Everybody has watched a television at some point in their lives. While some might watch more TV than others, everybody has seen a unit in action. Very few people, however, know just how a television works or what parts make it up. Understanding a television will give you a greater appreciation of the technology and development that goes into bringing broadcasting to your home.

A simple television is made up of the following components: An image source, a sound source, a transmitter, a receiver, a display and a loudspeaker. The image source, such as a camera or a scanner, is what you actually watch on a TV. A sound source, usually captured by some type of microphone, is what you actually hear on a TV. Transmitters regulate both picture and sound into information data that is sent to the TV. Receivers take the transmitted signal and reconfigure it so it can be displayed on a TV. The display device refers to the part of a TV that turns the signals into physical images. Loudspeakers are used to turn the sound signal into physical sound in sync with the images on a TV.

Most TVs nowadays come with built-in devices to switch between sources, mixing two types of sources and displaying pre-recorded video content. Most transmission sources come from over the air through TV towers and antennas. Depending on the type of cable service you have, whether it is cable or satellited-based, will determine the quality of signal. Some areas are better served by cable broadcasts whereas others are served by satellite broadcasts. Each company charges their own fees to set-up services. Nowadays, homes can receive digital or analog broadcasts.

There are several different types of display technologies in development today. CRTs, RPTV and flat panels are the three main categories of televisions. These three types encompass all the other minor types of TVs on the market. Every year, new television technology keeps changing the way everyone views broadcasting.

CRTs, cathode ray tubes, are the most common type of TV. These expand up to 40 or 45 inches depending on the type of aspect ratio. They are cheap and provide a solid picture quality. They can display different resolutions from several sources and display the picture as clearly as their counterparts. They use interlaced scan technology with a refresh rate of 30Hz.

Cathode rays are beams of electrons emitted from a heated cathode contained in a vacuum tube. They accelerate due to the difference between the cathode and the anode. Phosphorescent coating on the screen emits light after interacting with the electrons. The light is then deflected by a magnetic field to position the images on screen.

RPTVs, rear projection televisions, are larger than their CRT counterparts. They can be created up to 100 inches and rely on projection-based technology. There are CRT-based, LCD-based and DLP-based RPTVs in production. The CRT model still has a crisper picture than most RPTVs, though this is changing as new TVs are flooded onto the market.

Flat panels, generally LCD or plasma-based, use matrices to display pictures. They use light-emitting diodes to present a picture. They can be one inch thick, hung on walls and can be used as computer monitors as well as televisions. Outdoor video enthusiasts and sporting venues have adapted flat panel technology to work with their designs.

Digital light processing (DLPs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and surface-conduction electron emitter (SEDs) are the most common types of flat panel technologies. They are usually less than four inches thick and are much lighter because of the type of technology inside then their counterparts.

There are some terms that every television owner should be familiar with. Pixel resolution, for starters, is the amount of single pixels on a given screen. For example, a resolution of 720 by 480 means that it has 720 pixels horizontally and 480 pixels vertically. The higher the resolution, the sharper the image will display. Contrast ratio is the range between the brightest points and the darkest points on a given display. The higher the contrast ratio, the brighter the picture displays.

Display size is the diagonal length of your television. Dot pitches are the measures of individual pixel sizes, including the length and distances of subpixels. Smaller dot pitches yield sharper images. Response time refers to the amount of time it takes for the television to respond to an input. For example, in an LCD, this refers to the amount of time it takes for a pixel to go from black to white to black again. Slow response times will cause picture distortion and blurry movements. Brightness or luminance is the amount of light being emitted from the display. The color gamut is the amount of colors a TV can display.

Knowing just a little more about television technology can help you understand the important of different factors when shopping for a new TV for your home. These terms, and breakdowns, can help you figure out what factors are important to you as well as what the market is stressing may be the future of television technology.