SAN FRANCISCO – We all know that we’re supposed to get our HDTV sets calibrated by an expert if we want them to look their very best. (We also know that we’re supposed to floss daily.) But in this era of THX-approved presets and LED-backlit 3D TVs, how much difference does a professional calibration make? I decided to find out for myself with my new LG 60PZ750 plasma TV.

The 60PZ750 is a 60-inch plasma HDTV with THX and ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) certifications, network connectivity, and support for stereoscopic 3D video. It has THX settings for cinema and bright-room modes; I could have just used those settings and been mostly happy. Being a curious geek, however, I wanted to explore the process of calibrating the display.

The set’s THX modes are pretty locked in–you can make just a few minor changes. THX works with the TV makers, offering THX certification in an effort to replicate the experience of the video editor’s control booth. Although THX modes mostly work well, rooms differ, lighting is imperfect, and every HDTV’s characteristics can change over time.

The ISF modes are quite different, exposing a huge array of individual settings suitable for professional calibration. You can fool around with two-point grayscale calibration, or change the settings for 20 different increments along the IRE scale (with 0 IRE being black and 100 IRE being all white).

As a digital-photography aficionado, I’ve calibrated my own desktop displays, and I could have gone the DIY route with my TV. In fact, I did fool around a bit with the Picture Wizard calibration tool built into the LG set. The Picture Wizard in LG’s higher-end HDTVs does an admirable job of walking you through basic calibration for black and color levels, and it’s a good first-level approximation.

But I decided to bring in a professional to see just how well this particular plasma HDTV could be calibrated. How much does professional calibration cost? How long does the procedure take? What tools are involved? Is calibration worth the investment?

Well, it depends. Are you a serious videophile who wants to watch film and video as the directors envisioned? Or are you a casual viewer of mostly sports, in a bright room? Your viewing habits and interests will help determine whether you’re a good candidate for professional calibration.

Consulting a Pro

Ideally, you don’t want to calibrate a brand-new HDTV out of the box–you want the unit to “settle in.” Depending on the display, the amount of time can range from 50 to 200 hours of use. I set up my LG 60PZ750 in the family room, and we watched shows for several weeks prior to scheduling calibration.

I selected Robert Heron to calibrate the HDTV. You may know Heron from HD Nation, Tekzilla, and other Web-video tech shows; he has also written tech articles for a number of publications. He builds his own gaming rigs, and is a general all-around tech nerd.

Heron is also a hard-core videophile who has gone through all the training and certifications for calibrating HDTVs, including both THX and ISF training classes. On occasion he consults for HDTV panel manufacturers and resellers. I’ve watched both his knowledge and his passion for video grow exponentially since he first started reviewing HDTVs. For calibrating a single LCD or plasma HDTV, he charges $350.

Setting Up

Interestingly, I didn’t have to prepare the room at all. My family room can be fairly bright throughout the day, because one wall has an 8-foot glass patio door. Although blinds cover the glass door, they aren’t enough to block the light entirely. Light leakage wouldn’t be an issue during the calibration, however, since the sensor Heron normally uses stays close to the HDTV.

Heron arrived with a rolling cart full of gear, but for the most part he used this sensor.

The X-Rite i1Pro is a spectrophotometer that’s a little slow but mounts against the display, minimizing the effect of stray light.

Heron uses SpectraCal’s CalMAN version 4 for collecting and analyzing data from the i1Pro.

One of the problems that have traditionally plagued HDTV calibration is the difficulty of accessing all the color-management tools built into the TV itself. In older HDTVs, these settings were often called the “factory” or “service” menus, and were accessible only if you pressed a special key sequence on the remote.

However, the 60PZ750 has full ISF support, which exposes the HDTV’s color management system. The CMS contains highly granular controls, with individual adjustments for both primary and secondary colors, as well as for tint and contrast.

