1080P better than 1080i for DVD viewing?

[BAA]

Hoping to upgrade to a 42" Panasonic plasma display panel for HT use. If 95% of viewing happens to be DVD'S ( from netflix ) would it be worthwhile to wait for the springtime introduction of the 1080P panels: would there be a perceptably better picture given this type of usage over the 1080i displays? Thanks for your thoughts. Dan
Apparently Netflix intends to introduce HD DVD's this spring. If this is the case it sounds like the 1080p plasma with an updated DVD player (currently have a yamaha C920) should serve our movie viewing needs for some time? Our current system is powered by a yamaha RX-V2500. As always comments thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks again Dan

 

[awesomebase]

Balance

Not really. DVDs produce 852 x 480 resolution while both 1080i and 1080p do 1920 by 1080 (though one is interlaced and the other is progressive).
Even with "up-converting" you are liable not to take any advantage of the increased throughput.
However, if you think you will be getting the latest Blu-Ray or HD-DVDs to use, this will eventually bring in 1080p content. What you need to balance is whether or not it is worth buying a set that can produce 1080p resolution when there is no content yet for it. Also, I don't think the HDMI spec for 1080p has been ratified yet so even if you have a 1080p set now, you may have to do a firmware update later on to be able to actually "get" 1080p on your 1080p set (most sets now don't even allow you that).

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hoping to upgrade to a 42" Panasonic plasma display panel for HT use. If 95% of viewing happens to be DVD'S ( from netflix ) would it be worthwhile to wait for the springtime introduction of the 1080P panels: would there be a perceptably better picture given this type of usage over the 1080i displays? Thanks for your thoughts. Dan

this would be the case if you were also planning on upgrading the DVD players to the HD format when they come out mid year. The HD DVD will be much higher resolution and would be much better on such a 1080P display, most likely.
Otherwise, if you will just stick to standard DVD, the above answer applies.