Hi-Def all the way!
We don't have cable or satellite in my house, just what you can get with one of those rocking alien-ship looking antennas up in the attic, but it works just fine. I find the broadcast stuff gorgeous, and avoid the regular transmissions as much as possible.
The clincher, though, is in my local PBS stations. Both of them have at least three different channels broadcasting three different programs at once. KUED, from the University of Utah, has the digital feed of the normal station, an all-digital station, and a third that shows kids shows all day and then other nature or nova programs all night. The other, KBYU, from (you guessed it) BYU has the digital feed, as well as providing BYU-TV, and (my very favorite) the PBS Create station - all day and night, cooking, gardening, and fix-it shows.
It's the best when I can't sleep, just plonk down on the couch and watch Jacque Pepin make "fast food his way" for an hour or two.
Yum. I'm gonna go watch some now.