its up to you...
As for freeview signal quality... the real trial will be 14 nov, when ALL the channels switch off, and the signal power can be greatly increased - I guess they have just swiched over one, to make sure anything bad happens to only one channel!! :)
The people I blame for the current state of retail, is the **utter skinflints** in this country!! They refuse to pay a good price for a very high quality piece of kit, and then they expect to play their *total crap quality* downloaded movies on it!!! - this is the main reason a lot of companies only release them in europe, where people understand that you have to pay good money not *just* for good kit, but also to support the industry, so they can continue to do so...
And of course all this strain on the UK industry to produce cheap stuff means that the quality goes down, giving the skinflints that caused it more reason to grumble...
the next effect of reducing prices is the death of the rental industry, and also of the small repair shop - people just buy a new one, instead of getting it repaired.. I am a technician, so I understand the problem with these plasma screens - all the electronics inside is virtually 'failproof' - it is the high-voltage powersupply and screen that usually go, and as these make up 90% of the price, basically 'unrepairable'... LCD uses a much better low voltage, so are much better... Myself, I am hanging onto my CRT, supporting my repairshop when it goes wrong, until at least 2012 when there will most likely be *even* better TV screens out!!
So again, I would say it is the skinflints killing the business... those who just download their tv, and dont even bother that the quality is worse than that got through RF, or even VCR.. yes, it maybe 'sharp', but the colours are washed out, the dark scenes non-existant, the fast scenes a jumpy mess...
On to connectors... If you TV still has only an aerial input, then how *cheap* are you??? - and pensioners have an excuse!
I think analogue connectors WILL appear on newer tvs, due to customer demand... and if you dont demand it, you deserve what you get!!!
I remind you of the launch of SKY HD.. they did not have anything other than HDMI, and the *only* monitor to support it.... that did not work!! :D :D I dont remember the outcome, except that HD boxes DO now have non-digital outputs...
So when you are looking for a new TV, make sure you do your research... Do you know that most 'HD-ready' TVs will only do upto 720 lines?? yes, they do say 1080, but the screen specs say 1024 x 768... you see the problem?
It is only people demanding ways to connect their consoles, and the connectors they want, that will get them... if you are mad about TRUE HD, you will need to PAY!
Meanwhile 'component HD' is still a good competitor for HDMI...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_video