I never intended to become an HDTV expert. That's a good thing, too, because it hasn't happened.

But the column about my recent purchase of an HDTV set has stirred reader interest and questions. From those e-mails, I've discovered that a lot of what you think about HDTV is wrong. That's OK. Much of what I thought was wrong, too.

Today I'll update you with some things I've learned. If you're an HDTV novice, this should help. If you're an old hand, stay with me and help. One of the best things about this column is that I truly learn more from my readers than they do from me. Feel free to e-mail me with your thoughts or disagreements.

First, let's tackle the misconceptions:

Many of you feel you have to rush out and buy an HDTV because all stations will move to digital transmissions late next year. If you've been using this as an argument for a new HDTV set, stop right now and destroy this newspaper. It's a good argument, even if it is wrong. Good luck, and keep me out of things.

No matter when television stations stop broadcasting analog signals --- we'll talk more about that later --- your old 26-inch RCA console won't really need to be junked. If you get your TV signal through a cable box or a satellite receiver, that device will receive the digital signal and translate it into an analog signal your old TV can understand.

Even if you get your reception from over-the-air broadcasts using an antenna, you'll be able to buy a digital receiver that will do the same sort of translation from digital to analog. You won't end up watching a digital picture, but the picture quality won't be worse than what you have now.

Besides, it's unclear when TV stations will stop sending out analog signals. Congress has told broadcasters to ditch the analog signal by Dec. 31, 2006, or when 85 percent of households have the capability to receive a digital signal. Many experts think that could be 2008 or so.

By now you may be wondering why I keep using the word digital when you expect to see HDTV.

All HDTV signals are digital, but not all digital signals offer high definition. Some broadcasts arrive in SDTV. That's standard digital television. The picture is a better than analog but not as good as HDTV. HDTV takes the most bandwidth --- that's the space available for transmission --- in cable systems, over the air and satellite.

In many cases, providers feel it makes more business sense to divide the bandwidth they own into several SDTV channels rather than a single HDTV channel.

Now let's talk about some things that have surprised me in the first few weeks of my move to HDTV at home.

Remote controls: A friend in the business tells me there are eight remote controls in the average household. I'm way below average with six. But it's still a major hassle.

While most modern remote controls can be programmed so that one remote works with all devices, it's an awkward process. For some specialized settings, I need a remote for the television, a remote for the cable box, another for the DVD player, still another for the sound system that the TV feeds.

The cable remote works fine for everything if all you need to do is turn on the cable box and the TV, change channels and adjust the sound. But to access some controls, I still need all the remotes. I've even tried a fancy remote that can be programmed from my PC. Believe me, it would be easier to program the computers for the space shuttle.

The sound system: There's something about HDTV, especially when you're watching a movie, that demands movie- theater-quality sound. Luckily, most HDTV sets and receivers deliver six-channel surround sound. You'll see it called Dolby Digital 5.1 in the ads. It really is sensational.

But unless you're creating a special home theater room, installing the speakers without turning your den into something that looks like the control room for a nuclear submarine isn't easy. You'll need a center speaker, right and left speakers in front of the set, and right and left speakers behind where you sit. That's a lot of speakers. In fact, that's six more speakers than suit my wife.

Hiding the wires to them without doing harm to my marriage and the hardwood floors has been a challenge. I tried using wireless speakers as my rear speakers. Maybe if I had a bigger budget, that would have worked out. But the cheap speakers I tried sounded cheap, and they also had trouble holding a connection.

Finally, I ran the wires under the quarter-round molding along the floor, but if you look closely --- and, believe me, my wife does --- it isn't a perfect installation.

HDTV can turn ordinary people into perfectionists when it comes to the picture. There are special DVD discs that provide reference signals to help you adjust the picture. That will probably be my next step at home.

But with all this tweaking and tuning, it gets more and more difficult to answer my wife's question: Can't we just watch TV?

tecbud@ajc.com