DLNA, HDMI and more: TV tech demystified

Shopping for a new screen to take pride of place in your living room for years to come can seem daunting: after all, with so many acronyms and four letter features being thrown about, it can seem confusing. Not to worry though: we're here with a crib sheet of all the top TV tech you should look for, what it means and why it matters. Read on for your flatscreen primer.

HDMI
HDMI, or High Definition Multimedia Interface to give it its full name, is the standard connection use to hook up flatscreen TVs and monitors to image sources to pump out video. Because it's a digital connection, the quality of the cable doesn't matter and as a result, it's cheap, crystal clear and efficient - and capable of pushing multi-channel surround sound through at the same time.

DLNA
DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance - it's both an organisation and technology standard to allow network connected gadgets in your home to stream media to one another. One device acts as a server to keep all your precious files on, while others act as clients, displaying this content. The upshot is that a DLNA-enabled TV such as the Toshiba 40WL768B can connect to your Windows 7 laptop or PC and stream any multimedia from it to the big screen for your whole family to see, quickly and easily.

1080p
1080p is the screen resolution currently known as full high definition, and tellies with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels are thus capable of displaying all the image detail provided on a Blu-ray disc of HD channel. It's the current watermark, and you shouldn't settle for anything less when buying a new TV.

BD-Live
BD-Live is a feature found on many new Blu-ray players such as the Toshiba BDX3200 that lets the set top box jump online to pull down special, interactive extra content for the Blu-ray movie you're watching. That could be more scenes, it could be a game, it could even be a chartroom widget - the options are limitless.

REGZA-Link
REGZA-Link allows you to cut the clutter and command everything plugged into your TV to be controlled by just the one remote. You see, HDMI cables can now send remote signals each way as well as audio and video, so with a compatible Blu-ray player, games console or PVR hooked up to your Toshiba REGZA TV, you can simply control everything with the touch of a button on one remote. Handy.

LED TV
Don't be fooled: LED TVs are still LCD TVs, they just have an array of LED lights behind the screen or around the edges to make them better. The trick is that these can be turned on and off independently to better boost the colours on screen: in black areas they shut off and on bright ones they power on so you get unbelievable contrast.

Resolution+
A Toshiba REGZA TV with Resolution+ technology is capable of taking standard definition sources like a regular TV channel or one of your old DVDs, and boosting the image quality up to the equivalent of high definition. It has to be seen to be believed, and some new models can even do it for 3D video too.

DVB-T2
A TV with a DVB-T2 tuner built in means it's capable of picking up Freeview HD channels in the UK - that's ideal as it means you don't need another set top box cluttering up your stand just to get the gorgeous looking free to air channels.