Primarily by way of Dish Network and their fine line of HDTV receivers. It's truly an amazing bit of technology and it has scared the pants off Hollywood knowing that Joe and Jane Doakes can have real Movie quality pictures and sound in their living room.
Well, I just purchased my latest and most expensive HD receiver from Dish on 12/5/2005. And guess what? It's now obsolete. Dish announced at the CES mentioned above that it was changing the standard which they use to compress the HD signal from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4. And guess what? My one-month old $xxx.xx Dish 942 HD receiver can't receive MPEG-4. Even though I was told it could be "upgraded" by a software download. It can't. So, no new HD for me.
But, nil desperandum, Dish will sell me a new one that will receive MPEG-4!
For $xxx.xx, more.
But, I won't be buying, I'm resigning my HDTV license until they work this stuff out.
Thank you for the information.
I have been watching and waiting for the dust to settle.
Looks like I need to wait some more.
I too have been in the HDTV game for some 3+ years.
First with DirecTV...then VOOM...now Comcast Cable.
My advice for newbies looking to jump in is to go with your local cable offering. With cable there is no threat of buying a box that will be obsolete in 6 months. Just pay the $10 monthly rental fee and swap out boxes whenever there is a glitch or a new and better box becomes available.
Plus you can cancel at any time.
Try that with DirecTV or Dish.
As for TV's...I think the best picture for the buck right now (considering size)is LCD rear projection.
Picture Quality approaches that of a top notch CRT and is available up to 50" +.
I am currently looking at the Sony 50" LCD RPT.
Great picture for under $2k
Just my 2 cents...
;-)
IMHO, the Westinghouse 37" LCD is the best set for cable or sat use. At under $1800, it is true 1080P and looks great!
See
http://soundandvisionmag.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=9154017/fd=1/zip_code=27517/sort_type=bottomline