We heard about them at January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but we had to wait until now to purchase those drop-dead gorgeous 1080p televisions. Imagining 1,080 lines of horizontal resolution all displayed at the same time has me drooling all over my remote!

Mitsubishi looks to be first to market on the 1080p HDTV's as they just began shipping them today to retailers in Southern California. Look for shipments nationwide to follow in the next few weeks. The first model to ship is a 52-inch unit powered by the latest Digital Light Processing (DLP) chip from Texas Instruments. The WD-52627 model has an MSRP of $3,699 or about a 35% premium over current 52-inch DLP models. Keep in mind that most DLP sets on the market are only capable of natively displaying 720p. All models in the 1080p family can also upconvert,so that regardless of the video source resolution, all programming can display in 1080p.

We can expect an additional nine sets capable of 1080p from Mitsubishi this year, ranging in size from 52- to 73-inches of vivid picture perfection.

Effective on Friday, July, all newly produced televisions 36-inches or larger for the U.S. market are required to contain an integrated ATSC digital tuner, per the FCC.

TCL and Thomson, the joint venture companies behind the TTE Corp., manufacture televisions under the RCA brand. TTE indicates that they are ready for the regulatory mandate and have 20 digital televisions on the market that have an ATSC digital tuner. These tuners provide tuning and decoding functionality for OTA, or Over the Air digital reception. Digital cable subscribers are supported by the inclusion of a CableCard port.

On a related note, TTE is also looking to introduce various standard definition digital sets in the 27- to 32-inch size range. These SDTVs are expected to start at or under $300 when they arrive later this year and will also include an integrated ATSC digital tuner.

If you've got around $7,000 to burn and you just have to take your HDTV with you wherever you go, maybe you should do what ExtremeTech did. Combine a Falcon Fragbox case, the Windows Media Center Edition (WMCE) operating system, a higher end ATI graphics card, an HD tuner card, portable 5.1 speakers, and a sweet 720p DLP projector from Sharp and what do you have? You're the happy owner of a complete HD setup on the go. The claim is that the entire setup can fit into a 36-inch duffel bag.

Each step is documented for you "do it yourselfers," and ExtremeTech also provides detailed specs and ratings on each individual component. In addition, there is some great commentary on why some high-end mainstream components didn't make the cut. Now, if I can just find my old duffel bag, I can get started on this project....

 
I know, I know. "Who wants to watch commercials?" you're asking. We're with you on that, but they're a fact of TV life. However, if you paid big bucks for that glorious looking HDTV and you're watching HD content, why do the commercials have to be in standard definition? If we have to watch the commercials, at least let us see them in HD. The Wall Street Journal looked into this question and the answer is simple: cost. HD video and Dolby Digital audio can add tens of thousands of dollars to production costs.

During one hour of the weekly NASCAR race in HD, there were 21 commercials. Out of that total, none of them were shown in HD. I'm more apt to be a couch potato during the commercials if they were in high definition. How about you? Do you think HD commercials equate to more sales value?

Read (Note: WSJ subscription required)

So you have an HDTV. That's half of the equation; without high quality content, all you have is a big expensive box, right? Let's see if we can do something about that here at HD Beat with a weekly feature. We'll scan the week ahead and make some recommendations for HDTV viewing. Perhaps we can even take some of your recommendations, so don't be shy on the feedback and comments.

If this works well based on your feedback, we'll continue to guide you. We'll also do our best to mix it up as we can't possibly account for every provider and channel. You know us though; we'll certainly try! Full recommendations for the week are available after the jump. Listing information gathered via TitanTV.

With so much of the Xbox360 and PlayStation 3 hype around HDTV support, it's easy to overlook today's video games that display in luscious high-definition resolutions. Lucky for us, HDTV Pub has created a searchable database complete with reviews. The database is maintained strictly with user-added entries, so when you find your favorite game in 480p, 720p or 1080i, you can click a few buttons and share the information. Of course, this assumes you can pull yourself away from your HDTV and the great looking game to do so. By the way: this information is so cool, we'll even forgive HDTV Pub for calling 480p an HD resolution. (C'mon guys, that's EDTV!)

While navigating through a local warehouse retail center this weekend, I couldn't help but sneak away from the shopping cart and scurry down the electronics aisle. It was an HDTV mecca with no less than 20 different television models, all at rock-bottom warehouse pricing.

Savvy shopper and HD addict that I am, not a single model escaped my roving eye. After all, even though the prices were extremely competitive, you still have to ask yourself, "What am I getting for all that dough?"  Like all of you other techno-shoppers, I already had a good idea what screen size and native resolution I should get for my hard earned money. (You all scour the web every day for the best HD deals like I do, don't you???).

I bypassed some of the smaller models simply because our household already has a 27-inch full-screen HD and a 34-inch widescreen HD, both of which are CRT- (cathode ray tube) based units that support full 1080i outputs. This brought me to the larger projection units. You know, the 50- to 65-inch monsters that are much thinner than my CRT behemoths. Read on after the jump for my observations on the sneaky specs.

What we're watching: I just can't help but watch recent animated films in high-def, probably because these are created via digital technologies these days. Of course, the numerous wise-cracks that go over the kid's heads just split my sides too.

Is anybody up for a little Fresh Prince at 8 p.m.? Oh, I did it again; I just can't get Will Smith's character out of my head. It must be a Philly thing. Swim on over to HBO-HD tonight at 8 for a 1080i presentation of "Shark Tale" with Smith, Jack Black and Robert De Niro. Crank up the Surround Sound too; this way I won't be the only one singing "Car Wash" tomorrow.

After the jump is our traditional listing of HD programs throughout the night.
  

What we're watching: We'll be checking in on Ben Affleck tonight at 7 p.m., but his character in "Paycheck" wouldn't remember that if we told him. In this 2003 action thriller directed by John Woo, Affleck's character tries to reconstruct his memory after it was apparently erased. We don't remember this as a box-office smash, but the 1080i feed from Showtime-HD is worth a view.

Our traditional high-def listings continue below.