To say that HDTV is as big an advancement to television as color was back in 1953 is an understatement worthy of a Foster’s beer commercial. Let’s face it, Gilligan’s Island bridged the gap between black-and-white and color, and about the only thing that changed was the opening credits—and color had little to do with the Professor and Mary Ann being added to the roster. HDTV, on the other hand, adds much more to your TV-watching experience. Let’s consider its five most important benefits:

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Widescreen
The most obvious difference between regular TV and HDTV is the latter’s wider image. HDTV’s aspect ratio, or ratio of image width to height, is 16 units wide for every 9 units high. This is expressed as 16:9 but can also be referred to as 1.78:1. (This is just simple math; 16 divided by 9 equals 1.78.) Regular TV images of the same height would be only 12 units wide (12:9 or 4:3, aka 1.33:1). This gives the high-definition viewer a much wider viewing landscape, one that matches more closely with human vision, which is accustomed to watching a wide field of view. The wide image is also closer to the aspect ratio used for most theatrical presentations. This means most movies played on HDTV will not have to be cropped or letterboxed much for the images to fit the screen as they would a regular TV. Shows recorded and broadcast in high definition, however, will fill the screen entirely.

WIDESCREEN ADVANTAGE: HDTV offers a widescreen image much like you see in a movie theater. The aspect ratio (i.e., ratio of width to height of an HDTV display) is 16:9 or 1.78:1. Regular television has an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 1.33:1. Movies, which can be filmed in aspect ratios as wide as 2.35:1, must be severely cropped or letterboxed (adding black bars above and below the image) to fit on a regular television. Most movies, which are shot in 1.85:1, will lose little if any image area or will have minimal black bars on an HDTV screen. Shows recorded specifically for HDTV will fill the entire screen.