“Until I can be assured that there is a DVD player/recorder on the market that will play the over 1000 DVD’s (non-HD) I have in my movie library, I’m not ready to jump into HD. My biggest fear is my library will be obsolete.”
Check out the newer dvd players that “upsample” the signal - older DVD players only send out a “normal” resolution, and the newer players upsample to provide a higher resolution for HDTVs. It’s not real HD, like you’ll get with BlueRay, but it’s better than what you would get without upsampling. The good news is you can get them fairly affordably now, under $100.
I have DirectTV HD (no Tivo) on a 42” plasma, and it’s wonderful. The lineup is lacking, but I got the reciever as a gift, and it’s a nominal charge, so I went for it. Newer movies in HD are great, older material is so-so, sports is amazing, Planet Earth in HD is worth the price of admission.
When I get Mythbusters in HD, I will be happy.
Be warned, to get HD you need the *3* LBN dish from Directv, minimum, right now, and when the new sats go online. I had a dual, for the non HD tivo unit, and it would not pick up the HD sat. I went for the 5 lbn dish, for HD and to support tivo in teh future, and it’s a BIG dish. Installer said my current receiver would get the MPEG4 signal, but the tivos out there would need to be replaced, but he’d heard rumors of a free or $99 trade-in program for the new dvr that will use the MPEG4, and was’nt sure if the new dvr would be Tivo or the horrible proprietary system the current HD dvr uses.
The one thing HD has done for me is it’s made watching Comcast cable impossible - even the non-HD signal on Directv is mush better than what’s pumped through the line on Comcast - watching a freind’s tv the other day, I was shocked at the compression on the premium channels, and horrified as some of the others - and she pays a LOT more than I do, and gets less.