Widescreen Premium a Rip-Off??

Problem with signal quality a real one with analog cable and some satellite channels. My Loewe 16:9 is awesome with a good signal (and esp. good DVD), but less than outstanding with poor signal. Its not a true HDTV (1080i), it is a progressive scan DTV. Totally revealing of any deficiencies in the source material, but incredible. So if your use is primarily DVD and/or HD, then I would go widescreen; if its TV then I would carefully check out the real world performance.

William- I have the 30" Loewe Planus. It has what is supposed to be a very high quality internal doubler and thus is a progressive scan digital, not HD TV. As I said, brutally revealing of the source. I would find a way to demo it on your cable, if your significant other is compulsive surfer (as is mine). Have not checked it out with digital cable, but note significant differences in picture quality across various cable and DSS channels. Last night watched a movie on Encore and it was awesome. Some DVDs great, others fair. Sample scenes at beginning of Video Essentials disk incredible. With respect to the 38" Aconda, it seems unlikely that there are two sources for 38" direct view tubes, so the comment from Lyric sounds reasonable. Note that the tube for that sucker probably weighs 2-300 lbs, so you better have a good stand. Keep us posted. Also check out AVScience HDTV forum (www.avsforum.com). If you think hi end audio is confusing...