HD TV

We are now less than a year away from the transition to HD TV. On February 17, 2009, US television stations will stop broadcasting in standard definition. So my question of the day is this: will we see a precipitous drop in HD TV prices, will they go up, or will they remain about the same. There are still a lot of people without HD, so the coming year should see a huge jump in sales. Traditionally, increased sales means that manufacturers will be able to cut production costs by streamlining operations and defraying research and development costs, so on the one hand I think that we should see some lower prices. But on the other hand, as demand rises, so could prices. And I wouldn't put it past manufacturers and retailers to raise prices because they have consumers over a barrel.

I've been trying to find out what percentage of US homes own HD TV's, but to no avail. Just pulling a figure out of mid air, I would guess that about half of US homes are still without, meaning that there should be a huge number of sales in the coming year. I guess I need to start buying stock in companies that manufacture HD TVs and components.