HDTV learnings
Wikipedia has a good primer on HDTV.
There actually is a pretty big difference between standard definition television and high definition tv. You need a lot of stuff working together though to actually experience HDTV.
For televisions, 1080p tvs are the way to go, LCD or Plasma is a toss-up. Samsung (LCD), Sony Bravia (LCD), or Pioneer Kuro (Plasma) are what people seem to be liking. 52″ is the new brag size replacing 42″, but 40″ and 37″ are good enough and possibly preferable– all depends on how far away you sit from the tv anyway.
For inputs: DirecTV HD is really good (HD comes in at 1080i), lots of channels and comes with a HD DVR too and the box is a sleek black that matches well with Samsung TVs.
An Apple Macbook connected to the tv via HDMI works ok. iTunes stuff doesn’t come in HD and per Engadget, Apple TV isn’t great either for movies etc, all standard definition still. Wondering if it makes sense for laptops and computers to have Blu ray drives, Sony and others are already selling blu ray laptops. Guess so.
We have an Xbox 360 that seems to upconvert DVDs. Movies look clear enough. This means no need for an upcovert DVD player, which is still questionable. Blu ray players (HD comes in at 1080p) are still too expensive (needs to be $100 - $150) and haven’t really learned whether or not the PlayStation 3 blu ray player is any good, in other words, better than a stand alone Blu ray player.
The best picture quality is supposed to be an HDTV with 1080p support and a Blu ray player which is also 1080p. However, it would be great if there was no need for a blu ray player at all and everything came in over the Web. The ideal box would be the DirecTV HD tuner, w/ DVR, Blu ray player, connected to the Web to be able to rent movies on demand with an unlimited movie library.
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Summary of Recommendations
TV: 40″ or greater, Samsung LCD or Pioneer Kuro Plasma
Inputs: DirecTV HD w/ DVR service, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Cables: XtremeMac HDMI cables
Sound: Yamaha receiver, Boston Acoustic speakers
