A follow-up to my initial inquiry:
I talked to a technician at Hitachi today, and he claimed that there are two measurements for lines of resolution; 1 spec. for analog SDTV (480i) and another for digital TV. They claim that the 1000 lines they're now getting on the set is substantially better than the 800 or so lines they used to get on projection TVs from about 5 years ago. My gut tells me that this analog/digital difference is either over-simplified or completely false. Any comments anyone?
Also, as an add-on to the 4:3 vs. 16:9 decision:
if I can buy a 4:3 HD-ready TV today for $3500 and occasionally see some letterboxing on true HD broadcasts, what would I see if I bought a 16:9 true HD set, and paid around $8000, but happened to be viewing content broadcast in the 4:3 ratio? Would I have letterboxing on the sides instead of the top & bottom? Or would the 16:9 set convert all broadcasts to 16:9 viewable format?
Anyone w/hands on experience please advise. Thanx.