What exactly is HDTV compatible?

Hi carmaster!
   
I didn't know the answer to this myself, so I've just taken a "crash
course" to educate myself about all the television formats!
  
  
Let's start with, "What is HDTV?"
    
"With the most popular high definition television signal standard, the
signal is made up of 1,080 scan lines. It has over two million pixels
(the small dots that create the picture.) With twice as many scan
lines and pixels, the HDTV picture has a higher resolution, meaning it
is clearer, crisper and more detailed than the Standard Television
signal. The shape of the screen is wider ? a 16 by 9 aspect ratio ?
which simply means it is 16 units wide by 9 units tall. This is much
like the shape of the screen you see in a movie theater. Many people
find viewing HDTV more natural, because the 16 by 9 aspect ratio
closely matches the peripheral vision range of the human eye. HDTV
signals are delivered by a digital transmission method.[..]"
http://www.antietamcable.com/cabletv/hdtv_faq.html#4
   
So what this really means is that an "HDTV compatible" television set
can accept an HDTV input signal, and display a compressed but
proportionate, simulated 16:9 wide-screen image.
  
  
You may also want to check out this site:
   
"What You Should Know About High-Definition Television"
(Part 1) - http://www.avguide.com/newsletter/2002.11/wyska_hdtv1.jsp
(Part 2) - http://www.avguide.com/newsletter/2002.11/wyska_hdtv2.jsp
  
  
I hope that helps!
  
 jackburton-ga
  
  
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Request for Answer Clarification by carmaster-ga on 07 Jan 2004 10:43 PST

I would like to know the degree of difference in HDTV compatible and
HDTV ready direct view 40" television sets.

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Clarification of Answer by jackburton-ga on 07 Jan 2004 12:53 PST

Perhaps, this may interest you:


"Despite the term "high-definition", the real difference between HDTV
and current TV is something else. The definition is the cause, but
from the viewer's point of view, the biggest change is in viewing
angle rather than definition.

But let's start from the beginning. The underlying change in HDTV is
in the raster structure. In HDTV:
*	the screen has a whole lot more pixels (720x483 vs. 1920x1080, or
about 6x as much)
*	the aspect ratio of width vs. height is 16:9, rather than 4:3 of current TV 
*	most HDTV definitions conform to square pixel shape (like in
computer monitors, unlike current TV)
The changes in raster structure can be observed with the data content
of the screen, as measured in pixels (px).

   video                        300'000 px

   monitor                      500'000 px

   advanced TV, workstations  1'000'000 px

   HDTV                       2'000'000 px

So, an HDTV screen can show a lot more detail than current video. An
important property arises from this fact. A rule of thumb (with
scientific research to back it up) is that the human positions a TV
set so that the smallest detail in the screen forms a viewing angle of
1 minute (1/60 degrees). Because of this, the HDTV-screen can either
be much bigger than the current TV screen, or the viewer can move
closer to it. Either way, the picture fills a wider viewing angle.


                    viewing distance          viewing angle (width)

                    -----------------------------------------------

   current TV         7xpicture height            11 degrees

   HDTV               3.3xpicture height          28 degrees


Another way to say this is that at equal distance, the HDTV set is x2
higher and x3 wider than your current TV set. Both the wider viewing
angle and the high-quality audio make the viewing experience of HDTV
much more involved than that of current TV."
http://www.tml.hut.fi/Opinnot/Tik-111.550/1998/Esitelmat/HDTV/hdtv.html

I just bought an HDTV after a good deal of research, so hopefully I
can provide some assistance.  HDTV compatible, HDTV monitors,  and
HDTV Ready are the same thing.  They both mean that the TV capable of
handling HDTV signals.  However, in order to do this, you will need to
have an HDTV tuner, which is separate from the TV.  If you have
digital cable or DirecTV, the box they provide will be able to handle
this.  However, if you don't have that, then you would need to
purchase an over-the-air HDTV tuner, which is in the $500 range.  Some
of the high end televisions are starting to have built in HDTV tuners,
but most of them do not.  Hope this helps!

HDTV simply means high definition digital tv.
the standard is 1028i or 720p
which 'i' means interlaced
p means progressive

jackburton answered the question perfectly, what more could one expect.