First, the pros. The 36-inch Sony WEGA 36XBR450 he bought is a beautiful television set, HD or no HD. It has a crisp picture, and enough inputs to satisfy even the hard-core videophile, which it should when you consider the $2,499 list price (though you can find if for right around $2,000). True HD aficionados will probably want to look elsewhere, since the 36BXR450 isn't a wide-screen format model (it's the standard 4:3 aspect ratio). Without the 16:9 ratio, you're still stuck watching movies in letterbox mode--which puts those horizontal black stripes on the top and bottom of the screen.
FOR JOSH, not going with a wide-screen format was actually a pretty easy decision. While he does rent some DVDs, he uses his set primarily for watching television, not movies. The vast majority of TV programming is still shown in 4:3, so it would've had vertical stripes on the left and right sides of a wide-screen TV. Even in letterbox mode with a 36-inch set, you'll still get nearly the same size image as on a 34-inch wide-screen set.
Like most current models, this set is HD-ready, which means in order to process HD signals, you'll need an HD converter. The benefit to this is if you don't want HD right away, you'll save between $400 and $1,000 on the set; you'll just need to lay out that money for the HD converter set-top box (STB) later on. (In certain markets such as Houston, Time Warner Cable has started trials of combo set-top boxes with integrated HD that rent for about $5 a month.)
For now, Josh has been playing around with an STB on loan from Zenith. The company, which seemed like it was teetering on extinction five years ago, seems to have reinvented itself by embracing HD. In addition to producing some innovative products, Zenith is also sponsoring loads of HD programming, including a pretty extensive partnership with CBS.
However, no matter how many improvements Zenith's new DTV1080 features, it's still a prime example of why standalone STBs are a tad too complicated for the mainstream consumer market. It's nice that the DTV1080 incorporates both a DirectTV receiver and inputs for a UHF antenna, and incorporates programming from both into a single program guide. But, like other STBs, you'll still need to manually switch the box between four different standards, depending on the show you're watching.
And for reasons that escape us, not only do you have to actually move a switch on the box (you can't do it from the otherwise-impressive remote control), the switch is on the back of the box. We've heard from several folks at Zenith that they've received a lot of negative feedback on this, and are hoping to address it in future models. It remains to be seen if they'll offer firmware upgrades to the existing model.
THE GOOD NEWS about HD-ready sets is that even if you don't have an STB, you can still take advantage of the superb picture quality offered by progressive scan DVD players (and if you don't have an HD-ready set, don't bother with a progressive scan--you won't see any benefits at all). Josh's choice was Panasonic's DVD-RP56, which offers excellent progressive scan quality for under $220. In fact, after scouring plenty of sites (including CNET Electronics, and the excellent AVS Forum, it became clear that the DVD-RP56 serves up images that are at least as good as--if not better--than players costing twice as much.
Rounding out Josh's new home theater are a Marantz A/V receiver, the mid-range SR7200, which you can get for around $650, and Energy speakers (Take 5.2 surround-sound system and S8.2 subwoofer), which you should be able to find for between $650 and $700. For those of you who haven't bought much home theater equipment recently, keep in mind that while you can save lots of money purchasing your components from resellers that aren't manufacturer certified, you may run into problems should you ever need to use your warranty. Josh opted to buy his Sony TV from an authorized dealer (which cost only a drop more), but saved several hundred dollars on his receiver and speakers by buying "unauthorized."
SO IN THE END, would he do it again? And should you? With the exception of the STB, Josh wholeheartedly recommends each of the components he purchased, and all should provide ample room for future expandability. He's also been very happy with DirectTV's picture quality, which is a huge step up from the digital cable he had back in New York.
But despite signs that satellite and cable providers are beginning to embrace HDTV, there's simply not enough widespread availability to justify a blanket endorsement of the technology just yet. Unless you're really dying to be on the cutting edge, for now you should just say no. But ask us again in 12 months.
