HD on TV? Really? Yes! High Definition Television is here, it's real, and - best of all - there are no subscription costs with free, over-the-air HD on TV.

A surprising 20% or so of HDTV owners who think they are watching HD on TV are not watching High Definition; they are, in fact, actually watching Standard Definition Television. How can you tell? Well, the video quality aside, a few things must be true to watch HD on TV:

• Your HDTV must have an HDTV Tuner
• The channel you are watching must be broadcasting in High Definition
• You must have clear, strong signal reception with no interference
  

All true? Good, these are the first steps to watch HD on TV. Once you've confirmed the above pieces are in place, the following should also be true about HD on TV:

• The aspect ratio of the program is 16:9 (or widescreen); not 4x3 (full screen), or zoomed 4x3 (cropped). When the aspect ratio is configured correctly, the screen will look similar to how a move theater screen looks. Sweet.
• The resolution of the video will be 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. There is a significant difference between how Standard Definition (408i/p) looks, and how HD on TV looks; if you see fuzzy images, blurry motion, and visuals that "run together", something is just plain wrong with your HD on TV setup.
  
• An item you can't control: The broadcaster may be manipulating the HDTV stream to reduce bandwidth (this is more of a problem with paid services such as cable or satellite then it is with free, over-the-air HD on TV). Look good, but not good enough? This could be the root cause.
  

Once you have HD on TV up and working, you'll know it. The images will be detailed, crisp, and much more life-like than you are accustomed to seeing with Standard Definition Television. Movement will be smooth and flow (be careful, people prone to car sickness have reported getting nauseous while watching moving HD on TV).

Why all the confusion about HD on TV? There are a number of reasons people get confused, including all the acronyms (SDTV, HDTV, DTV, etc.), the resolution numbers (720p, 1080i, 1080p), aspect ratios (4x3, 16x9, etc.), HD on TV tuners (HD-Ready, HDTV Receiver, ATSC Receiver, NTSC Receiver, etc.), all the cable connection types (composite, component, coaxial, DVI, VGA, HDMI, S-Video, Firewire, etc.), and on and on and on.

Put that aside; here's your bottom line for HD on TV:

1. Your antenna uses coaxial cable to connect to your HDTV.
2. Your HDTV is configured to use a 16x9 (widescreen) aspect ratio.
3. Your HDTV is tuned to a digital channel with a strong, reliable signal broadcasting a program in HDTV.
4. You are now enjoying HD on TV.
   

To complement the HD on TV, consider adding a 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound system (or better!). If you're having the complete HD on TV viewing experience, you also need the HD on TV Audio Experience to make the experience even more vivid. But that, as they say, is a topic for a new hub. ;)

Until next time.