I've owned a PlayStation 3 copy of this game, along with a nice tournament edition stick, for quite a while now, but for some reason always hesitate and choose another game to play just as I'm about to insert the disc. I even bought and sold a copy of vanilla Street Fighter IV back when it that was released, to get money for SSF4 when it came out later on. Honestly, I've played less than five hours of this game since I received it sometime around last August, and I can only attribute that to one reason: choosing a character. Hell, I've watched a lot more Super Street Fighter IV than I have played it.
I usually play Litchi in BlazBlue: Continuum shift, and had a very easy time picking her out of the rest of the available cast simply because she has a few different fighting styles built into her character, which I found interesting. I almost always run Ammy in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, with a steady rotation of Doctor Doom, Phoenix, Zero, and C. Viper as potential teammates; I plan on finally trying out Sentinel and possibly Wesker sometime soon, too.

With the announcement of Arcade Edition, or at least some information surrounding it's inevitable console release, I started thinking about why I still have not sat down for a day and just played Super Street Fighter IV. I've been watching some more high-level game play recently, and it really does look like it could be a lot of fun, as long as I could find the right character to practice.

Basically, are there any suggestions as to where I should start looking? Would watching footage of all the characters be better than actually playing the game for now, or would the opposite be true? Maybe I should hold off all together for now and just wait for Arcade Edition to come out, and figure out characters then.

About a week ago, I saw a really great fast match by a Makoto player in Super Street Fighter IV, however I can't seem to find the video again. That was actually the first Makoto I'd seen, and it looked far different than the traditional Ryu and Ken shenanigans that I've seen a lot of, and am fairly uninterested in.

Just try people until you find one you like. I play el fuerte and its fun. 

If  you haven't played the game much, I suggest starting off with Ryu, for at least 10 matches or something. Since he is the "simplest" character to use (not necessarily true, but still), it's good to start off with him at first.  It doesn't matter how much street fighter you've watched if you don't have actual battle experience, so you should still start off with Ryu. After you feel relatively comfortable playing the game, I would suggest picking a character you would actually want to use. If it turns out to be Ryu, great. If not, you have many other characters to choose from, with many different styles represented. I don't know what style of play you like best, be it zoning, rushdown, or whatever. If you like playing Ammy and Zero in MVC3, then it seems like you enjoy playing fast characters with a lot of options open to them. If so, you may want to try using Akuma. I would say that his mixups after knockdowns are the best in the game, hands down. If you don't believe me, watch some of Tokido's matches (best Akuma player in the world). No matter what character you want to  use, you will want to see the top players playing them in order to learn the best tactics. Check out 0ShinAkuma0's channel on Youtube. He's uploaded playlists of many top japanese players, and I would say that it's the best place to go to in order to see the masters. You could learn from the Americans, but no matter what anyone says, they're still one notch lower than the Japanese. So, it's best to learn from the best, eh? Once you decide on a character, stick to that character and play many online matches. In the meantime, watch videos of very skilled players using that character so that you can gradually improve. Don't wait for Arcade Edition, your skills from SSF4 will transfer over quite easily.

I've recently got back into SSF4 and realized that is not like riding a bike. For a starter character, I would suggest just fooling around in training mode with a bunch until you find one that is good for you. Personally, I find it hard to do the Zangeif moves and I do not like charge characters so I settled on using the others. Characters like Guy, Ken, Ryu and Gouken are the ones I usually try to play. If you want to play online (which I assume you do), be ready for a huge learning curve and several matches ending in frustration on your part. This far after the release, all the small fish have been eaten up by the bigger fish and what remains is a small pond filled with piranhas and great white sharks. Although not impossible to break in, you are in for a grind until you learn your character. 

I was in that phase. I tried Shoto bros and Sagat but didn't work for me. Gouken became my go to character.

Have fun with the random button until you find people to like.

Ibuki, Chun Li, C. Viper. If you want fast characters go with a lady. But not Makoto - there are people who are good with her but most of the time the only reason they ever win a match is because no one has any experience against her. The general consensus is that she sucks.

Since you play Litchi in BB, how about trying C. Viper in SSFIV?  Sure they are a bit different, but both of them can do crazy shit.  Try her out and see what you think.

Just fool around in training with a few characters. Find out if you like charge or shotos, then game on.

My main is C.Viper. I love her for the speed, the combos and the high risk, high reward style:)

It is so hard to find a new main. I ALWAYS go back to Guile because I just can't get over his awesome defensive moves and the amazing reach of a few of his moves. When I get bored of him I feel like I need someone else but I don't even know where to start. 

Watching the game doesn't help you at all. At some point it will help you, but you are far away from that point.

Either give the trials a go or go into training mode and just mess around with characters. See if you like their normals/special moves. Don't think about who you might like, just try them. Before buying the game I didn't even consider Juri, but when I tried her I liked the way she played.
Even if AE has characters that are more appealing to you, you will learn a lot from playing other characters aswell and you can use those acquired skills and knowledge with the new characters too, so there's no loss.

