HDTV, DVDs, Web browsers, flat screens, 100-inch screens. Whatever happened to plain old TV-watching?

The technological changes occurring in television are being driven by the desire to have the same experience at home you have at the movie theater, says Scott Siebert, project manager for the custom home division at Stereo One in Cape Girardeau. People want bigger TVs, which requires new technology to upgrade picture quality. That technology is here and still improving.

"In a few years you'll see pictures you'll think are real and they're not," Siebert says.

Broadcasters began talking about High Definition TV five years ago, before anybody was sending a such a signal or had the capability to receive one. Now there are a few HDTV satellites, and HDTV programming slowly is beginning to be simulcast.

HDTV uses a technology called "line doubling," in which an incoming signal with, for example, 240 lines of resolution is doubled to 480 lines when you see it. The result is a much clearer picture.

Stereo One can have a screen custom made to any size, although Siebert says the screen should be fit to the room. One of the company's display rooms contains a 100-inch screen.

Some people who are buying new TVs are getting those that will be capable of receiving the HD signal once a tuner is added. Broadcasters have not quite yet set the standards that would enable HDTV to be turned loose on the world. And nobody's predicting when that will happen.

With a conversion kit, those who choose not to buy HD-ready TVs still will be able to receive the signal once HD broadcasting becomes the standard.

"Your current TV is not a dinosaur. It will still work," says John Payne, who runs Stereo One's mobile division and also sells TVs.

And the picture quality even on standard sets will improve due to HD broadcasting.

HDTV makes regular TV signals look better, makes DVDs look better and makes letter-box movies fit the screen better, Siebert says.

All this new technology can be expensive. Stereo One just bid to install a home entertainment center for $200,000. Some big-screen TVs alone sell for $20,000, though a popular 50-inch Mitsubishi model is a more affordable $2,299.

HDTV-ready sets at Stereo One start at $3,299 for a 50-inch model. Payne says about 40 percent of the store's TV sales in the last 30 days have been HDTV-ready models.

Scott Shivelbine, one of the partners in Shivelbine's Music Store, said the high price of HDTV-ready TVs has prevented the store from stocking them but he expects the newest models to be brought in this summer. He compared HDTV sets to the color sets that were available back in the late 1950s before networks began broadcasting in color.

He expects sales in Southeast Missouri to be slow until networks and TV stations begin broadcasting the signals. "You've got to have a source," he said.

People are still buying standard TVs, Shivelbine says, especially big ones.

"People aren't holding back from buying TVs because of HDTV. People are confused about it."

The dramatic difference in picture quality already has made DVDs, which employ digital technology, a popular alternative to video tapes. Now even higher resolution DVDs are coming out. But DVD players are selling primarily because the rental stores are stocking DVDs, Shivelbine said.

"The DVD is going like VCRs did. It's going to go big like microwave ovens."

Another innovation, flat screen TVs, form a picture through the use of a gas called plasma instead pixels. That's what enables the TV to be only 4 inches deep. But flat screen TVs do not have a picture quality advantage and the cost is high. A 51-inch flat-screen TV still costs $19,000, though the price is starting to come down on some smaller models.

Some people also are using their TV to surf the Internet with a web browser. Siebert says the device is useful for people who don't have computers or for children. The same remote control that changes channels on the TV can navigate the Internet. But the browser does not have the same downloading or printing capability a computer has.