OTA,
he clearly asked if a CRT could display HD content in the context of that ten year old TV in the basement, not just in general. My answer told him that yes, A CRT, SOME CRT, can do this, but yours can't.

It is just not right to call HD video downconverted to NTSC "HD content." Would you call Dolby Digital 5.1 mixed down to monaural "5.1 content?" (The fact that 2-channel and even monaural Dolby Digital exists is irrelevant here; we are talking about 5.1 being converted to mono.)

Perhaps when we are so used to HD that we all understand the differences between different resolutions, and this is second nature to all of us, we will be able to tell him that his TV, by then some twenty years old, can display "HD content," because by then, we won't be so focused on the format being part of the content itself.