[Jeffhs]

I don't like having to get my TV's original remote to change the aspect ratio on some programs either, such as Law and Order on USA network (my GE universal remote doesn't have a zoom button), but that's the way of it these days, like it or not. I know someone who doesn't even bother with the zoom on her flat screen TV--she just watches the programs as the stations transmit them.

I think what's happening is, little by little, the TV networks, including PBS and cable systems such as Time Warner, are changing all their programming to HD because they realize most people have flat screens these days. Further, I think the day is coming (if it hasn't already arrived) when there will be no more 4:3 analog NTSC televisions in use in the US, except for sets in the possession of collectors. HD flat screens are so inexpensive these days (I saw a Craig 19" LED LCD set advertised for $99 in a local Rite-Aid Pharmacy ad in my Sunday paper last week) that just about everyone has one, and has no use for analog TV.

I think it is a mistake, however, to abandon your old CRT set if it is still working. I say this because I have read many stories of people who threw out their old TV when they got a flat screen, then when the FS set quits they are without television. At least it is still possible to watch TV on Time Warner cable (perhaps on some other systems as well) simply by connecting the cable directly to the set, or through a 300-to-75-ohm matching transformer if you have an older TV; this will give you at least channels 2 through 13, which in many areas will insure you still get local channels, such as 3, 4 (downconvert of CBS channel 19), 5, 6, (downconvert of MyTV 43), 7 (QVC), 8, 9 (downconvert of CW 55), 23, 10 (downconvert of PBS channel 25) here in northeastern Ohio, and likely other areas as well. You won't get the popular cable channels with a direct coax connection, but you will get your area's broadcast channels, which are all many people watch anyway. I have very little use for broadcast TV these days except for news, PBS, and the three retro-TV channels (RTV, Antenna TV, MeTV). All the rest of my viewing is either on DVD or VHS; more the former than the latter, although my VHS tape library is much larger than my DVD collection at this time.

BTW (for Kamakiri): I didn't realize you had Time Warner cable; I thought you were still watching TV using an OTA antenna. I also did not realize TW cable is converting to HD. In fact, if you hadn't mentioned it in your post, I wouldn't have known it at all, since I do not get HD broadcast TV here. The reason is I am using a direct coax cable connection to the TV (Insignia 19" flat screen), without a cable box. I read somewhere it is impossible to get high-definition programming via coax. To get any kind of HD reception, one must use a cable box with an HDMI cable to the TV. Unfortunate, but again, that's the way of it.