Stan Antonuk, left, of Palm Harbor shops for a home theater system with salesman Joesph Mitrani in the plasma suite at Sound Advice in Clearwater. Digital televisions are less than a quarter of the market, but by 2006 could represent almost half of it.
E37-inch Sharp Titanium, $5,499,99
LCD
Pros: Good with text and graphics; can double as a computer monitor. Cons: Expensive; screen size has been limited, though manufacturers are coming out with bigger models
43-inch Pioneer Elite, $6,499.99
Plasma
Pros: Big, bright pictures; thin, light screens. Cons: Expensive; subject to "burn-in" if images are static for a long time (such as network logos).
34-inch Sony Trinitron, $2,199.99
Conventional
Pros: Perhaps the best bang for the buck, with good picture at a good price. Cons: Sets weigh a lot, have deep cabinets and don't offer big screens.
TV terms Here are some terms to know if you're shopping for a high-definition TV:
Aspect ratio: It refers to the width/height ratio on the screen. Wide screens are 16:9 and traditional sets are 4:3.
CRT: Cathode ray tube, the conventional technology for TV sets, as opposed to plasma and other, newer types.
Direct-view TV: These high-definitions sets look like traditional conventional sets with a cathode ray tube.
DLP: Digital light processing, a display technology that uses a chip and thousands of tiny mirrors to create the image.
LCD: Liquid crystal display, a flat-panel display.
LCoS: Liquid crystal on silicon, a display chip technology.
EDTV: Enhanced Definition Television, which displays a digital 480p image, but not the 720p or 1080i resolution for high definition.
HDTV: High Definition Television, which displays 720p or 1080i or higher resolutions.
HDTV-ready: High-definition sets that don't include a built-in tuner. They require a cable, satellite or set-top tuner to receive digital signals.
Plasma: A flat-panel display technology that uses tiny tubes filled with gas that glow to create the image, they can be up to 80 inches.
Projection system: A display technology in which an image is cast onto a reflective screen. There are two choices: front or rear projection. Consumers can choose between having everything in a single unit and a system that uses separate projectors.
SDTV: Standard Definition Television, which display better pictures than an analog TV but not as good as EDTV.
You want a new high-definition TV. But choosing is far from a black-and-white choice.
The plasma looks really good, but oh that price. There's an LCD, but it's on the small side, or how about a conventional tube set with HDTV capability? And what exactly is LCoS and DLP?
Yes, it can be difficult to shop for a high-definition TV.
Or, as Mike Wood says, it can be easy.
"What looks good is what matters," said Wood, who is editor of Curtco's Digital TV magazine.
And high-definition TV is all about looks. It's hard not to notice when walking past a display in an electronics store, all those vivid pictures looking real enough to touch.
The potential for sticker shock remains high, as some of the best, brightest and biggest sets can cost thousands. But, they're cheaper than they were a few years ago and experts say people don't need to spend a fortune to enjoy high-quality HDTV.
"You can get one of these HDTV picture tube sets now for well under $1,000," said Jim Barry, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association. Consumer Reports magazine listed some models as low as $550, easily competitive with comparably sized traditional analog sets.
The combination of more competitive prices, an increasing amount of programming and the popularity of DVD movies seems to be driving interest in HDTV.
Digital TV sales lag substantially behind traditional analog sets: About 4.3-million digital sets are expected to be sold this year, according to the association, compared with 21.8-million analog sets. By 2006, however, digital should grow to 11.9-million, compared with 13.5-million analog sets.
Interest in the Tampa Bay region also is reflected in the number of people who subscribe to HD services from Bright House Networks, the dominant cable operator in the area. Bright House says its 50,000 HD subscribers is more than double what it was a year ago, and the company expects the number to double again in the next year.
Reasons to wait are fading. Take, for example, Consumer Reports. Traditional analog sets were worth buying in 2000, the magazine said. Now, though, it says an HD set should be something people shopping for their primary TV should consider.
"The picture quality of the best HDTVs is far better than anything you can get with a standard definition TV," the magazine said in its November issue. "To fully appreciate HD's sharp detail and clarity, you really have to see it for yourself."
So, where to begin? Here are some points to consider.
The big picture
Walking into a store cold to shop for an HDTV is likely to do more to confuse than to enlighten. Consumers must expect that a new technology is going to require them to learn a few things. For example:
"All high definition is digital, but not all digital is high definition," said Barry of the Consumer Electronics Association.
High definition means the set can display a resolution of 720p or 1080i, figures that relate to the number of horizontal lines displayed on a screen. Like pixels on a computer monitor, more is better and 720p and 1080i are, for the moment anyway, the top of the line. Enhanced definition (EDTV) can display 480p, which is not as good as high definition but is better than Standard Definition TV (SDTV).
After that, you have flat screens and flat panels, but they're not necessarily the same. A flat screen can simply be a traditional set that has a flat rather than curved picture tube. A flat panel means it's a plasma or LCD (liquid crystal display), which are digital.
And it all requires homework. "If you had only one choice and it was plasma, you'd still have to compare brands and prices," said Alan Stafford, executive editor of PC World magazine's Digital World.
Plasma sets are big (up to 80 inches), bright and expensive. They can cost $3,000 or more for 42-inch models and more than $5,000 for 50-inch. Some plasma sets are ED, or enhanced definition, so you have to know what you're getting before you buy.
