From humble beginnings in a small laboratory in London belonging to John Logie Baird television has come a long way from the early Cathode Ray days to now the latest in Liquid Crystal Display (LDC TV) TV sets. Such is the all embracing (some say insidious) nature of TV that once with it, it is very difficult to do without it.

So having established where and when television arrived in our daily lives, just what exactly is TV and how does it achieve the things that it does do if that is not too technical a description (joke)? The word television is derived from a mixed usage of Greek and Latin roots meaning in literary terms �far sight� and being derived from the Greek term �tele� meaning �far� and the Latin �vision� meaning �sight� or �to view in the first person�.

Understandably if you were to ask the average man in the street his biggest issue with television today most would reply that the one problem they have is an increasing dependency on technological terms and an increasing ignorance of what these terms actually mean.

Perhaps it would be best now to move on to the latest developments within the industry and concentrate our coverage upon digital television, what it actually means; formats, bandwidth and an explanation of the technical jargon and terminology used.

So what exactly is Digital TV? Digital television is much more flexible and efficient than conventional analogue television and digital signals provide a much clearer picture, much better sound quality and a far greater choice and availability of programming.

So what do all of the terms surrounding Digital TV mean? Let us look at this whilst analysing one of the newer LCD TV�s available.

The LCD TV that we shall use for our illustrative purposes here is the Hitachi 32LD9700 LCD TV.

The following items of information have to be understood before you can make a proper valued judgement regarding your new Digital TV?

Firstly we have to understand the phrase Screen Resolution and all of that implies. Here we refer to the exact number of pixels that can be displayed in each dimension.

Whether the TV is Hi-Definition Ready would be the next thing to look at. By Hi Definition Ready we mean that is the TV is ready and suitable to take advantage of the latest Hi Definition TV pictures that more and more programmes are being broadcast in.

We would need to look next at what types of connectors are used to connect the various peripherals that go to make the entire Digital Package work.

We are referring here to the exact nature and number of the Scarts Sockets and Plugs in use. Here the definition of SCART refers to �Syndicat francais des Constructeurs d�Appareils Radio et Television (SCART).

The final item we would look at would be what is the nature and number of the High-Definition Multimedia Interfaces (HDMI) being used. The High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a licensable audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams between digital audio/video sources such as set-top box, HD DVD Player etc.

The 32LD9700 is a 32in LCD TV and the prices for these are around 1000 pounds sterling or 2000 US dollars. The resolution of the screen is 1366 X 768 and with regards to being HD Ready the answer is yes. The Hitachi has 3 (2 RGB) scarts and the type and number of Multimedia interfaces the 32LD9700 uses is HDMI and 2. The type of Tuner for this TV is Analogue and Digital and the Hitachi is available from a wide variety of outlets.

All these points being taken into consideration, how would we view the Hitachi 32LD9700?

The most obvious place to start with as far as TV's are concerned would be the picture quality and our score here would be 10, and closely tied in to the picture quality is the sound quality and our score for this would be 10. Taking a look at the number of relevant connections and their availability, our score would be 8. As far as overall features are concerned we would give it 10 and for ease of use and overall value for money we would give it, 10 and 10 respectively.

The overall verdict would be WOW what can you say but that this is one of those TV's that excel in almost every thing it is supposed to do. Described as a "Superb All-rounder", there is not much that this TV does not achieve. If you can get your hands on one of these then go for it.

Please bear in mind the prices that are quoted in this article and take note that they are there purely for illustration and though valid at the time of the writing of the article may vary from time to time and also depending on the time of year when you make your purchase.

Stephen Morgan writes quite regularly on the Internet about TV and Home Entertainment issues and more on the above can be found at lcd flat screen tvs and also at http://bestflatscreentv.biz