when I said 480p being standard ..... most people could tell I was exaggerating. but thanks for the info.

I think 1080p will become the standard in a few years -- it may take some years to go beyond that, because in order to do that the HDMI cable/input would need to be changed.

Are you sure?  If true, I'm frankly shocked that HDMI was not future-proofed at all!  Wikipedia would be interested in this information, as it's not in their "criticism" section for HDMI.  (Of course, Wikipedia is not a definitive source of information.) 

Evidence please.   

Other sections of the Wikipedia article go into more detail:

"maximum pixel clock rate of the interface was 165 MHz, sufficient for supporting 1080p at 60 Hz or WUXGA (1920x1200), but HDMI 1.3 increased that to 340 MHz, providing support for WQXGA (2560x1600) and beyond across a single digital link."

So the HDMI cable is already being changed.. I don't think it's a big deal though; a few sets support it already, even though they only do 1080p. (HDMI 1.3 has other features besides the extra bandwidth)

SD is 480i
ED is 480p (enhanced)
HD is anything 720p and above, so 'hd' by definition would be 720p, 1080i or 1080p, with 1080p being the highest resolution HD available to the consumer, called 'full HD'.

As far as 'true HD', most consumers have never seen it because they haven't been in a multi-million dollar HD broadcasting facility to see uncompressed HD (the only 'true' hd, because the data rate has not been compressed). Uncompressed HD is absolutely beautiful, but it's impossible to get uncompressed HD programming to a consumer set with current technology, because no cable or air medium has that kind of bandwidth.

The closest thing a consumer can see to uncompressed or 'full' HD clarity is from a PC or game system running in 1080p on a high-priced 1080p set that is at least 62", preferably an expensive 3-chip DLP projector ($10,000+) on a nice screen connected via HDMI.

/explanation

Having THX sound and having THX certified equipment means exactly the same thing, as THX is just a certification, like you said. 

So yeah you're right, you just didn't abuse the language like I (and everyone else) did. Like I said, the certification at home and in theaters are not the same too. The certification for home doesn't take into account the speakers, the wires and the position of speakers.

So of course, if you're only used to the THX for theaters (the original one), you can only be disgusted by the THX (and its numerous light versions) for home. Just remember that it's not the same thing, even if the logo is the same, then it's fine.
 Home and theaters have different requirements, and that applies in audio as well as in video.

As I can tell for germany: Most regions here switched from analog to digital tv-broadcast (DVB-T) recently. People had to buy a new TV-tuner for this. They will not understand, why they have to buy new equipment again. Additionally, tv-broadcast with HD is nearly nonexisting. I know about AnixeHD (A sattelite broadcast I believe) but most normal satellite, radio-wave and cable broadcast delivers no HD. Even if you get HD-signals, nearly no content is in HD, thats only some shows like Desperate Housewives and Greys anatomy or some documentation, that re in HD. So I think, here in germany it will need some more years, before HD-adoption becomes relevant. My guess is: not before 2010.

I'm pretty sure that isn't true, as I think that many films have been recorded in HD for a long time. heck, there was even an HD version of betamax tapes! Reason for this being, is that the film industry knew that HD would come eventually, and I think that most cinemas have been displaying in HD for a considerable time.

So there is plenty of HD content available, just hasn't been used in the home yet, so you'd probably be able to expect many films from the past 5/10 years or so, to be available in HD, within due course.

Hello Movies dont have to be recorded in HD for you to have HD content. 35mm is the standard for almost one century now and is good enough to be transfered in digital 1080p. So the back library is there, it is most of the movies ever made. The lowest resolution for movies projection is generally about 2K, 2048x1080 and it will be soon 4k, 4096x2160. Cinema is in HD for a long long time already. Bye.

Ok, you're probably correct lol. I knew that cinema had been HD for a long time, didn't realise it had been that long! :)