Calibration consists of taking measurements with the sensor, capturing them on a PC running CalMAN, and determining how closely the measured settings adhere to the ideal. For example, the ideal grayscale color temperature is D6500 (6500 kelvins) across all grayscale levels, from 10 percent to 100 percent, for each color.

Initial Tweaks and Color Management

Before we dove into the intricacies of the color management system, however, we checked out the basic settings. Depending on your HDTV, you may not need fancy tools or software. The Picture Wizard in the LG HDTV, for example, offered an easy way to eyeball fundamental settings such as sharpness levels.

Heron also collected the results for the THX Bright Room setting I’d been using to break in the plasma set. We used this figure as a reference, since it’s a fixed setting. The color temperature actually was close to the desired D6500 (maybe a bit high, toward D6700). The color balance wasn’t perfect, though.

Each set of three bars represents various RGB settings at IRE ranging from 20 to 100. You want all those bars to be flat at the 100 mark on the Y-axis for each of the IRE settings. In the results shown here, green seems a little low, while blue and red are a bit high, on average.

The gamma was a little off–but then again, that was no surprise with a fixed setting tuned for brightly lit rooms.

Once we had collected the precalibration data, the next move was to change the menu settings from THX Bright Room to ISF mode 1, giving Heron access to all the settings, including the color management system.

The first calibration step was to tune the gamma. Dialing it to the 2.2 setting took only about 15 minutes; in fact, the ISF mode 1 “warm” setting was already pretty close. Heron also tweaked the grayscale tracking at this point.

Next, we started tuning individual levels for each primary and secondary color. This is where the process got repetitious. After we spent several hours tweaking each individual primary and second color, the final tuning looked like this.

It’s not perfect, but you never hit perfection–you just get as close as you can across the IRE range. One reason you can’t reach perfection is the interaction between settings: For instance, we’d tune the settings at IRE 90 and hit near-perfection, only to find out that the color balance at IRE 70 had shifted way out of whack. What we ended up with represented the best compromise we could reach.

If you look at the CIE chart at the lower left of the screenshot above, you’ll see that we nailed the colors fairly closely. All in all, it looks pretty good.

The Numbers Aren’t the Only Concern

It’s possible to get a seemingly perfect set of numbers for most of the settings, and then discover that the actual image quality isn’t what you expect. Each person’s eye and brain differ in visual acuity and perception, and what may seem ideal in the lab might look harsh or off to your eye. In fact, when I first fired up my LG plasma, I thought it looked too “warm,” but I was coming from a rear-projection LCoS unit, which was in actuality too blue.

The visual quality differences I now perceive, after my set’s calibration, are somewhat subtle. Dark areas of a scene certainly have better detail, and colors seem natural. If I shift between the THX Cinema and ISF 1 settings, I don’t see huge differences, though I tend to prefer the calibrated ISF 1 setting by a hair. On the other hand, the difference between THX Bright Room and ISF 1 is noticeable, and in that comparison I definitely prefer the calibrated setting.

Is calibration worth the cost and time? In my case, it’s still a little early to tell, but once again it depends on your viewing habits and your eye. Robert Heron will be dropping by my place for a follow-up session after doing some digging to tweak some of the settings further. Maybe we’ll get my HDTV even closer to perfect.

SAN FRANCISCO – By now, you’re used to watching all kinds of video via the Web. You get caught up on your favorite TV shows with Hulu, enjoy a movie or two with Netflix Instant Watch, maybe even sneak in a cat video or two (or a dozen) on YouTube during your lunch break at work. You’re used to searching the Web to find what you want to watch when you want to watch it.

The moment you’re home, though, you turn on your TV, tune in, and zone out–no interaction or Internet required. Nothing on? Guess you’ll watch some Law & Order: Criminal Intent reruns. That Vincent D’Onofrio–whatever happened to him, anyway? If only your TV was a little bit more like your PC.

