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Learn the Lingo HDTV Terms You Should Know Before Setting Foot in a Store


Before you go shopping for that new High Definition Television Set, there are terms that you need to know. It's a frightening experience to be looking for something that high tech, yet not understand a word the salesperson is saying. I know. I've been there! You need to learn the terms, know the lingo, let the salesperson know you've done your homework; you'll get a better deal if you do.

Let's begin with the basics. What's the difference between analog TV and HDTV? Analog is what we have had for the past 50 years. It sends conventional TV signals to consumers and is then broadcast on an analog TV. This was great when it first appeared. It sends the signals continuously, but in doing so creates changes in color and brightness.

Digital TV is a broad term that covers High Definition Television and other applications such as data casting, interactivity, and multicasting. Digital refers to the circuitry that carries the signals that have data.

Enhanced TV is simply down casting. Down casting is a term used that includes added resources downloaded to viewers. Live interaction and downloading programs to special receivers for reviewing later are two types of enhanced TV.

Pixel is another term that you need to be familiar with before shopping for a new HDTV.

A pixel is a tiny square that has a sample of video information that make up the overall picture on the television set. A pixel per inch or PPI is the measure of the sharpness of the display screen. The more PPIs per inch the sharper the picture. Pixels affect the resolution. The more pixels there are, the more picture detail you have. High Definition picture formats are comprised of 1080 active lines and each line has 1920 pixels. Let's compare that with today's analog TVs. The HDTV ends with over two million pixels per frame. The analog only has 480 active lines, so the ration of pixels is about 200,000 as apposed to the two million for HDTVs.

In addition, you will need to know that a digital tuner will be needed to receive and display digital broadcasts. Some TV sets will come equipped with the decoder and will be included within the TV or a separate box will need to be bought to decode the signals.

Dolby Digital is the surround sound technology that movie theaters use and larger home theater systems have. It works with five speakers plus a low frequency subwoofer to produce true-to-life sound. The sound can put you in the center of the action when you are watching TV.

Letterbox refers to the image you get of a wide-screen picture on a standard TV. It typically has black bars above and below the picture. This maintains the aspect ratio designed for the theater screen. Which is generally 16:9 or wider.

Many cable companies provide digital Cable. Digital cable offers viewers more channels but is not the same as digital television. A digital monitor is a set up box that can display a digital signal through an added set-top box. Many HDTVs will have several items including a set-top box, a DVD player and a DVR.

DVR is my favorite function of the HDTV. It allows you to record a set number of hours without programming a VCR. It's much easier to use, lets the quality of the HDTV be seen and can be watched anytime you want to see the program you recorded. It's perfect for the nights when there will be something on TV that you want to watch but can't be home to see it. With DVR, you can fast-forward through the commercials, rewind to review a part you didn't hear clearly, and keep it on the recorder until everyone in the household has had a chance to watch it.

Wide-screen is a term given to picture displays that are wider than the standard analog TV. The National Television Systems Committee has set the standard for a regular analog set for 4:3. A HDTV is set with a screen ration of 16:9. That means if the screen is nine inches tall, it is sixteen inches wide. If you were watching a show that was shot in wide-screen format on, a regular sized analog TV you would notice the edges being cropped. You see more of the picture on a wide-screen TV.

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