HDTV has been around for a few years now, and although the choices have expanded, the reasons for switching to HDTV have not. Currently, at most, there are ten to twelve channels available in HDTV through your cable or satellite television provider, and every so often the odd cable station will offer a program that is "broadcast in HDTV". Four to six of those (your local network stations) will usually be free, but only accessible with a digital HDTV receiver box provided by your cable or satellite company. After that, five to seven further premium HD channels will be available through a subscription service much like the service you already pay for to receive analog or digital television.

There is currently a cost of anywhere from five to fifteen dollars per month to add these premium channels to your service. That can result in additional costs that can be as much as $ 180 per year. But that's just the beginning of how much switching to HDTV right now will cost you. You can only receive HDTV signals on a digital receiver specifically built for that signal. This receiver can either be inherent in your new HDTV set, or must be added to an HDTV "ready" set.

The most inexpensive HDTV set with an HDTV receiver/tuner built in is for a 27" wide screen costing $ 550. The most expensive one I found was for a 60" plasma widescreen costing $ 6,000. Imagine paying $ 6,000 for the HDTV experience, and being able to view about ten channels if you pay another premium.

Currently, the lack of choice is the main reason I would advise you to hold off on switching your entertainment experience to HDTV. Coupled right along with that, though, has to be the cost considerations. If adding HDTV premium channels costs ten dollars a month, and the cheapest new HDTV set costs $ 550, then your first HDTV experience is going to run nearly $ 700 for the first year, and all you'll be viewing it on is a dinky 27" widescreen.

I think it is fairly well established that the HDTV experience is greatly enhanced as television screens become larger. The impact of HDTV on a 27" widescreen won't be nearly as impressive as the impact on a 42". Therefore, settling for the cheapest, smallest screen might leave you feeling cheated.

If you just have to have the latest technology and the best possible picture, if you cannot wait any longer, then I would suggest that you buy the largest HDTV set you can afford, and pay the extra cost for the HDTV premium channels that your cable or satellite provider offers. Local HDTV broadcasts are available on maybe five or six stations, and if you have cable or satellite, you don't usually spend much time watching your local channels. Getting the premium channel package will at least offer you some choice, but not much.

If you can wait for another year, or year and a half, the cost of larger HDTV sets will definitely drop, and the availability of channels broadcasting in High Definition is bound to increase. Ten years from now, what will make you happiest; knowing that ten years ago you spent a fortune so that you could have the latest technology, or knowing that you saved yourself a bundle of money by having patience? Ten years from now, how much will it matter that you waited a little longer for HDTV? As for me, I am going to wait probably longer than a year and a half; until the manufacturers have reached the ceiling with their biggest stand-alone sets, because once they do, historically, prices for these larger sets drop like a rock. The choice is always yours.

Learn more about this author, Tom Reindl.
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