After picking a character you have to learn: what do I do against jump-ins, what do I do when I'm pinned in a corner and someone is rushing me down, how do I punish properly, etc. I watched a lot of street fighter streams and videos before I got the game and even though they do all those things in the videos, when I was playing the game myself I was thinking "what the hell do I do now?! aaaahhhh" There really isn't a substitute for experience.

Try to watch as little as possible, if it is very high level you will not really gain anything from it because you won't be able to play to that level and will get frustrated and you don't really learn anything from watching people play until you know the finer details of the game. If you want to watch because you find it exciting that's great but the best way to learn street fighter is to play street fighter and it will probably make your viewing experience with matches even better when you understand the game better. I would recommend playing a bit with characters that grab your attention and make sure you play different types of characters so you know which style you like (do you want a charge character, a character with a strong poke game, etc) then when you find someone that you are good with, jump into training mode and try your best to learn how to use them well. Oh and don't main as Ryu or Ken, I just really don't want another person maining Ryu or Ken.

" Watching the game doesn't help you at all. At some point it will help you, but you are far away from that point.

Either give the trials a go or go into training mode and just mess around with characters. See if you like their normals/special moves. Don't think about who you might like, just try them. Before buying the game I didn't even consider Juri, but when I tried her I liked the way she played.Even if AE has characters that are more appealing to you, you will learn a lot from playing other characters aswell and you can use those acquired skills and knowledge with the new characters too, so there's no loss

.After picking a character you have to learn: what do I do against jump-ins, what do I do when I'm pinned in a corner and someone is rushing me down, how do I punish properly, etc. I watched a lot of street fighter streams and videos before I got the game and even though they do all those things in the videos, when I was playing the game myself I was thinking "what the hell do I do now?! aaaahhhh" There really isn't a substitute for experience. "

Star with Ryu, pick what you like about Ryu, than take a character that focuses on this.

Play with the characters a bit. Figure out which playstyle suits you best - if you prefer wrestling moves (T.Hawk, Zangief), aerial combos (Vega), or just a middle ground (Ryu, Ken). A good idea would be to play around with the challenge modes and try to go as far as you can with every character; that way you can eliminate the characters you're awful with and figure out which ones are the easiest and most fun to play.

Play every character. I played a few and sat with Sagat for a while, and I was decent. Then I started playing Zangief and found using him much easier and started winning a lot more.

The character picking is always hard.
But like @JJOR64 said. Litchi is kinda like C. Viper.  I find Viper more execution heavy though but as in moving the screen they share similarities.
Training room and just keep at it with all of them. Until you get a flow. Jump online with a few people on here for casual or do local (if you got a scene.) and let them know you are trying stuff out. The great thing is if you ask them for advice most of them will give it to you.

I remember I played Ken from SF2 to SFA to SF3 (that's alot of games LOL). I was never serious.  Then I bought a stick for SFIV vanilla. I just played Ken and was like "NO." I need to relearn this game. So I took them in training mode and through Arcade mode to see how they fit.   I landed at Chun Li the most. She's has pretty good rushdown, pokes and good anti airs. So I started just mained her. The best thing she taught me was patience and meter control.  When SSF4 came out I saw the new characters.  Okay.  I'm going to pick up a character from all the past series.  I saw videos and was like SF3 goes to Makoto. SFA goes to Cody. SF4 goes to Viper and SF2 I'll go back to Ken.
This is were I ended up after playing with everyone.
Main: Chun Li.  (haven't master her.)
Others in order of how good I am with them and still learning.
SF3: Ibuki. Why? crazy rushdown, combos and cross ups. You can go nuts and leave people guessing lot.
SF4: Gouken. Why? Because outputs a lot of damage and teaches me not to be risky because all his moves beside the Hadoken are punishable if whiffed.
 SFA: Guy. Why? Mixups. Pretty good health. Still learning him.
SF2: Ken. Why? I just always love him as the more styling Ryu. I've learned a lot thanks to Chun Li and so I can play him okay.
All these characters have made my main better. They help all of them.

Note I'm not best or great but I enjoy the game and dumped over 200 hours in it.

Pick a character that appeals to your strengths as a player. You obviously aren't a newbie, so you don't need to start with Ryu or anything (although, conceptually he is the ideal balanced character good in any situation). I'd just mess around until you find someone you like. I play as Vega of all characters, because I'm not super great at combo execution or rushdown and since he's neither that works for me.

Play the arcade mode with different characters, then you'll eventually realize a character that you like to use after a couple of matches.  Choose that character, study combos about him/her a bit then go for a couple of matches online.  If the character you chose frustrates you, then move on to a different one but try it out again on arcade mode to get the idea on how to use him/her.