I have one concern with high definition, actually a few
1. Will one be able to still view older vhs and dvds?
2. Will it allow for close captioning and related technologies? Will it be integrated with the HI-FI or will one have to have a separate reader?
3. Will have ot have new peripherals to view anything with it?
4. Since analog broadcasts are going to the wayside... 2008 (praying my telly lasts that long before I have to breakdown and buy a new one) The cable companies will now hold us hostage... GRRR!! I refuse to pay 60 a month for basic, yes 60.... and that does nto include HBO or any premium channels....
To answer your questions:
1. No problem there, and DVD will look the best it can look on a digital television. VHS can naturally be watched on an HDTV, but it is the lowest resolution commercial media, so they're going to look rather bland on a digital set. You've got the potential for 1080 scan lines of information on an HDTV, and a VHS tape has about 230 lines of information, so you can see it's not going to look terrifically sharp or rich in color.
2. HDTVs have integrated speakers just as current sets have. They don't produce the richest sound experience imaginable, but closed captioning, second audio channels, etc. are just as possible with HDTVs as with standard TVs. You do not need an audio receiver to receive sound.
3. Depends on how you receive your TV signal. If you get TV now over the air with an antenna, an HDTV will either have a built in digital receiver or you will be able to buy a digital receiver to go with the TV so you can continue to pick up over the air broadcasts just as with analog TV. It's just that the analog signals will be gone with only digital signals remaining, and an ordinary TV can't receive those signals either without a digital box. Even those who don't buy a digital set will have to buy a digital receiver for their old TVs by 2009 if they want to get local broadcasting.
4. See response 3. There will still be free over the air digital broadcasts of high definition information. They're available now. You just need a digital receiver to receive the signals if your set doesn't have a built-in digital receiver. Most new sets being built now are having this feature built in. So, no, you won't have to automatically subscribe to cable just to have TV.