“Smart TV” is the new hot buzzword these days. Imagine, for a moment, that your HDTV combined the simplicity of the normal TV-and-remote experience with the powerful search features and video-on-demand libraries you’re accustomed to on the Web. Toss in social networking, photo sharing, music, gaming, and a hundred kinds of Web content. That’s what “smart TV” means. It means never needing to settle for anything less than having what you want to watch (or hear, or play) running in big-screen glory right now, while you master the universe from the couch with your all-powerful remote.

Don’t let all the TV and tech companies out there fool you, however. You have many ways to make your existing TV smarter, other than just buying a new connected TV with all the bells and whistles built in. You don’t have to purchase a brand-new PC or yet another set-top box, either. And you don’t have to let your cable-TV subscription hold your eyeballs (or your wallet) hostage with hundreds of channels you’ll never watch. Instead, we’ll walk you through the products and services that can feed the Web through your TV–without breaking the bank.

Connected TVs

Looking to buy a new HDTV? Choose the right TV–one that connects directly to the Internet–and you can enjoy loads of Web features and apps without having to buy any add-ons or boxes. But choosing may not be easy: All the major TV manufacturers now have some package of Internet-connected features built into their midrange and high-end models.
In early Internet-connected TVs, packages included only a few additional “channels”–Netflix Instant Watch, YouTube, and a few video-rental services like Amazon Instant Video, Cinema­Now, and Vudu. Connected-television features have since advanced quickly. New connected TV sets come packed with apps, games, and Internet video channels, often with op­­tions exclusive to the manufacturer.
Cost: You’ll have to pay for the television (usually $1000 to $2000 now for midrange to high-end sets). The good news: You don’t necessarily have to pay a premium for an Internet-connected TV: Some manufacturers, such as Vizio, sell low-end models that are priced in the $750 to $830 range.

The cost of an HDTV will generally de­­pend on the set’s size and on its panel technology (a 50-inch plasma set will cost more than a 50-inch LED one). And you won’t have to pay for access to the smart-TV service itself–just for the subscriptions to specific services such as Hulu Plus or Netflix, as well as the video-download rental fees.

Advantages: Connected TVs are simple and elegant. You can use your TV’s own remote; you don’t need to worry about running extra power cords or audio/video cables as you do with a set-top box or a home theater PC; and many HDTV sets include built-in Wi-Fi support (so you don’t even need to plug an ethernet cable into the back).

What’s more, newer TV sets often come with new remote controls that make it easier to use the Internet features. For example, LG’s Magic Motion remote is a gesture-oriented remote control similar to the Nintendo Wii controller (just point the remote at the TV to move your cursor) and is designed to let you more easily use the built-in Web browser of LG sets. Vizio’s high-end sets include a Bluetooth remote with a slide-out keyboard to facilitate typing.

Disadvantages: Connected TVs aren’t particularly versatile. If your set-top box doesn’t have a channel you want, you can go buy a new one, but you won’t be able to do such a thing so easily with a big, expensive HDTV. Also, if you’re big on live TV, you’ll still need your cable-TV subscription, as the Internet features are mostly on-demand video only.

Advanced tips: Most connected TVs include USB ports and DLNA support (see the glossary on the second page, near the end of this article), meaning that you can watch your locally stored video, photos, and music from a USB drive by plugging it straight into your TV or from other PCs on your network–handy for the times when the video you want to watch is sitting on your PC in the den.

Future-proof? Yes–but only if you choose wisely. Although early Internet features in HDTVs looked pitiful compared with what a standard set-top box could offer, the big players in the HDTV market (LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio) are each looking to make their Web-connected TV sets your entertainment hub by adding new features, video channels, and even their own app stores. For example, Panasonic’s Viera Connect Internet features include Facebook, Skype, Twitter, and even downloadable games from Gameloft in addition to a whole host of media-streaming services like Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and Pandora.
Set-Top Boxes

A relatively inexpensive, simple, and easy-to-install way to add more channels to your TV, set-top boxes vary in size, shape, and content selection. They rely on your home Internet connection to stream media from Internet sources such as Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and many other video-on-demand channels. Consider them a supplement to your cable subscription, rather than a replacement, since they won’t have much in the way of live TV programming.

