At the present time, you might be better with Dish Network if you want HDTV. Dish Pronto will get you up to 4 HDTV receivers free of charge, along with regional channels. To receive DirecTV para todos, the spanish package, you'll need a special oval dish. DirecTV Programming, and channels guides DirecTV Packages starts at $39.99 per month for 130 satellite TV channels. Direct TV has 30+ premium movie channels and pay-per-view channels, family channels, and a fabulous selection of sports packages: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, ESPN College Baseball, Football and Basketball, English Soccer...

It features up to 31 different audio-only channels to listen to your favorite music.There's also the popular DirecTV para todos, with as much as 45 channels in spanish. View DirecTV programming list, DirecTV pricing, and DirecTV satellite TV packages (DirecTV Total Choices)at http://www.satellitetvissue.com.

In the red corner is Toshiba, which has developed HD-DVD and has signed up numerous film companies as supporters, including Warner Brothers, New Line, Paramount, and Universal Pictures.In the blue corner, is, if you'll forgive the pun, Sony's Blu-ray. Sony intends to use Blu-ray as the format for the next generation of the PlayStation and has signed up Disney, and MGM, and is expected to add 20th Century Fox to the list. Currently the major Hollywood studios are split down the middle with almost exactly half of them in each camp.HD-DVD has been developed by Toshiba and NEC and has the support of the influential DVD Forum, whereas Blu-ray is supported by Phillips, HP, Sharp, Pioneer, Panasonic, and Sonic Solutions.Microsoft stands to benefit whichever format succeeds as its Windows Media 9 video codec has been approved for use in HD-DVD and Blu-ray content.For details of the specification of each format, click here for Blu-ray, and here for HD-DVD..

There are precious few targetted at consumers who want to know more about HDTV and about whether tehy should be investing hard-earned cash in high definition equipment.New website, The HDTV Tuner (http://www.the-hdtv-tuner.com) aims to remove the confusion and uncertainty by providing surfers with a clear, accurate and easily digestible information on the technology, the equipment, and the available content to enable anyone with an interest in HDTV to find and easily understand the information they need. In addition to the website, users can sign-up for the free monthly newsletter, to keep up to date on developments, and use the sites RSS feed to view updates in a news reader. The HDTV Tuner can be found at http://www.the-hdtv-tuner.com.

The best way is to talk to people you know - particularly those in the same apartment block. Failing that, user reviews on the Web are a good source.Amazon sells a number of antennae for HDTV and user opinion on them varies greatly. For example, this Terk HDTVi Indoor VHF/UHF HDTV Antenna gets slated by users, while this Gemini ZHDTV1 HDTV-UHF Digital Indoor Antenna, which is actually cheaper than the Terk, gets great reviews.As with any item of electronics, the key is to do your research. Find out as much as you can about the HDTV signal in your area, and if possible speak to people locally who are receiving HDTV via an antenna, before you buy..

The signals are sent and received in analog format and it has worked fine for a long time. It has it's drawbacks though because analog TV signals can only hold so much data for the screen and sound, and an analog signal can degrade easily. Never fear though, analog TV will be fine for use for many years to come even after other technologies dominate. The good news is that analog TV sets are very cheap and you can get a lot for your dollar.Digital TV signals allow the data sent by the TV station to be much more dense and include more information without very much degradation of signal. So digital TV usually makes for a much better picture and sound, especially on DVDs.

Plus digital TV has made it possible for the newer standards of high definition programming. For the absolute best picture and sound the TV station should be broadcasting in high definition (or HDTV), and your TV should also be able to receive and process that HDTV signal and display it on on a high definition enabled screen. If all of this criteria is met the effects are just stunning.But many TV stations are not yet broadcasting in HDTV format because it requires them to invest lots of money in new equipment to do so. They have to have enough of a market to make it worth their while. So in the meantime, we have some stations who do broadcast in HDTV and many who still just send out analog signals.

