If you've been waiting for the right time to get an HDTV, your wait is over! HDTVs with awesome picture detail, high quality line doublers, and the ability to change picture formats with any source are available. The prices have come down dramatically from a year ago with great quality HDTVs available for around $3000 and up.

The company that started this trend of decently priced HDTVs was none other than Mitsubishi. With many other companies following suit shortly after. Just a year ago you would have to spend twice as much to get the same image quality!

So what do you get from a $3500 HDTV? Pretty much everything you need and more! You get multiple standard definition inputs and high-definition digital connections for HDTV sources and progressive scan DVD players. You get a high quality line doubler that recognizes film and video sources (this feature is called 3:2 pulldown). You get the ability to change video format modes for any signal high-def or standard.

Standard Definition Inputs
HDTVs in this price range come with many inputs for standard definition sources. You'll be able to connect virtually any type of connection whether it's a RCA composite, S-Video, or Component Video connection. The TV will be more than capable.

It's with a standard-definition signal that the line doubler comes into to play. The line doubler converts any signal sent to the TV to a progressive format. This removes the visibility of the lines of resolution that make the video image. This allows you to sit closer to the TV, but with cable and satellite signals the compression used to pack all those channels become more visible the closer you sit.

This is why a high-quality line doubler is so important. 3:2 pulldown is a process that recognizes the different fame rates of video or film and compensates for it. Without 3:2 pulldown the line doubler would simply treat every source the same resulting in picture distortion, artifacts, and debris on the picture that wasn't there before. Since standard-def formats are going to be used for most television broadcasts for the foreseeable future it's important to have a line doubler that can handle these sources well.

High Definition Sources
While there aren't many HDTV broadcasts available, more are become available as time passes. In many major metro areas and suburbs HDTV broadcasts are available for all local channels through antenna. Satellites offer 2-4 channels of HDTV including a demo channel. That's not much to shout about, but the local channels are finally something to look at that represents the normal viewing habits of most Americans.

The great thing is that your DVD movie collection offers the best source of high-defintion viewing.The quality of the picture with a progressive scan DVD player is amazing and approaches HDTV broadcasts. You even be able to see the film grain on many DVDs which is absolutely amazing and unprecedented. A progressive scan DVD player will set you back roughly $1000, but prices are coming down. You could choose to use the line doubler to convert your standard-definition DVD player and get the progressive scan player later on.

Picture Formats
This is one of the most important features of an HDTV. Picture modes allow you to change the display properties of the video with different sources. If you're watching a movie that's "widesceen enhance"d you'll want to use a standard display to take advantage of the widescreen. If the movie is not enhanced for widescreen and is simply letterboxed than you want the TV to chop off the top and bottom bars and fill the screen with the image.

One of the most important aspects of the picture mode is simply being able to change the mode when using a high-definition format such as a progressive-scan DVD player. THe HDTVs of last year were unable to do this making a progressive scan DVD player useless unless you were veiwing an "enhanced for widescreen" DVD. Now all HDTVs offer this capability. Avoid last years closeout models for this reason alone.

The Downside
What you don't get is an HDTV tuner that allows you to view HDTV broadcasts. This will set you back another $1000 since you also need to have an antenna or satellite installed that can capture the HDTV broadcasts. Since there are a limited number of broadcasts over the air and even less over satellite this is one feature you can wait on. The price on today's tuners cost from $600 on up and will be going down in the future as well. Since progressive scan DVD players approach the picture quality of HDTV you'll still be able to show off the high-definition capabilities of your new HDTV.

The Upside
You'll be able to sit closer to the TV since you no longer have to worry about seeing the lines of resolution. Havign the HDTV take up as much of you vision as possible immerses you into the experience so much more. You'll be amazed at the hidden details you never saw before. Certain sounds will make sence since you'll be able to see the entire image the way it was meant to be seen... on the big screen. An HDTV simply tranforms any home theater into a monster movie house that's better than any movie theater.