1. Introduction

From local news to ESPN, and from syndicated game shows to multi-million dollar movies, high definition programming comes in all shapes and sizes, leaving an easily forgotten question - is all HD programming equal? There are some obvious and some not-so-obvious reasons that can affect the way one TV show stacks up against another.

What Makes A Program "HD"?

By watching a lot of over-the-air HD content on TV, you will probably notice right away that all shows claiming to be in high definition do not look the same. Obviously, for a show to be classified as HD, it has to meet certain requirements. Some shows will barely meet these and slap on a "high definition" label, while others go above and beyond, making the picture comparable to a Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD movie.

First off, unsurprisingly, older TV shows that are rebroadcast in HD are going to be at or near the bottom of the high definition spectrum. Universal HD, for example, airs several old NBC shows that are upconverted from their original format. Common sense can tell you that a show produced for TV two (or more) decades ago is not going to look amazing on an HDTV, no matter how much technical work is done to it. Even shows from the past decade or so that are just now making their way to HD, if not recorded with special equipment, will look less than stellar. This accounts for a lot of the programs shown in HD simulcast channels like TNT HD, and vintage programming on ESPN HD.

The grainy episodes from the early days of The X-Files don’t look a whole lot better on TNT’s HD simulcast channel.

Second, watch for the technical information about the show. Most HD cable or satellite boxes will show you the resolution of the show you’re watching. For non-HD channels, this will probably always be 480p, but for high definition content, though, there are multiple designations: 720p, 1080i, and 1080p are the three main HD classifications, in order from lowest to highest picture quality. Right now no over-the-air TV content is available in 1080p, so that leaves the two lower tiers.

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