An essential step when choosing an HDTV is to find a model that works within the confines of your home. That means making sure your HDTV works with these:

-  Your chosen source of HDTV signals -  Your existing analog (NTSC) TV signal source -  Your existing video-source devices, such as DVD player, VCR, or home theater -  The new gear you plan to get with your leftover money (yeah right) to supplement your HDTV-powered home theater A lot of this is technical stuff - which we cover briefly in this article, and then refer you on to appropriate articles later in the article with more detailed discussions. Accessing your HDTV channels To get the most out of your HDTV, you need to be able to receive HDTV channels. What you need to make this work depends what kind of HDTV you have (or are buying):

-  HDTV: A true HDTV contains a built-in ATSC tuner, which can receive over-the-air (OTA) HDTV broadcasts (see Article 1 for details on ATSC). The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is beginning to require ATSC tuners in all TVs - phasing it in over time, beginning with big-screen (36-inch and bigger) TVs in 2005. So eventually all new TVs will have ATSC tuners - even non- HDTVs, since the ATSC specification includes standarddefinition digital TV.

-  HDTV-ready TVs: These TVs can produce HDTV images onscreen, but they don’t have an internal ATSC tuner. You’ll need some sort of external tuner to pick up HDTV broadcasts. We’re going to use the term HDTV as shorthand for both HDTVs and HDTV-ready TVs throughout this article - and the entire article. But when you’re shopping, keep in mind that not all HDTVs have built-in tuners. Getting your analog channels Just because you’ve bought an HDTV doesn’t mean you can only watch HDTV stations with it. That would be too frustrating, given that there are still plenty of stations that don’t yet broadcast in HDTV. HDTVs are backward-compatible with NTSC (the old analog TV system): You can watch the analog channels, and also preserve your investment in NTSC source devices like DVD players, VCRs, and laser discs.

Going native Most HDTVs have one level of resolution (or occasionally, a couple of them) considered native to the TV. That means the HDTV is designed to display images at its specified resolution(s); any signals of a different resolution must be converted (or scaled) to the TV’s native resolution. (Check out Article 1 if you’re not sure what we mean by resolution.) For example, many DLP HDTVs have a native resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (720p) - based upon the DLP chip inside these TVs. Your HDTV will probably look its best when it is fed sources that match the native resolution; but it will still look great when the image is scaled to match the native resolution. More important than native resolution is knowing your HDTV’s supported resolutions - the resolutions that the TV can actually scale to native. Some HDTVs won’t do the scaling that converts between resolutions. This can be important to know when you’re connecting an HDTV and an external ATSC tuner (or cable or satellite system). If 1080i is not a resolution that your HDTV supports - and that’s all your tuner puts out - then you won’t get a picture. This is a rare situation, but it can happen. You can get an HDTV set now, and then get the HDTV channels later. In fact, because of a device called a scaler (discussed in Article 5), you might find that your HDTV makes your non-HDTV sources look better than ever. Most HDTVs have a scaler built in, and you can also buy external scalers that are even more powerful. Most HDTVs - whether or not they contain an ATSC tuner - contain an NTSC analog TV tuner. That way you can plug in an antenna feed and pick up all your local NTSC broadcasts. In the majority of cases, you can also tune in to analog cable broadcasts with this NTSC tuner. Unless you’ve got a DCR HDTV (discussed in the previous section), you’ll need a set-top box to pick up digital cable broadcasts. A few HDTVs - mainly flat-panel plasma and LCD HDTVs - contain no TV tuner at all. Not an ATSC tuner, not an NTSC tuner - nada! If you’ve got one of these, and you’re not using a cable box or satellite receiver, you can use the NTSC tuner built into your VCR to pick up OTA NTSC broadcasts or analog cable. If you’ve got an external ATSC tuner for OTA HDTV, it probably also has an NTSC tuner. Working with your other sources Chances are very good that you’ll be connecting more than just HDTV and analog TV broadcasts to your new HDTV. You’ll want to (we’re guessing) watch DVDs and videotapes, play video games, and so on. There are two bits of good news here: -  All HDTVs will be compatible with the NTSC signals that these devices put out.

-  Most HDTVs will include plenty of inputs on the back (or side, or front) of the HDTV set to accommodate these devices. Inputs galore! You really don’t have to worry about “will my 1982 Betamax work with my 2005 model HDTV?” It will - as long as that beautiful old Betamax itself is still operating (and there’s a whole underground world of Betamax enthusiasts to keep you up and running!). The only real question is how you get all these inputs hooked up and connected to your HDTV. Beyond understanding the types of inputs, there’s a purely quantitative angle to this problem. In effect, you need to count the devices you’ve got (or anticipate getting) and group them together by the type of inputs they use. Then compare these numbers to the number of inputs on your HDTV. Here’s a basic list:

-  Digital inputs: You’re likely to have only one of these (DVI or HDMI) on your HDTV; your HDTV tuner/cable box/satellite receiver or DVD player may use these inputs.

