by Matthew Lagrange

Created on: July 08, 2008

Next year (2009), the US government will require that all TV signals be broadcast in a digital format. To receive this kind of broadcast signal you will need either a digital television or an analog television with an external digital tuner. The picture resolution (the detail) of the new digital broadcasts will look better on any kind of TV, analog or digital. But keep this in mind: the detail in the picture looks better on the most basic digital TV than it does on the best analog TV. For this reason, you may be considering purchasing a digital TV.

All Digital TVs, like all color analog TVs, are not created equal. There are, of course, differences in the size of the TV set and in the quality of its brand. Moreover, different models have different features, such as picture-in-picture, closed captioning, and automatic tuning. But digital TVs are not all equal for an additional reason. Before digital TVs, all the color analog sets TVs received the same, old analog signal, either from an antenna or from an A/V component such as a VCR or DVD player. With new digital TVs, however, there is more than one format of digital signal that can be displayed. Here are the most common formats:

1080i - Full-resolution, interlaced picture (High Definition TV-HDTV)
720p - Mid-resolution picture (Mid-level Definition TV)
480i - Low-resolution, interlaced picture (Standard Definition TV)

A digital TV may be capable of displaying one or all of these formats of the digital signal in addition to other, non-standard formats. You should select a digital TV based on your pricing, size, and picture quality needs. If you want a large television, you may want it to be capable of displaying a higher resolution format. Interlaced refers to the visibility of the scan lines in the image. Ideally, you do not want to see the scan lines, but on some TV sets they provide more precise changes in detail during high-speed sports events. The -p denotes that at 720 resolution, the image is not interlaced. At this time, the highest standardized resolution, 1080, is only capable of an interlaced image. Some digital TV sets can do higher resolutions, like 1080p. Typically, the lower the resolution, the lower the price and size of the digital TV set. Some over-the-air digital TV stations only display in 480i; higher resolution sets just blow up the image, which can cause it to be somewhat distorted.

Digital TV is not one size fits all. There are different digital TV sets available. Moreover, digital TV sets come with varying resolution capabilities.

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