Right now, Roku’s box leads the pack with a very broad channel selection, but since it doesn’t support DLNA, you can’t use it to access the mu­­sic, photos, or videos stored on your network’s PCs. Some other contenders in the field, such as Western Digital’s WD TV Live series, do support DLNA.
If you’re already heavily invested in music and movies from the iTunes Store, go for an Apple TV box–you’ll be able to stream your existing iTunes content from your home network’s iTunes libraries. For both the versatility of a full Web browser in your HDTV and a search feature that could cover your satellite-TV listings, locally stored recordings, and the Web, grab a Google TV set-top box like the Logitech Revue.
Also in this category are game consoles (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii) and Internet-connected Blu-ray players. While not dedicated Internet TV gadgets, they have Hulu Plus, Net­flix, DLNA support, and other Internet-connected features.

Cost: $60 to $250 plus subscription fees (when applicable).

Advantages: Set-top boxes are very easy to set up and use, and they typically don’t cost very much. Also, new services tend to be added to the selection over time–the longer you own the box, the more content it should be able to deliver.

Disadvantages: Most set-top boxes don’t include a full Web browser, so you can’t always watch the videos you want, especially if your favorite shows are found only at live streaming sites or from the TV networks. And, as noted, you don’t have many options for streaming live TV with a set-top box.

Advanced tips: You can hack most set-top boxes, including the Apple TV and the Roku, to add new features, channels, and applications. For example, you can jailbreak your Apple TV and install the XBMC media-center app to enable 1080p video playback, which the stock Apple TV doesn’t support.
Future-proof? The set-top box’s place in the future of smart TV is iffy at best. You can’t really do much besides watch the ported Web video. That may be okay for now, but we ex­­pect Web video to continue proliferating–and standard set-top boxes will struggle because they lack Web browsers.

While the Web video services that run on set-top boxes often add new channels, you have no guarantee that your set-top box developer will add the ones you want when you want them. But the boxes are relatively cheap, so buying a new one every few years could be one way around that problem.

Apple TV and Google TV have two different approaches to the set-top box. Apple’s turns your TV into an extension of your iTunes Library–great if you own a bunch of other iOS devices, or if you prefer to pay the TV/movie rental fees over a subscription fee. Google’s offers many of the benefits of a home theater PC, such as a Web browser and (future) access to apps via the Android Market, without the expense or hassle of a full-blown media PC. Also, the search function on Google TV could radically change the way you watch television simply by making it far, far easier to find what you want to watch.

However, even these forward-looking set-tops won’t get far unless the various networks and content providers open some doors for them. Hulu, for example, is currently blocking the Google TV browser. All the same, the Apple TV and Google TV platforms are still in their formative period and may both be around long enough to see the day when content owners have come to accept the model these devices use for distributing video. (In an effort to boost Google TV, Google has just bought set-top box maker Sage TV.) We expect that these two set-tops will be the ones to watch over the next few years.
Next: Home Theater PCs, Cable and Cablelike Services, Your Smart TV Program Guide, and a Glossary of Smart TV Terms

Home Theater PCs

If you’re at all like me, you were sitting on the living room couch watching an episode of The Wire or Mad Men on a 13-inch laptop screen while your gorgeous 50-inch HDTV sat 5 feet away, completely neglected. And if you’re used to finding practically everything you want to watch with your PC, either on streaming Web services or file-sharing services like BitTorrent, you may find it hard to go back to the content limitations of cable. What you want is both, so you connect your PC to your HDTV, and voilà–you have a home theater PC.
Home theater PCs are typically high-end, expensive systems designed to fit in with a true home theater enthusiast’s fancy audio/video equipment rack. Obtaining one usually involves paying extra for a special PC case and high-end, low-heat com­­ponents, but any system capable of playing back 1080p video and connecting to your set through HDMI or another audio/video input can be your TV’s connection to Web video.
Cost: You can build a high-end do-it-yourself home theater PC for under $1000. But any modern computer–even a netbook or a nettop mini-PC with the right hardware–could cost you as little as $350, and if you’re able to simply repurpose an old machine, your cost could be effectively nothing.
Advantages: A home theater PC is extremely flexible. You can use your computer to play downloaded or streamed video, screen home movies, access shared video from your network, play DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and play PC games on your HDTV. And the cost is hard to beat–all you need is the electricity to power your PC and a broadband Internet connection, which you’re already paying for anyway.

