>> The existing TV is roughly 50cm x 50cm. (Obviously the *screen* has a 
>> 4:3 aspect - but the *casing* doesn't!) After playing with my 
>> measuring stick, it appears that a device with a width of 70cm or even 
>> 80cm might plausibly fit into the gap. Depending on the aspect ratio 
>> and the styling of the casing, that gives me a 20" - 30" screen size.
> 
> Not forgetting that a lot of the TV's now have speakers situated below 
> or behind the screen and not by the side, that can make a big difference 
> in width. Give me the diagonal of the current one and I'll tell you the 
> size of a 16:9 to match either current height or width.

It's roughly 21" diagonally across the screen itself, or roughly 50cm 
square in terms of actual casing.

>> It seems that LCD TVs go up to absurd sizes,
> 
> Nah that's plasma's which can hit wall size

Well I don't know - they seem to go up to 40" and more...

>> How the *hell* am I supposed to tell which ones are any good?
> 
> You can't, the HD-feed is reserved for the 42" plus ones with extra 
> gubbins.

Hmm... well *that's* helpful! :-P

> On the other hand if all you're going to feed it is an SD 
> source then it's actually a reasonable comparision method

Not really. I'm fairly sure that you wouldn't normally have the degree 
of ghosting and snow I've observed in shops. (It looks like they just 
took an analogue signal and put it into a 200-way splitter and tried to 
drive 200 TVs with it!)

> Sony tend to have the quality, Panasonic the black levels, LG more 
> extras, and Philips all three ;-)

Mmm, interesting...

>> - What is HDMI?
> 
> Essentially the HD equivalent of SCART in that in carries both video and 
> audio in one cable

But it's digital too, right?

>> Is there a specific reason why the leads are £80 each?
> 
> Some are better then others, some just say they are.

...but if it's digital then, by definition, it *doesn't matter* how good 
the lead is. (So long as the S/N ratio isn't *absurdly* low.)

>> - Are there any ways to obtain HD signals yet? (I gather BluRay 
>> players are actually on sale now, but still prohibitively expensive. 
>> Are there any other possible sources?)
> 
> Scott's covered this too. Freesat is the only free main-stream source of 
> HD signals, though from my last tally there's only about two set-top 
> boxes and built-in televisions available (may well have jumped in the 
> last month). SkyHD with its monthly subscription, or FreeView after the 
> big switchover in 20xx is set to deallocate two muxes for HD 
> broadcasting only - except I doubt any older freeview receivers will be 
> able to decode the signals.

My dad did ask me if our BT Vision box has an HDMI connection. I haven't 
looked yet, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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