How does one preview SD material before buying a new HDTV?

First, since the stores like BB are promoting the HD picture, it seems that is what they feed the TVs. I could ask if they are receiving regular channels, but I have a feeling that the HD signal is specifically fed for the HD sets.

I thought about brining a pre-recorded VHS tape and ask someone to hook up a VCR to test the lowest signal quality, but has anyone done this? Seems like the sales people wouldn't know how to do this let alone be allowed to do it.

My guess is that everything will look ok. I have a 42" plasma and my sat. box only have composite and s-video output; and it looks ok (better than the old analog tv).

......I was in a Best Buy a few weeks ago and all their HDTVs had a standard signal going into them (an episode of Seinfeld on WTBS). I asked them to feed an HD signal into one set so I could see what the HD picture looked like and they weren't able to do it.

Very odd.

cooporate sends us certain feeds to play on our tv's (hd or not) as our main broadcasts. the reason why seinfield was playing on all tv's not in hd was cause it was an advertisement for the dvd box set release which was a big thing a few weeks ago. during that clip, you will see an interview where jerry is on some talkshow with the puffy shirt...the reason why it looks cruddy is cause it was made cruddy to begin with...so viewers at home when that episode released would know that they are watching whatever everyone was watching in the show. the advertisement was just made that way.

at the store i work at, i am always willing to hook up an hd/non hd source to the tv to show you the difference. if its hooked up with coax, all you have to do is change it to another channel (for our store, HD is on 14-1, regular is on 4 with the same feed, just different quality). if component is hooked up, i'll just hoook up a dvd player with rca's...or get a spare coax and hook it up. its just 2 minutes of my time to give customers what they want so its worth it.

That's what episode it was!

ROFL

I've already got a great HT system in the family room with a 50" HD RPTV. This HD set is not receiving any HD signals yet, but it blows away 99% of the new LCD, Plasma and DLP sets when displaying SD material. And, I'm very happy with my Yamaha 1000 receiver and my speakers. It might be the acoustics in my HT room, but I've had many friends say that it sounds much better than their HT system, even though they've spend many thousands more on their system than I spent on mine. Anyways, in my origial post I was referring to a new set to replace my 20" Sony CRT in the bedroom, which is almost dead. I want a wide-screen set (20" to 23" seems to be the size) to watch native 16:9 DVDs on, but I'm limited in space, so a flat-screen LCD set seems to fit best. In looking for a widescreen TV that will fit my space limitations, there doesn't seem to be a "cheap" CRT TV that applies. Therefore, my choices in a flat wide-screen seem to be a set that can dispay HD (my choices at this time seem to be either a Toshiba 720p or a Samsung 720p). No, I won't be actually receiving an HD signal yet in the bedroom, but why not plan ahead? I may have HD cable next year. So, while I'm at it, why not buy an HD set that can do a good job of displaying standard-def material? Some do a terrible job, so this is what motivated my original post. Many stores are not set up to service the customer to help them make an informed choice. You either like what they have displayed or you don't.