Disadvantages: PCs are complicated. If you want to watch a TV show, you need to power the computer up, wait for Windows to boot, and then use a wireless keyboard to navigate to the show. It’s not nearly as spontaneous or as instantly gratifying as simply pressing the power button on a remote. And you have to deal with the additional hassle of maintaining another computer–including such matters as security, software updates, broken components, hardware upgrades, and so on.

You must also consider content limitations: For now, at least, you can’t get much live TV (news and sports), so you would still need an antenna or cable-TV subscription for that.

Advanced tips: If you want to minimize the PC-ness of the experience, pair your home theater PC up with a decent media-center application, such as the aformentioned XBMC or Windows Media Center (which is built into Windows 7), and an advanced remote control like the Lenovo N5901, which has a built-in keypad and trackball instead of a keyboard and mouse. Also, you can plug an RSS feed of the shows you’re watching into a BitTorrent client to automatically download new episodes as they come out.
Future-proof? Yes. Other smart TV options may someday catch up to the flexibility of the media center PC, but until then, you can bet that most of the apps, features, and services you want will come from the open Web. And much of that content relies on PC-friendly Flash to run, which means your PC will continue to be relevant for quite some time.

A desktop PC also lets you add new hardware for more features, such as a Blu-ray drive or a CableCard for watching movies and viewing/recording cable TV via your PC.

Cable & Cablelike Services

High-end services such as Comcast Xfinity, DirecTV, Dish Network, and Verizon FiOS TV are still the gold standard for premium TV and live TV. They typically connect to your TV via a specially designed set-top box from your cable, satellite, or telephone company. You can use them to access whatever video-on-demand libraries your network offers; the boxes also have built-in digital video recorder features to help you make sure you don’t miss anything.
But the boxes don’t yet have the smart TV chops of the setups described previously, and only a few providers are actively trying to develop the Internet-content aspect of their offerings.

AT&T has no Web vid­eo in its “triple-play” (Internet, telephone, and TV) U-verse service, and very little nonvideo Web content–just a couple of “interactive” Web apps (weather, sports) and photo sharing via Flickr.
Verizon is a little better. Its FiOS TV “widgets” are a simple way to get Facebook, YouTube, local traffic, and weather on your TV. The FiOS Media Manager app lets you watch FiOS videos on a PC and view locally stored media on the TV.

Dish Network may be the most progressive of all. Three of the company’s DVRs are compatible with Google TV’s search features through the Logitech Revue set-top box, which Dish Network resells to its subscribers at a reduced rate.

Cost: Services are pricey–and can vary from $50 a month to $150 a month, depending on your plan and whether you’re still getting a new-subscriber promotional rate. With the exception of Dish Network’s Google TV offering, the limited Web content the various services offer won’t cost you extra.

Advantages: Cable services are the go-to source for premium and live TV. You may not need (or even want) all 250 channels you’re paying for, but they’re likely to look very good, especially the high-definition and, increasingly, the 3D channels. And you don’t have to deal with troubleshooting equipment or updating buggy software–everything (usually) works, and technicians are available to help with serious problems.
Disadvantages: Don’t expect any deeply integrated Internet features in your cable TV service anytime soon–no Web browser or fancy remote with a keyboard for quickly searching for Web content. Also, services can get fairly expensive: $70 per month might not seem so bad at first, but that’s $840 each year (not counting taxes or installation fees)–enough to buy a budget 42-inch TV, a Roku, and a Netflix subscription.

