If you have not yet watched TV on an HDTV you do not know what you are missing. When they promote high definition they aren't kidding. When my daughter was born I knew I'd be spending a lot of time at home so I invested in an HDTV and two years later I still think it was an excellent purchase. Not only is the picture unbelievable but the sound is much improved as well.

More and more channels are starting to come out in HDVT format so buying an HDTV makes much more sense now as compared to two years ago when I bought mine. When I first got it I think there were only four channels I could watch in HD. They happened to be four channels I watched a lot so it worked out well for me. As time has passed the TV's themselves become even cheaper and more channels are available so they are a much better purchase.

Many people are not aware that by the end of this year, from what I have read, all TV signals will be sent via HDTV format. In order to watch TV you will either need a HDTV or you will have to have a converter to attach to your existing TV. The converter will not make your current TV an HDTV all of a sudden, it will just allow you to continue to get the same picture you have always gotten. Those converters are going to go for roughly $250 or so, based on my past research.

Now you are considering buying a HDTV, I have convinced you, right? How do you decide which kind to buy? There are regular tube TV's that are HDTV ready. There are LCD and plasma TV's. Budget will be a major factor in determining which one to buy. The tradition tube style TV's are cheaper and they will also fit some existing entertainment centers. The flat screen TV's will need to be mounted on the wall or most likely require a different kind of base than the entertainment center you currently have.

I did a lot of research before buying my TV. I ended up buying a 42" Sony LCD projection TV. It is a beautiful picture. I am very pleased with the purchase. But, none of these TV's is without flaws. This particular model has a bulb that helps to project the image to the screen. It has a shelf life of about 18 months. I have had it replaced recently. The bulbs are a couple hundred dollars. Thankfully I purchased the maintenance plan when I bought the unit. Other than that I couldn't be more satisfied. I can turn out all the lights in the room and throw in a DVD and it is better than going to the movies. I do have mine hooked up to a home theater system. Without that the sound would not be good enough to compare to a movie theater.

Some of the issues with the other kinds of TV's are: the tube style TV's are not as compact as the flat screens obviously. They do not get as big as the flat screens. I think the biggest I have seen is 36 inches. Because they are so much cheaper than the other two styles that is all I could think of as problems for the tube style TV. Plasma TV's on the other hand are the worst buy of them all, in my opinion. My research discovered that plasma TV's eventually burn out. Whatever is used inside the screen to project the image burns out and cannot be repaired. So, your picture will progressively get worse and you can't do anything about it except wait for it to get so bad you need to buy another TV. This is a major problem given the price of these types of TV's. They are the most expensive of the three types. There is no doubt they look nice when you first buy them. They look great in the room you put them in. They are very appealing to most people.

No matter what kind of TV you end up buying the bottom line is that you are going to be amazed the first time you watch your favorite show or sporting event in HD. It is actually funny to me when I look back and think of what TV's I used to watch when I was little. We had those knobs that you could hear being turned down the street. No remotes, no cable or satellite, and we had to constantly fiddle with the rabbit ears to get a decent picture. I watch a program in HD and I sometimes wonder to myself how they are going to make watching TV in the future even better. It doesn't seem possible but you know it is. History has shown things only continue to get better.