HDTV BASICS

WHAT IS HDTV?

720p, 1080i, 1080P, HDTV, HDMI 1.3?????? It can all get a little bit confusing. My goal is to educate the non videophile without too much jargon, so that when you go to the local Bestbuy, you know what you're buying. Sales people and customer service reps don't seem to be as well versed as they should and have been misinforming consumers left right and center. I remember calling up Sony technical support four times, and was told something different each time. Dish Network top level technical support told me that that "HDMI" was a type of High Definition. Gosh, if I didn't know any better, I would have believed it!

If you watch TV and live in the US, this site can be especially helpful because next year the FCC will essentially force everyone to make changes in their home regarding tv. You can read more about that here.

In its basic form, HDTV (High Definition TV) gives a more detailed, crisper, more colorful, and more vivid picture from what we've been watching over the past decade (SD- Standard Definition). In addition, it delivers the picture in many of the different widescreen formats. On average, we're looking at 4 times the quality of DVD.


If you want to learn more about the "technical" specifications of HDTV, wikipedia has a great article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

BEWARE! Research can be even more misleading because of bias. Often review sites have affiliations with manufacturers so they push certain brands. Out-of-date information, speculation,rumors , misinformed sales people (almost all of them!!) are all unreliable sources. In addition, personal preferences, and fans of particular brands use "selective" figures, data and feedback to reach conclusions. By reading here, you can be armed with the FACTS to make your own decision.


I DON'T SEE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE $5K and $10K Plasma!
Before you move onto the next page, I want to introduce you to a very important factor. "Perception!" We all see things differently. This means that what looks "average" to one person, may be "excellent" to another and vice versa. Pertaining to HDTV, if it looks amazing to you then you're probably on the right track to finding yourself a suitable HDTV. On the other side of the spectrum there are those that can spot the smallest imperfections on a display and need to pay extra for better quality. I must mention that paying double for one model as opposed to another doesn't get you twice the performance. Paying double may get you as little as a 10-20% increase in performance. Then there's paying for the brand name too, the cost of having "the best performance and quality". We call this the law of diminishing return.

DONT PAY RETAIL! Prices in the store are almost always negotiable. If you live in the US, always use the price matching system and check the huge variety of bargain finder websites for when stores are having sales on specific models. Stacking discounts can help too. Stack price matching with coupons and well timed sales prices.

HD READY? If you see this on the description of the TV you're thinking about purchasing. Beware. You're not buying a TV at all, it is a monitor? The reason, is that it doesn not have a tuner built in that will allow you to pick up tv stations using an antenna. If you're TV has an ATSC tuner, then it will pickup digital and HD stations over the air using a regular antenna and is called a "HDTV" or high defintion television.

IN-STORE SALES TECHNIQUES. As you read through these pages, you'll learn about calibration and why in store setups aren't that great. But it's also good to know that while stores don't really setup the tv's correctly, they often turn up the brightness and vividness quite a bit to make the tv's performace appear better.

The rest of the site, is designed to educate the consumer and assist them with purchasing an HDTV. Happy browsing.......