However, all TV stations will have to comply with federal guidelines to be HDTV compliant within the next couple of years, so high definition TV is here to stay and will only grow in importance.In the meantime, you have your choice of buying an HDTV "capable" "enabled" TV if you choose to buy a digital TV. An HDTV capable TV means that it can process digital signals (like DVDs) but in order to display the high definition signal it will require you to purchase an additional tuner which you can buy later at any time. On the other hand, HDTV enabled simply means that the TV is fully capable of displaying high definition picture and sound right out of the box. The choice is yours. Either bite the bullet and get the whole HDTV enabled enchilada now, or defer it a while longer until HDTV programming is more standard.You also hear a lot about plasma and LCD screens these days.

The screens we have been used to for years are called CRTs, and they have worked just fine, but the main advantage of plasma and LCD screens are that they can be very thin to produce, usually they are only 2-3 inches wide and that makes them able to be mounted in many places that CRT screens just can't go. If you need that kind of screen, just bear in mind that plasma and LCD screens are still very expensive. There is nothing wrong with just getting a good CRT screen or a rear projection screen in the meantime as they can be had for not a lot of money and can still produce a great picture depending on the manufacturer.There is more to all of this telivision technology, but what we have covered should give you a good idea of what the different TV terms mean and arm you with enough information that you can now confidently choose the television that will work best for you..

It accepts up to nine discrete video and 4 digital audio inputs, with 2 video and 2 audio outputs. This allows seamless connection of DVD players, satellite receivers, HDTV receivers, digital video recorders, video game consoles, VCRs, Laser Disc players, and PC video directly to the iScan HD+, which delivers high-definition quality video to virtually all display types, while also handling switching and synchronization of digital audio streams. The iScan HD+ functions as your complete A/V hub, providing simultaneous audio/video switching with automatic video upconversion/processing.Denon Electronics recently selected DVDO technology for their upcoming product introduction of their latest flagship DVD player, the DVD 5910, and this same scaling technology is available today for all sources via the iScan HD+.About DVDODVDO, an Anchor Bay Technologies brand, is an award-winning leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of semiconductor and system-level solutions for next generation HDTV and digital audio/video products. The DVDO iScan HD was awarded Electronic House's "Product of the Year" award, and the iScan Ultra Video Processor was the recipient of the Stereophile Guide to Home Theater Editors' Choice Gold Award for 2004.Contact:Gary M. ChappellSenior Director, WW Sales & MarketingDVDO Home Theater Products byAnchor Bay Technologies Inc.Phone: (408) 379-3836Fax: (408) 379-3845Email: e-mail protected from spam botsWebsite: www.DVDO.com.

And there are plenty of groups and individuals opposed to the Broadcast Flag who will attempt to have it delayed or cancelled. These groups include the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which believes that the principle of Fair Use, which says that individuals should be free to decide how and when they watch content for which they have paid, should apply to HDTV..

It has a capacity of 15GB for single-sided discs and 30Gb for double-sided. It doesn't need a caddy or cartridge and the cover layer is the same thickness as current DVD discs, 0.6mm. The numerical aperture of the optical pick-up head is also the same as DVD, 0.65mm. Because of its similarities to current DVD, high definition DVD is cheaper to manufacture than Blu-ray, because it doesn't need big changes in the production line set-up. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray have backward compatibility with existing DVDV discs.

That is that current DVDs will play in HD-DVD player, although new high definition DVD won't play in older DVD players.High definition DVD currently supports a number of compression formats, including MPEG-2, VC1 (based on Microsoft's Windows Media 9), and H.264 which is based on MPEG-4 and will be supported by the next version of Apple's QuickTime software, which will be included with Mac OS X Tiger..

