HDTV In Plain English 

Learn the Basics of Digital Television and HDTV In Ten Minutes!

HDTV Info Summary

You are probably here because you have heard about HDTV, but you may not understand just yet what it is, or why you should care.  We will answer the questions “What is HDTV?” and “What are my options?” without boring you with technical terms and mumbo jumbo.  We will provide you with the basic HDTV information you need, and explain the HDTV advantages to you in plain English.

What is HDTV anyway?

Analog Vs. Digital TV

In order to explain HDTV, it would be helpful to explain the difference between analog TV signals and Digital TV (DTV) signals.  You can think of an analog signal as invisible waves that travel through the air.  Changing the shape of these waves provides information that your analog TV can understand.  Some waves carry information about the picture and some carry the audio, or sound.  Now, let's talk about Digital TV (DTV).

Many of you will remember the days when gas pumps used numbers on a circular ring that spun around to show you the price of gas?  That was an analog method of showing you cost and number of gallons pumped.      Now we see electronic numbers on the face of the pump that give us the same information. These pumps use digital technology.  It is a crude analogy, but TV signals are now going through the same technology update. 

You probably have both analog clocks (with hands) and digital clocks (which have electronic digits).   Analog methods are often approximations, they can be subject to distortions, and may not be as precise.  Analog information can also be hard to copy absolutely perfectly.  If you've ever heard a cassette tape that was a recording of a recording of a recording, you know what I mean. 

Digital methods of sending TV signals involve transmitting ones and zeros.   It is very easy for a receiver to tell the difference between a one and zero, or something that is on or off.  We have ways of checking for errors with digital signals that we don't have with analog signals.  So, one difference between Digital TV and analog TV is that the digital signal you are receiving is either present or its not.  With analog TV, you may get a fuzzy picture or waves and patterns across your screen.  With Digital TV (DTV), that does not happen.  The signal is either there, or it isn't.  It is actually just a bit more complicated than that, but that's the general idea.

Now What's The Big Deal About Digital TV (DTV)?  

People are beginning to see commercials, ads, signs, and posters that tell them the age of analog TV is coming to an end.  What is really happening is that after February 17, 2009, the U.S. Government has mandated that TV stations stop broadcasting analog signals over the air. (For the most part anyway.  Low power TV stations are an exception to that.)  After that date, the TV signals broadcast over the air will be Digital TV (DTV) signals.   I know you have probably heard about HDTV (High Definition TV).  Yes, there is great excitement and confusion about HDTV.  And it is important to understand the difference. 

Now Will You Please Finally Tell Me What HDTV Is?

Yes, you're ready to hear that now.   I have to give you the information in the right order.  If you found out that you owed $5000 in taxes this year, it might be considered bad news.  But if I told you first that it was because you had won $30,000 in the lottery, then maybe you wouldn't mind so much, right?

HDTV stands for High Definition Television.  High Definition refers to the fact you can see a lot more detail in an HD broadcast than in the old analog broadcast.   The sound that comes with an HD broadcast is also much better quality than the sound that was sent with the old analog broadcasts.  If you have been to any of the big box retail stores, you have probably seen plenty of examples of HDTV broadcast images on their HDTV sets in the stores.  There really is a lot that can be said about the advantages of HDTV in technical terms.  I would simply summarize the main benefits as this:

	Pictures With Much Greater Detail
	Better Quality Sound
	Wider picture view
	Built In Programming Guide
	Generally Clearer Pictures
	Capability for New Services

A Word About Resolution

You will frequently see the word "resolution" used when discussing TV images.  Resolution is a term used to describe how much detail can be seen in the picture.   For example, in a low resolution image, you might be able to see a group of coins on the table and tell which ones are nickels and which ones are dimes.  In a medium resolution image, you might be able to see the images on the coins and recognize them.  And in a high resolution image, the larger writing on the coin might not only be visible, but legible.   This is just an example of course.  Where resolution really becomes important is when viewing larger displays.  If you have ever seen a regular analog TV image displayed on a very large TV screen, such as a 50" model, then you probably thought it looked "grainy" or "fuzzy."   The High Definition (HD) images displayed on the same size TV screen will look much better than that, thank to the extra information carried by the HDTV digital signal.  The additional detail provided by an HDTV picture is part of what makes it a "High Definition" or "High Resolution" picture. 

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