S/PDIF is not a type of connector, but rather a digital protocol used to allow the transfer of digital audio from one device to another. The two primary connectors used are the optical TOSLink cable and the electrical RCA coaxial cable, but the same information can now also be passed through an HDMI cable, so a DVD or Blu-ray player now needs only one cable to connect to the rest of your home theatre system. S/PDIF allows the transfer of CD audio, and DVD-quality Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound. S/PDIF connectors cannot transmit the new high-definition audio formats, Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio; you will need an HDMI cable.

Red, green and blue can be combined to create any colour visible to the human eye, and so televisions use pixels consisting of these primary colours to create a picture.

RF cables are the traditional means of connecting an antenna to a TV or video recorder.

Resolution, in the simplest terms, refers to the amount of detail a TV can resolve. TV pictures consist of dots called pixels: the more pixels in an image, the better. High definition television refers to television of a higher resolution than standard definition television. Currently, the highest resolution video available to consumers is that of Blu-ray, 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels or 1920x1080. When looking for a television to display Blu-ray, be sure to buy a TV with a native resolution of 1920x1080 to get the best possible picture.

Refresh rate refers to the number of times per second a TV updates the picture. This differs from frame rate because a TV frequently repeats the same frame. For instance, if a video is shot at a frame rate of 24 frames per second, and a TV refreshes the picture at 72hz, the TV is showing each frame three times. In the past, using CRT technology, refresh rate made a large difference to the perceived headache-inducing flicker of the display: the faster the refresh rate, the less flicker. With LCD and plasma, flicker is no longer a problem and so refresh rate has now become important when considering how TVs handle motion and judder.

Rear Projection Televisions use a video projector inside a TV to create a very large picture for a comparatively low price. However, as flat screen technology like plasma and LCD has dropped in price and increased in size, the large bulk and relative picture quality of RPTVs has seen them mostly disappear from the market. RPTVs in the past have traditionally used LCD or DLP technology, but there is a new contender: Mitsubishi's Laservue which offers, as of writing this article, the most vibrant colour reproduction available.

The standard means of connecting up hi-fi and AV equipment for the last few decades, the long-standard RCA connector is now being superceded by digital connectors such as HDMI. But, if you are considering the purchase of a new receiver, be sure to check the back for those old RCA sockets, as future upgrades to newer digital sources generally will not require a new receiver if you can simply plug the faithful old analogue audio cables in.

Most DLP projectors (and rear projection TVs) create colour by consecutively flashing red green and blue images by means of a spinning colour wheel that filters the light reflecting off the DLP mirror chip. Depending on the sensitivity of the viewer, this can leave trails of colour as the eye moves across the screen. This is a subjective phenomenon, but not an inconsiderable one, as afflicted viewers can find the effect unsightly or in the worst cases, quite literally headache-inducing. Massive improvements have been made over the years by increasing the speed of the colour wheel, but to those who perceive the effect regardless, the only solution using DLP is a very expensive projector that uses three separate chips to create colour. If you are contemplating a DLP projector, be sure to audition it before buying.

A modern replacement to the venerable VCR, the PVR or DVR records video on a hard disk drive instead of a videotape cassette. Benefits are much easier programmability, much better picture and sound quality and, best of all, no need to rewind.

Due to the technological constraints of the time, television was original stored and broadcast in an interlaced format. Interlaced video creates a picture by filling the screen with alternating scanning lines in fields that combined over time created full picture frames. Progressive scan video fills each field with the entire picture frame, thus offering a more stable, more natural, solid picture. By their nature, all LCD, DLP and plasma displays are inherently progressive scan, and so require a process call de-interlacing if the source is interlaced, but this is all done by the set and of little concern to the viewer.