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Not very assuring, Black Lab, you buy an expensive HDTV and your DVD's "don't look that bad".

Let me say it this way. They look like the are SD!

I have HD service on my TV. I HATE watching the channels that are not broadcast in HD. Compared to HD it looks terrible. But it's not really, it's just the perception. So my SD videos look no worse than they did on my SD TV, but compared to HD programming...

BTW, I'm in the U.S. My cable has 200+ channels. I would say about 50 of them are HD. I pay an extra $5 a month for the HD (my total bill is around $70).

Here in Australia, all our major channels broadcast separately in analogue, digital and HD formats. I mean, they have separate channels for each format. Just about all our Australian-made TV programming is now done in HD or at least digital, and of course nearly all the imported programs from the US and UK these days are HD. And the effect on a big HDTV is simply stunning.

I would agree with Black Lab to an extent. My SD home made DVDs don't look too bad on my 46" HDTV, but they definitely look much better on my old SD widescreen CR TV. But that is logical. They are made with many fewer lines (720 x 576) than HD (1920 x 1080) and it is only logical that this just will not give HD quality...

And Gisela, I am surprised about your comments about the editing programs not being quite up to editing video from your HV20. I have one of the exact same cameras, and have had no difficulties at all with VS10 (admittedly needing a Canon patch) or VS11+/11.5+. They work just fine with the format from that camera. It is AVCHD you have to worry about...

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I would agree with Black Lab to an extent. My SD home made DVDs don't look too bad on my 46" HDTV, but they definitely look much better on my old SD widescreen CR TV.

For those who, like myself, have not yet bought an HDTV, this information is crucial. It confirms what you read in the forums and confirms also the theoretical aspect: To view SD on an HDTV the TV has to upconvert, a process they call upscaling. It has to multiply by 4 the number of lines. This will inevitably be lossy. So if you have, like myself a lot of SD videos, you had better keep your old TV. I have spent a total of 4 months in all the National Parks in American West, from Bryce to Caricahua. I have hours and hours of great footage (despite my then modest Canon MXV 200, or "Eldura" in the States), that much impresses our friends. That's why I'm hesitating so much about an HDTV. An interesting alternative, as I have elsewhere pointed out, is to get a 720p HDTV rather than the 1080 full HD. I believe that for HD viewing you will hardly notice the difference, and for SD viewing the TV has to multiply only by 2 rather than 4, so the result should be better. Can anyone confirm this?

A further point on this question is that American TV is broadcast in 720p. This means that a 720p HDTV will give you the best possible image quality. A 1080p set will not improve the quality but possibly degrade it by upscaling. An HDV camcorder, however, records in 1080i. This interleaving should be a thing of the past. It was a necessary evil at first but is no longer necessary. When will we get 720p camcorders? Or better still 1080p? In Europe, far behind in HD broadcasts, the companies have not yet decided whether it will be 720p or 1080i. Unfortunately it looks like it's going to be the higher resolution interleaved choice. 1080p is out of the question. Too expensive they say.

Here 1080p has in fact been chosen, and my HDTV is set for that... 1920 x 1080p...