Advantages and Disadvantages of HDTV

With all the hype that surrounds HDTV, it can be quite confusing as to how it really works to your advantage as a viewer.  What can you really get out of HDTV as opposed to the traditional TV? 

Because of digitalization, you will either get excellent picture, a picture with pixelization, a series of photos (still pictures), or no picture at all.  The good thing is, you will not be getting the interference that analog TVs do.  That is, fuzzy pictures, distorted pictures, or pictures that move up and down.  However, interference with the digital signal will result in freezing or skipping.

HD films and TV shows are set to be displayed in 16:9 widescreen format.  That means more viewing space for you.  However, if you view shows or movies shot in the traditional 4:3 format, you will have spaces on the side.  You can fix this up, though, by zooming.  Zooming can be done on the broadcasting or production end or on the TV itself.

As for the color and detail, HDTV definitely gives you the best.  The colors and details are more representative of reality.  As such, the viewing experience is enriched to a great degree.  More so, the new disc formats HD DVD and Blu-Ray, which the industry is hoping to become the standard in years to come, are best viewed on HDTV.  As such, in the near future, videos will be stored on these discs.  Having HDTV to view them on will give the best results.

One more thing, the standards dictate that HD broadcasting include Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound during broadcast.  To top off the overall experience, the sound quality must match the picture quality.