Technology has improved drastically since the creation of the 50-year-old NTSC standard used in television today. It's now possible to show all the information in a video frame at once, instead of only half a frame at a time (interlaced). This is progressive scan and provides a sharper image than interlaced scans.

Interlaced and progressive are represented by a lowercase "i" or "p". So, when you see a format described as 720p it means "720 lines of resolution in a progressive scan."

HD formats are broken down into five categories:

• 480i: The digital version of a standard definition TV image. 704X480 resolution at 30 fps, 60 fields per second, interlaced.
• 480p: A progressive scan version of the standard TV image.
• 720p: Widescreen progressive scan with 720 lines of resolution. 1280X720 at 30 or 60 fps.
• 1080i: Widescreen interlaced. 1920x1080 resolution 30fps, 60 fields per second.
• 1080p: The Holy Grail of High Definition: 1920x1080 resolution at 30 or 24 (film) fps, progressive scan, rarely seen off the computer desktop where it is currently supported by Windows Media Player 9.

A great idea is only as good as what's shipping. Here's a quick look at cameras, editing, and playback technology you can buy today.

In September 2003, Canon, Sony, Sharp and JVC all announced their support for the HDV format. JVC was the first out of the gate with a pair of cameras, the professional class JY-HD10U and the consumer grade GR-HD1.

Sony is also in the mix with the HDR-FX1, which is a 3-CCD prosumer model priced at about $3,700. With three cameras on the market, it looks like the camcorder industry is serious about backing this format.

There are several editing systems for the HDV format. On the Mac, Final Cut Pro HD is not an HDV compatible version editing software. Out of the box FCP HD can capture, edit and output DVCPro HD, DV and SD, but not HDV. Look for more third-party solutions in the immediate future.

For Windows, CineForm has a trio of HDV editing tools, Prospect, Aspect, and Connect. All are centered around a codec which converts HDV MPEG into Windows AVI encoded video, which many programs can edit. After passing through the CineForm codec, the video bloats to four times its original size, but this allows users to utilize software they're already familiar with. CineForm also has a custom rendering engine plug-in that works with specific applications (e.g. Premiere) to provide realtime software previews.

Ulead has a $299 plugin for MediaStudio Pro 7 that allows the importing of HDV. Instead of converting the video to a new format, the way the CineForm software does, Ulead keeps the video in the MPEG format. This is good, in that you don't need to perform a conversion, but it also means that it is more difficult for the computer to edit the video.

There are a number of turnkey vendors who are also offering HD solutions. DV411 (www.dv411.com) is offering a complete HDV turnkey system including camera, editing station, and burner for about $7,000. The bundle includes a ProEdit eX P4 Workstation, a JVC JY-HD10U Camera, Ulead's Studio Quartet software bundle with the HD Plugin and an HDV training DVD. Boxx Technologies (www.boxxtech.com) offers a variety of turnkey systems made up of its own computer, JVC Camera, Adobe Premiere and the CineForm software. We expect most turnkey vendors to offer similar packages as user demand increases.

You've got an HDV camera and an HDV editing computer, so you make the most marvelous HDV movies. How do you play them back on your HDTV? You can play them back directly from the camera (you already knew that) or you can play them back from a D-VHS (Digital VHS) deck (from JVC, of course). You can also playback HDV on a desktop or laptop computer and if you have a high quality projector, you can show your HDV on a wall or movie screen. One of the most popular solutions will be to create DVDs, but, as you now know from our discussion of resolution, DVD is not HD, so you will sacrifice some quality and image size.

HDV has proven that it is functional, that it looks great during production, editing and when played back. What it has yet to prove is longevity. In the race for standards, there are often competing formats and while there currently seems to be no viable competition for the market HDV is trying to reach, it's still early in the game.

Kyle Cassidy is a video artist and freelance writer who lives in Philadelphia with his cats Milla and Tatiana.