Standard Def Reception on an HDTV set

In my experience, analog cable will look worse, and TRUE digital cable (non-HD) will look about the same or slightly better. But if you own a DVD player, you've gotta get a digital set -- 480P smokes 480i by a wide, wide margin.

(Oh, wait, I can't say "smokes" any more, can I? No, wait, that's a different thread . . . .)

If you do go with the digital set, power conditioning (both for the TV and the cable box) helps a lot.

I have DISH satellite and receiver (non-HD) and a 6 year old RP Sony 53"XBR and a 1 year old Panasonic 32" HD-ready with some kind of built-in line improvement--not really a doubler, but it seems to work well as the picture is much clearer and better defined on the Pannie. Can't say how much is do to size and how much to technology. That said, I still do most of my watching on the Sony. I guess size does matter.

I own a 36" Toshiba HFX-71. The 36HFX72 was selected by Perfect Vision as product of the year. It has an excellent built-in line doubler. The picture on digtal cable channels is excellent with few visible scanning lines. To really enjoy HDTV you will need an HDTV tuner to receive OTA or sattelite HDTV.

I have been watching a HD on SDTV... It is not as good as my older analog set.. BUT - the size makes up for the quality difference.. If I put a DVD signal into the RGB connection or use a HDTV feed - makes up for it. I tolerate this because a lot of the network shows I watch are on HDTV, otherwise it is movies... Sports are awesome on the TV even in SDTV.. I am using an analog antenna with a Satellite HD receiver, paid attention to the cable and connections.... If you have Cable TV feed, expect nightmares...