That new widescreen television could make your picture worse

During a 1-on-1 coaching session this morning, my client told me he would like some help picking out a new television. He told me that he had DIRECTV but wanted to make sure he had his new television in time for the transition to digital television next February.

I told him flat out that there was no need for him to get a new television.

That's when he said that he thought everyone needed a new television. As frustrated as I was that this message is still getting across to people, I did my duty as the founder of Noobie and patiently explained to my client that he is already receiving digital television through his satellite. In fact, DIRECTV has been all digital since the day it was first introduced to the market.

He then asked how he could be watching digital television on his old [analog] television set. I explained that his satellite receiver was already acting as a digital to analog converter which is why everything has been honkey dorey all along.

New television, existing satellite

My client thought about what I had said but then told me that he might still like to pursue getting a new television so he could have the newer and better features.

I tried not to be a downer but it was difficult. I now had to explain to my client that since he wasn't receiving high definition signals from DIRECTV, he might actually be more disappointed with a new television. This is because the picture he is receiving from DIRECTV is still the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio, or "square" television picture. In order to display the current square picture on a new 16:9 aspect ratio or "widescreen" television he would have to do one of the following:

• Put up with black bars on the left and right of the picture (referred to as pillar box)
• Use his television or satellite receiver's stretch modes to stretch the square picture to fit the widescreen television resulting in everyone looking short and stumpy on the screen
• Use his television or satellite receiver's zoom mode to zoom in on the square picture until it fit the widescreen television thus cropping the top and bottom of the picture.

Or, I told my client, he could spend more money to upgrade to a high definition package from DIRECTV and enjoy a beautiful high definition picture... some of the time. The rest of the time when television shows were still being delivered in standard definition it would be back to the list of choices above.

At this point, my client was begging for another option. I looked at him, smiled and said, "Sure. Just stick with everything you got now."