TV HD 1080p

Broadcast engineer says:

HDTV is higher resolution version of Digital TV. In the United States there are two common standards for broadcast 720p (1280 by 720 pixels progressive scan) and 1080i (1920 by 1080 pixels interlaced scan).

Digital TV is a standard or high definition broadcast in a digital format which in the US is in the ATSC (Advanced Television Standards Committee) format. For Standard Definition the number of lines is 480 instead of 720 or 1080. Typically these SDTV pictures look just like the analog signal except there is no static or noise in them.

If you are already watching digital channels designated as a major channel number and a minor channel number such as 2.1 for channel 2 program 1 then you will not see any improvement after the transition unless one of the following conditions happens:

1. Your local tv stations upgrade to HDTV

2. Your local HDTV stations show more HD programming

3. The shut down of analog stations which interfere with your local DTV stations allows you to receive the DTV stations much better.

If you are not watching digital stations such as 2.1 and only are watching analog stations which either report as channels with no minor number such as 2 or as channels with a minor number of zero such as 2.0 then you need to setup your tuner to pick up ATSC stations (assuming you got a TV recently and it has an ATSC tuner). You might also need a better antenna or to have more than one in the case of digital stations not being in the same location as their analog station was and is.

See the link below and use the minimum of your zip code to use the mapping method to find your home.

My answers are for the United States. If you live in the United Kingdom the TV standard is DVB (digital video broadcast) and is often called Freeview. As far as I can tell from reading here and on the internet itself, they do not have HDTV on Freeview yet but they do have it on their satellite TV sold by Sky.