I disagree with Smokey on this one. 720p and 1080i over HDMI on my Panny S97S DVD Player is much better quality than 480p over component. Also a D/D conversion will be better than D/A - A/D conversion. Personally I prefer the 720p setting over 1080i. Not sure where he can say that no upconversion can improve the quality, there are hundreds of AVS'rs that would also disagree. Granted it is not HD quality, but it visually is obvious the picture is better. I've had lots of company over and everyone has noticed the difference. Now if you have a poor quality DVD, or if you have one of the upconverting DVD players that have had problems with macroblocking, black push, etc... then what he says might be true. I doubt he has personally tested the S97S, but I'm sure he'll say he has.
Cgolf, your best option would be to demo various projectors if possible and make the selection that best works for your needs and makes you happy.
good luck
