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HDTV - What is it?

You can use Best TV Deals to view the HD ready TV ranges of top US brands including; Hitachi, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung and Sony. Use the sections above to compare prices for LCD Tv's.

HDTV - High Definition Ready TV

High-definition television (HDTV) is a digital television broadcasting system with a significantly higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL). While some early analog HDTV formats were broadcast in Europe and Japan, HDTV is usually broadcast digitally, because digital television (DTV) broadcasting requires much less bandwidth. HDTV technology was first introduced in the US during the 1990s by a group of electronics companies called the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance.

HDTV signal reception

The rise in popularity of large screens and projectors has made the limitations of conventional Standard Definition TV (SDTV) increasingly evident. An HDTV compatible television set will not improve the quality of SDTV channels. To get a better picture HDTV televisions require a High Definition (HD) signal. Typical sources of HD signals are as follows:

Over the air with an antenna. Most cities in the US with major network affiliates broadcast over the air in HD. To receive this signal an HD tuner is required. Most newer HDTV televisions have a HD tuner built in. For HDTV televisions without a built in HD tuner, a separate set-top HD tuner box can be purchased.

Cable television companies often offer HDTV broadcasts as part of their digital broadcast service. This is usually done with a set-top box or CableCARD issued by the cable company. Alternatively one can usually get the network HDTV channels for free with basic cable by using a QAM tuner built into their HDTV or set-top box. Some cable carriers also offer HDTV on-demand playback of movies and commonly viewed shows. Satellite-based TV companies, such as Optimum, DirecTV, Sky Digital (In the UK and Ireland) and Dish Network, offer HDTV to customers as an upgrade. New satellite receiver boxes and a new satellite dish are often required to receive HD content. Video game systems, such as the Xbox (NTSC only), Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, can output an HD signal. Two optical disc standards, Blu-ray and HD DVD, can provide an HD signal.

Comparison with SDTV

Close-up view. HDTV resolution SDTV resolution. HDTV has at least twice the linear resolution of standard-definition television (SDTV), thus allowing much more detail to be shown compared with analog television or regular DVD. In addition, the technical standards for broadcasting HDTV are also able to handle 16:9 aspect ratio pictures without using letterboxing or anamorphic stretching, thus further increasing the effective resolution for such content.