What is HDTV?

Probably the invention of the Television was one of the most influential events in the history of mankind.  With the invention of television, the society could share their views easily with broadcast shows.  Thus it is no wonder that watching TV has become a fad all over the world and there are houses in the world that doesn’t have a refrigerator but has a TV set.  However with the invention of HDTV (High Definition TV), the broadcast technology has become more advanced.

HDTV is a new broadcast technology that allows twice as much visual information to be transmitted and viewed in a broadcasted TV signal.  Both horizontally and vertically the signal quality is sharper, the resolution is higher and the pixels which are the building blocks of video pictures are also more numerous in High Definition TV.  In fact in some HDTV signals, you may have over 1920 pixels per row in your TV viewing.  Of course, besides the video signal, the audio is also very clear as it is transmitted digitally and without any distortion. 

Now viewing a broadcast in HDTV quality involves having a HDTV Broadcast signal (air, cable or satellite), HDTV Receiver (either a box on top of your TV set or a HDTV ready tuner in your TV set) and a TV set that is capable of showing high resolution broadcast in 16:9 format. 

The Definition of HDTV

If you are out shopping for a new TV set or a new entertainment experience in your home, you may have heard of the word HDTV.  The initials HDTV stands for High Definition Television and it is the new technological base in Broadcast technology.  It represents a very high standard of Broadcast quality that can be watched on your TV set.

In the old analog TV sets that you use in your home, you watch the viewings in analog format.  However with HDTV format, you watch the broadcast viewing in a very high resolution format to get a very clear and sharp picture with digital sound to accompany it.   However in order to watch broadcast shows in HDTV format, there are several requirements that must be met. 

The first requirement is of course the Broadcast signal.  The signal must be in HDTV quality and unfortunately even today not many channels broadcast with HDTV technology.  However nowadays more and more TV stations have begun to broadcast in HDTV quality all around the world.  Of course, you would still need to have HDTV antenna to receive the HDTV signals.  But most importantly your TV set must support High Definition TV in order to watch these broadcasts.  Perhaps your TV set is the most expensive equipment that you need to watch HDTV.