I currently have this 32" sharp television, not the greatest compared to what I have read. I am thinking about upgrading however I would like to know which way to upgrade is better. Should I go for a 27" HDTV or upgrade to a regular 36" tv as money is tight. My room is around 20' x 20' with fifteen foot ceiling.

15 foot ceiling?! Wow.

That's a good question. And a tough one. The answer, if I asked myself that same question, would be to ask another: "How long do you think it might be before you want to buy your next one, after this one?"

You could probably wait five years before getting an HDTV, because it is going to take that long for all the broadcasters to deliver enough programming in HiDef, and for your cable or satellite company to deliver it. So it's a two-pronged fork, so to speak. Yes, there is some stuff on now, and some of it is remarkable, but even in my area where I have digital cable and a HiDef set-top box, I can't get any of the network shows in HDTV... even though they originate that way from the network. Because my cable company isn't throughputting any of those channels in HDTV. And it will be awhile.... they are in the process of replacing all the standard cable with optical, but even in the neighbourhoods with optical, the rollout for HD all through the bands is a long way away.

Right now, standard cable feeds on HDTVs can look pretty crappy, or pretty good, depending on the set and brand, and it's all subjective. So, try to at least preview the sets you're thinking of by checking out them out on a regular feed, not by looking at DVDs.

If you can afford an HD-ready TV (still pretty expensive) your DVDs will be fabulous.

If you can simply afford a 36" set without HD circuitry, as long as it has an S-video input, your DVDs will still look pretty darn good, especially compared to standard TV.

Look for triple 3D comb filters, or triple comb-filters without the 3D moniker..... but try not to go any lower than 2D. There is a big difference in picture quality, for every kind of input signal, between the levels of comb-filter. In fact, that's an easy way to check: the better the com filter, the higher the price of the set, guaranteed.

Let us know what you think... . ... Mike

What kind of quaility does Direct TV broadcast as that is what I will be using.

Direct TV has only 2 regular stations in HD 199HDNet (sports) and 509 HBO plus some pay per view and while they look great many of the movies on 509 are upconverted so they are not true HD. I would save your money and get a non HD set now especially because of the recent DVI connector controversy (To be short the MPAA wants all HD content encrypted so you don't copy it and this requires hardware not on the current sets on the market) I have a Mits 55" HD and love it but the programming isn't much. Also the direct view HD sets are really overpriced compared to their rear projection sibblings. And before I get hit by a bunch of people about the quality of the picture being so much better, go and sample the latest rear projection sets, the brightness is amazing, as is off angle viewing its nothing like the sets from 5 or 10 years ago. For the same price as a 27" HD you could probably get a 47" rp HD

Matt