LCD displays are getting bigger, but they're smaller than plasma and expensive, around $2,000 for a 26-inch display, according to Consumer Reports.
Plasma and LCD have the advantage of being thin, so they can be hung on a wall, and mostly feature the cool wide screen look, known as a 16:9 display. (The numbers describe the screen's rectangular width/height ratio. Standard, square TV screens are known as 4:3s.)
The wide screen makes HD shows look best, but even the 4:3 screens can display a 16:9 image by using black bars at the top and bottom of the screen - avid DVD renters might have seen these black bars on their movie rentals.
Worth remembering: Standard programming, which is the most common, is designed for the 4:3 square of regular TVs. That means showing it on a wide screen set requires having black bars to the left and right of the screen, or stretching the square image to fit the rectangular screen, which can distort the picture.
There's more, too. People should make sure they get the right size TV for the room, and they should look at the TV from different angles. Some look great when you're directly in front, but not so good from an angle or the side.
"It's perfectly reasonable for four or five people to watch a DLP set and pretty much get the same perspective if spread around the room," Stafford said.
But the best deals are in what's known as conventional picture tube HDTV sets. Unlike plasma and LCD, the conventional picture tube (known in the lingo as CRTs for cathode ray tube) sets look like the TV you have now. They typically have the squarish 4:3 screen display, though some are 16:9s, they're big and they weigh a lot. A whole lot. The intrigue factor is the price, with sets starting around $550.
"It's still the least expensive and often the best picture," Stafford said. "For people who are not sure whether they want to invest (a lot), CRT is a good way to hedge your bets."
Technology on display
You've figured out a budget and decided among plasma, LCD or conventional. You're ready, right? Wrong.
Another blizzard of terms and details - projection, DLP, LCoS - awaits.
"In a lot of cases, when friends ask me what's the deal with all these, I can rattle off things about DLP, LCoS," Wood said. "The technology doesn't really matter. . . . It's interesting if you're really a gearhead like me. You can really dig into that."
Yet knowing the definitions is important, because it's likely to be part of any sales pitch at an electronics store.
"The two most talked about types these days are plasma and DLP (digital light processing)," Stafford said. "It seems to me, personally, that the best value is DLP because you can get them quite large for a moderate amount of money."
Moderate is a relative term. Stafford says his magazine Digital World tested some 50-inch models whose street prices had fallen below $3,000.
Another technology that received a lot of attention this year was liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS). Intel, the giant chipmaker, said in January it would develop a LCoS chip, which it said would bring down the cost of sets. But Intel abandoned the effort last month to focus on other aspects of its chip business.
Tuning in
Even before you buy the set, you have to know how you're going to get your programming. Over the air? Cable? Satellite? HDTV programming is available all three ways.
If you decide it's cable or satellite, then you can buy what's known as an HDTV-ready set, which does not have a high-definition tuner. Instead, the cable or satellite set-top box acts as the tuner to receive the programming. That can save several hundred dollars on the price of the TV.
(To be clear: Digital cable does not mean high definition. Digital cable is the cable industry's technology that expands channel capacity, which allows interactive services such as video on demand and transmitting high-definition programming.)
If you choose over-the-air delivery, you'll need a TV with a built-in tuner and an antenna. By 2007, all digital TVs will have built-in tuners needed to receive HD signals. Until then, it's buyer's choice. Consumers can choose complete integrated sets or buy component style.
A new technology also is showing up on sets called a cable card, which is intended to replace the cable set-top box. The card will come from the cable company and be inserted into a slot on the TV.
But the first generation of the cable-card technology has limitations. It doesn't allow pay per view, on-demand and interactive programming guides. It's also not clear whether sets bought with the slot now can be upgraded when two-way cards that allow those services are made available.
"You will see big sets that may cost more than they did four months ago because of the tuner and cable card slot," Stafford said.
Abundant network programming in HD is available from local stations, and Bright House has been adding HD channels to its lineup. The only major broadcast network missing from Bright House is NBC from WFLA-Ch. 8. The companies say they are negotiating, but at last report they were at an impasse.
"People buy the sets and they can't get the programs they want because of these disputes between cable companies and broadcasters," Barry said. "That's still one of the flies in the ointment."
Accessories
You've selected a TV and are ready to go. At least you think you are.
"You don't just have to worry about what to buy in terms of a VCR or TiVo, but will they work with HDTV and will they work the way you want them to do?" Stafford said.
Most recording devices work only with traditional analog programming. It's expected that a standard called the broadcast flag might speed up the number of devices that will record HDTV. But it might limit how consumers can use recorded digital shows because of the entertainment industry's concerns about copyright violations.
Do I have to buy a new TV?
Your old TV is fine and will be for years to come.
Originally, 2006 was to be the year when broadcasters were supposed to stop transmitting analog signals and switch completely to digital. But that deadline is likely to be pushed back by the Federal Communications Commission, with 2009 the most likely new date.
Even when the change occurs, though, people won't necessarily have to buy new sets. Converter boxes that will cost an expected $50-$100 will be required for people who get over-the-air signals. It's also likely that cable and satellite companies will have boxes available for subscribers with analog sets.
"Not to worry," Barry said. "The government ain't taking away your TV. That's the fastest way to get run out of office."
And, as noted, analog sets outsell digital models by a wide margin. For people who want to convert to high definition later, an analog TV could be used for showing DVDs, videotape or games.
"They may be going the way of the dinosaur," Barry said, "but they're not there yet."
