DIRECTV is the nation’s leading satellite
television service provider, with more than
16. 8 million customers in the United States.
Step 2: The HDTV signal
Now that you’ve chosen your HDTV, you need HDTV content: movies,
TV shows and games. Standard analog broadcast signals cannot carry enough
information to transmit high-definition images. As a result, you must have a
digital signal source to get HDTV. Keep in mind that not all programming with
a digital service will be in high definition, but if you don’t have a digital source
you won’t get any high definition. You have four main choices:
1. Free digital broadcasts over the air
2. A digital cable subscription
3. A satellite subscription
4. A Blu-ray Disc player
DIRECTV is leading the HD revolution with
more quality HD channels than any other
television provider. DIREC TV subscribers
enjoy access to 100 percent digital picture
and sound, exclusive programming, industry-leading customer satisfaction and superior
technologies that include advanced DVR
and HD-DVR services, to record and play
back your favorite programs, and the most
state-of-the-art interactive sports packages
available anywhere.
Costco members enjoy exclusive savings
when they sign up for new DIRECTV®
service. Sign up at the Wireless Kiosk in the
warehouses or at www.cw.directv.com.
THIS&THAT
THE BENEFITS OF BLU-RAY
What’s all the buzz about Blu-ray? The answer
is that if you’re looking for the sharpest resolution in your HDTV, you’ll need two essentials:
an HDTV with 1080p resolution and a Blu-ray
Disc player. Well, three: You’ll also need an
HDMI cable to connect the two.
Blu-ray is the new generation of optical disc
formats. The format has more than five times
the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and
can hold up to 25 GB on a single-layer disc
and 50 GB on a dual-layer disc. This unrivaled
storage capacity means discs can hold enough
information to deliver full 1080p resolution to
a compatible HDTV. Blu-ray delivers six times
the resolution of a standard DVD and up to
7. 1 channels (compared to the 5. 1 channels of
standard DVDs) of high-quality audio.
It’s called Blu-ray because the laser beam that
reads the data from the new discs is blue
instead of red, which is used for DVDs and CDs.
These new discs are the same size as traditional
DVDs and CDs. That enables a Blu-ray player
to play traditional DVDs (but a traditional DVD
player will not play a Blu-ray Disc).
To take advantage of this new technology,
you’ll need a Blu-ray Disc player, either as a
stand-alone player or as a computer drive. Also,
the Sony PlayStation 3 has a fully functional
Blu-ray Disc player.
True 1080p resolution is just one of the
features of a Blu-ray system. Movies being
made in the Blu-ray format feature movie
notes, menus, interviews with directors and
actors, etc., all of which can be easily accessed
while you’re watching the movie. In the works
is another feature: Internet access for Web-enhanced movie viewing. For more about
Blu-ray, see www.blu-raydisc.com.
