Hi all,
A few comments on this thread. Many broadcasters prefer 1080i because it requires less bandwidth to transmit. By the way, 1080i is made up of 60 alternating fields of 540 lines each per second, which are interlaced together and total 30 frames per second.
Mdrew is correct in that 720p, which presents 30 progressively scanned full frames per second (not alternating fields), is generally felt to be better for sports, with smoother reproduction of fast horizontal motion.
But it isn't a question of which one--720p or 1080i-- is "better" than the other. Both represent the two standards for High Definition TV broadcasts, and both look wonderful with a good set, much, much sharper and clearer than Standard Definition (480i) images.
Upconverting DVD players deliver a digital video image via HDMI or DVI, whereas component video passes HDTV images as analog information. In theory, the digital image via HDMI or DVI should be better because fewer digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversions take place. I said "in theory" because in practice, the digital anti-piracy codes that take place with HDMI or DVI connections use up lots of bits or processing power that are not devoted to image quality. Consequently, an upconverted HDMI or DVI image may or may not look better than analog component video connections. Try them and see which produces a better picture; you may not see any differences. Or sometimes, the HDMI image may be inferior to the component video.
Oppo players (and some other brands) tend to deliver remarkably impressive upconversion of Standard Def DVDs. While it's still not quite the equal of true High Def, it's so close that at times you forget you are not watching HD image quality.
Regards,
