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I see a lot of questions around HD, digital, and media center so I thought I'd try to give the community an overview...
HD TV vs. Standard TV
In the United States, standard TV and HD TV generally refers to the overall definition or picture quality that you see. The more lines the TV can draw with the most data across each line, the better the picture is.
- Standard TV = 480 lines drawn up or down the screen (480i or 480p in a 4:3 aspect).
- HDTV - 720 lines or greater (720i or 720p in a 16:9 aspect)
Currently, today's market advertises 1080i/p as the best HD TV quality.
What does the i and p indicate at the end of the numbers - 480i or 720p?
- p stands for a progressive scanning method. Every line across the screen is drawn in sequence down the screen until the entire screen has been drawn.
- i stands for interlace; which means the lines are drawn every other line down the screen and it takes two passes to draw the entire screen.
Some people swear that one method is better than the other - I can't tell a difference. Let your own eyes be the judge. Go to a store and look at TVs. For Media Center, it doesn't matter because you are using a monitor. What matters more, I think, is refresh rate...
Refresh Rate
Refresh rate is number of times the entire screen is drawn every second. A TV or monitor refresh rate of 60 Hz = 60 screen draws every second. Most eyes can't tell the difference beyond 60 Hz.
If the refresh rate does not match the number of frames being sent in the video signal (or DVD playing software), you can end up with time syncing quality problems - screen flicker or annoying jitter that very briefly pauses a scene regularly as a camera is panning slowly across a scene.
For viewing TV in Media Center, you should not worry about frame rate unless you are seeing consistent timing problems. In general, keep the frame rate for your monitor at 60 Hz (or 90 Hz, or 120 Hz) - which is the default rate for most LCD monitors.
Aspect Ratio
This is the proportion of width vs. height. In the US there are two main ratios used for TVs - 4:3 and 16:9.
Standard 4:3 example (taken from HP's support document c00811736)
HD example 16:9
Digital TV vs. Analog TV
Analog and digital refer to the ways the TV signal is sent, received, and processed. Analog NTSC has been the standard format for the United States in the twentieth century. The new format for over-the-air TV broadcasts in the United States, digital TV (ATSC), offers much more than standard broadcasting. For one, ATSC allows broadcasters to multicast, giving you access to several channels from the same station - that is, more free channels from your antenna. Another big benefit is that ATSC supports high-definition. If you have a high-definition ATSC TV or tuner, you can receive TV that is over twice the resolution of standard TV.
Like the old snowy receptions of broadcasts past, the quality of your picture is directly tied to how well the antenna reception is in your area. However, with digital TV you don't get snow when you have poor reception, you get big colored blocks on the screen, dropped frames, or no picture at all.
Copy protection. There are many devices available that can copy analog video - think of an old VCR (Video Casette Recorder). Digital, however, offers content owners more protection through various forms of digital rights management (DRM). What this might mean in the future is that it will be less likely to be able to record a TV show and take it to a friends house and watch it (in HD).
Media Center connections
For TV, you need to find the tuner. It may sound silly, but I get a lot of folks looking for the tuner on the graphics card. After all, ATI has an all-in-wonder card that has both and a video card is for video stuff. The TV tuner is on a separate card that has at least one coaxial connector on it.
To get TV on your PC you always connect a coaxial cable from cable/satellite TV or antenna to a TV-in on the back of the PC (or the side if it's a TouchSmart).
Coaxial Connector for TV in Media Center
There can be several coaxial inputs so you have to know which one you need. If you can read the little markings next to connector, read it to get a clue as to what the connector is for. FM is only for FM radio - skip that one for TV. ATSC or Antenna is for a digital over-the-air antenna. NTSC is only analog. TV IN could be NTSC or it can also represent a combination ATSC/NTSC tuner.
You cannot get a TV signal through the black S-Video or the Yellow composite RCA connector - those connectors are only for capturing video feed from devices like a VCR (not TV). If your PC has an S-video or yellow video connector on the front of the PC, these two are only for capturing video in special software. Also, you cannot get TV-in through an HDMI, DVI, or VGA connector.
Composite video - not for TV or Media Center
S-video - not for TV or Media Center
The switch to digital
I'm sure almost everyone in the United States has heard about the switch to digital TV on June 12th. Most people know that they need a converter box if they want to keep using their older (analog) TV with an aerial antenna... but what does all this mean for computers that have Media Center?
The answer is... it depends on your configuration. -- ugh.
To go forward, you need to know what kind of tuner(s) is installed in your PC - NTSC, ATSC, QAM, or a combination of those. To find out, open Device Manager, open Sound, video and game controllers and look for something with TV in the device description. Usually the device description will list the type of signals your tuner supports - NTSC (analog), ATSC (digital), QAM (can be thought of as unprotected HD for cable TV). You can also look at the product specs or search the Web on the tuner's device description if it does not list supported signal formats. You can also check your PC models product specs (or ask folks in this forum 
)
Quick overview:
- Conventionally QAM is only being used for Cable/Satellite TVs (mainly to deliver local *free* HD broadcasts)
- NTSC is analog and will work for most cable TVs in America broadcasting standard TV. It does not support HD
- ATSC is digital and supports HD, but is used for Antennas
You may also need to know what version of Media Center you have. You can find this out by opening Media Center, going to Settings, General, and clicking about About Windows Media Center.
Here is what you need, depending on what you want to do:
Watch standard cable TV in Media Center
You need an NTSC or QAM tuner connected to the coaxial cable (TV-in). Pretty simple - no special equipment should be necessary as everything pretty much stays the same.
Watch high-definition cable TV in Media Center
This one is tough due to digital rights management. The typical HD cable setup requires an HD service package, an HD capable set-top box with HDMI or DVI out connections, and a high-definition TV with HDMI or DVI inputs or a built-in HDTV tuner with cable card (yuck). With Media Center it is a little different. You have two ways to do it...
- A QAM tuner, a local cable company subscription that broadcasts in Clear QAM HD, and "Vista" Media Center. Under this setup, you can view the *free* clear QAM HD programming that comes from your cable company ... along with the standard broadcasts. You will not be able to record protected HD content.
or... - A special PC system called a Windows Vista Digital Cable compatible PC. You need the PC, a cable card with HD package from the cable company, a special cable card tuner like the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable tuner. You buy all of the hardware components (minus the cable card) from the PC vendor because it requires a special version of Windows Media Center and they all work together as a system to keep HD copies from being recorded and played on other equipment.
Watch Digital TV in Media Center using an antenna
You need one of two setups:
- An ATSC tuner and XP Media Center 2005 or later. This scenario is best for over the air broadcast. Simply connect any antenna to the coaxial ATSC in connector.
- An NTSC tuner and any version of Media Center connected to an analog-to-digital converter box (through NTSC/Analog coaxial in). This scenario works but stinks. Why? Because your TV programming guide data will probably be messed up and you'll have to mess around with the remote and IR blaster cable to get things "working." The setup in the first bullet above is far better, but this may be your only choice if you have the first versions of Media Center and you cannot upgrade the tuner or Media Center.
Let me know if this helps you. For more info you can read this... Receiving Digital TV Broadcasts in Media Center
