1. Light weight if you’re hanging it on a wall.
2. No dark pixels for way beyond the warranty period.
3. Lasts at least as long as tube-style TVs.
4. Viewing angle as wide as tube-style TVs.
5. Reasonable power consumption.
6. HDTV compatible.
7. DVD (old and new) and PC/Mac compatible too.

The name and details of the screen technology doesn’t matter as much to consumers as the above features.

During my research I think I found the same number you did. That is TV’s with the new HDTV tuner in them. They downsample the HDTV signal to 480p. They are not actually HDTV. Those started outselling the analog tuner TV’s this year. The TV’s that can actually display a 720p or 1080p signal are still outsold 20 to 1 by the SD televisions with the new HDTV tuner in them. Because of the byzantine HDTV trademark rules, those TV’s are allowed to cary the HDTV trademark on them, but they are not technically HDTV. Again, the confusion around HDTV just furthers my point about HDTV being DOA.

Tom

>>>>Wow, HDTV, talk about your DOA technologies. How many years has the industry been pimping it? And standard definition televisions still outsell HDTV’s 20 to 1? They can’t even claim lack of media anymore for the near total failure of this dog technology.

Having said that, I am not a Luddite. At work today I installed two 19″ LCD wide screen computer monitors. Drool. Two of those would work way better than this 3 x 17″ LCD panel set up I have now.

For the record, I have a home made 120″ lcd projector theater that is capable of 720p, but I rarely use it, because Comcast wants the extra bucks for the HD content. OMG I already give Comcast so much money. On the other hand DVD’s almost look like film on it. It is a lumen lab kit that I built about 2 years ago.

Unfortunately Joe Six Pack average American guy or gal, is not smart enough to handle every thing they need to know to do HDTV, or even know what the benefits would be. For that reason alone, HDTV is DOA. The only reason there will be HDTV signal only, in febuary of 2009, is the law. In the mean time, it looks like the HDTV only networks are in more trouble than Air America.

Editor’s Note: This perfectly relates to what you’re talking about:

No, the statistic that floored me was that almost a quarter of the HDTV owners knew they were getting HDTV (even though they weren’t) on account of the announcement at the beginning of the program. It goes, “The following program is being brought to you in high-definition television.” And there you have it.

You just proven GregA correct. The problem is the definition of “digital” TV. HD is 1080i, or 1080p, if you really want to get technical. Any resolution less than 1080i is not HD by any standard. Digital does not equal HD.

Now ask yourself this, exactly how many 1080i or 1080p TV sets are being sold compared to analog sets? Now you get the point. Analog wins by a long shot.

I’m on 2nd-gen HD w/mpg4, now. Yes, there isn’t enough bandwidth to carry enough product — via satellite, yet. 2007 sees the next 2 D* birds go up — to get them past the whining of “local” channels who have to be taken care of, first.

And you can get yourself an analog-to-digital adaptor in Feb 2009 with a federal subsidy for cheapskates — when they shut off analog.

Too many people trying to make money charging for HD channels for the cable company (a very large cable company) to carry for free. There should be a law that any over the air broadcast channel can be carried for free on cable. (I live too far out of town to get over the air signals)

As to the SED TV issue. If burn in is a problem, its DOA. My LCD TV’s look good in bright and dark rooms and seem to use less power already.