Technology changes quickly these days, especially when it comes to home entertainment. With all the new advances, your TV set can be a multimedia haven. You can surf the Internet, turn your TV into a giant picture frame of ever-changing pictures, or host an EA Sports video game tourney in your family room. Of course you also have the usual perks of expanded programming via cable and satellite TV, which only gets better when it’s hooked up via HDTV. Much better, actually, because the quality of what you’re watching—a webcast concert, a video game, an intense action movie, etc.—is so much more vivid…Those of you who have HDTV know exactly what I mean. For those of you “Ancients” still using a TV that can only process analog signals rather than a digital TV, you’re really missing out.

The biggest difference between traditional analog televisions and digital televisions is picture quality. Traditional television uses analog signals to display the images you see on television and that worked just fine when TV first became popular…way back last century! When TV first hit the mass market, audiences across America thought watching black and white TV via analog signals was just “peachy keen” but then TV technology evolved and people could watch TV in color, then stereo sound! All the changes were exciting but at some point a TV buff said, “It’s good but still not good enough. TV needs to be more vivid!” I’m paraphrasing, of course, but the thought had to have run across someone’s mind because otherwise we wouldn’t use digital TV signals now and digital TV sets would never have been invented.

While digital TV clearly provides better viewing quality than analog, there is one major glitch with digital: Just like with analog signals, programming quality and clarity diminishes when programs are viewed on smaller TV screens. So some inventor somewhere likely uttered his / her version of that magical paraphrase I mentioned earlier, something along the lines of, “It’s good but still not good enough. TV needs to be more vivid no matter what size TV I’m watching on!” and soon after, High Definition Digital Television (HDTV) was created. That brings us back to present day where many people already have digital TV sets to watch HDTV programming. As for those of you who are still living like Ancients with your analog TV sets, you’ll be joining progressive TV viewers soon or be viewing nothing at all! Here’s why…

In the U.S., the television standard has been slowly transitioning from analog TV signals to digital TV signals. Many broadcasters have switched over to sending programming via standard digital signals (or even high-definition), but they’re also still providing programming through analog signals too. Why? Because broadcasters know there are Ancients out there who have yet to update their TV sets to digital and because they know that you analog TV owners would not be able to view their digital programming. So for now, broadcasters provide digital and analog signals. “Now” is the operative word there because by spring of 2009, broadcasters will be required by law to broadcast only digital signals.

So, what does that mean for you retro consumers who are still holding on to your analog TV sets? It means that you need to start saving up for a new digital TV set so you won’t be cut off from the wonderful world of television. Keep in mind that a digital TV will suffice to keep you entertained but if you really want to have the best viewing experience, consider investing in a TV built not just for digital signals but for high definition digital signals. The phasing out of analog TVs and analog programming also means that you may want find a service provider who offers high-definition programming so that you’ll be getting your money’s worth from your new set. NexTag.com is a great website to visit to comparison shop for your TV set and Bridgevine.com is a one-stop source when you want to compare high-definition TV services providers and / or buy high-definition cable or satellite TV services.

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