For some sports fans, it doesn't get any better than HDTV. Click photo for larger image.

Just like most Pittsburghers love Steelers season, I'm in my glory when the NCAA has its annual March slugfest and Major League Baseball chimes in with the first pitches of the season.

It's not unusual for me to be constantly checking my TV set during the marathon early rounds of the NCAA Tournament -- and you certainly would see me glued to the set for the Final Four. Being able to do it in front of a large-screen high-definition TV set makes it that much better.

This year, I was able to watch much of the action on a 43-inch Pioneer Plasma HDTV.

Watching a high-end model such as this one gives sports a new dimension. Instead of straining to read the names on the jerseys of players, you can see them clearly. Watching the beads of sweat on players' foreheads highlights how tiring it can be to run up and down the court for 40 minutes.

Even the commercials seem better. You can almost feel the cold rain that hatches the Gatorade basketball and an AT&T commercial sparkles with a city full of sky-blue connections. (Some of my friends from Chapel Hill, N.C., might suggest that AT&T uses "Carolina Blue" to make this commercial more engaging; but we won't go there.)

At first HDTV sets look complicated. There are plenty of jacks in the back of the receiver, so you can connect a ton of audio or video devices -- from a digital video recorder to old VHS videotape recorders to a Windows Media Center PC. This Pioneer set had two cable connectors -- so you can plug in a cable (or dish) and broadcast antenna. Since I don't have HD on my cable, I chose to watch much of the tournament from the broadcast signals of the local stations. And I learned something as I did it.

First, some stations already are broadcasting multiple signals using their HDTV capabilities. Most of them simply simulcast a single show using both high-definition and standard TV signals. Our local NBC affiliate, WPXI, is broadcasting a separate weather channel, so we're never more than a moment away from the local weather -- even if you don't have a PC to look up the weather on the Internet.

Second, it's important to have a good signal with HDTV. If you don't, you'll see a lot of fat pixels making your screen unviewable for a couple seconds at a time. Or you may miss the station completely. I was not able to get our local ABC affiliate, WTAE, at all. It broadcasts from the other side of town; and the Pioneer set couldn't add the signal to my available stations. The local CBS affiliate, KDKA, came in very well most of the time -- which was important since CBS carried the entire basketball tournament. But I missed a couple of key shots when the signal to the indoor TV antenna got weak. I was ready to climb up on the roof to put the antenna where it would pick up the signal better.

Third, having an advanced way to split the screen is too enticing to leave alone. I've had picture-in-picture for years -- and love it. This Pioneer set gave me the ability to place multiple pictures on my screen in a half-dozen new configurations. I used them all -- more than my wife would like me to do.

So I'll sigh as I go back to standard TV for baseball season -- wishing I could see the spin of the lace on the ball the way Ted Williams could.

But he didn't need HDTV to see it.