Hi there
No, they're not whinings, they're genuine concerns, and I understand them all, and to a certain extent agree with them. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it!), "the industry" will always try and twist your arm when it comes to new products - that's their business! Bring out a new CRT and everyone says, "yeah, okay, very nice" and some people buy it. Bring out a new technology that offers superior picture, and eventually, everyone will have to replace their old technology.
That's the cynical view. However, there are obviously benefits to the consumer as well. You're right though, at this stage, you probably represent the general masses (although I'd argue Sky HD is more about movies than sport, but obviously this doesn't change your stance) and that is, the service provided on these new TVs doesn't match their potential without extra spend on products you don't necessarily want or need. The only exception I can see is upscaled DVD. Virtually everyone has a DVD player these days, and therefore a DVD collection (however small). A very small amount of money can buy an upscaling DVD player these days, and this will definitely see improvements.
On the TV front, it reminds me a little of the PC issue. These days, the "software" (or TV broadcasts) doesn't really take advantage of all the fancy new hardware we've been sold. The difference is, with a PC, when you run old software, the experience isn't worse!
So until the broadcasters up their game and give us what we want i.e. HD broadcasts for free, if you only use your TV for this, there is definitely no point in upgrading. But you can't blame the hardware manufacturers for trying to move things on. Remember, hardware has to come first. If no one had bothered to build a TV set capable of displaying colour images, what would be the point in transmitting colour images?
And the other good news for you at the moment is, loads of people like me are selling their fantastic CRTs cheap on ebay... Silver lining in every cloud, eh?!