HDTV 720p and 1080p – I should have known this…

I didn’t know that right now if you by a 1080p HDTV that you will only get full 1080p if you have a Blue Ray disc player. There aren’t any television stations broadcasting in 1080p, only 720p and so if you go out and buy a 1080p then you have the latest technology, but you can’t really use it.

Why am I telling you this? Because right now Best Buy has a 50″ DLP Samsung HDTV for only $899. This is $800 less than you would pay for the same TV that is 1080p. Now I like having the latest and greatest technology, but buying a 1080p TV when you can’t use it is like buying a Range Rover in Dallas. Your driving a gas guzzling vehicle designed to go off-road and yet here you are driving it only on concrete highways. It just doesn’t make sense.

In the future, 2009, the government is supposed to start requiring television companies to start broadcasting in hi-def only, but even then they may only be broadcasting in 480p and so you still won’t be able to tell the difference and you paid extra money just so you can see the difference!

So my point is this… the life of a good DLP TV is 10 years. The life of Plasma and LCD is around 4-5 years before the picture starts to degrade in quality. So if you are going to drop some serious change on a TV, then you should either wait or go with the less expensive TV for now and then when you want to upgrade to the larger option, put the 50inch TV in your bedroom or the kids playroom and set it up for DVD’s or something, but don’t rush out to get the 1080p just because it is a higher resolution.