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The future’s here with HDTV

John Logie Baird is guaranteed his place in history, given his pioneering work to make television a reality for billions of households across the world.

Indeed, whilst the advancement of television technology was due to the collective endeavours of numerous boffins, Baird made perhaps the biggest contributions to the field and progressed it far quicker than it otherwise would have done and, as if to cement his place as 'inventor of television', he was also instrumental in the first ever colour TV transmission in the 1920s.

At the time, nobody could've predicted the extent to which TV would change the world. Major global news that would once have taken days or even weeks to spread around the globe, was not only arriving the same day, but live pictures as the event was happening was beamed into millions of households across the world.

Of course, TV wasn't just limited to events on this humble planet of ours. When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon in 1969, the whole world watched in wide-eyed wonder as one of the greatest ever feats of science unfolded in front of their very eyes.

Today, television is everywhere. In fact, it is so ubiquitous that it's more meaningful to look at figures relating to 'TVs per household' rather than how many there are across the country. Indeed, the average home in the UK has three TV sets, which really helps to illustrate the importance of television in the 21st century.

From a technology standpoint, today's silky, elegant, streamlined plasma sets with 30-inch plus screens are unrecognisable from the cumbersome cuboids of only a few decades ago. But that's not all that's changed.

For those who have been locked in a darkened room for the past few years, the traditional analogue broadcasting system is being phased out for a digital broadcasting system, with millions of people already converted to the new and improved system.

The switch to digital broadcasting has also seen high-definition TV (HDTV) come to the fore, and it is the most advanced, best quality form of digital television. With a 16:9 aspect ratio, it is of a similar ilk to a cinema screen and is thus perfect for those wishing to watch TV at home via a projector and large screen. The widescreen format is more suited to human eyes, as people 'see' better from left to right, rather than up and down and it is also well suited to movies and sports, as there is move visible screen.

Of course, all TVs must be 'HD ready' to get the full benefits of HD broadcasting, and most modern TVs will indeed be HD ready, which means all that's really needed then is a