Clearly, the new TV’s biggest impact is how it’s shaping—and reshaping—our lives. Today’s TV technologies let us do more than just watch TV shows and movies. An LCD screen in the kitchen, for example, may access a PC for Web-based weather, stock quotes and e-mail. A DLP projector in the family room may perform double-duty as a video-game monitor (sans the fear of burning high scores into the screen) or as an interface for arranging your music library. A plasma in the living room can display a constantly running electronic slide show of family photos. The TV is no longer just electronic theater.

We’ll cover all this and more in the pages of Digital TV. We’ll explain the technologies and what you can do with them, and tell you what components you need and why. Rest assured, the days of forfeiting half your living room so you can watch a life-sized Seinfeld are gone. Now it’s just a question of what else you’re going to do while you watch.

Mike Wood
Editor