-  Component video inputs: You probably have a couple of these on your HDTV. Your HDTV tuner, DVD player, and game console (Xbox or PlayStation) can use these.

-  S-video inputs: You’ll probably have a bunch of these (but you’ll need them) on your HDTV; your DVD player, VCR, game console, digital cable box, satellite receiver, camcorder, and even PC (yes, PC!) are just a few of the devices that can use this connection.

-  Composite video inputs: You’ll also have a bunch of these; everything we mention here can use this connection method as well. There’s also a qualitative angle at play here. In Article 3 we explain in detail, but in a nutshell, the connections listed here are shown in order of rank. If you run out of inputs of a certain type (say, component video) and have to use the next one down the list, you lose a bit of video quality. Therefore it can be important, if you’ve got a lot of gear, to choose an HDTV with more digital, component video, or S-video connections, if at all possible. You can get by with fewer inputs on the HDTV if you use a home theater receiver (see Article 19) that provides high-definition video-switching functionality. Basically, you can route everything into the back of your receiver, and then use just a couple of cables to connect the receiver to your HDTV. This is a great way deal with running out of the proper kind of inputs on your HDTV. Which Features Matter? A bunch of features are listed in the description of every HDTV on the market. Some are important, others are just “bells and whistles” that we don’t think make a real difference. (We support diversity, however - if you disagree and think a certain feature is very important, then by all means make that part of your buying decision! This is a very subjective area.) Here’s what we pay attention to:

-  Picture adjustments: All HDTVs will give you some degree of control over the picture settings. What we like are HDTVs that let you

• Set the picture quality differently for each input on the back of the TV - so you can adjust the picture individually for the HDTV tuner, the DVD player, and so on.

• Save multiple different picture settings in memory (like one for day time and one for night).

-  Comb filter: The comb filter is an internal circuit in your TV that separates out the brightness and color information in an NTSC signal before it’s displayed on your screen. Look for an HDTV with a 3D or (even better) a digital (also called 3D Y/C) comb filter.

-  Front-panel inputs: Got a camcorder (a MiniDV model, not an HDTV camcorder), or a game console that the kids are always carrying around the house? You’ll want some frontpanel inputs to connect them to so you don’t have to climb behind the TV. Look for front-panel inputs that include S-video for better picture quality.

-  Built-in speakers: We’re huge proponents of connecting your HDTV system to a full-up, external surround-sound audio system. We’re also fans of low-impact, easy-to-use systems. So, when we want to just watch the news, or turn on that TiVo recording of Sesame Street for the kids, we prefer to use the speakers built into our HDTVs. We mention this because some HDTVs (mainly plasmas and LCD flat-panels) don’t come with speakers - you’ll have to fire up the full surround-sound system for everything you watch.

-  Surround-sound decoder: While you need six or more speakers and related amplification systems to get true surround sound (see Article 18), you can get improved sound quality for the sound system built into your HDTV if it includes a simulated surround-sound decoder, which can create a richer sound from your HDTV’s speakers. 

Service matters! When you’re buying an HDTV set, you’re spending a relatively serious chunk of change. Heck, even if you’re loaded, spending $10,000 or more on a front-projector system starts to move out of the pocket-change realm pretty darned fast. So, it’s important to get your money’s worth. That doesn’t just mean getting the lowest price for the particular TV you’ve chosen (though that’s an admirable goal - one we can definitely get behind); it also means getting decent service to boot. Now, we’ve all got our own definitions of what good service is, but here’s what we look for:

-  Delivery services: Lots of places (both online and local brick-and-mortar stores) are offering “white glove” delivery services. This means someone delivers that huge big-screen TV that wouldn’t fit in the back of your Mini in a million years, and they don’t just drop it off on the front stoop and boogie on out of there. Instead they deliver the unit to the room you want it in, get it out of the box, and even take all the packaging materials with them (no doubt, to be humanely recycled!). That’s what we want! -  Warranty: We’ve never been huge fans of the “extended warranty” services offered by many consumer-electronics stores. After all, what’s the point of paying $30 for a warranty on a $35 cordless phone? But check out the warranty that comes with your HDTV closely - it’s a major investment after all. And consider an extended warranty if it’s not too expensive. With some types of HDTVs (such as DLP and LCD projection systems) you may pay back the warranty when your bulb needs replacement after a few years of heavy usage.