1080i is one of the two most common HDTV formats, the other being 720p (720 lines, progressive scan).Hollywood HD movies are shot on another format, 1080p. This is higher quality than the other two, as it mixes the higher resolution with the better-quality progressive scan picture.There is another important difference too. Hollywood HD is uncompressed, whereas the video shot by cameras like this Sony HD camcorder is compressed as MPEG-2. This compression inevitably lowers the quality of the video stored on the camera's DV tape. However, it's necessary because the HDR-FX1 connects to a computer using a FireWire cable and FireWire, whether it is the 400 or 800 variety, doesn't have the bandwidth to transfer uncompressed HD footage.

Even if it did, the sheer size of the files would make it impractical because of the large amoount of hard disk space needed to store it and the processing power needed to edit it.Another fly in th HD ointment is that, currently, very few applications are able to edit the footage from this Sony HD camcorder. However, that looks set to change,as Apple has already announced that the next version of its Final Cut Express and iMovie applications, due at the end of January, will be able to edit HD.HD video will eventually become a common consumer format, when prices come down and editing software is able to work with it. However, until a compression format is found that can squeeze the data contained in HD without noticeably reducing the quality, there will be little benefit over current DV format camcorders..

This is a huge issue and significant challenge for digital antenna manufactures and professional installers."The SquareShooter antenna platforms were specifically designed for digital reception of these reflected signals. Its primary market is in metropolitan/suburban locations where line-of-sight to the transmit tower is blocked and the only signal they can receive comes from a bounced signal, such as off a building. With the addition of the new digital preamp to the SS-2000, the SquareShooter now delivers even more reception power to the very important metropolitan/urban market. This is the biggest segment of the HDTV market and was not currently being served well by existing digital antennas until the release of the SquareShooter? SS-1000 last year. Howell continued, "Although only 16 inches square, The SquareShooter? Series was specifically designed to receive and resonate VHF and UHF transmissions from reflected broadcast signals by allowing the antenna to be pointed at another reflective source to capture the reflected signals and still be able to resonate quality DTV/HDTV signals."There is a huge need in this market for an outdoor antenna that successfully addresses these issues.

The SquareShooter Series of outdoor High-Band VHF/UHF Digital/Analog/HDTV Antenna System are the only digital antenna platforms on the market today that can do it. As evidence of this, the introduction of the SquareShooter? SS-1000 was the only time in the 50-year history of the Winegard Company that a product was pre-sold before it was available; the SquareShooter? SS-2000 is the second. This is a true testament to the need and acceptance of these unique and innovative new antenna platform designs. If you'd like more information about this topic, link to a SquareShooter flash file with specs, pictures, video and text testimonials on field testing and more at: http://winegard.com/offair/s2shooter/flash/squareshooterflash.htm. To schedule an interview with Bob Howell, please call Michael Sherman at 319-754-0604, send an email to e-mail protected from spam bots or visit www.winegard.com.About Winegard CompanyWinegard Company is widely considered an innovator and pioneer in product design, performance and assembly and has consistently adapted to meet the challenges of the ever-changing electronics market.

It remains committed to continuous improvement in the quality, cost and delivery of its products and services to effectively meet all of its customer's needs and currently designs and manufactures more than 1,000 different products in four product lines distributed in all states and worldwide, including:????Satellite Antennas and Mounts: Residential antennas ranging in size from 46 cm to 1 meter. ????Mobile Television Reception Products: RV, Trucking, and Marine applications. Satellite systems ranging from manual crank-up models to automatic satellite tracking systems with GPS/DVB. Off-air antennas including bi-directional and omni-directional VHF/UHF/FM antennas. Ground Antenna Mounts and Accessories.

????Off-Air Antennas: From DC to 5.8 gigs AM/FM/VHF/UHF Antenna Systems, Distribution and Pre-Amplifiers, Power Supplies and Accessories. ????Telemetry: Medical and Data Antenna Systems, Distribution Amplifiers, Power Supplies and Accessories. ????Two-way Fixed/Transportable Mobile Satellite Internet Systems: offers real-time IP, video, voice, audio and data communications virtually anywhere, anytime.Contact: Michael Sherman???????????????Tel. 319-754-0604Cell Phone: 901-351-9861Email: e-mail protected from spam bots.