Cleaning an HDTV screen is not at all like cleaning a normal television screen. With all the best intentions in mind, if you do not know what you are doing, you can permanently damage the screen of your HDTV set.

Firstly do not spray cleaning products directly onto the HDTV screen. Many modern cleaning products contain abrasive chemical compounds that will permanently scratch, smear or slowly deteriorate the delicate fabric of a high-tec HDTV screen. Alcohol based cleaning products are also not recommended for HDTVs. Even worse, any liquid that is sprayed onto the screen will slowly drip down and coagulate at the bottom of the screen where it can not be removed. From there it actually works its way under and then behind the HDTV screen, leaving large smudges which are nigh on possible to remove.

The best way to clean an HDTV screen is to use the micro-fiber cloths that come as recommended by the HDTV manufacturers themselves. Lightly dampening such a cloth should be sufficient - be careful that it is not too wet or you will suffer the fate of liquid build-up behind the screen as mentioned above. Before cleaning the screen turn the HDTV off and if using a damp cloth make sure the screen is completely dry before switching it back on again. Various HDTV screen cleaning products are available these days, including disposable HDTV screen wipes. It is good to clean your HDTV screen every once in a while but try to stick to light dusting as HDTV screens are not designed for regular contact, the pixels within the screens are delicate and once they are damaged, a glitch will always remain.

Remember, prevention is better than cure so do everything to keep your HDTV screen away from harm. Children's sticky fingerprints and worse still animals are the number household threats to HDTV screens continuing health. We have heard of a few instances where territorial house pets have urinated on the HDTV set - resulting in a liquid build-up behind the screen but with an extra special smell to go with it! So it may be prudent to invest in some animal training prior to heading down to your local TV store - see that it's you splashing out on a brand new HDTV and not your cat!

How do you clean your HDTV set? What's your secret method? If you have any special recommendations or comments we would love to hear from you - just add a comment below.

Bigger is not always better

The size of HDTV you buy should very much depends on where you will watch it. There is no point having a massive 1080i HDTV set if you are going to sit so close that you can see every line and pixel. A good rule of thumb is do not sit closer to a HDTV than twice the length of the screen diagonally. Saying this, the other deciding factor on just how good an HDTV picture looks is the human eye. At a distance of 10 feet the naked eye cannot detect pixels smaller in size than 1 mm, therefore at this distance you will not be able to notice any significant difference on a 37 inch screen between standard definition television (SDTV) and HDTV.

Burn in will ruin your Plasma screen

Those days are long gone, advances in technology incorporating gases and phosphors within your HDTV set make burn in a thing of the past, some sets even have software that prevents it. A high quality plasma HDTV set has an estimated life expectancy of around 60,000 hours and that is longer than you will ever watch it - even if you had it switched on 8 hours a day, every day of the year for 20 years!

LCDs use much less power than other types of HDTV

Research undertaken by Japan's Green Purchasing network concluded that CRTs, Plasma sets and LCD HDTVs used roughly the same amount of energy as each other in normal use. Just to put another nail in the coffin of this particular myth is the fact that the next generation of LCD HDTVs, incorporating LED back-lighting to improve colour will consume twice as much energy as traditional LCDs!

My old TV will be useless after the digital switch-over

More of a digital television (SDTV) concern than High Definition but nevertheless a myth that needs debunking and quick, before the landfills overflow with perfectly fine equipment! Contrary to popular belief analogue TV sets will work fine after the digital switch-over as long as you invest a digital to analogue converter. Of course, it will not allow you to see HDTV programming but that is not yet planned for Freeview anyhow. The important thing to know is that no one is forcing you to buy new a new TV set.

Normal TV is unwatchable on HDTV

More of an exaggeration than an outright myth. Yes, when viewed on an HDTV set normal television's imperfections are inflated to a size where they are clearly visible to the naked eye in a way that they were not before. However, the industry is already addressing this problem and newer HDTV sets are showing a marked improvement in this area - the trick here is to try before you buy.

As long as it's broadcast in HDTV the programme will look amazing

Careful with this one as there is high definition and high definition, if you know what we mean. The HDTV signal is bandwidth intensive, that is - it is large and every station has only so much space to go around. To get around this problem, broadcasters compress the signal, this results in a loss of quality and to what extent they do this is largely up to them. Over the air broadcasters are likely to compress less than cable companies who have to send out many programmes in addition to services such as Internet and telephone. Some stations use a single channel to send more than one broadcast - this is known as multicasting and results in further compression. So finding out whether or not your intended HDTV provider multicasts is a good indication of the quality of their HDTV programming.

