No, I have no problem affording, it's spending on something that isn't going to do the job that it says it does, to a an acceptable degree.
Coming across as a tool is my speciality btw, I excel at that. My anger/annoyance at the situation was directed at the whole searching experience, the crappy standards that I am now led to believe I should accept, and the silly excuses for said standards that I've been fed all along which to anyone with even half a brain, are mainly nonsense.
I didn't realise people would be so protective of a perticular technology, like a fan club or something - I actually believed I might get some people agreeing! But like anything, I'm sure there will be people getting all uppity because I've hit a nail on the head and they don't like it and will go balls out to back their purchase up < let's not get into that one, I don't mean all of you.
The fact is I'm unsure about Plasma too now, green trails specifically - the rest hardly bother me. But I don't want my other half to put up with god-aweful pictures akin to what I have experienced (yes on lots of screens, that I have chosen to view to try and find an acceptable one, of which most I can afford thank-you-very-much. But I'll tell you something for nothing, I've seen some pretty expensive kit that I can afford, that I simply will not buy whilst they are showing Freeview pictures the way they do, or the way I have been shown them at least, I think the term is 'fit for purpose'.)
But once again I have to say it, it is annoying as hell to have to choose my brand new flat panel based on which bad things I am willing to accept most. To me this is a new thing, I've never known this sort of "you have to put up with X,Y,Z" with for example my home cinema amps or speakers, or DVD players even. And at the very mention to some people of "maybe the technology isn't settled yet" you get uproar, nerdish bashing and defensive behaviour, akin to what you would see between console owners.
My original post may have been harsh, and you may have taken it personally (dunno why, did you make 'em?), but when you're looking for a new TV to replace your bulky CRT and nothing in the technology you want (LCD believe it or not!) for months and you keep coming to dead ends and then you look at plasma in spite of what everybody has been telling you and every one of them looks a million times better than LCD with the internal tuner then you are likely to vent a little.
As a result of everything not being quite the way I want it I decided to downscale to a 37" for the living room and then when something else comes out maybe later this year/next year I have a set I can mounted on the bedroom wall and I won't have wasted too much cash on something I'm not entirely satisfied with.
What would you do? How can I get Freeview for my misses that is anything like plasma quality? Is it that I have to go for a 1080 set? Do 720 sets distort freeview?