Advanced tips: While the cablelike services don’t offer much Web content, most are focusing on the “TV everywhere” concept. That is, they’re moving to make their material viewable on a finite number of stationary and mobile screens. All of the major TV providers offer Android and iOS mobile apps that let you browse TV listings and schedule DVR recordings, and some have apps that let you stream video (generally both live TV and DVR recordings) to your tablet or smartphone.

If you get landline phone service from your TV provider, you might also have a few neat features that connect the two, such as voicemail management or caller ID through your TV.

Future-proof? The great advantage of the triple-play services is that the TV programming usually rides into the home on the same pipe as the Internet service (and the phone service). This setup creates a huge potential for integrating Internet features (such as apps, chat, music, and video) into the curated cable content. At present, however, TV providers haven’t gone a long way toward realizing that potential.

Your Smart TV Program Guide

If you’re new to the world of Internet TV, all this talk of “VOD” and “Hulu” and “Vudu” might sound like a whole bunch of, well, voodoo. Here’s a quick guide to the major streaming services you should look for in your next set-top box or connected TV–or should have bookmarked in your home theater PC’s Web browser.

Hulu Plus: Since its launch in 2008, Hulu has made waves by offering a (legal!) way to get episodes of current television series free on the Web. To access Hulu from a set-top box or connected TV, you’ll need a subscription to Hulu’s premium service, Hulu Plus ($8 per month, one-week free trial). Your Hulu Plus subscription also gets you access to a catalog of movies (including a Criterion Collection set) and over 29,000 episodes of older TV archives, though you’ll still have to watch the occasional ad.
Netflix: It’s not just a DVD rent-by-mail service. In fact, its Instant Watch streaming service (which provides both television and movies online) is now the primary source of Internet traffic in North America, and if you’re tired of DVDs, you can opt for the streaming-only subscription plan for $8 a month. But only a portion of its catalog is available on Instant Watch.
Online video rental: Besides subscription services like Hulu Plus and Netflix, you’ll want access to at least one video-rental service–Amazon Instant Video, Blockbuster, CinemaNow, Vudu, and so on. Each service has a slightly different selection, but the basic idea is the same: Rent a movie by download for up to $4 for a new release, or purchase a desired download for around $15.
VOD: Video on demand–services that lets you play the video or program you want when you want.

YouTube: The Web’s largest video-sharing site, YouTube is widely available on most set-top boxes and connected TVs for free. But YouTube navigation and search can be particularly laborious unless your remote is Internet-ready (keyboard, motion features, touchpad, and so forth). Also, some older YouTube client apps have problems playing high-definition videos, and in that case you might end up with a horribly pixelated, low-res video on your HDTV if you’re not careful.
Sports: You may be able to stream the game you missed via an on-demand streaming app that keeps box scores, highlights, and sometimes the entire game. Pick your favorite mobile device, install the app, and you can catch sports whenever and wherever you want.

Other media apps: Plenty of the streaming media ser­vices you likely already use on your computer have apps available for your connected TV or set-top box–Napster, Pandora, and Slacker Radio for music, Flickr and Picasa for photos, and social media apps such as Facebook.

A Glossary of Smart TV Terms

If you wonder what HDCP or a dozen other terms mean, here’s a quick guide.

BitTorrent: A popular file-sharing protocol that people often use to distribute copyrighted video. The BitTorrent protocol itself isn’t illegal, but using it to download TV shows and movies that were released under the usual copyright protections generally is.
Component video: A common set of analog ports (red, green, and blue) for high-def video. Technically, a component-video connection can deliver video up to 1080p resolution (“Full HD”).

Composite video: The ubiquitous red-white-yellow ports are for composite video. However, because composite video (an analog format) cannot deliver high-def video, avoid using composite-video ports whenever possible.

DisplayPort: A newer display connector employed primarily for connecting laptop and desktop PCs to computer displays. But don’t expect to use it to connect your PC to your TV–at least not at this point.

