Digital Home Thoughts: LIVEdigitally: Demystifying Some HDTV Technology

"With roughly 20 million homes in the US today owning “HD-ready” TV sets, HDTV (High Definition Television) has become a bit of a catch-all acronym for roughly anything that is not standard definition (SD). Along with any new standard or technology comes the inevitable onslaught of abbreviations, acronyms, buzzwords, and otherwise cryptic terminology. For example, there is “over-the-air” HDTV content (used by the ATSC standard) – most people aren’t aware that a simple antenna bought at radio shack can potentially deliver a better quality HDTV signal than the latest digital cable box or satellite receiver! Want a better one? A recent study showed that of these HD set owners, roughly 25% had them connected to SD sources, and did not know they were not watching HDTV content!... With the next-generations of media PCs, cable boxes, satellite receivers, DVRs, DVD players, and game consoles all offering HDTV services, the future has literally never looked so good. While there is no real winner or loser in the HDMI/DVI space, it seems extremely likely that HDMI is bound to be the dominant cable format for the next few years. Especially because it supports up to 10.2 gigabits per second throughput (that is a LOT of data) and has built-in HDCP support for the content industry. Although with all that fancy technology inside, the nicest part for consumers is finally having the convenience of only making a single connection from device to device!"

With every new technology comes new terminologies, acronyms and complimentary technologies. When learning about HDTVs, you can't just concentrate on the TVs. You must also consider tuners, cables, antennas etc, much of which are also new technology. Jeremy Toeman briefly explains the various technologies you'll need to know when considering an HDTV purchase. Give the article a read and become demystified.