It offers you a picture resolution comparable to a 35mm movie screen. Along with CD-quality sound in a widescreen format, high-definition television, or HD TV, ensures movies on channels don't have the jarring black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.

With all these advantages packed into one, HD TV is all set to make a grand entry in India by the year-end. Direct-To-Home operators -- Dish TV and Reliance Communications -- are planning to offer HD TV set top boxes, though at a premium.

Broadcasters, such as INX Media and STAR TV, are already producing content for HD TV. Consumer electronics companies, such as Samsung, are already selling over 2.5 million HD TV sets, which make up 16 per cent of their total TV set sales.

Dish TV Director Jawahar Goel said: "All our DTH equipment is HD-TV ready. We hope to sell HD TV set-top boxes by the third quarter of the year."

Goel said the boxes were available at prices ranging from $85 (Rs 3,300) to $100 (Rs 4,000), double the price of the ordinary set-top box. A Reliance Communications executive also confirmed they would be offering HD TV set top boxes soon. 

Content producers and broadcasters have already jumped on the bandwagon. Peter Mukherjea, chief strategy officer, INX media, said, "It might be 30 per cent to 50 per cent more expensive to produce HD TV content but we have decided to make the switch with our news channel. For a news-based channel, it does not make sense to buy equipment that is not HD TV-ready."     

STAR TV is also taking steps in this direction. Kirten Adyanthaya, general manager, STAR Plus, said: "Mahabharata, an upcoming show on our channel, will be made in high-definition. We are experimenting at the moment and, based on the response, we will consider the move for other shows, too."  

Regional broadcasters are also cashing in on the technology.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's son, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, is launching an HD TV news and current affairs channel by October.

Experts say the push to HD TV has been prompted by the government's decision that the 2010 Commonwealth Games will be broadcast only in high-definition. As a result, Doordarshan, which is also expected to launch HD-TV on an experimental basis, has stated it will produce content for the Commonwealth in this format.

HD TV technology, which was made commercially available in 1998, has spread across the globe so much so that the US government has set February 17, 2009 as the deadline to shut off the usual over-the-air analog broadcasts.