The official standard calls for a wide-screen display . This benefit alone should push you toward spending the extra money on a wide-screen HD set. It will happen as sure as day follows night. Analog is over. Delay is simply not an option.
Resistance is futile.
And, if that impassioned tirade were not proof enough, the conversion to digital television is mandated by federal law. In 1997, the FCC decreed that all TV stations must convert to digital transmission, and cease their analog broadcasts, by 2006. Broadcasters at 42 stations in the top 10 TV markets began voluntary digital transmissions in November 1998. By April 2003, all commercial TV stations must broadcast at least half of their programming digitally, though they can continue to send out an analog signal. By April 2005, all programming must be available digitally, and by December 2006 analog signals must be turned off.