TECHNOLOGY

WIDE - EYED

The new plasma televisions offer a lot
for the money.

BY SETH HITSKY

ant a bird's-eye
view of the Super
Bowl? Think plas-
ma televisions.
Manufacturers and salesmen, not
to mention TV and video enthusi-
asts, are thrilled to describe the
amazing picture quality, clarity and
fantastic picture-frame style.
However, it is more likely that you
first think of a more prohibitive
attribute: the sizable expense of
buying one.
With prices currently starting
around $4,000 (and rising consider-
ably based on the size and quality
of the display), manufacturers are
obviously demanding a much
greater investment than has ever
been expected for a cathode ray
tube television (CRT), the kind
that have been occupying our

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attention for the past 50-odd years.
What makes the new plasma
TVs worth their cost? Fortunately,
quite a few things.
First and foremost, plasma moni-
tors are very different physically
from tube TVs. They have very
slim, flat screens — often only four
inches deep — and can be mount-
ed like a picture frame just about
anywhere. The large, hulking
"entertainment centers" of the past
20 years become obsolete when
you don't have to fit a 20-40 inch
box into them. Think of all the
space that can be freed up in your
family room.
Most plasma screens come with
a simple stand or a pair of "feet"
that set them rather elegantly atop
a piece of furniture. Of course, the
real fun comes in thinking of all

SCREEN SHOTS

Former Detroiter helps produce
24-hour football network.

By ALAN HITSKY

Y

the different places you might
want to mount one: Purchasing a
universal mount with your plasma
allows it to be hung like a picture
on a wall.
Some of the most popular places
for the sleek-looking screen are in
the kitchen, on a bedroom wall or
above a fireplace (gas, not natural
burning).

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According to the Web site
www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com (an
excellent Internet source of infor-
mation for shoppers), plasma tele-
visions feature picture quality far
superior to the standard CRT Most
plasma TVs include built-in line
doubling to improve the picture
quality when viewing analog video

Since its inception just over a year ago, the 24-hour
professional football network now reaches 44 million
homes via NFL Network Channel 212 on Direct TV and
over Comcast Digital. NFL Total Access is shown at 7

p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Selik is a self-described sports junkie, a graduate of

ou'll have to excuse Marc Selik if he looks a little
bleary-eyed these days.

sources, such as TV broadcasts and
VCR tapes. This erases the visible
scanning line that many CRT tele-
visions display.
For new digital sources, like
DVD discs and high-definition
digital broadcasting, the plasma is
unbeatable. The reproduction of
the image is clear, crisp and
detailed in ways that have simply
not been possible before.
Almost all new plasma displays
are coming in the wide-screen
16:9 aspect ratio. Having this
rectangular shape matches the
format in which feature films are
meant to be displayed.
Many current DVDs give the
option: either 16:9 or full-screen
(4:3). While 4:3 fits the screen

Continued on page 16

Berkley High School and Grand Valley State University,
and the son of Rick and Arlene Selik of Huntington
Woods. "I always found TV intriguing," Selik says. He

studied broadcast journalism at Grand Valley.
He was an intern for ESPN and WDIV-TV in Detroit,

and then was a production assistant for Fox Sports Net
for 21 /2 years.

In addition to NFL news clips this year, he produced
footage for Coach Speak on Mondays, which showed all

He's just coming off a successful season of profes-
sional football — not playing it, thank you. Watching it.

the NFL coaches' day-after press conferences around the

country. He also worked on a two-hour show that pre-
cedes the NFL Monday night game.

Selik, 26, is a production assistant for National Sports
Reports in Culver City, Calif. Weekly during the National
Football League's just-completed regular season, he

"We have all the news and notes and inside scoop

around the NFL," Selik says proudly. "We have a camera
with every NFL team — all 32. The players and coaches
know us and respect us because we respect them."

searched through hundreds of hours of football coverage
to bring you 15-20-second highlights and short "pack-
ages" of film clips for NFL Total Access, hosted by

University of Michigan graduate Rich Eisen.

-

Marc Selik loves his "NFU job.

Selik has no complaints about long hours or the long
season: "This is fun. This is what I want to do." El

JNPLATINUM • J NUARY 2005

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