Don't miss this point. And under no circumstances buy a Monster brand cable. Bouche gets good prices on cables by ordering online, hopefully he'll post the address. I also don't think HDMI is *necessary* as component cable still looks wicked good. As for sound, I still run a stereo setup and it's totally acceptable. I seem to recall from a post in the past that you don't play music loud at home anyway so you might not get the benefits of 5.1 system. You can always look at upgrading your audio at a later date. As for getting an HD TV package, it's only worth it if you watch a lot of TV, and in particular sports. It's just too expensive to justify otherwise. If you plan to watch DVDs on your new TV you'll still get the widescreen benefit, and you can always upgrade your TV package later. Makes no sense buying a 4:3 TV at this point. There's no one solution for everybody, it depends on your needs.