HDTV, also known as high definition television is becoming more popular because it offers viewers a clearer picture, better sound, progressive scanning and a wider viewing screen. Wide-screen televisions sets are a top choice for consumers looking to set up a home theater system, too. When shopping for a new HDTV set, the choices and options can be perplexing. There are many different types of HDTV sets available. There is definitely a new breed of televisions for HDTV.

Most HDTV sets that are available for sale are big screen and they are generally expensive. Smaller-screened televisions with digital capabilities are slated to hit the market in 2007. It is estimated that only about 30 million televisions in the United States have digital tuners, out of the several hundred million sets already installed in homes.

Choosing a high definition television can be confusing. When shopping for a new HDTV, do research and understand the product. It is recommend that you shop around and ask lots of questions before purchasing. HDTV set ups can be costly. Larger sets can run in the thousands of dollars just for the television. Most HDTV sets that are available for sale are big screen and they are generally expensive. Smaller-screened televisions with digital capabilities are slated to hit the market in 2007.

There are three types of digital television signals that currently broadcast. They are SD for standard definition, ED for enhanced definition and HD for high definitions. The SD and ED signals can be broadcast with a traditional square screen or in a movie-like wide-screen with reduced picture quality. HD signals however, are all wide-screen, which makes the picture crisper and clearer.

When looking at HDTV sets, there are many sizes and styles to choose from. LCD microdisplays are probably the most popular of the HDTV sets. It is a rear projector that uses three small LCD panels. Each panel is less than one inch diagonal and has the capability to produce high definition wide screen images up to 70 inches. The LCD panels are made up of a grid of transistors that create a pixel structure. When the transistors are charged, tiny rotating crystals suspend n a liquid inside the panel. The crystals are like tiny shutters that control the amount of light that passes through each panel. The light is reflected on a mirror and through a projection screen, which creates the full color high definition picture.

The choices for HDTV are staggering. Consumers can purchase plasma, LCD (liquid crystal display), DLP (digital light processing) or LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon), which are all types of monitors. There are also projection displays to consider. They also come in LCD, DLP, and LCOS. Many viewers prefer the wall display monitor that either plasma or LCD offers. But, these are usually most expensive of the high definition sets, especially the ones that are sized between 40 to 70 inches. Lower on the cost spectrum, but equally good, are the LCD displays that are sized at 42 inches and under.

There are great benefits of using high definition television. HDTV has over twice the sharpness and clarity of analog TV broadcasts. The color resolution for HDTV sets is far superior. For consumers who have already made the switch to HDTV, they feel this is the biggest advantage of high definition.

The lack of imperfections in the television screen often seen on traditional television is another reason why many prefer high definition to analog. With HDTV, problems such as snow caused from a weak signal, double images from ghosting or multi-path and picture sparkles from impulse noise are a thing of the past. These problems often seen on a conventional television broadcast just do not occur on HDTV.

Screen resolution from a high definition TV broadcast is almost five times as sharp as conventional broadcasts. High definition has double the lines of resolution compared to a traditional analog TV set. While a traditional analog set can only display 525 lines of resolution, HDTV technology takes this one step farther. HDTV broadcasts can display 1080 horizontal lines of resolution. This makes a huge difference in the picture clarity and quality. Often with big screen analog broadcasts, the picture is severely degraded because of the resolution lines.

The technology for HDTV-compatible TVs is advancing quickly. A movement toward integration is inspiring developers to create TVs that can do more and more. One day in the very near future, most people will have TVs which are linked to every other media in their home. Your computer, telephone, TV and music will all be conveniently linked to your giant entertainment center. This integration is important to keep in mind when choosing your HD-capable TV. Although there is no way to know for sure what we will need from our TV set five years up the road, it is still wise to be forward thinking in your purchase. Keep an eye out for the following five aspects when you get ready to buy your HD-compatible TV set.

Cable Card-ready? Along with local over-the-air, broadcasting and satellite, cable is racing to keep up with the technology for digital and high definition programming and services. Knowing that people always like sleekness and convenience in their media, more and more cable companies are now offering a Cable Card. This card will give you everything you need to watch your HD programming. The Cable Card-ready TV set has a slot (usually in the back) which will accept the cable provider's information card. The potential for the card is already being speculated upon, because games and other media besides HD programming can be conveniently put on the card as well. Another benefit to this is that it keeps you from having to have a cable box in your living room. Everything is on the card.

Plenty of ports and hook-ups? If you imagine yourself keeping up with the technology of TV and media, then make sure your brand-new HD-capable TV has all of the ports, jacks and hook-ups you could possibly imagine needing. Do not be shy about having ones that you do not imagine using either. USB ports, and a variety of other hook-ups, may surprise you by how useful they are a year or two up the road. The motto seems to be that you can never have too many ports.

Small screen or big screen? Getting the right size for your TV is never easy, but a couple aspects about HDTV should get you in the right direction. First, as opposed to the big screen TVs of the 80s and 90s for analog programming, watching HDTV on a big screen does not lose picture size or quality. In the past, the bigger one made the analog picture, the more one lost. Because HDTV is virtually a perfect picture with its high resolution, you can never have the picture too big. Second, HDTV is already in wide screen format. Now, you really can feel like you are at the movie theater. Of course, it is not mandatory to get a massive screen, but just know that if you decide to get another eight or 10 inches of TV set, you will not be disappointed.

HD-ready? Is your TV HD-capable? Does it come with an HD-decoder? There are several terms being used in the world of electronics lingo which all basically mean the same thing, with one exception. Some of the TVs, which advertise HD-ready or HD-capable, may actually just mean that they can receive the signal, and nothing else. This means that you receive HD programming, but you do not actually have the capability to view it the way it was meant to be viewed. When you buy your HD-capable TV, be very clear that you want to be able to enjoy all of the features of HD resolution, formatting and sound. Save yourself the trouble of having to return your TV set for one which will allow you to see the high definition you are paying good money to enjoy.