The Market Research group Strategy Analytics estimate that Sales of high definition TV and other HD devices in Europe will increase by 158% this year, meaning that over 28 million units will be sold. By the year 2012, 70% of European homes should have an HDTV, showing an increase in 8% from 2006. Strategy Analytics go on to estimate that by 2012 44% of people in Europe will be watching high-definition programming via HDTV receivers either in the form of set-top boxes or integrated tuners. Next come those watching HDTV on digital media players, estimated at 27%, then HD DVD devices (including blu-ray) at 26% and last of all 15% using portable HD devices. Part of the reason for this huge surge in sales is the growing interest in new television technologies such as Plasma and LCD, the majority of which are HDTV ready.

This report coincides with the BBCs own report A Higher Definition: the Digital terrestrial HD Trial in which they estimate that some 10 million UK homes alone will have HDTV by the end of this decade. Likewise the BBC go on to confirm that many instances of homes being HDTV ready is 'by default' as part of the natural replacement cycle of old television equipment and a desire for space saving and aesthetically pleasing flat screen models that just happen to be HDTV ready in most cases. They further cite the influence of the next-generation of video games consoles, namely the PS3 and Xbox 360 both of which allow gamers to play games in a high-definition video environment and watch HD DVDs (the Xbox 360 comes with an HD DVD player add-on while the PS3 incorporates blu-ray as standard).

All of this is good news for HDTV in general as consumer demand will drive down prices, speed technological advancement and put pressure on broadcasters to make more HD content available, nevertheless HDTV is still a fairly niche area where consumer awareness is still in its infancy, say the BBC.

Sony's announcement early in 2007 that the next definition format war was effectively over seems to have been premature. The continuing release of dual format players able to cope with both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs in a single machine attests to this fact. Sony's statement, based upon the occasion of Blu-ray outselling HD DVD, was made after Blu-ray disc sales beat those of HD DVD in only a single month. Such a gain was only made possible after the release of the heavily subsidised Playstation 3 (PS3), with Blu-ray player built-in as standard.

Samsung get up on fence

Electronics manufacturer Samsung, a staunch Blu-ray backer have now opted to release an HD DVD/ Blu-ray combo drive. So why the sudden change of heart? Could it be that they are miffed at Sony's massive PS3 subsidies? With such a competent Blu-ray player as the Playstation 3 on the market, undercutting all others, it seems that Samsung had little choice but to open their arms to the rival format, HD DVD. Sony are using the PS3 to push their Blu-ray format through to victory, they are losing bundles of cash now in the hope of making it back on games sales and disc royalties later. But pushing so hard can be bad for their associates and manufacturers like Samsung are pushing back.

Unwilling to duel, consumers get the best of both worlds

Dual format players are a godsend for technology-hungry consumers who cannot wait to get their hands on high definition movies. Nobody wants to be on the losing end of a format war, stuck with discs they cannot watch, or worse still, a machine that no one wants. At hundreds of pounds a pop, many feel it is too soon to be choosing sides, that's why Samsung have made the right choice for consumers in the meantime.

There can be only one

In the long run, it would be best for everyone to have a single format. We only have one format for standard music CDs and the same goes for DVDs. Having two formats increases complexity, consumer insecurity and worst of all production costs - which the consumer will have to foot. Although the majority of major motion picture houses are behind Blu-ray, there is nothing to stop them switching to HD DVD if they wish. Samsung did it, but sales of Samsung Blu-ray players have been brought to their knees by Sony. Hollywood studios would have a lot more to lose from being pushed into dual format - their production costs could effectively double, while the number of consumers would stay the same.

Buy smart

With the HD DVD versus Blu-ray format war far from over, it would be prudent to wait this one out. For those of us that cannot wait to see our favourite flicks in glorious high definition, the smart move would seem a combo drive. Good news for us then that more and more such HD players are being released! Let's just hope that this time, it really will all be over by Christmas.

To get the most out of your HDTV set it has to be calibrated to your individual home settings. When you buy an HDTV it is likely calibrated to factory or shop settings but with the potential for a far better picture comes the potential for a far worse picture too. In this article we are going to take you through a step by step guide on setting up your HDTV to get the best possible picture.

