What Is HDTV?

HDTV stands for High Definition TeleVision. This new standard of television contains up to 5 times more detail than normal TV. High Definition televisions are the next step up from the regular analogue televisions we've been using for over half a century. The major difference between analogue and HDTV is the substantially improved picture quality on HDTVs.

The pictures on your television are composed of hundreds of horizontal lines layered together to form a single image - the more lines the greater the detail and sharpness. Traditional analogue televisions generates about 500 lines, but the latest HDTVs are has screen resolutions of 1080 lines, making them twice as sharp as their predecessors. This results in greater details, sharpness, contrasts, color gradations, and basically a much prettier picture.

Getting Equipped For HD

To savor the HD experience you will need a HD-Ready or Full HD TV set, a HDTV set-top box and a Dolby Digital Home Theater system. HD programmes are made and broadcast in one of two formats - 720p or 1080i/p. The number '720' or '1080' tells you how many lines or pixels the picture contains. The higher the number the sharper the picture. The letter next to it stands for 'progressive' or 'interlaced'. This refers to how those lines are displayed. With the progressive format all the lines are displayed at once. But with 'interlaced' half the lines are shown, followed by the other half many tmes a second. A 'progressive' image is generally better than 'interlaced' at displaying fast moving content.

For more indepth information, pay a visit to Professor Kelin J. Kuhn's introduction to HDTV and its standards.

Our special thanks to Peter Atkinson for this informative article on What Is HDTV.