In the late 1800’s through the late 1920’s, several different men came up with and developed the technology for motion video that became television in 1928.Futurists have long envisioned new and fantastic abilities for TV’s ever since. We have HDTV’s, but what makes it special?

Color television was developed in the 1940’s, but didn’t become common until the 1960’s when the major networks began broadcasting in color. Even though there are great advances made, standards have to be established and those take more time than you may believe. Until HDTV ^(http://www.indiefilmhouse.com/goto/http://www.dishnetwork.com/hdtv/default.aspx) standards were set, many current technological advances were stuck in the laboratory. Innovations that have been adopted includes both big concepts and little advantages. All have enhanced the experience for the viewer.

First, oldest and probably the most impactful has been the standardization and implementation of the different resolutions. Two different standards have been set for HD which are the 720p and 1080p and 1080i which, with the latter, effectively doubles the resolution of what is known as SD or standard definition TV. If you look at older TV’s closely, you can see lines in the screen, and if you were to count those, you would get 525 which is the NTSC standard for US television. With the new standards, those lines aren’t visible.

Next is the screen size ratio. Because standard TV’s used a 4:3 ratio, movie makers had to either chop the sides off the movie or use a letterbox format which leaves black spaces at the top and bottom of the screen. Theater style, or widescreen, has a 16:9 ratio of width to height. Theatrical releases use a widescreen format which has become a new standard for HDTV as well.

Since televisions are measured from corner to corner, or diagonally, this led to some standard sizes for TV’s. Whether you had a little 13″ screen or a massive 27″ screen, the cathode ray tube was what you watched images on. However, the larger the CRT the heavier the TV and the more likely it was to be broken. LCD and plasma screens have replaced rear projection TV’s that dominated the market for years. No longer are the massive, expensive to repair projection TV’s available. The others are lighter and much cheaper to manufacture.

While audio has been less standardized than the screens, some form of surround sound has become the norm. Whether Dolby 5.1, Dolby 7.1 or other standard, HD broadcasts generally are in surround sound. This enables the audio to rival the video in quality.

Last, is the lowly HDMI cable. While seemingly unimportant, this innovation has replaced the dozens of cables that were required to connect all the required equipment for a home theater system including your HDTV receiver ^(http://www.indiefilmhouse.com/goto/http://www.dishnetwork.com/receivers/hd/default.aspx). Consumers no longer have to fight with a nightmare jungle because passing both audio and video through one cable simplifies things immensly.

It may take years for technological innovations to become the newest standard, but those that make the grade will eventually do so. From its beginnings in the 1880’s to the beautiful screens we have today, HDTV innovations will continue to surprise and impress us with new things in the future.

Dish Network has a massive lineup of great satellite TV deals ^(http://www.indiefilmhouse.com/goto/http://www.dishnetwork.com/) that gets you all the sports, HD programming and movies you love to watch. Why waste time and money with any other TV service when Dish has it all at prices you can afford?