In recent news, we’ve heard that Toshiba’s upcoming HD-A35 and Onkyo’s DV-HD805 players will feature HDMI 1.3a which enables “Deep Color” output. It’s always nice to brag that your gadgets have the latest gee-whiz features, but it’s even better when you actually understand what you’re bragging about. It’s even more important to know whether you might have been misled about how cool or useful the feature is. “Deep Color” is one of those features that sounds great, but let’s see if it’s all that you think it’s made out to be.

Let’s make this a practical lesson so that you’re not left with more buzzwords and confusion. These steps are for Windows XP, but the same ideas apply to all computers.

Right-click on your desktop, and select the last item, “Properties,” so that you can examine how your video is set up. On the dialog box that comes up next, select the right-most tab for “Settings.” Here, you’ll see the resolution that your screen is currently set at – the higher the numbers, the more pixels and detail you get. Low numbers like 640×480 correspond to the picture quality of ordinary TVs and DVDs. Higher numbers, such as 1280×1024, 1680×1050, 1900×1200, and so on, move you into HDTV territory.

“Color Quality” is at the bottom right of the dialog. The available settings depend on your video card and monitor. In the old days, this would be set to 8-bit graphics because some games only worked properly in that mode, and some computers or cards were so slow that 8-bit actually made things go faster. The other extreme is 32-bits of color, and there is usually a 16-bit “medium” option as well. These numbers refer to how much data it takes to represent a pixel – a single dot – on the screen. More bits means more colors (i.e. more shades for each color), but it also requires a little more speed and performance from all of the components involved.

Voila! You’ve just understood the basic principles about Deep Color. Standard HD DVD (and Blu-ray) discs are made for 24-bit color, and the HDMI 1.3a specification allows colors to be represented by 30, 36, and 48 bits.

Now for the “gotcha!” in all of this:

1. Movies on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs are not, and have not been, made in any of these new modes. At some point in the future, discs could be made for Deep Color, but it’s probably not even coming in 2008, and is likely to require some major firmware upgrades or new technology on the player side to work really well.
2. Only a few HDTVs support Deep Color. You can’t just walk in to a Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry’s, or other store and find a bunch of these models to choose from. This naturally means those displays have a premium price.
3. Having an HDMI 1.3 connector does not mean that either device actually does anything with Deep Color. HDMI 1.3 is just one way to make a cable – don’t mistakenly think that your system is handling Deep Color simply because you have that kind of cable.

Waiting for Deep Color may be a good reason to delay purchasing your second or third HDTV or high-definition DVD player, but please don’t make it a reason to hold off on your first entry into the land of HD. By the time Deep Color becomes affordable and prevalent, there’ll probably be yet another set of promised next-gen features, and where will you be then? Sometimes it’s prudent to move slowly, but to not move forward at all might mean many lost opportunities. In this case, you’ll be missing out on a wonderful home theater experience.

A few references for your further enlightenment on the topic:

• Is HDMI 1.3 Really Necessary?
• HDMI 1.3: The 1080p of 2007?
• HDMI 1.3 Doubles Bandwidth, Delivers Billions of Colors for HDTVs
• Color Gets Deep