I'm trying to understand the deal on the HDTV thing. I just purchased a Sony Wega for about 2k and I was fortunate to get one without problems. However, I have seen posts here and there that mention analog TV's will be useless after 2006. I assume that someone will develop set top conversion boxes for those of us that are ok with analog. Anybody with accurate news on this? I can still return the Sony and get a HDTV ready monitor, but I would rather not at this time. Nor do I want to keep this 2K TV just to trash it in a few years.
Thanks,
Danny

True that by 2006 congress mandated that all broadcasts will be digital but you know how that goes. People wiil complain and congress will extend it for another ten years. there are already converter boxes that are under $500 without HD. Soon they will be under $100. So you will be technically ok, but why miss the boat for that kind of money? You are 2 years outdated already. HD is here to stay and by next fall look out.

Danny you TV is fine for now and will continue to work until it fails or you have the need to buy again.

While there's many stations broadcasting the digital format now there's not much real HDTV content being broadcast anyway, so you made a good purchase.

Sometime between now and 2006 get yourself a HDTV tuner that downconverts for your set. I already have one myself, it's the RCA DTC-100 and I get the terrestrial broadcasts in the 16:9 format in Dolby Digital as well as a couple HDTV broadcast from DirecTV via the satellite. Even on your Sony the picture will look better than any you have ever seen on an analog set. That should do you fine for quite awhile. Then you can decide when the content/price/performance is worth the upgrade to the real widescreen digital monitor.

jeff

The transition will take considerable time. The population does not instantly transition to new technologies, as seen with DVD. Despite its popularity, DVD has only achieved market penetration into 4%; the remaining <96% of U.S. homes retain the use of VCRs. Much like there are those that stick with VHS despite the availability of DVD, there will be those that stick with analog and SD-only material despite the availability of HDTV programming with Dolby Digital 5.1.

As Jeff notes, there are boxes (and there will be cheaper boxes) that downconvert HDTV to low resolution 480i for display on older sets, while still passing through the Dolby Digital sound.

Danny, after following your lengthy thread concerning cables, sales people, live sound stages, etc... I know you're serious about this stuff, and deserve a respnsible answer.

That answer: many broadcasters are sending out "digital" signals (DTV) already. And ALL TVs can receive and downsample ANYTHING that is out there, to regular NTSC. There's a big difference between the use of the terms "digital" and "high definition", as well as HDTV (High Definition TV), HDTV-ready, and so on. You've stumbled across the classic marketing game that you already know too well: obfuscate the issue, and the buyer will not beware.

I've even seen newspaper reports that say your TV will become obsolete. They're wrong: obsolescence will creep in through attrition, NOT through inability to receive signals.

I cannot find any good sites that describe the difference between DTV and HDTV. I'm sure you will spend some time now researching the issue, however.

Simple: [Link: pbs.org]