What is HDTV???

HDTV is defined by ATSC and CE as the following four parameters:

The TV must:

1. Have an aspect ratio of 16:9

This means you are looking at a rectangle instead of a square picture.

Why all this hubub over 16:9?

Try this...Put your outstretched hands on the side of your head by

your eyes. Can you see to the right and left? You lose your peripheral vision don't you.

Well, that is what life would be like if we actually saw like we see video on the old 4:3

format. The reason for 16:9 is to give you Widescreen capability, or

peripheral vision when watching TV. Movies have always been in

widescreen in order to bring elaborate battle scenes or space shots, to bring you into the

picture. 

THAT being said, let me clarify something:

There are different aspect ratios in film, so even though you have a Widescreen television, that doesn't

mean your not going to get LetterBoxing on the top and bottom. It's simple math.

The movies that are in the 1.78 aspect (as denoted on the movie packaging) will fill your 16:9 screen.

Simply divide 16 by 9 and you get 1.78. The others, barring some kind of auto embedded

formating, will have black bars, but this is allowing you to see the movie as it was shot,

Not Edited to fit your screen

BONUS: Buying Movie Advice:

If you have widescreen TV, make sure you buy the WIDESCREEN version of the Movie! NOT FULL SCREEN

2. Display a minimum of 720p to 1080i resolution!

This means that the TV or panel for you fixed pixel types (SXRD, LCD, Plasma, DLP) must display at least 720

lines to 1080 based on the broadcast (some transmit at 720p, others at 1080i).

Ok, so what is p and i?

Basically, TV has always been created and transmitted as intermittent lines.

If you look at an old 4:3 CRT or Rear Projection closely, you will see little black lines that flash on

the screen. This is the interval meaning you are seeing half the information at any

given time. That's interlacedscanning. Digital TV brought on Progressive Scanning in which

all the lines are shown at the same time. The more lines, the sharper the picture. Now most of you

would assume that 720p is then better than 1080i because with Interlaced scanning,

you are actually only seeing 540 lines at any given time but that would be false because

this all happens at a 30th of a second

and you see 30 still frames of video per second, so will still look better.

What about Blu-Ray?

it is mastered at 1080p, so that is the best you can get in the U.S. today. Nobody broadcasts

1080p because there isn't a standard for it. That would take government legislation,

and we all know what that entails. Folks, it took 10 years just to get HDTV.

I saw my first one in 1991..

Now going back to the TV technologies, All fixed panel devices show Progressive by nature due to not

being able to alternate or interlace.

So even though you may input an interlaced signal, what you see is progressive thanks to the scalers on board.

Cheap Plasmas are only 480p display.

More expensive Plasmas and entry level LCD (3LCD RPTV to) will be around 1280 x 720p,

though newer Sony Tv's will be 1920 x 1080 as well.

SXRD, high end LCD and expensive Plasma, and other LCOS devices are tops at 1080p

Wait, what about DLP??

Well, go back to wobulation, most are actually 960 x 1080 at the DMD chip and overlay the

image to get to 1920x1080 at the screen-but this seems like interlace scanning to

me...This premise won't change no matter what light source they

use because of the cost of the DMD chip.

3. Must have a terrestrial ATSC tuner.

This simply means that the TV must have an integrated tuner that can

tune in your local stations with Rabbit Ears or a roof mount antenna. Now this can be a challenge because depending on where you live, you

either get the signal or don't, so you may want to opt for cable or satellite at that point

for reliability.

But note that this just applies to Local Broadcast. As you may know

there is a mandate for stations to be transmitting Digital TV and the analog stations will

be shut off in 2009.

This does not apply to cable or satellite as

they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC.

The FCC needs the analog band for 911 and cell phone opportunities, so

for those of you who are dragging your feet on HDTV, you don't have to fret too much, but

you are missing out on phenomenal quality offered by HD sources.

As of 2007, all Consumer Electronics have to be integrated with an

ATSC tuner-but again, that is just local broadcast.

A DIRTY SECRET: Just because you have Digital TV, does not mean you are watching HDTV. You typically have to pay extra for a specific HDTV package, while your satellite or cable may already be a digital system. There is a big visual difference between Digital at 480p and HDTV at 720p or 1080i.  

ONE MORE: Local broadcasters while free of charge (With QAM cable tuner)on cable and off air also only transmit HDTV in primetime 7pm and on, so during the day, you get a 4:3 Digital image on that channel.

4. Finally, The TV must Receive, Reproduce, and output 5.1 Surround Sound

(We'll discuss this on another page). That's right, there is actually

multichannel sound that comes with HDTV, and the sets have to output this sound to your

stereo using an optical connection typically. So you can watch your favorite primetime

programming in HD with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround..Awesome!! Try turning down the volume the next

time you watch a movie--it's not the same experience...

HDAudio is just as important as the HD picture!!!

Whew, that's a lot, I know, but you now have the knowledge to buy what's best for

you.