Don, I'm trying to figure out the same things myself. I currently have Dish Network and I get my locals from them as well. I figure they'll go with an HD reciever when it comes the time. In order to get off-air HDTV, you will have to have a TV with an integrated HDTV receiver - not one that's "HDTV ready". If you plan on still using satellite, you can use the HDTV ready models.

HDTV is currently encoded into the cable system with something called QAM if I remember it correctly. If you have a decoder, you can get it for free - at least for now...

I plan on keeping all my old TV's until they die. I figure any satellite dish or converter box will have SD outputs.

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250