So there you are, standing in your local retailer, eyeing the impeccable beauty of High Definition lavishly displayed in front of you on 100 different Television screens. It can be truly bewildering. You pick what seems to be the perfect TV, buy it, and rush it home. You unwrap it, plug it in, and see... a picture that doesn't compare with what you saw at the retailer. Disgusted, you decide to actually pick up and read the manual (a small miracle in and of itself for most) where you see mention of a connection for High Definition called HDMI (which stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface) and you think to yourself, "Well, I need to go and get myself one of those." So back you go to the local Electronics Retailer only to be confronted by DVD players that Upscale, HD-DVD Players, Blu-Ray Players, Video Game Consoles, and a cornucopia of other goodies which employ this new interface. It may seem that the choices regarding HDTV are more confusing than ever before.



HDMI, a connection standard for the new High Definition age, is designed to allow a single cable to transmit both Audio and Video signals, as well as permit a bandwith large enough to enable higher resolutions than the connections used for older Analog style video. In order to display Full HD picture on a supporting TV, you are going to need an HDMI cable. HDMI can digitally combine your Audio and Video all on one cable, thus eliminating that maze of wires and cables stuffed behind your television.

Let's look over HDTV resolutions and what they mean, to help you learn what to buy and for what reason.

HDTV Resolutions:

* 480i (480 interlaced lines of resolution). This refers to what you've been watching on normal TV for years.

* 480p (480 Progressive lines of resolution). Also known as SDTV, this refers to the fact that a smoother image is created on your SDTV/HDTV by progressively scanning images from a DVD player.

* 720p (720 Progressive lines of Resolution). This is the first real step into HDTV. Providing a much smoother picture on a High Definition TV because it allows 720 lines of resolution (almost twice that of 480p).

* 1080i (1080 interlaced lines of resolution) offers an excellent quality picture on TVs capable of displaying 1080i and is the maximum resolution provided by Satellite and Cable operators.

* 1080p (1080 progressive lines of resolution) Currently, 1080p is the best quality picture you can get, which is why it's also known as Full HD.

Knowing more about HDTV resolutions allows you to decipher what the numbers above mean, when buying a new HDTV.

Next are some considerations for buying the cables needed to connect your HDMI equipped devices.

Be sure the cable you purchase is 1080p certified, because the latest DVD players and game consoles use that format, even though your TV programs aren't yet available in it. You should make sure that the cable is HDMI 1.3 certified, which means that it will carry lossless audio as well as video signals. If your cable is longer than 10 feet, it should also be certified for 1080p, so that it does not begin to degrade. Most cables don't have any locking device, so make sure that they aren't too strained, as they can and will wiggle loose.

And there you are. Today, go out and purchase your new HDMI cable, and enjoy the stunning video and audio quality it will give you.