The real killer to such wonderful whole home solutions is the same paranoid, greedy monster: the content providers (the big networks, primarily, along with a few of the other channels). They do not want their signals re-transmitted--certainly by no means digital--in full resolution, and the content providers are particularly heavy-handed with Dish and Direct. Have we forgotten about some of the lame limitations put in place for the new external HDD feature? They are all do to the paranoid content providers. Every innovation has been either severely limited or completely killed because the content providers restrictions aren't making it worth the while of cable or satellite. Oh, and yes, your recordings of HD content to your external stand alone recording device (excluding the new external HDD feature) will be downconverted because that's the way the paranoid content providers want it. These days, it seems technology is the easiest hurdle to overcome.