Adjusting the HDTV picture settings

Lighting
Start your HDTV calibration by looking at your viewing environment. Natural daylight is the best possible light for viewing anything and expensive bulbs that replicate daylight are the next best thing. Try to set up your room so it has as much daylight as possible without any light reflecting directly onto the HDTV screen

Brightness
Also known as Black-level. Brightness, contrary to the name actually adjusts how dark the picture appears. This is crucial in dark scenes to stop areas of grey and black merging into each other. Turn it up too high and your HDTV picture will look washed out, turn it too low and dark areas lose definition. Choose a nice dark scene from your high definition DVD, a dark room for example then max out the brightness, bring it down until the walls are distinguishable from the floors and you can make out murky shadows.

Contrast
Also known as white level or picture level it controls the strength of white areas in the picture. If the brightness is too high you will lose detail and place your HDTV elements under fatal strain, especially with Plasma HDTV sets. Too little brightness means a weak picture. To get the balance right, choose a scene with someone wearing white, turn the brightness to maximum and then increment it down until details appear in their clothing - wrinkles, buttons or pockets for example.

Colour
Or saturation controls the intensity of colours. Too much colour makes everyone look like they've been over doing it on the sunbeds (unless you are watching Dynasty re-runs and they are supposed to look like that), too little and you are back to good old black and white. Your HDTV set will most likely come with a number of preset colour options - called colour-temperature. Find a DVD with a close-up of someone with light skin tones, turn it up to give them a free St. Tropez and reduce it slowly until they look normal again.

Using a THX enhanced DVD to maximise your HDTV settings

This is a brilliant little tip courtesy of the clever people at THX. Find a DVD which is THX enhanced, you can choose from many recent titles. Pop the DVD into your player and go to the included picture optimiser, this will take you through a range of scenes where you are asked to adjust your HDTV settings until it matches the picture. It works on any type of HDTV in any kind of room. A similar feature is also present on the start-up screens of many video games.

Be careful of power cables

Do not have all of your devices plugged into a single socket. This is not only extremely dangerous in terms of fire-risk and damage to HDTV equipment in the event of a power surge, but it also causes interference that can severely hamper the performance of your HDTV set and other home entertainment devices. It is worth spending a little extra on a multi plug extension bar with surge protection.

In a recent press release Microsoft stated yet again that if Blu-ray wins the format war then Xbox 360 will be able to support the format via an external Blu-ray drive.

At present the Xbox 360 comes with an optional HD DVD player, it is the cheapest such player on the market and plugs into the 360 via a USB port allowing players to watch movies and TV shows in High Definition. Microsoft claim that this makes them capable of supporting whichever format wins the war. Sony meanwhile have a vested interest in Blu-ray as it comes built-in as standard - the PS3 will be essentially defunct should Blu-ray lose out. Forecasters think this eventuality highly unlikely, quoting the past successes of the PS1 and PS2 - a long history of consumer satisfaction and loyalty plus great expectations for the titles yet to be released on what is essentially a more powerful platform. PS3 sales have been greatly hampered by a series of botched launches, delays and marketing blunders but with the PS3 finally in stores in the UK sales of Blu-ray discs are outselling DVD HD discs for the first time.

Both gaming systems offer the cheapest high definition video disc players on the market. The Sony PS3 is heavily subsidised in order to secure the future fortunes of the Blu-ray format, it is estimated that Sony loses around 200 USD for every unit sold.

During an interview with the BBC last week Xbox UK head Neil Thompson was quoted as saying, 'Whatever format wins it is highly likely we will offer a solution. The only debate is if you want to watch Blu-ray movies and pay the extra money for that feature. We prefer to offer the consumer choice.' Read between the lines if you will, this sounds to us like gentle reassurance for consumers that they can still buy an XBox 360 even if HD DVD is starting to look like an early loser. Perhaps its not surprising that Microsoft is willing to show signs of conceding so early. With most major Hollywood studios already backing Blu-ray it would be foolish of Microsoft to sacrifice the entire Xbox gaming platform on a format that is essentially still an optional add-on. Sony, the very creators of Blu-ray can afford no such luxury and the news from the PS3 camp is as brassy as ever, bragging that it is not a question of if but simply when Blu-ray surpasses HD DVD.

It is not the first time that Microsoft has shown signs of buckling in the format war. Way back in 2006 Peter Moore, Microsoft Xbox corporate VP of worldwide marketing and publishing told Japanese games site ITmedia that a Blu-ray Xbox 360 peripheral could be provided the for Xbox 360 should the need arise.

Nobody was surprised in 2006 when Gates announced his full support for the rival format of sworn enemy Sony. But is rivalry reason enough to plunge the coming of high definition gaming and video playback into a format war? Wouldn't it be better if everyone could just get on? Who do you think will win - HD DVD or Blu-ray? Post a comment below, we would love to hear your opinions.