Along with MPEG4 AVC/H.264, VC-1 is one of the two codecs used to store high definition video on Blu-ray discs. As with any technology there's some dispute as to which is the superior codec, but both offer picture quality that makes DVD look quite disappointing in comparison.

High definition televisions are often ruthlessly revealing of the limitations of standard definition video. "Upscaling" is a technology that creates a simulated high definition picture from a standard definition source. This generally looks substantially better than simply plugging a standard definition cable into an HDTV. While upscaling does improve the picture quality of standard definition sources such as DVDs, it is not a true substitute for a high definition source such as Blu-ray or high definition television broadcasts.

Truecolor, otherwise known as 8-bit colour, is the standard colour format for digital photographs. Simply put, colour information is stored as a combination of 256 values of red, green and blue respectively, which combined allow the creation of 16.7 million colours. Most photographs use the Truecolor format, as do PCs, but DVD and Blu-ray use Component colour and so Truecolor is only necessary if you intend on using your HDTV as a computer monitor.

TOSLink cables use optical fibre to transmit digital stereo or surround sound data. It is a standard digital means of connecting DVD players to receivers, along with digital coaxial RCA electrical cable. It is now being superceded by HDMI. TOSLink cables only use the S/PDIF protocol, and so cannot transmit the latest high-definition surround sound formats found on Blu-ray discs; for those you'll need to use HDMI.

THX is a set of standards for sound and video in cinemas, home theatres and video game equipment. Short for "Tomlinson Holman eXperiment", it was created by Lucasfilm to ensure faithful reproduction of film sound design in theatres. It is not essential for a surround sound setup to be THX-compliant, but the THX badge does at least ensure a minimum quality standard for sound and video given. If your entire system consists of THX-certified components and is playing a THX-certified movie, you will experience precisely what you were intended to experience.

Often incorrectly referred to as "Super Video", S-video is an analogue video cable connector that allows for much better quality standard definition picture quality than basic composite cable, but is inferior to component cables.

DVDs and Blu-ray discs do not use the entire range of the digital colour spectrum for reasons of compatibility with existing analogue technology. Some digital sources, however, do put out signals that are either darker or brighter than this limited range, and TVs that can display this are referred to as having "super-white" capability. Some DVD and Blu-ray players are capable of expanding the output signal to the same range, which is only advisable if you are plugging the device into a computer monitor not designed to properly display the limited range of DVD and Blu-ray discs. Super-white is not essential, but is yet another feature that will help to future-proof a TV.

A subwoofer is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce the lowest audio frequencies: the rumbles, booms, and thuds that give sound its sense of scale and power. Subwoofers are not strictly necessary if you have large, capable speakers, but are the most economical way of getting a big sound from a small system. In surround sound, subwoofers are represented by the ".1" in 5.1-7.1 channel surround sound.

Plain old 2-channel stereo is still the standard for music recording, and a sadly underrated way to get high quality sound from your movies. Stereo avoids the complexity and cabling of multichannel surround sound and allows you to spend more money per speaker to get better sound quality. If you are happy with your hi-fi, don't rush into surround sound. First try out your existing sound equipment with your movies and if you're satisfied, then there's little need to upgrade unless you really want those rear effects.

SECAM is the standard definition French television broadcast format. Very similar to PAL, its presence on a device is of little concern to an Australian buyer unless he or she has a large collection of French video cassettes.