Feature: HDTV: A Guide for the Perplexed

Television has come a long way since the tiny old black-and-white set. Even the console TV big enough to sit on the floor, or the front projection set that many of us grew up with, are long gone for most. Indeed, for some perspective on just how far things have come in just the past decade, consider that the $1,000 Dell Ultrasharp 2000FP 20' LCD monitor that some of us bought in the early 2000's now has modern equivalents for about $200.

But the evolution in TV technology itself almost pales in comparison to the changes that have taken place in how we get video into a TV. Previously, the average consumer had an antenna on the roof or a cable coming in from the cable company. This coaxial cable was screwed into the input on the back of the VCR, which then had a second connection to the TV. Maybe you got a little fancy and actually had to deal with a cable with yellow RCA plugs for composite video in, plus two more, in red and black respectively, as a separate connection for stereo sound. Things eventually got a tad more complicated with the four-pin S-video standard, but fast-forward a few years to today and things have taken a turn for the confusing.

But generally speaking, just about everything today connects to your TV via HDMI. Your antenna or cable still comes through coaxial wiring, but that ends in your TV or your cable box, and everything spit out from there travels via a single HDMI cable, carrying both audio and video, content protection and all. The HDMI factor does simplify TV purchases a bit, but it still leaves some key questions for us to ponder. Among these questions are: How big a screen do I need? What are the differences between panel types? Does it matter what's being watched? What about glare? What's the difference between 720p and 1080p?

For those of you who are facing these questions during the holiday upgrade season, we're here to help.