Hi Trep!
Here's the deal. The HD tvs, no matter when they were purchased, will be ready for 2009. Basically, your buying a 2009 tv years before it is mandatory. You are correct about your 32 inch tv needing the digital to analog converter when the switchover happens. All analog tvs will need the D/A converter. Understand that means that your picture quality will still be the same. The D/A converter is doing what it names implies. It is taking a digital signal and down converting it to an analog signal that your tv understands and can only produce. Also, your 32" tv won't be 32" anymore because the picture won't be modified anymore to "fit" standard tvs. If you watch dvds or watch anything shown in orginal 16:9 broadcast, you will see black bars on the top and bottom of your screen. Standard tvs are 4:3 ratio and must have the film/picture cropped in order to fit the screen. Your 32" tv will be more like a 24" tv after the conversion in 2009.
ED - Enhanced Definition tvs have to be the biggest waste of money there is. These are already obsolete. ED is 480p, which is the resolution of what a progessive DVD resolution is. So, this means the best picture quality this type of tv can deliver is DVD quality. Why would you spend $ on this when you can have true High Definition resolution which is 1080i or 720p? When the changeover is complete, almost all channels will be shown in HD resolution.
When it comes to HD, it's still hard to beat the picture of a rear projection HD tv. I have a 65" Mitsubishi and love it. I had it professionly ISF calibrated and if I had a dollar for every compliment I had on its picture, I would retire. I also have a 32" HD LCD. This one is in my bedroom on the wall. It also produces a great picture. LCDs and Plasmas are more about show than picture quality. People just think it's cool to have a tv that is very thin and can be mounted on a wall like a picture or painting.
I personally like the LCD much better than the Plasmas. Plasmas suffer from easy burn in, and are basically impossible to repair. If ONE of the many individual pixels burn out, it looks like there is a fly on the screen. That's too much crap to put up with when you spend thousands for something. LCDs also have a higher contract ratio, which produces a brighter picture.
If someone was looking at replacing the tv in their living room, I would highly recommend the DLP sets, prefererably a Mitsubishi. The DLP technology was invented by Texas Instruments. This picture is created by sending the picture to millions of tiny little mirrors (as opposed to one mirror in rear projection tvs) that produce a vibrant, detailed, crisp picture. You can definetly tell the difference when you are watching fast moving sports like football or Nascar. Colors or much more accurate and the reliability is far better.
Hope this helps.
Rusty
