma's will generally have better contrast ratios and truer motion than LCD and tend to cost more as a result. To address some of the pitfalls of LCD(poor contrast ratios, motion and brightness) some manufacturers are adding Light-Emitting-Diodes to the LCD TV's as a backlight which helps address some of these issues. Pricing for these generally falls between standard LCD's and Plasmas and so does the image quality. These may be marketed only as "LED" TV's but in truth, they are still LCD's, just enhanced. If you are looking for a large TV, 50 inches or larger, DLP is another option. These will not be TV's that you mount to you wall, but rather take up some floor space. They tend to be cheaper than plasmas in the same range, and have a good-quality image. At the time of writing this, any TV with "OLED" in the description is too expensive for anyone, this includes "AMOLED" as well. If future years, they may be priced more reasonably, and I may revisit this topic and speak more on them then.

Noteworthy:
-Garbage in: Garbage out - Unless you have an entirely HD package through your cable or satellite service, you will notice that some channels look horrible on your new TV. They might not be broadcast in HD, so the image quality will be poorer by comparison to everything else. Likewise, if you use coax(the screw on cable) or composite(red, white, yellow) as your inputs, the image quality will not be HD. It's no fault of the TV in these cases, it's just something that you will notice and have to accept with the purchase of your HD TV.
-Network features(Netflix/Youtube/Amazon + Media Extenders) - A number of new TV's have some added features that make use of your internet connection. If you are a Netflix subscriber, you may already be aware of their Watch Instantly feature, where you can watch their movies through their website without the DVD's. Some TV's(and Blu-Ray players) allow you to view your Watch Instantly Queue through the TV, so if you use Netflix, or were planning to, this might be a feature that is worth consideration. In addition to Netflix streaming, many models include access to YouTube or even Amazon's online movie rental service. If that appeals to you, you have some options to look for in your TV purchase. Others allow you to access videos that you may have on your computer through the network. Chances are good that setting up that feature will be a fairly intensive process, so don't expect the world of that feature unless you're willing to put in some significant legwork.
-Upscaling/Upconverting - This is a good feature to look for if you want to get some extra life out of your non-HD gadgets that are hooked up to your TV. This is the process of improving an SD signal to an approximation of an HD signal. It won't look as good as a true HD signal, but it will look better than a non-upscaled SD signal, and for many, that's good enough.
-Refresh Rates - This is simply how many times in 1 second the screen can change the image being displayed. This is important especially on LCD TV's as they can tend to have a ghosting effect, where an image fades away when it should simply disappear instantly. A high refresh
rate will eliminate or greatly reduce the ghosting effect found on
LCD's. Plasma TV's don't usually have a problem with ghosting, so their
refresh rates are not typically advertised.

Email Basics

Pretty much everyone has an email address now, even those of which we are not aware, or that have escaped our memory. If you're still new to email, or want to refresh some of the basics, this is an excellent place to start.

Personality factors:
Before we dive in, there are some important things to consider about yourself. If you're new to email, let's look at some behaviors that you already exhibit. What do you do when you get physical mail? Do you hold on to every personal letter you receive? Do you file everything away in a well organized system? Do you toss everything away as soon as you are done reading it, or are there maybe a few items that you want to hold on to while discarding the rest? Do you look through all the coupons you receive? After thinking about these questions, would you consider yourself more of a collector or a consumer(toss when done)? If you're more inclined to hold on to your letters, would you consider yourself more organized or controlled chaos? The answers to these will guide how you should and will use email.

Included Accounts with ISP's:
If you pay for internet service, you probably have an email account assigned to you by your provider. In most cases, I would recommend against using such an account. The more people know about that email address, the more susceptible you are to identity theft, or being targeted for other scams. The reason for this is that such email addresses are frequently based on your name, so if a less-than-reputable person or business were to come across your address, they could pretend that they already have a rapport with you by addressing you by name. This is not to say that this assigned account is useless, but it's certainly not Ft. Knox, and should be treated with a bit of caution or respect.

Free Email accounts: There are a number of excellent options available for free email accounts, and among the most popular are Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail, which are offered respectively by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. Some of the advantages to using these accounts is that they are web-based: all of your mail is stored on the web, meaning that you can access it from any internet-connected computer. Local email accounts basically live on your personal computer which means they can primarily be accessed only through you own computer. Another advantage to these web-based email services is that you have some flexibility in creating your own personalized address. Picking a name that doesn't include any part of your real name is a bit of added security, and can be a simple to to express yourself in a limited fashion.

Multiple accounts(Pros and Cons)
Web-based or provided email, which should I use? Honestly, both. Web accounts are excellent for keeping in touch with friends and anything that you may do online that's "fun". But everybodyluvskittens@madeup.com(not a real email address, I hope) might not be a good thing to put on a resume. You should be very selective with you you give your email address to, especially if it includes your name. Prospective employers are a safe bet, as are banks(for setting up bill-pay), but for anything else, I would highly recommend using a separate account. There is a simple truth to remember about giving out your email address: the more you give it out, the more junk mail you will receive. Giving your web-based account to everyone that's not strictly work or bill related is a simple way of keeping all of your junk limited to one area, leaving the email you use for more professional business clean and easier to deal with.

