Yet more HD - get the plasma after all!

Not to beat a high-definition horse, but the U.S. House just agreed to transition all TV to digital by 2009. What that means is that you have until 2009 to buy a high definition TV, or to get a converter box for your current TV (cable and satellite subscribers should be OK, although they'll eventually need new boxes, too).

What you won't be able to do is nothing and still expect to watch TV on an old analog set.

Congress is setting aside a few billion to help people buy converters, although they're not subsidizing people buying HDTV's. Go figure.

Some of the existing frequency will be used for emergency responders (it's the fire department on channel 4... nah, it won't work that way), and the rest will be auctioned off.