Does your TV include HDMI? So you are ready to buy the 80-inch, Cable Card-ready HDTV-capable set with all of the ports and jacks. You also made sure that you can actually view the resolution of high definition programming. You have everything you need. Well, there might be one more thing to consider. If you can find one of the HD-capable models which includes HDMI (high definition multimedia interface), then you will be able to cut out another accessory. HD-capable sets with HDMI built-in allow you to directly receive the 5.1 Dolby-sound which is part of HDTV formatting. Otherwise, you will need to buy special components or cables. If you are not able to find one with HDMI though, do not fret. These are hard to come by for now.

HDTV or High Definition Television offers many benefits over traditional analog television. High definition television has excellent digital superiority, crisp detail, progressive scanning, digital audio, a wider viewing area and better quality DVD playback. With congress pushing for a complete switch to HDTV by midnight December 31, 2006, will we really say good-bye to analog-hello HDTV?

The issue of choosing HDTV over analog television came about in 1987 when the FCC issued a ruling indicating that all analog televisions would become obsolete in 2006. The Japanese had developed a successful high definition television and the United States wanted to edge them out. As a result a group of American electronics companies formed the “Grand Alliance” by inventing digital HDTV.

In 1990, the FCC announced that HDTV would be broadcast at the same time as existing NTSC broadcasting service. The idea was to give television broadcasters additional channel space to broadcast in both analog and digital. The old channels would then become obsolete. To make this work, all televisions would have to convert to digital. All televisions made since 1946 would suddenly become obsolete unless a converter was purchased and installed.

Part of the HDTV plan worked. Over 1400 broadcasters currently transmit in digital and analog. Consumers, who were supposed to be buying HDTV sets to get ready for the big switch, were not so eager to change.

Currently, most HDTV sets that are available for sale are big screen and they are generally expensive. Smaller-screened televisions with digital capabilities are slated to hit the market in 2007. It is estimated that only about 30 million televisions in the United States have digital tuners, out of the several hundred million sets already installed in homes.

There is a loophole in the HDTV switch plan, though. Congress decided if that 85 percent of homes did not own a digital television set, then the analog televisions would not be obsolete. But, what happens to analog televisions that are still being purchased by the thousands, even as the 2006 HDTV switch date nears?

Most consumers are still relatively uneducated when it comes to HDTV. In fact, according to Rick Chessen, the associate chief and chairman of the FCC, American consumers need to realize that “analog sets will have limited capabilities in their future.” But, is it really important to make the switch to HDTV now. Or should you wait till later?

Program Offerings

The answer to this question lies mostly in personal opinion and individual situations. Currently, television channels are not HDTV. Those that do offer HDTV are: ABC, CBS, Cinemax, Encore, ESPN, ESPN 2, Fox, Fox Sports, HBO, HDNet, The Movie Channel, NBC, PBS, Showtime, and Starz, Universal. With the exception of the broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and PBS, each of these channels requires cable or satellite service to receive.

Therefore, a person who doesn’t watch any of these channels often might not need to run out and buy a HDTV at the moment. By the end of 2006, however, the FCC has dictated that every channel must broadcast in only digital format. Digital format is not the same as HDTV, but HDTV needs digital format in order to run. If the FCC gets its way, analog televisions will be nothing more than oversized paperweights, unless the owner purchases a special digital-to-analog converter. In this case, the television will be able to show programming, but it still won’t be of the higher quality received by those who own televisions with digital receivers.

No Avoiding the Inevitable

Of course, most people who watch television watch at least one of the channels that currently broadcast in HDTV. So, the question still remains: Should the HDTV be bought now, or should the consumer wait?

With the FCC’s regulations, coupled with the ever-increasing popularity of HDTV, there is no avoiding the fact that HDTV is in the future of all Americans. But, for the true television connoisseur, there doesn’t appear to be much advantage to either waiting to buy an HDTV or purchasing one now.

True, the price of HDTV televisions has fallen since they were first introduced. And, they are likely to continue to fall. But for the person who is passionate about television, it almost seems foolish to wait to purchase an HDTV because it is simply putting off the inevitable. There are no current HDTV breakthroughs on the horizon, so waiting to purchase an HDTV won’t increase the chances of having the “latest and greatest” technology – which technology has already arrived.

For someone who is, however, an infrequent viewer of television or who doesn’t relish the television viewing experience, it might be a good idea to simply wait. When the time comes that all broadcasters are forced to switch to digital broadcasting, it will come time for these consumers to make a decision. They can either purchase an HDTV television, or they can buy a digital-to-analog converter.

If the current analog television still produces an acceptable picture and is still in good working order, purchasing a digital-to-analog is likely the best choice for people in this category. Most experts believe these will only cost about $50-100 at the time the switchover takes place, which makes buying one of the converters quite affordable – particularly when compared to paying hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars for a HDTV television.

In fact, there has been talk within the government about assisting low-income families in purchasing digital-to-analog converters. This discussion has mostly taken place because it is likely to be low-income families who are most affected by the FCC’s mandate for all broadcasters to switch to digital. The current Bush administration, however, is not in favor of this suggestion.

No matter a person’s level of television passion, a person in the market to purchase a new television in order to replace a new one should seriously consider purchasing an HDTV television instead of an analog television. If a consumer does purchase an analog television, it will soon be obsolete and will require additional money to enjoy television programming. It is worthwhile to save the time and worries and spend a little extra cash on the HDTV now, rather than spend extra money down the road on a television that doesn’t provide the extra perks supplied by HDTV.