Considering how old the Intellistar is, I think it's due for a replacement. The Weather Channel has never gone so long without introducing a new Star before. Of course, the Intellistar is also the most versatile and upgradable system yet introduced (excluding the miracles The Weather Network in Canada was able to do with the 4000 compared to the primitive look of its American setup).
On the other hand, just how long is American television in general going to accommodate separate SD and HD feeds? In most European countries, for example, if you watch digital television downgraded on an analogue set, you simply have to live with letterboxing and the knowledge that you're using outdated and obsolete technology. However, most European countries are quite small and such changes can be made more quickly and more easily than in the United States.
Would it behoove The Weather Channel to spend the time, money, and resources on developing a new SD Star without the knowledge of just how long SD will be accommodated to the point that it is? The changeover happened almost 3 years ago already. Accommodations in most of Europe ended long ago. How long will the United States keep doing this? In other words, if, say, separate SD feeds will end in 2015 (for example), it hardly seems worth it for The Weather Channel to spend all that money to develop a new system that will only last a couple of years.
That said, the Intellistar 2 seems like a woeful waste of money, too, considering how brief the local forecast segments have become (no real flavors on that - just the same screens over and over, and occasionally the marine forecast will pop up). The L-bar was a lot better, in my opinion, when it was first experimented with many years ago (and the HD L-bar is a shameful waste of space). And if the LDL is going to be relied upon as a major source of local weather information (and then only for Intellistar viewers!), they should at least bring back the larger LDL from time to time, since it has a lot more information than the small LDL - especially on the SD Intellistar.
</rant> I'm tired now.
