Now that you have a home movie recorded on an HD camcorder, the next step is to play it back on an HDTV and enjoy the fabulous quality. It may seem fairly simple to do, but there are a few issues that can make this a little complicated.  Read on to make sure that you are getting the best picture possible on your HDTV for your home videos.

Step 1: Make sure that you have an HDTV

Sure it sounds simple, but believe it or not many people don't even realize that they are not watching HDTV according to this recent survey. If you're not sure that you have an HDTV, you can read What do I need to watch HDTV?

Step 2: Connect your camcorder to the TV

Your HD Camcorder will have a cable that comes with it that will enable you to connect it to your TV. Ideally, the cable is and HDMI cable and your TV has an HDMI connection available to plug it in.

For my Canon HV-10 camcorder, I had to connect it to my TV with a component cable, because my camcorder only comes with a component connection (and my TV I connected it to only has a component connection anyway, not HDMI).

(If you would like more information on which cable to use, read Picking the Right Cables.)

Step 3: Set the right playback mode

Many camcorders can record and playback video in both standard resolution as well as HD mode. If you recorded your video in HD mode, you must make sure that you play it back in HD mode in order to get the best resolution.

On my Canon HV-10 camcorder, the modes are identified as "DV" mode (for standard) and "HDV" mode (for HD). When the camcorder is ready to play the video, enter the camcorder menu and find the selection to set the playback mode to "HDV" or the equivalent.

Step 4: Enjoy your HD video!

With everything set, you should be able to enjoy your home video on your HDTV. All you need to do is hit the play button on your camcorder and start watching. If your video doesn't show, make sure that the proper input on your TV is selected.

A couple of other tips:

1) Don't forget to grab the remote control to make controlling the playback a little easier.

2) Put the tape into "save" mode to prevent it being overwritten before you start to watch the video. On more than one occasion when I've watched a video, I stop in the middle before I've watched all of it. When I pick up the camcorder to start videotaping again, I've recorded over my footage and have lost it forever. If you lock the video tape, you can prevent this mistake from happening!

Read More In: Home Theater Accessories Camcorders