The prices are dropping all the time. About a year ago, I bought mine. Now, the model is discontinued, and can be found for about 700 dollars less. The replacement model is about $200 less, most places. Prices for the same thing can vary by a great amount, depending on the seller.
Waiting has the additional advantage of there being more programing available. It's getting better all the time, but there isn't as much HD programing as people think. It has to be broadcast and formatted in HD, just turning on any chanel will not make it be in HD, even with an HD set. ESPN prime is in HD, simulcast. Not everything they show is in HD though! And HBO, here on my cable, has two HD feeds, East and West. Not every show is in HD! Inside The NFL is not! Some movies are not. Rome, thankfully, is!
VOOM offered the most HD I'd seen, went under right as I was going to switch to them. I can watch HD extreme sports all day! Discovery Chanel HD is awesome. TNT HD is okay, not quite as good of quality, usually. And I've had it on both Dish and TWC. So it could just be the carrier, but I've had two and it seems the same on both.
None of my Texan games, save the Sunday Night ESPN game have been in HD this year, even on the local HD chanel. This is through cable. Some were last year when I was trying to use an over the air antenna. That didn't work out, I ditched it and Dish for TWC. I'm not sorry, overall.
When watching the Astros in HD on Fox the other nights, I noticed some camera angles, well, at least one, was not HD. Most were and it was sweet. Same thing with updates on other football games, even if the one I'm watching is in HD, the updates might not be. Maybe that's a DirectTV NFL Sunday Package exclusive, all games in HD?
The colors are better too in HD! It's not just a sharper picture. The colors have blown me away.
Also, most of the technologies are new and reliablity is estimated, not actually known. CRT is tried and true, but a big screen of those is large and heavy. I didn't see many that wowed me with the picture either. So waiting helps data come in that regard, too.
When buying one, I would advise researching them through Consumer Reports, Epinions and other places as well as on your own. Try and learn the lingo and types, and believe me when that Circuit City commercial talks about all the types, they are understating. No matter what the numbers say, trust your eyes! That's what you are going to watch with, after all. I bought a 720 resolution set (it still views 1080) that looked better than most 1080s. Check for different type connectivity and all, e.g. HDMI, RCA, 15 pin RGB, etc, etc... And where they are located on the set makes a difference to me, also. I have several on the side, so I don't have to go around back to hook up an RGB or an RCA for a computer or video game system.
Also, try and see how the set does with fast action scenes, dark scenes, bright scenes etc. On most Star Wars DVDs, there is a test for THX that test video and audio. The video is done by making circles and patterns, I found it handy if the demo had a DVD hooked up. Some tvs will not make perfect circles, they will show jagged edges. Real world use is less proununced, but you can see it in letters like capital "A" and such too. And my Attack of the Clones will test 7.1 Surround Sound by throwind a tone or hiss to each channel seperately.
If you plan to use it for static images (mine is my monitor), check about image burn in. And be aware that unless you stretch your Standard Def. image, the black lines on the sides (or top) can burn an image in to many types. Some have grey bars on the side, which are supposed to be better, and my Dish let me color the bars as needed, but I usually get rid of them by stretching the image. Also, some movies, even though I've a 16:9 ratio screen, still have the black bars top and bottom, and need stretching as well, even in HD.
Sorry about the book here. Hope it might help you. If you plan to buy, research is my recomendation, and actual viewing too.
