I finally decided to buy one of these new "everyone has got to get one" HDTV's that is all the rage. I honestly didn't put much thought into buying one until I decided to visit Best Buy a couple of weeks ago. I saw this HUGE 52 inch plasma by Sony that was just out of this world beautiful. I could not get over the crispness, the detail and unbelievable life like resolution on this TV! It was the much ballyhooed Planet Earth series on Discovery HD. I just couldn't get over HDTV. To quote Will Smith, "I gotta get me one of these!"

But, I did some checking around and didn't go on first impulse. I even found out there were different types of HDTV's. You have the LCD, plasma, DLP, rear projection types. Then, you have the different resolution formats (I suppose one would call them), 720i, 720p, 1080i and 1080p, the new kid on the block. Confused? You betcha! Of course, then you have the different brands. I saw one HDTV at Circuit City by Westinghouse! When did they get into the HDTV business? General Electric? Ok, that one was familiar. LG? I thought they made cell phones (not too well either, I might add). Pioneer? They made some great speakers back in the day. Mitsubishi? I wasn't looking for a new car. When I started looking at all the different types of HDTV's, connections (HDMI? DVI? help...please), I got the distinct feeling technology waved goodbye to me about five years ago. Talk about Future Shock, I was living it. Alvin Toffler, the white courtesy phone, please.

So, I talked too many sales reps (two actually seemed to know what they were talking about) and came to some conclusions. Each type, LCD, plasma, etc., had distinct pros and cons. The LCD was the thinnest of the TV's I looked at. But, you have to replace a light bulb about ever 3-5 years. Cost? About $600.00 in today's currency. The plasma had the best color and depth of any of the HDTV's I saw. But, it would start to lose it's brightness over time, was fragile and was very, very expensive. I had decided on either an LCD or plasma. I weighed each in my mind for the past two weeks. This morning I decided on the Toshiba Regza 32" LCD. I am very pleased with it. Got it for $699.00 at Rex, here in Mobile. Talk about easy...and I was as nervous as a cat taking a shortcut through the dog pound installing this thing by myself. Installation was so easy, even a cave...eh, even a Cro-Magnon Man like me can do it. I even hooked it up with the HDMI cables. Simple is an inadequate word when describing the ease of using HDMI. The setup was a breeze. The onscreen menu's leave nothing to chance. I set it up as well as one of the techs would have, I wager. Very light and just all around a better buy than the Sony plasma I looked at a couple of weeks ago at Best Buy.

If you need any advice on buying an HDTV...um, eh...go to Sam's or maybe Circuit City. I'm still a bit confused by it all.