Big Screen TV Deals

The old adage of “buyer beware” can be applied to any new product and HDTV’s are no exception. It’s always a good idea to arm one’s self with good old-fashioned consumer knowledge so that when you do go and make your purchase, you’re not at a disadvantage. But rather, readied for anything.

High Definition Television (HDTV)

Although High Definition technology was first developed in 1969, this high-end electronic didn’t really take off with consumers until the late 1990s and into the turn of this century. Naturally as demand has risen, so to has the HDTV market grown, with manufacturers pushing one another to develop the finest product available. And from price to size to resolution, there are many factors to consider when ultimately making your purchase. (It’s a big one!) The first thing to do is to understand what you’re getting with HDTV and what you’ll need to get the most from your new television.

The Basics

Pixels: Magnify a digital picture and you’ll find that the picture is actually composed of millions of squares. Those squares are pixels.

Resolution: This is a term integral to high-definition television, as it defines a system as being such. What sets HD apart from traditional TV formats the number of scanned lines in the picture. Prior to HD, there was only one “standard” television resolution and thus, no choice was needed. However in this HD world, that has all changed.”Resolution” refers to the point at which an image remains clear before becoming blurred. Hence “1080p” (where “p” = “progressive”), means that there are 1080 progressive scanning lines per image and across those lines, exist the pixels. An HD system featuring a native resolution of 1280 x 720p translates to 1280 pixels distributed across each of the 720 progressive scan lines - creating a compressed and denser picture quality than say 704 pixels across 480i or “interlaced” lines.As Defined by the International Telecommunication Union, current HDTV standards establish a native resolution of 720p, 1080i or 1080p, with a 16:9 aspect ratio. By contrast, traditional television screens have a 4:3 (1.33:1) aspect ratio and as noted, only one resolution.Interlaced scan vs. Progressive scan:“Interlaced scan” or the “i” after “1080i” refers to a broadcast process in which odd- and even-numbered lines of an image/picture are scanned and then displayed consecutively as two separate fields but superimposed together to create one image on the screen.”Progressive scan” or the “p” after “720p” and/or “1080p” refers to a broadcast process in which the lines of an image/picture is scanned consecutively, without interruption as is the case with an “interlaced scan.” This process creates a smoother delivery of the image. The new “1080p” combines the smoothness of the 720 with the high frame rate of the 1080.

Tuners: Indicative of the HD revolution, as of March 1, 2007, any new television set that has an analog (NTSC) tuner must also include a digitial TV (ATSC) tuner so as to give the consumer the option of high-definition television. By way of an external antenna (costing $150 and up), an analog television with integrated HDTV tuner could receive HD signals.Note: Through cable and/or satellite TV providers, an HDTV tuner is not necessary for high-definition viewing. The only specific is that the TV be HD-ready. A box — provided by your cable or satellite provider — would enable access to the HDTV channels offered by those companies. Plus, a digital cable ready television (DCR) means that all digital signals can be viewed simply by installing a special access card, a CableCard. Though there are limitations to this type of service, it’s nonetheless one more option in the unstoppable transition to high-definition TV.

Compatible Components

As HD grows, so does the development of compatible components, such as DVD players. While any DVD player can be used with an HDTV, upscaling DVD players are designed to match the resolution output of an HD system. This type of DVD player, with upscaling capability, is the first step in finding the right compatibility between HDTV and DVD components. The next of course is to purchase an actual Blu-ray or HD-DVD player, which when connected via am HDMI connection, will produce true high-definition picture quality for all HD DVDs.Publishers of DVDs are beginning the transition themselves, producing pure HD DVDs as well as DVDs with the feature in both traditional and HD format. Changeover to HD, as far as DVD players goes, will make use of “backward compatibility,” which means that new players will be able to play new formats as well as existing ones, so that your collection of DVDs will still work on a single player.Other ongoing HD compatible components in the works: gaming (XHD or extreme high definition gaming) and audio (HDCD or high definition compatible digital).

To further familiarize yourself further with the specifics of HD, check out our Glossary of HDTV Terms.