I finally got myself the HDTV-compatible TV I’d been thinkin’ about getting for some weeks now.

I would up getting it at one of the last TV stores still within the Seattle city limits. They had it as a floor-model clearance item. It was reduced from $2,000 or so when first introduced two years ago, to $1,350 or so at current online pricing, to a mere $699 plus tax.

The deep discount was partly prompted by a few minor flaws in the item–they no longer had the box or a printed manual, the plastic “door” over the back input ports is missing, and the remote control’s different from the one shown in the online manual.

But it’s a beautiful set. And it’s so lightweight, I could take it home on Metro, thus avoiding delivery costs, cab fares, or long waits to find someone with a vehicle to lend.

I don’t have HDTV reception yet, but even on standard broadcast and cable channels it looks splendid. DVDs look superb, especially of widescreen movies. The picture looks fab in bright daylight, from odd angles, and from 15 feet away (where I usually have my portable computer desk). The audio’s also lusciously crystal clear, even without external stereo speakers.

I can instantly switch from a widescreen to a normal viewing ratio, so Drew Barrymore doesn’t end up looking like Drew Carey. The regular 4×3 image is slightly smaller than that on my old 19-inch Magnavox from 1991; but it’s so bright and crisp it seems larger. (I can actually read the box-score type on ESPNews!)

Tiny flaw #1: I can definitely see the image flaws in my old off-air VHS tapes, in poorly-compressed digital imagery (such as the title screens on the Music Choice channels), and in my cable company’s reception of broadcast channels. (The company does offer seven broadcast HD channels; but for some reason it doesn’t offer KCTS in HD, nor any of the dozen or so made-for-cable HD channels.)

Tiny flaw #2: The set’s got four different types of input ports, but I haven’t yet figured how to use any of them to make the thang into a computer monitor.

Not a flaw but a wistful note: With my TV and my computer both equipped with LCDs, I’ve now moved completely beyond the CRT technology that’s powered video reception since the days of Philo T. Farnsworth. CRT television was first demonstrated in 1927; regularly scheduled telecasts began in 1936 in London, in 1939 in New York, and in 1948 in Seattle. (Similarly, when CDs replaced vinyl, they replaced an analog technology that dated back some 110 years to Thomas Edison himself.)

I feel like I’ve abandoned something of high importance to our cultural history. I’ll feel that way again if and when the FCC ever gets around to telling TV stations to go all-digital and shut off their analog signals.

(You can see this set in action if you come to my housewarming/birthday/website-tenth-anniversary party this Wednesday evening. Email me for address and other particulars.)