Understanding - Types of HDTV

Sunday, May 15, 2011

When search HDTV sets, there are three major details to think: the technology that powers for HD television, the screen type (general, 4:3 or widescreen, 16:9), and whether the set includes a HDTV tuner or requires a different unit. First, let' s take a view at the technologies currently available, and your options for each.

The greatly normal type of HDTVs today are still direct view (normal is cathode ray tube (CRT)-just like most 'general' TVs ), and standard rear-projection (trad what we have called 'big screen' ). Both have advantages and disadvantages, but in all likel their days are numbered as we moved towards newer technologies that pack more features, likely price savings, and brighter, clearer image quality. Direct view TVs suffer in their costs to manufacture and limitations on size (the largest direct view HDTVs are 36 inches). Standard Rear projection suffers from convergence issues, screen burn in, and ease of viewing in a bright lit place or from an angle.

Newer technologies is Plasma TVs, LCD (liquid crystal displays - like most laptop computer screens), and LCoS ( Liquid Crystal on Silicon ) and DLP (Digital Light Processor) rear - projection units each has it' s advantages and disadvantages, but in all cases, these newer technologies regularly produce image quality at least equal to the older technologies, and in variant cases absolutely better. In the case of Plasma TVs and LCD TVs, these technologies also provide the use of a compact form, and in many cases are only a few inches thick, eclipse weights that are a unit of the older technologies, and the new rear - projection technologies. Be sure to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of Plasma TVs compared to other HDTV types.

The next major kindness when buying a HDTV is whether you want a widescreen TV or a regular size. Widescreen HDTVs offer a 16:9 ratio screen, through standard HDTVs are 4:3 (ultimately square). Widescreen is same to the formats used in movie theaters, DVDs and is also the standard HDTV signal format. This is the recommended format, and the direction TVs are heading (many manufacturers are already planning to stop the old normal, 4:3 format TVs, and only produce widescreen TVs ). Note that LCD and Plasma TVs are partial exclusively in widescreen formats.

End concept is whether the set includes an all HDTV tuner (also called a receiver), or if it requires a standalone unit to perform this function. Most HDTVs are sold lost a built in tuner, and there are variant advantages to this. First, it helps manufacturers keep prices down, as they obviously do not need to build in the components of the HDTV tuner, and it allows them to keep their HDTV sets more concise. Second, since tuner technology will okay change over the years (improvements in digital signal processing occur , this protects your HDTV set investment since you can always upgrade the tuner separately as needed. A third, very important reason, is that most cable and satellite providers that offer HDTV programming provide this tuner as part of their subscription package - in many cases eliminating this cost for you.