Might as well put my 2 cents in! I have sold stereo/televison equipment on and off for 20 years. I recently purchased the 4x3 format instead of the 16x9 for these reasons: Price: I bought the new Panasonic CT-36HX41 HDTV even though I feel the Sony 36XBR450 is a slightly better unit, but I got a deal (1600.00) that I could not even come close to with the Sony. Technological advance: Technology advances or moving faster than ever in history. By the time the majority of programs are in 16x9 format (3 to 5 years)the price of 16x9 or plasma televisions will have dropped dramatically. So I reasoned, buy the 4x3 now for less than $2,000.00, get 4 or 5 years out of it, sell it, and then buy the format (direct,rear projection, plasma or something even better) for way less than the price people are paying for units now that can only receive 10 to 20% of the broadcasting in 16 x 9. If you look at the past 5 years, its easy to reason, that televisions manufactured 5 years from now will have technological advantages over the systems today, at a much lower cost. So why spend $4000.00 or more for something that is only 20% usuable today and by the time it is of a majority rule, the price of new and improved televisions will be way cheaper than what you paid. Remember that the picture quality of a television starts to fall off when it is around 5 years old. So when you finally get to watch your 16 x 9 on a regular basis for what it was intended for, the unit will already be loosing its picture quality. Hey look at the price of vcr's and dvd's compared to 5 years ago.