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Did you notice all of the ads for HDTVs leading up to the Superbowl? Apparently, a lot of people buy a new TV for the big game. I’ve never done this and I don’t know anyone who has either. Those that bought a new HDTV for the big game missed out, but for the rest of us, the Ultimate HDTV Buying Guide is just in time.

At this point, there’s nothing more confusing than figuring out HDTVs – except maybe what the heck the Eagles were doing on that last drive of the Superbowl. There are dozens of acronyms, lots of common misconceptions, and tons of hype just because they are the hottest technology going right now. Making the right buying decision requires a lot of education, and I’m not talking about the kind of education the sales clerk at Circuit City gives you. Bear with me, here comes a lot of information, but I guarantee it will be to-the-point and, as always, hype-free.

What is HDTV?
HDTV is a form of digital television (DTV). Not all DTV is high definition. If you have digital cable, you already know this. A high definition TV signal contains a lot more data about the picture, which results in a much clearer, sharper, and more life-like picture than what you get from standard TV. How much more data you ask? Standard definition TV has at most 480 horizontal lines of detail, while HDTV has up to 1080 lines of detail.

To make things a more complicated, there are two flavors of HD: 1080 interlaced (1080i) and 720 progressive (720p). 1080i has a resolution of 1920x1080. 720p has a resolution of 1280x720. Both are widescreen formats. You would think that 1080i would give you a much better picture since it has a higher resolution. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. 1080i is interlaced. This means that it works just like your old TV (which are all interlaced), except with many more lines of detail. It first draws all of the odd-numbered lines on the screen, and then all the even ones. This all happens so fast that your brain combines them into one picture and it looks like it should. 720p is progressive, meaning all the lines of the image on the screen are all drawn on the screen at the same time. This is the same progressive as in progressive scan DVD players. Since 1080i only paints half the pixels on the screen in the same amount of time that 720p paints all the pixels, the two formats actually end up painting nearly the same amount of pixels on the screen in a given amount of time.

So which format is better? That’s left up to interpretation. 720p eliminates much of the motion artifacts in fast-moving action while 1080i excels in video that has little motion. The similarity in picture quality is evident in the way that the networks are split over which format to use. ABC and Fox broadcast in 720p while CBS, NBC, and PBS use 1080i. In the cable TV world, HBO, HDNet, DiscoveryHD, and Showtime use 1080i, whereas ESPN uses 720p. Some HDTVs natively display 720p, some 1080i. If you mostly watch sports, you might want to go with an HDTV that has a resolution of 1280x720 (720p). If you watch more sitcoms and documentaries, 1920x1080 (1080i) might be the way to go. Either way, you don’t have to worry – either HDTV type will easily convert the signal to its format. Converting a signal can degrade picture quality slightly, but this really shouldn’t affect your buying decision since your TV is going to have to convert about half of all HD content anyway.

Just like the standard definition TV you are used to, you can get HDTV over the air (if you are within range of a station broadcasting HD), from your cable company, or through a satellite dish. All three require a high definition tuner to decode the special signal and feed it to your TV.

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