By now, everyone should know that early in 2009 you'll have to have an HDTV or a converter in order to view anything. While many cable companies will compensate for this by converting the HD signals that are sent to users of analog televisions, not everyone will be so fortunate. However, the good news is that many HDTVs are now a lower price than ever before and are even comparably priced to analog televisions, which are rapidly going the way of the dinosaur.
A few months ago, Son and I bought an HDTV that was brand new and remarkably low-priced. Probably because the refresh rate on it is less than some of the current models, but it plays great and the picture is wonderful on it. My DVD player works on it, whereas it didn't work at all on my old analog TV. The only thing I didn't do was shop for HDMI cables when I bought the TV. Son did, though, just a couple of weeks ago.
See, he wanted one to hook his game machine, which will play BluRay disks, to his television. A few days ago he brought the whole setup downstairs to hook to my TV, and I was amazed at the difference in picture clarity.
Are these things something we "need" to have a full life? Probably not. However, because I don't watch commercial television at home, they really do help when it's time to sit and relax after work! And, since HD and BluRay are here to stay, we might as well step into our own future and have them in our home.
