Home theater enthusiasts will attest that it is a great time for home theater. Equipment quality has improved tremendously, and innovation is pumping out at an extraordinary rate with most changes taking place in the realm of video technologies and formats. This staggering number of new technologies is a technogeeks heaven, but a general consumer's nightmare.

With so much to choose from, the confused consumer is left to rely on poorly trained salespeople and rampant misperceptions which can make it near impossible for the average consumer to even attempt to make sense of it all.

Figuring out which TV to buy has no longer become merely a question size, but rather size, shape, technology-type, screen width, and HDTV capability. Each adding to the maze the TV shopping has become. For the average consumer looking to begin their foray into the world of home theater this over abundance of technological capabilities is just simply a whirlwind of technobabble; making what should otherwise be an exciting purchase, an exercise in futility.

Why should home theater geeks care about what the average Joe wants? It's the average consumer that will make or break a future format, not the early adopters. Also, the more people that buy a specific technology, the cheaper that technology becomes for everyone else.

Format Adoption and Misperceptions
DVD has been the most successful technology rollout for consumer electronics. It's huge leap in quality and control over the once standard VCR has made DVD a welcome entertainment venue and many homes (and cars) worldwide. DVD's technological benefits were marketed well, and almost any consumer could see the huge leap forward in video and sound quality over the VCR. The easiest thing DVD had going for it is that it always worked with consumers' existing TVs. So those interested could just pick one up and instantly see the results.

HDTV, on the other hand, is still in a shroud of mystery for many consumers. Misinformation, miss-marketing, and ill-informed sales people have led to a very confused public. HDTV's widescreen format also ads confusion as well. As if all this confusion wasn't bad enough, there are now more different TV display types to choose from as well: CRT, DLP, LCOS, LCD and Plasma (alphabetically listed),

What's worse is that and HDTV's advantage isn't readily realized when a consumer brings it home. Besides a possibly bigger picture, HDTVs show how bad standard definition broadcasts truly are, so the consumer may initially get a worse picture on HDTV than a standard definition TV. The benefits of an HDTV shine through once a progressive scan DVD player is used, with picture quality that can come close to HDTV quality, and rival any movie theater. Even better yet would be HDTV broadcasts, but most consumers haven't been correctly informed about what is really available in HDTV broadcasts over air, satellite, and cable. Hell most consumers are lead to believe that the TV improves the picture so much that everything will look like HDTV when you bring it home. In most stores, there no mention of the fact that what's being played on most all TV models is an HDTV broadcast.

So now not only do consumers need to worry about getting a TV that allows them to view HDTV, but also figure out which display type fits their budget, preferences, and room. What's an average consumer to do to make light of all the confusion, and misperceptions... rely on the sales associate, maybe, but there are a few things a consumer can do to help make sense of it all, and still end up with a TV that fits their needs and expectations.

The Best Advice (a little hand holding required)
The most valuable resource for anyone considering purchasing a new home theater TV is a friend who is knowledgeable about such things, or a friend who knows a store where the salespeople are insightful, helpful, and able to answer any of your questions. The friend method is the best in achieving success and ensures that someone is looking out for your best interests, and knows how to get you to understand what you're buying.

Not everybody has a technologically savvy friend to help them on their way towards home theater enlightenment, but rest assured there are options for people like this... it just requires a little more work.

Self-Learning
If you don't know anybody knowledgeable in HT you still have many options, you'll just have to more of the groundwork to ensure you get the absolute best TV you can afford. You can start by reading guides such as HTadvice.com: On Gear: TVs: Projection, and using the On Shopping section to guide you on your way to going to the store.

The hardest part is not falling in love with a certain TV at the store, but rather shop around to see which salespeople are more honest and helpful, and where you can get the best price. Ask multiple stores the same questions until you find a store (and more important find a salesperson) that can truly help you out.

After finding a couple a models you like, check out consumer reviews at AudioReveiw.com to ensure that there are no quality issues with the TV. Nothing is worse than buying what you believe to be a great TV, just to have a maintenance nightmare.

Cheap Prices
With more and more people jumping on the home theater bandwagon, more TVs are sold, which means manufacturers can lower prices to unbelievably low prices. The only issue with this is that you never want to buy the cheapest and largest screen. The combination of cost cutting coupled with the demand of the electronics inside to produce such a large screen size is just a bad combo.

You pay for what you get, and nothing rings more true to that in the world of home theater than with TVs. Most consumers expect TVs to last 8-12 years without fail; TVs have no longer become a luxurious and exotic piece of electronics, but rather more of an appliance in the consumers' eyes.

This is Bad for Consumer and the Industry
With manufacturers pushing out so much technology and hardly doing anything to correctly educate the consumer the situation is just terrible. When people get confused and uncertain about their purchase, especially with $3000 items, the frustration level increases tremendously, and the opportunities for people to get ripped off increases as well.

The best defense for the consumer is the consumer themselves, until the industry gets off its ass to help educate people. The best example of consumer confusion and misperception is the HDTV format itself. Most consumers don't know that HDTV broadcasts are readily available for free in most of the United States via antenna, with consumer misunderstanding statements like "how can an antenna be digital".

It not the consumers fault either. Marketing over the last decade of using "digital" technologies and the expectation of what they are and the improvements they make, have been completely miss-marketed. A great example is Satellite and Digital Cable: both transmit standard definition broadcasts "digitally" to the home, resulting in clear picture, but not in any increase in resolution, but as far as average consumers are concerned, an increase in picture quality may as well be an increase in resolution.

HDTV is competing against the "digital elitism" marketing campaigns of the last decade, and consumers are just being led around in a dizzying array of acronyms and technology. HDTV offers a huge benefit to all consumers especially over antenna where you no longer have to pay a dime to receive the possible TV picture.

The Good News: Knowledge is Infectious
Once somebody in a group of friends and family switches over to HDTV or purchases an HDTV successfully, that knowledge is usually freely passed onto others in the group who aspire to get the same thing in their homes. As more and more get on the bandwagon, the more comfortable consumers will get with the format and the technology needed to receive these broadcasts.

Any technogeek will tell you that they help out more than just a few of their friends and neighbors with home theater advice. The good news is that there are web sites like HTadvice.com and AudioReview.com, and magazines like The Perfect Vision and Home Theater Magazine to help both technogeek and average consumer alike.

For more in depth info about TVs:
http://www.htadvice.com/on_gear/tvs.html

For more info on getting into HDTV:
http://www.htadvice.com/home/spot_light_oct_2003.html

Find out the best way to shop at:
http://www.htadvice.com/on_shopping/