HDTV is a new television format to replace PAL and NTSC which offers a far greater picture quality and clarity. The advantage it offers is a much more realistic picture, deeper, richer colours and improved visibility - a classic example is a comparison between watching a blocky, blurry ball during a football match and seeing every detail, seeing the sweat on an athlete's brow or being able to see the rain fall in films.

Once you've bought your shiny new TV you will obviously want to make the most of the high definition display it offers, so watching tv on freeview or your old dvd player often won't cut the mustard. Still, there are more and more options available to new HD TV owners available today, and we will go into each once below.

Blue Ray DVDs

High definition TV offers a variety of formats that improve upon the quality offered by standard definition TV (PAL or NTSC). HD Picture quality is measured by the number of lines a screen has, for example 720p offers 720 horizontal lines, while 1080p offers 1080 lines - by comparison standard definition only gives 576 lines.

The two main display technologies for viewing films and tv in HD are plasma screens and LCD displays. The technologies powering the displays differ dramatically but in reality the differences between them for the end-user are shrinking as the disadvantages of each system are overcome with new techniques.

In a nutshell the advantages and disadvantages are as follows:
• Plasma Screens are often available in larger sizes, from 37" up to over 60"
• Plasmas offer better contrast and can display black more effectively in particulr, as well as a better colour accuracy overall.