http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_KD_34XBR960/4505-6481_7-30787600.html?tag=lst

Not 36", but close. It appears to have HDTV tuner standard among a host of other features. If it were 42" and 1500 bucks, I'd personally be more interested. I think I'll just wait.

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You're probably only going to be able to get an OVER THE AIR signal if you live within 20 miles of a major city. So if you're out in the country, a built-in reciver HDTV (which is more expensive than an HDTV-ready one) is kind of pointless.

From your e-mail, it sounds like your cable company isn't offering HDTV yet - which means you won't be able to get cable channels in HDTV no matter what kind of TV you buy. If you live too far away from a major city to pick up the Over The Air signals too, an HDTV is going to be a waste of money for you.

Edited by - TheLoneGunman on 9/2/2004 3:11:47 PM

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Edited by - M.B. on 9/2/2004 6:30:22 PM

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First, digital cable is not necessarily HDTV. HDTV through your cable company will be digital, but not all digital cable is HDTV.

Up until a few months ago, whether your TV had in internal HD tuner or not, you still needed an HD set top box (STB) to get HD from your cable company. However, there is now technology called CableCard. It's a card provided by the cable company that fits into a slot in your TV and will allow your TV to work just like an STB. Here's a link to Cablevision's (the worlds worst cable company) FAQ on CableCard. The information in this FAQ is pretty consistent from cable company to cable company.

There are not many TV's that have CableCard capabilities yet. However, it should soon be a pretty standard feature (like cable-ready TV's became in the 80's).

You will still need to pay a rental fee to the cable company for the card. But it will be less than the rental of the HD STB.

Right now the Sony KD-34XBR960 is probably the best TV currently available with CableCard capability in the size range that you are looking for.

BTW, 34" Widescreen is the HD equivalent of 36" 4:3 TV's. Right now, 34" is the largest widescreen direct view HDTV available.

One last thing about CableCard. The cards are brand (maybe even model) specific. Even if your cable company is rolling out CableCards (which I'm pretty sure that they are required to by law), they may not be able to support your specific TV immediately. When you call, they will ask you what kind of TV you have and then let you know if they can support it or not. If you buy another new TV in the future, you will need to arrange for the cable company to swap out your CableCard for a new one that is compatible with the new TV.

Edited by - Bill on 9/2/2004 8:57:28 PM

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As noted above, there should never be a condition where you should see both letterboxing and windowboxing on your TV at the same time. So you don't have to worry about the source creating the black bars while your TV creates gray bars simultaneously.

My local CBS station has begun putting gray bars on the sides of their non-HD programming on the HD channel for exactly this reason.

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As described in the FAQ that I pointed to, using the CableCard instead of an external STB will eliminate some of the interactive capabilities of your cable service. But as far as watching both standard and premium HD programming, it is not necessary to get an external STB if your TV has a CableCarc slot and your cable company can currently support your TV with their Cablecard program.

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Edited by - TheLoneGunman on 9/3/2004 3:10:32 PM

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Edited by - M.B. on 9/4/2004 10:11:05 AM

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I have no idea if any such mandates exist in Canada. Actually, I know nothing of the status of HD at all in Canada. If there is no government requirement, I would guess that the Canadian cable companies will wait until all of the kinks involving CableCard are ironed out in the US before making the investment.

Over the next few months, my guess is that you will have a hard time finding any HDTV's that don't have the CableCard feature (even in Canada). It wouldn't make financial sense for the electronics companies to make one type of TV for the US and a completely different one for Canada. I'm sure there are some minor differences. But differences that dramatic would surprise me.

Sony tends to be expensive. If you are able to wait a few months, I think you will see a wider range of HDTV's that have CableCard capabilities.

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Edited by - M.B. on 9/4/2004 1:02:37 PM

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Secondly, unlike STB's, the CableCards are unique to each brand (or model) of TV. As new TV's come out, the cable companies will need to keep up and be able to provide the cards.

The whole "card" concept is an advance over what cable companies used for many years. In the old days, when someone cracked a STB, the cable company was stuck (unless they wanted to spend millions swapping out STB's. The new digital STB's that the cable companies are using utilized cards. This way, when people are able to bypass the cards, they just have to swap the cards, not the entire STB.

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