Risks Inherent with Emails:
Junk Mail is an insidious part of any email account that's been active at all, and even the best filters are going to let some of it slip through. Most of it is just advertisements, but some of it is actually harmful to a computer. Sometimes simply opening a junk message can install a virus, and many others require you to click on a link, image, or attachment before it can install. If you don't understand the subject, or who the message is from, play it safe and delete the message without opening it. Another risk that you face with email is scammers. They have a colorful variety of names online, but they all do not mean you well. If anyone, and I mean anyone, asks you for any type of account number, password, social security number or other personal identifying information do NOT give it to them. This is the equivalent of someone in a suit or uniform asking you for your wallet. A polite, well dressed thief is still a thief. Something else to be aware of is that email is not as private as you might think. Some one with the know-how and interest can very easily read your email messages, so as long as you keep private info out of your emails, you should be fine. Don't worry, they aren't interested in any secrets of yours that aren't in the form of an account number or social security number. Your secret crush is still a secret. That video of you dancing like a fool at your cousin's wedding: well, that's probably on You Tube by now.

Password Dos and Don'ts

We all have passwords to deal with these days: pins for our credit cards; password for our email; logins for our work computer. We all have to come up with our own password at some point and then we are faced with the challenge of coming up with something that's both easy to remember, and difficult for a stranger to guess. It sounds daunting, or even impossible, but it isn't. Just keep these things in mind and you shouldn't have any trouble coming up with strong passwords that you can remember.

Memory
Do pick something that's easy to remember.
Don't pick something that's on record. The birthday of anyone in your family, your wedding date, your graduation date are all easy for someone else to find out, and guess.
Do pick something personal. As long as it doesn't fall into the "Don't" category above, something personal will always be easier to remember, and be a good start for a password.
Don't pick something that's so obscure that if you forget your password that even you won't be able to guess it.

Security
Do include a mix of numbers, capitals, and special characters whenever possible.
Don't use the same password for everything. At least, not the *exact* same password...
Do variations of a good password for different uses. An acquaintance of mine suggests adding an abbreviation at the end of a good password of the site that you are logging into. For example: if your password is MonkeyP13, and you are using it on yahoo.com, add yc at the end of the password to make it even stronger, and still as easy to remember as the simpler password.
Don't let your computer remember your passwords for you, and don't put them on a note right next to your computer. While a note is safer than letting your computer store your passwords, you're basically giving anyone with physical access to your computer full access to everything you do online.

Additional Tips:
The longer a password is, the safer it is. If a password gets too long, you will have to me more careful to ensure that you type it in correctly. Don't go overboard if you have trouble typing accurately.
Don't type your password in order. For example, say "Jump 1365" is easy to remember for you. Type Jump, then click somewhere near the beginning or middle(but the same spot every time), and type 1, skip a space, 3, skip... so that you end up with J1u3m6p5 as a password that's easy to remember, but difficult to guess. By using the mouse to click back to the beginning, you add an extra layer of security against malicious tools like keyloggers, which can record exactly what keys you type in the exact order you type them. Most keyloggers require physical access to your computer, so don't be too concerned if you live alone. If you live with a family or roommates, as long as you follow this tip, don't be concerned.

HowTo: Keep your files organized in Windows

We've all done it. Downloaded something and just clicked "OK" when it asked us where to save the file without looking. At first it seems fine, but after a while later you come back to that folder to find the photo you just saved has been swallowed by a behemoth that is your "Downloads" folder. So how do you clean it up without just deleting all of it?

1. Create New Folder - Start by clicking the right mouse button in an empty area of the folder you are in(If you see a background image, you're in your "Desktop" folder. Right-clicking anywhere on the image is fine) and select Create New Folder. Type a logical name for the new folder and hit Enter. When getting your computer organized you should really only be creating new folders at the beginning, and very sparingly later on. Also, if you find yourself with a new folder called "New Folder" just select it by clicking on it once and hit the "F2" key. You will be able to rename it to something more appropriate.

2. Create a plan - Technically, you should do this first. You need to figure out how to sort your files into a method that makes sense to you. If you want pictures of your family separated from those funny pictures your cousin sent you you will need to set up separate folders for each. I'd suggest in such a case that you create a folder called "Pictures"(if it hasn't already been created) and in that folder create the folders in which you want your photos sorted. If your family photos start getting a little too unruly in their own folder, you may want to separate them even more. My personal suggestion is grouping them by date. Doing this by specific date can be tedious, but having a folder by Season and Year is simple enough to make and remember.

3. DIY - Don't let the computer sort everything for you. Sure, it sounds like a nice option in theory, but you are basically asking a stranger to sort your files for you, and who knows how they would figure out what the best method would be. You can tell your programs to all save in the same place if you like, but that means you have to check and sort that folder's contents often. If you haven't let it get out of control already, this can be an easy task if you keep up with it. If you let it go, you're back at square one. To keep things neat, specify where you want to save a file every time, if possible. Don't let your photos end up in "Downloads", they deserve better than that.

4. Stay on top - A method is only as good as the effort you put into it. If you've come up with a great method and don't use it, you've still got a mess. Take 5 minutes out of your day to sort files into their appropriate locations and it will stay neat. A great benefit of having neat files is if you ever need to back up your files, you know exactly where to look. Even having a program to backup your files will want to know where they are, and you can tell it with confidence.