Hi, I have not gone HD yet, let alone purchase an HDTV for myself (still stuck with a 19-inch RCA tube TV), but I'm steadily saving my money for the setup. I've noticed many have gone HD, and I had a few questions about what I should do when I hope to upgrade later this year.

The viewing distance from the TV would be about 7-8 feet FYI.

There are two options I'm considering:

Plan A is to get a 1080p monitor, HD-A20, a Blu-ray player (not sure which yet), and an HDMI receiver, preferably 7.1 with TrueHD encoding (which I know isn't fully integrated yet).

Plan B is to get a 720p/1080i monitor, HD-A2, maybe a Blu-ray player, and a 7.1 HDMI receiver.

Thoughts?

remember how you went from 12 inch black and white to color? going from a 19-inch RCA tube TV to Plan a or Plan b will be even more amazing. either way you win.

Once you get an HDTV you may want to get one for every room where you watch TV, so be careful.

I wouldn't be too worried about getting a 7.1 HDMI receiver, especially the 7.1. Probably 95% (or more) of what you will watch will be in 5.1 and I would rather spend the extra money on a nicer TV or speakers, etc.

I would take all this in steps. Step 1 is to get yourself the monitor and go as expensive as you can within the sweet spot. For example, for whatever model you want, a 26" might be $700, a 32" $850, a 42" $1000, a 46" $1150 and a 52" $2400. Obviously, the 46" is the "most expensive" within that value range.

Step 2 would be to get an HD DVD player or a Blu-Ray player. Honestly, it depends on what you want to watch and your budget, as the HD DVD players are probably less expensive.

Step 3 would be to get a receiver. If you don't have any speakers, a "home theater in a box" can usually be a decent deal for the money. (Many of these are $299 or so). No, it won't sound as good as your buddy's $2500 setup, but it will sound MUCH better than your TV alone.

Step 4 would be to get whatever format (HD DVD or BD) that you didn't get at first.

Steps 6 through 92 are: upgrade, upgrade, upgrade.

My only input is this:

I wouldn't bother with 720p/1080i at this point. Save the extra cash for 1080p now, because you will probably want to upgrade (I did...) only a couple years later.

If you plan to eventually buy both HD DVD and Blu Ray, buy HD DVD first if you're on a tight budget. The selection is practically equal (in terms of number of titles), movie prices are practically equal (combos being the exception), and the hardware is much cheaper right now. Blu Ray WILL come down in price, just be patient.

Wow, thanks a lot.

I think I'm going to do Plan B from what I'm hearing, but get a 5.1 receiver instead of a 7.1. Do they have any with lossless codecs?

By the way Bus, my parents downstairs have a 42-inch Panasonic plasma, so I definitely want my own...only better resolution (they don't know what an HDMI cable is either I think). I considered getting an A2 for my stepdad with the price drop and his birthday right near Father's Day, but when I proposed the idea she told me that he wouldn't care because he won't tell the difference between HD component (for cable and DVD's) and HD-DVD. I'm assuming this assumption is not true...

I know I already said HD DVD hardware is generally cheaper (which it is), but if you can afford the XA2 (I think it's under $600 USD on amazon, free shipping), go for that. That way, as long as your receiver has 5.1 analog inputs, you can get your lossless audio (and if your receiver will accept 5.1 uncompressed via HDMI, even better).

wow, all this talk about recievers and what not.

Is it just me or did I take the wrong path.

I got a 30 inch 1080i crt hd tv at christmas.

recently just made a purchase on a toshiba a-2 which is 1080i as well i believe. And the quality of the movies are unreal on this crt tv. like seriously better than some tv's i watched at friends houses.

I don't have a surround sound system yet, but I will probably eventually get a 5.1 system with optical cable hookup since that's what the a-2 uses.

does anyone see anything wrong with my set up? what's all this extra talk about recievers and stuff?

Be sure to get HD programming as well

The only thing I need in my house right now is an HD TV for the bedroom, and a reciever... O plan on getting an Onkyo model for 500 and their 7.1 speaker package

This is what keeps killing me... Its such a vicious cycle.

Plan A sounds better. You won't need to upgrade in the near future.

The A2 uses optical cable, but the optical cable will only transmit "DTS" quality sound. Here's an idea of sound quality:

Dolby Digital < DTS < Dolby Digital Plus < Uncompressed / Dolby TrueHD / DTS-MA

Keep in mind a couple of things about CRT TVs: They're huge and bulky but they have the best picture quality. So it's going to look better than a thinner, non-backbreaking LCD set.

I'm not anti-CRT. I've still got a CRT projection set.

If I had to do it again, I would've either saved more and gone with a 1080p or gone a little smaller and chosen a plasma (I went with a 46" DLP, 720p). So step one (for me, at least) would be to choose what size TV you want, and then consider whether or not the step up from 720p to 1080p is worth it. Similarly, if you go with the 720p tv, you can go with the HD A2 rather than the higher-end models.