Going High Definition
High Definition Source – Where will the HD content come from?
First you will need a high definition tuner of some kind. Many HDTVs still do not have built in High Definition tuners. That means that unless your new HDTV has built in ATSC or QAM tuner or supports Cable Card, you will need a special HD cable box from your satellite or cable company. Check with your provider to see what kind of options they have. A misconception that people tend to have is that getting HD content is expensive - not true. The television itself will be expensive, but getting an HD cable box from a provider like Comcast is not much more than a standard definition box.
These are three ways to get high definition natively in your television. Your set may or may not have these features. If you don’t plan on ordering a cable or satellite high definition cable box, then you’ll want to look for a TV with one or both of these built in.
ATSC. An ATSC Tuner receives high-defintion TV signals over the air, just like regular broadcast stations. If you don’t have cable or satellite, and you’re still using a pair of rabbit ears or a roof top antenna, then this is the way to go. Check antennaweb.org to see what stations are being broadcast in HD in your area.
QAM. A QAM tuner decodes unencrypted high definition stations from your cable provider WITHOUT a set top box. So as long as your provider is not encrypting their HD signal, you can plug your cable directly into your TV and receive HDTV. You will not be able to receive premium stations such as HBO or Showtime using QAM; this requires a set top box.
Cable Card. You'll see that a lot of new HDTV's feature Cable Card slots. What's a cable card? It's a small card that you can get from some cable companies that essentially replaces your cable box. Instead of renting the cable box, you rent this card, slide into your television, and you can get all your premium and digital stations without the box. It doesn't seem to have caught on just yet, but it's still fairly new. One knock on the cable card is that the current version doesn't support two way activity - so things like pay-per-view and On-Demand will not work. This is supposed to be fixed in Cable Card 2.0, but of course, your television will need to support it, and the Cable Card 2.0 standard is not out yet.
Aspect Ratio: Should I go Widescreen?
This is a personal preference, but since you're asking, Yes, and you really won't have much of a choice anyway. All HDTV Broadcasts - along with all modern movies - are all in the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. The old square 4:3 TV aspect ratio, like the analog television you watch it on, is all but obsolete.
All your old favorite sitcoms will never be widescreen, and many cable television shows are still 4:3 as well, but the widescreen 16:9 format is the new standard for TV and movies. Basically you and your family have to make this decision: would you rather see black bars on the top and bottom of your movies and HD broadcasts, or on the sides of the TV when you watch reruns of Seinfeld?
720P, 1080i, 1080P.. What does all this mean?
This refers to the resolution and how that resolution is displayed. 1080P being the best. Here's the break down. the number refers to vertical lines of resolution. the "I" and the "P" stand for "Interlaced" and "Progressive". They refer to the two different methods of displaying moving images.
Progressive scan displays each image, in it's entirety in sequence, giving a very smooth image. Most High Def programming is in the progressive scan format. Progressive scan looks more natural and film-like.
Interlacing is a method of conserving video bandwidth where each frame is split into two "pieces", one piece containing every other line of the frame and the second piece containing the rest. They're displayed in sequence. The result is the "scan lines" that you see on your analog tv.
While 1080P is currently the ulitmate in HD resolution and looks to be the standard for years to come, you shouldn't necessarily fret about buying a 1080P capable television. There are several reasons for this. 1080P is still pretty rare and there is a large price premium on 1080P TVs. Also, an HDTV may be advertised as 1080P capable but not actually capable of accepting a 1080P signal - some advertised 1080P are actually just upscaling lesser content to 1080P. Finally, there aren't a lot of 1080P sources available for purchase yet. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players, and some upscaling conventional DVD players are about all that's out there.
How big of a screen do I need?
It all depends upon the size of your room and your viewing distance. There are several different formulas floating out on the web, but there is no hard and fast rule. A good basic guide is that you want the distance you sit to be roughly 3 times the size of your screen. So if you sit about 10 feet away, you want a screen that is roughly 34 inches.
Maximizing resolution
CNet's Guide to TV Size
CRT, Plasma, LCD, DLP, Projection… What to choose?
Maybe this sounds obvious, but you should choose the technology that fits you best. What are your requirements? How big is your room? How far away from the Television will you sit? Are there space limitations in the room? What's your budget? What will be the TV's main purpose - Movies, TV, Video Games, etc?
Each Type of television also has a certain size range - so keep note of that and decide what you need before you settle on a technology.
CRT
The old Cathode Ray Tube is q uickly dying out, quicker than anyone expected, in fact. CRT's are also big and bulky and with absolutely zero sexy factor, but they're still able to provide one of the best pictures out there, and when you consider the price compared to the new flat panel designs, they're a downright bargain. But besides being difficult to find, they're also limited in size.. 34-36 inches tops.
LCD
LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. Any flat panel television you find between 20-40 inches is likely to be an LCD. They get much larger than that, but the prices climb as does your screen real estate. Luckily, prices for the more common sizes have been steadily dropping to Earth. With nearly affordable prices and practical sizes, LCDs becoming the new standard.
LCDs achieve sharp, bright, colorful pictures with high resolution at relatively small sizes, thrive with ambient light, and are easy to lug around and mount. However, they also suffer from a relatively restricted viewing angle, poor black levels on average, the dreaded screen-door effect (at close distances), and possible motion blur.
Plasma
Plasmas generally occupy the 40-70 inch range. They get much larger - a 103" behemoth was recently released, but they are not very practical above about 60 inches. A rear projection, DLP or LCoS unit is a better choice at that size.
Plasmas have routinely better blacks than LCD, wider viewing angles, and accurate color. But they aren't as good in ambient light and if misused, are susceptible to uneven burn. Inch for inch, they can't squeeze as many pixels into a panel as LCDs can; at 42", many plasmas tap out at 1024x768, whereas 40" LCDs can reach the full HD format of 1920x1080.
Rear Projection "RPTV"
Rear Projection Televisions use DLP, LCoS, LCDor even CRT projectors to create a very large screen. Those old gigantic Big-Screen TV's from the 80's and 90's were all CRT Rear Projection units. Rear projection TV's are great for getting a very large screen for not so much money. Generally they sit on the floor and take up much more space than an LCD or Plasma, but the new digital RPTVs are nowhere near as large as
DLP - "Digital Light Projection" is quickly becoming the standard for new projection televisions.
LCoS - "Liquid Crystal on Silicon" Another digital rear-projection technology. JVC uses this technology and calls it DiLA. Sony markets theirs as SXRD. Note that Sony has abandoned Plasma technology in favor of LCDs and LCoS powered RPTVs.
Front Projection - Front Projection refers to the actual projector type that you mount on your ceiling and project onto a screen. This is a great choice that tends to get overlooked by mainstream consumers, probably because it requires more set up than a typical television. You must mount the projector, a screen to project it on, and you need a very dark room. Difficult to pull off in a typical living room.
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