DLNA: Digital Living Network Alliance. DLNA is a standard that enables your HDTV, PC, and other gadgets to talk to one another and share media over a network. For example, an Xbox 360 hooked up to your HDTV can stream video located on your desktop PC in your home office.

DVI: The current standard for most desktop PC displays. Some TVs have a DVI port, which can be useful. The DVI video signal is identical to the HDMI signal, so if your PC supports only DVI video-out, a cheap adapter can connect your PC’s DVI port to your HDTV’s HDMI port.

HDCP: High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection–a form of digital video copy-protection technology developed by Intel. If you use DVI, HDMI, or another digital video format to deliver video on your TV, you can play back HDCP-encrypted video at full resolution without a problem. If you use an analog signal (VGA, composite, component), you may have to watch your video at a lower resolution.

HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface is currently the preferred standard for connecting devices to a TV–PCs, smartphones, game consoles, digital cameras and camcorders, and more. An HDMI cable carries both audio and video from a device to a TV, so it takes up less space.

Media center: Any application that makes it easier to navigate the music, photos, podcasts, and videos in your local media library. Most media-center apps are designed to make home theater PCs more user-friendly so that you can navigate your various media using a remote control rather than a keyboard and mouse. The apps can also run on other devices, including set-top boxes and game consoles.

MHL: Mobile High-Definition Link–a new connection standard that allows smartphones to connect to HDTVs. If widely adopted, MHL can let your smartphone charge while it is connected to your HDTV–and you can watch videos streaming or downloading from the phone.

VGA/D-Sub: Practically every PC you’ve ever owned has a “VGA” or “D-Sub” connector. These two terms describe the same humble 15-pin monitor port still found on most laptops and desktops, and on many HDTVs. VGA cables can deliver a full HD video to your TV, though it may not look as good as it would over component or HDMI.

Video on demand: Video services that let you choose what you want to watch from a video library; you pay a small fee for downloads or streams.

SAN FRANCISCO – Ernest Valdez, Jr. asked how he could wirelessly send a video signal from his computer to his HDTV.

There are number of ways to do this, although they may not provide what you want.

First of all, a great many televisions today have WiFi built in, which allows you to wirelessly connect them to your home network, and thus to your computer. So do many new Blu-ray players–and they’re a great deal cheaper than HDTVs. But is WiFi really your best option?

Depending on your home’s geography, WiFi may not be reliable enough for quality streaming video. If it isn’t, consider using Ethernet. All of the TVs and Blu-ray players that support WiFi, and many that don’t, have Ethernet. If stringing an Ethernet cable from your router to your TV isn’t practical, HomePlug devices–which use your home’s electric grid to transmit data–can easily give you an Ethernet connection to any room in your home.
You probably already know that,–however they’re connected–networked HDTVs and Blu-ray players can play Internet streaming video. Virtually all of them offer Netflix. Many have YouTube, Pandora, and at least one pay-per-view service. Newer ones are including Hulu Plus.

Most of them can also play videos and music, and display photos, off of any computer on the network. The computer has to be running DLNA server software, but that’s not difficult. Windows Media Player–which comes bundled with Windows–is such a server.

But these features don’t make the HDTV or Blu-ray player as versatile as a computer. They can’t play all of the streaming video services that your browser can handle, nor do they support every media file format that you might find on your PC. That’s why many people like to plug their computer into their HDTV.
Of course, that’s not a wireless solution.

Or is it? I tested two wireless PC-to-TV devices for this article. Atlona’s AT-AiR3 and Cables Unlimited’s Wireless USB to HDMI & VGA Adapter with Audio appeared to be the same product in different packaging, although only the Atlona’s supported 1080p. In both cases, you plug one USB device into your PC, and plug another one into your HDTV via not-included HDMI or VGA cables.

Both had the same problem: a software installation that makes major changes to Windows’ Registry and adds an autoloader. Also, their ranges were limited; you basically had to be in the same room as the TV. But each allowed me to watch PC content on the television while my laptop was at my fingertips. Their image quality was equivalent to using the PC’s HDMI port.

