Today's high definition televisions (HDTVs) are getting more affordable. Add to that their outstanding performance, and there is virtually no reason for a consumer to not replace their existing television.
HDTV is really a digital technology that displays a digital image and produces digital sound. While the initial broadcasts of HDTV signals had been analog, now video compression permits entirely digital broadcasting of high quality video and sound. Which means both the picture and sound quality are incomparably enhanced over the older analog standard definition TVs.
While the older standard definition picture tubes only showed 480 scan lines of data, the normal description for HDTV is 1080 interlaced (or 720 progressive scanned) lines of video content with 1920 pixels of data in every line. Displaying nearly square pixels. this offers an aspect ratio of 16:9
Such technology has in addition transfered to DVDs. The traditional DVDs are designed with the standard definition pictures with 480 lines of video content. The new Blu-ray disks were designed with the high definition displays in mind and provide 1080 lines of information.
More information displayed in the high definition screens ensures that the pictures are sharper and show more detail clearly. These screens may also be bigger without noticeably displaying the scan lines. And, the HDTV displays are wider than standard definition displays so movies can be shown in wider format that shows practically all of what you see at the movie theater.
Older television programs that ended up being produced with a 4:3 aspect ratio are able to be viewed on the HDTV display with black bars on both sides of the image. This is because the broadcaster is sending a HDTV signal with a 16:9 aspect ratio with the older 4:3 picture centered inside the wider HDTV screen.
One disadvantage of HDTV for watching older 4:3 aspect ratio programs is that for the same screen diagonal size (for example, a 32 inch diagonal screen), the HDTV display is actually shorter vertically than a standard definition (4:3) screen. The reason is that the display is longer. A 32 inch 4:3 display is 19.2 inches tall whereas a 32 inch HDTV display is only about 15.7 inches tall. Which means that for a HDTV having the same diagonal dimension as an older 4:3 aspect TV, the size displaying an older TV program will then be smaller.
For watching an older TV program, in order to achieve the same vertical dimension and overall area from an HDTV as from an older standard definition display you must have a longer diagonal screen size. You'll need to buy a 40 inch HDTV to offer a bit more height than an older 32 inch standard definition screen. So, if viewing older TV programs is of interest for your requirements, keep this in mind.
So, now you understand several of the benefits of the newer HDTV standard for TV screens. At this point, it is time to settle on the size of the screen which is best for you and whether to purchase a Plasma screen or an LCD screen.
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Once you have made the decision to purchase a new HDTV, you'll have to choose exactly what size is optimal in your viewing location. After that you will want to make the correct decision about a Plasma screen TV or an LDC screen TV. Both are excellent choices in the appropriate situation. For help making these decisions simply visit Flat Screen TV Sales to learn the details about how to make a choice you will be pleased with for a long time.
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