In the Market For a New TV - Check out HDTV TV
What is the difference between HDTV TV and Digital HDTV? The 1990's brought big changes to television both in the way signals were broadcast to what viewers have come to expect from the programming they receive from the cable or satellite providers. However, when people refer to digital TV they may or may not be talking about HDTV - high definition television. There are three different ideas about digital TV that combine to bring you HDTV.
The digital signal that comes to your television set is the first of these ideas. Every television broadcaster has an analog channel and a digital channel. Without a digital cable box, you can use an ordinary antenna to pick up TV stations for free. However, with digital broadcasts, there is a new frequency that broadcasters can use. This digital channel has a 19.39 megabyte per second stream so that your digital TV can decode the transmission. Although each broadcaster does have one channel, each of these can carry several channels called sub-channels.
These sub channels are possible because of the different formats available. The highest of these formats is the 1080p or 1080i, which of course is high definition TV. 1080i means that the picture is 1920 x 1080 pixels and the format is interlaced. Half of the picture on the screen updates at the rate of 30 complete frames per second (the odd # lines then the even # lines in two separate passes).
In the 1080p models, a progressive format is used and the full picture updates at the rate of 30 complete frames per second. So you can see that the best high definition ready television to buy is one that has 1080p.
If you buy a new television set today, it will be ready for high definition. However, if your old analog set is still working, you won't need to replace it just to watch TV. You will still be able to see the same pictures on the screen. It is just that the image colors will not be as sharp and as vivid as they would be on a plasma screen. With digital and high definition television comes the added advantage of being able to buy a big screen TV.
Now you can sit back at home and enjoy the same exciting picture and sound as your would in the movie theater. Check out what high definition, big screen and widescreen have to offer when you are ready to make a new purchase.
How to be sure you TV is HDTV Ready