[Golfather]

I think i've lost my memory

All things common sense have gone out of the window and I'm struggling to understand whether my equipment has any value........

OK, so basically I have a PS3 and a Tosh XE1 HD Player which I use as an upscaler too. The panel is a Pioneer 507 Plasma (1080i).

Question 1:
Should I notice any difference in pic quality between an upscaled DVD and a HDDVD or blue ray displayed through my panel?

Question 2:
The interlacing versus progressive debate - will I notice any major improvement if I moved to a 1080p Pioneer Plasma using the same players above?

I know I'm confused and I should know the answers but i've lost the plot !!!!

[Sandman]

1. yes, a big difference
2. yes not only is it progressive but you will also get full hd resoltion (1920x1080).

[Golfather]

That's what i thought!!

But then I read info like this which makes me wonder whether having a 1080p will be worth the extra investment...

1080i vs 1080p - Similarities and Differences Between 1080i and 1080p - What You Need To Know About 1080i , 1080p/60 , 1080p/30, and 1080p/24

[xit2050]

Originally Posted by Sandman

1. yes, a big difference

Only if he sits less than 8 feet from the screen.
You can't make a general statement like that; someone who sits at 12 feet from a 50" screen won't see any difference.

[aniki]

Originally Posted by Golfather

The panel is a Pioneer 507 Plasma (1080i).

Your existing panel IS progressive, as are virtually all flat panels.
It will accept a maximum input signal of 1920x1080i but its native resolution is 1024x768.
-
I would say that on your current screen you will see a difference between high def and SD but there are two factors at play:-
The screen processes very well, so with a decent player SD looks extremly good. A HD signal has to be significantly downscaled to fit the native res.
Because of this, although there is still a clear difference between the two, its not as big a difference as you may expect.
-
You will notice the benefits of HD greater, if you used a Pioneer plasma with native res of 1920x1080.

[andy1249]

1080i v 1080p these days is pretty much irrelevant as there are very very few flat screens that actually show an interlaced image. ( Hitachi alis was the only one Ive ever seen and it wasnt very good ).

Any interlaced image signal presented to a flatscreen must be de-interlaced before its shown , so almost any flat screen you are likely to see will be showing a progressive image.

Therefore , as long as your de-interlacer is good ( and you have a Pioneer so theres no worries there ) there is no discernable difference between 1080i and 1080p.