Converting to HD

There is a fair amount of sports-watching at our house. Nothing excessive, mind you... neither of us has a team jersey with our names inscribed on the back or anything. But there are lots of teams' playing being broadcast daily, and it's not an uncommon occurrence to have a small taste of it in our living room.

Now, HD isn't a new thing.. and I think that we've all experienced HD at one time or another. It's definitely more defined and that's cool.. but, for the most part, it's always seemed just a little silly to me; who wants to see the news anchor's cake makeup, or the interviewee's acne? And, with regular programming (e.g. Bones, or Fringe), there really isn't any super benefit to having HD.

But sports... that's a whole different ballgame.

My hubby has ignored and put off the idea of ever getting HD for some time now. Last Christmas, he and his father watched holiday games in HD. He was impressed, but my hubby decided that he didn't really want it. Then, the other day, he went to ESPN Zone for a Bill Simmons book signing. They had the long, long line strategically winding its way through the whole place. He spent hours surrounded by sports in sparkly HD... Still he deferred.

Then, the very same night, while watching Family Guy, the Griffins got HD. That was the final straw. Immediately, he researched the cost to upgrade and, upon realizing it wasn't even that much more than we currently paying, it was a done deal: We became an HD family.

Today we got it hooked up and, at this very moment, my hubby is enjoying him some sparkly HD goodness.

I tried to get some before and after pictures, but shots of the tv never turn out. So, to illustrate the difference, I've added some example pictures below:

Before:

After:

Sparkly sparkly!