Video Processing Redundancy

[geoperknis]

Another thing I don't understand: why do I need to purchase an expensive video processor in all of my home theater components? Isn't one enough? Why does my television, my digital video recorder, my video switcher/receiver, my cable set top box, and my over-the-air tuner all perform up- down- conversion, deinterlacing, interlacing, and 3:2 pull down (to varying degrees of quality and cost)? Isn't the promise of HDMI to pass along the original signal in uncompressed, uncompromised best resolution, original format, and then have one video processor (preferably in the monitor) optimally scale it? Why bother with any intermediate video processing steps (which risks degradation)?

Perhaps a rhetorical question, but worthy of consideration, wouldn't you agree?