SAN FRANCISCO – With a single attachment, you can turn your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch into a video player that mimics an Apple TV ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ), Roku player ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ), and other video players. And it even rivals those dedicated devices for quality.

Make the connection
By itself, your iOS device can’t connect to a larger screen. You’ll need a video adapter to complete the loop. The adapter you choose should be based on the inputs on the display you want to connect to.

Apple covers the gamut of input options. Apple’s recently released $39 Digital AV Adapter ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ) joins its $29 VGA Adapter, $39 Composite AV Adapter, and $39 Component AV Adapter. The Digital AV Adapter is for HDMI connections and also includes a USB port for power, so you can hook up your wall charger to the device as it performs its double duty as a video player.
Additional HDMI adapter vendors are sprouting up, too, such as Cable Matters’s $36 HDMI adapter and HDMImyi.com’s $59 HDMI adapter, though none seem to offer a great advantage in price or features over Apple’s Digital AV Adapter.
Know your limits
Not all the connectors are created equal–the various adapters differ mainly in the video and audio connections they support. For example, the VGA Adapter doesn’t handle audio; you have to also connect an audio cable to your Mac’s audio output jack. And videos protected by DRM technology known as HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) will not play over VGA because analog connections aren’t supported by HDCP. This would affect movies and some TV shows purchased through the iTunes Store.

If you’re looking to output HD, you’ll want the Digital AV Adapter–Apple’s component and composite adapters will downgrade any HD content to 480p and 480i, respectively. You’ll also want to make sure your iOS device is capable of outputting the resolution you desire. The iPad 2 supports video output up to 1080p, while the original iPad, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch can output 720p. But note that movie playback is limited to 720p on all those devices.

Video apps
Once you’ve made your connection, it’s all about the apps. The apps are what play or stream the video; the adapter just makes it nice and big. Apple’s Videos app (or, on the iPhone, the Videos section of the iPod app) is a natural fit, of course. Any video you have on your device should play. Consider YouTube and Netflix ( Macworld rated 3.5 out of 5 mice ) apps as essentials, too, if you want access to more video than what’s on your device.
Those apps don’t mirror what’s on the device (display the same thing on the device and the external monitor). Instead, you see the video on the larger display and the iOS device offers controls only. Once connected, volume is handled through the display.

Unfortunately, video out doesn’t work on all apps. And that’s the most disappointing thing–and one that prevents your iOS devices from being superior to other video players. Imagine having Hulu Plus, ABC’s app, and other video streaming devices packed onto your device, and able to watch on the big screen. Alas, it is only a dream at this point. Several apps I tried, including ABC’s app and Sony’s Crackle, don’t allow video out. All I got through the Apple Digital AV Adapter was sound through the TV and video on the iPad.

As an alternative, you can use an app like Air Video ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ) or StreamToMe to stream video over your local network. You download the server software on your Mac and the app on your iOS device. Once you’ve got the pieces in place, you can stream videos from your Mac to your device–and video out works just fine.
Make the most of your experience
I was surprised at the quality from the iPad–HD videos from the iTunes Store look as crisp as HD from cable television. Even streams from Netflix and YouTube impressed, with little choppiness or other telltale signs of an underpowered video player. (Of course, note that streaming quality will depend a lot on the quality of your Internet connection.)

One trick to making these look best is to use widescreen mode instead of full screen. Full screen produces blocks and artifacts that the widescreen mode doesn’t show. (In Apple’s player, you can double-tap the screen or tab the button in the upper right corner to toggle between modes–other apps have similar controls.)

Video stored on the device is another matter. If you’ve created files sized for the small screen of an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, that low resolution will become very apparent on the big screen. Even some files I ripped at DVD resolution didn’t look great, although they were certainly watchable.

The lesson here is to use the highest resolution you can get–this will cost you storage space, but your eyes will thank you.