HDTV explained (have to start somewhere - HDTV recorder next)
HDTV Recorder Hub
Before I discuss the ins and outs of HDTV recorder, I’d like to discuss just what HDTV is. There’s a lot of misinformation out there and I know I was confused when I first started shopping for my own HDTV (just purchased about 3 months ago, so I’m a relative newcomer compared to all the diehard football fans out there).
In a nutshell, “high definition” means a sort of television that produces the best, sharpest picture available. HDTVs have a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is the same as what you see in a movie theater. What does this mean? The “aspect ratio” is basically a measure of a screen’s width compared to its height. Think of the size of a standard, non-HDTV television set (which has an aspect ratio of 4:3, practically a square) compared to, say, a movie theater screen, which is more rectangular. You’ll notice that HDTVs are shaped like a movie theater screen; that’s because they both share the same aspect ratio.
But that’s not the only thing that defines an HDTV. Beyond having a more rectangular aspect ratio, HDTVs also have a higher resolution than “regular” TVs. HDTVs have three different kinds of resolution: 720p, 1080i and 1080p. What’s the difference between these three? Basically, these describe the amount of lines that a television can display. The more lines it can display in the same space, the greater the picture quality will be. There’s more to it than this (“p” is different than “i” for instance), but that’s a little beyond the scope of my blog. Suffice it to say that 1080p is better than 1080i. The resolution is what delivers a crisper, clearer picture than traditional televisions are able to display.
Of course, just because you’ve bought an HDTV doesn’t mean everything you watch on it will be in high definition. The signal your television is receiving must also be broadcast in high definition. There are three ways to receive high definition signals over an HDTV: over the air (often abbreviated as “OTA”), or through satellite dish or cable. Typically cable and satellite dish providers will require you to subscribe to special HDTV service at a higher monthly fee. There are an increasing number of over the air broadcasts that are sent over the airwaves in high definition, but it’s still a small percentage of the whole – mostly news programs, sports programs and some networks’ more popular series.
Now that I’ve set up the basics of what HDTV means and what it is, I’ll move on to discussing HDTV recorder.