There ending the analog signals (for roof mount antennas) in 2009. They will switch over to digital signals. As for the old analog only TV's, they will sell an adapter unit to convert the digital signal to analog. All of the TV's sold the last few years are digital compatable. They had a big bit on this on KGO radio recently.
I'm thinkin
Possiblility
I don't want to go to big, this is a bedroom, and not a home theater B)
been on HD for about 5 years now. they broadcast HD signal over antenna and it's better than some cable HD since there's no compression at all (as opposed to "less" compression for HD than standard on cable bandwidth). DirevtTV recently added something like 20 or 30 new channels with a total of something around 150 right around the corner.
Rear projection is still one of the least expensive (but bulky options).
DLP is lighter and more compact, but the bulbs last about like a conference room projector and are costly to replace. A friend had one burn out in under 3 months, the replacement was under warranty but no TV (during game season) for a week while awaiting the bulb. no one locally carried them, but he found a source on the internet to get an emergency spare... $300 please. Also, DLP's many tiny mirrors may lend itself to artifacts (large areas -- like the cheek of someone in extreme closeup -- that show sparkles or grids). DLP gets its pixel locations by bouncing off mirrors on a chip. The better ones, use 3 chips (one for each base color). It gets its color by passing through a color wheel like people used to use with the silver aluminum xmas trees. The better units have multiple slices of RG and B so the wheel doesn't have to spin all the way back around to get to a color. The more instances of a color, the less rotation is needed to get back to the color you need. But some people still see the artifacts even with a 3-chip/12 color wheel unit. You have to look at these in person to see if you are one of those bothered by the effect.
Plasma is longer lived but when it burns out, it may be kaput for good. they generate heat (current gen less than earlier), they are heavy though flat and wall-mountable if you have a place to use large lag bolts to hold the weight. they can have some latency in fast moving images and may not be the best in high-light environments. but, when looking as side-by-sided with LCD, even the best LCDs can look as if they have a haze over them next to a plasma model.
LCDs are rear projection through a screen like a laptop's monitor. again a projection bulb with a high replacement cost and image quality can vary widely. Since the light passes through a medium, you lose some brightness where rear projection and DLP are reflected light.
If you want to know what they look like side-by-side without price being an issue (so you know what's possible) find a high-end A/V store and check out the Pioneer Elite series of plasma screens like seen here:
https://www.marvinelectronics.com/2007/fullpg7.htm You know when it says "call for pricing" that it ain't gonna be painless.
Also look for 1080p instead of 1080i (interlaced).
I have the 53", 1080i rear projector that i'll keep until it croaks.
My daughter and SiL have a ~42" plasma.
A good friend has ~50" DLP.
When the time comes, I'll be looking for something in a plasma unless LCD has really improved. DLP still have the (reduced) hump back of a rear projection design, so doesn't lend itself well to wall mounting. LCDs still have the "haze" (for now).
