There has been a good deal of speculation recently about whether or not High Definition Television is about to take off in the United States.  High Definition technology has been around for a long time in Japan, but there's been somewhat luke warm interest in it in the United States.  The lack of interest has widely been attributed to the high price of the actual High Definition televisions sets, the few options for High Definition capable television accessories (like DVD and DVR), and a lack of High Definition programing.

However, it looks like a number of factors are beginning to align in such a way as to spell a huge upsurge in the popularity of this technology.  One great indication is that sales of High Definition Televisions have jumped during the past year.  Best Buy recently reported a sharp increase in profits that it attributes to the fact that it's sales of High Definition television sets doubled in the second quarter.  As a result, Best Buy plans to build more of it's special High Definition television stores, hire more High Definition TV installers, and pour more money into advertising.  All of these actions will create more awareness and availability of High Def products which will help the technology take hold.

Another good indicator is a upsurge in new High Definition devices being introduced to the market.  Both Directv and TiVo have recently introduced High Definition Digital Video Recording devices.  The TiVo Series3  HD Digital Media Recorder is aimed at cable television subscribers.  The unit can store up to three hundred hours of standard definition program content or up to thirty two hours of High Definition programming.  It will record two shows (even if they're both in High Def) at the same time, while the viewer watches a third.  The cost of the unit will probably be prohibitive to most potential customers.  It costs almost eight hundred dollars and requires a ten dollar monthly fee on top of that to use.

The Directv High Definition DVR, model HR20-700s, is more affordable, but also more limited in it's functionality.  It retails for about three hundred dollars and Directv charges about five dollars a month for it's use.  At fifty hours, it can actually record more High Definition programing than TiVo's HD DVR, but the upper limit for standard definition is only two hundred hours.  It will also record two shows at once while allowing users to watch a third show.  Overall, the Directv unit looks like a better value than the TiVo unit, but of course since one is for cable and one if for satellite television, they aren't really in competition with each other.  It is conceivable that they might factor into the war between cable and satellite TV though.

There also promises to be an upsurge in the amount of High Definition programming available.  The president of Comcast recently announced that the giant cable company will probably deliver between thirty two and thirty five High Definition Television channels by the end of 2007.  Currently, Dish Network is the leading provider of High Definition programming with twenty nine channels.  This competition to deliver the most High Definition channels, especially with more people buying HDTV equipment, is sure to prompt the creation of even more High Definition channels.

With news like this, the future looks brighter for High Definition Television technology all the time.