I looked through his owner's manual and he is out of luck as his TV really does not support 1280x720p as a valid input signal--they actually enumerate the valid resolutions for each input and 720p was not one of them--sort of how early samsung DLPs had a separate component input for 480i/p and 720p/1080i.
As far as viewing 720p programming most set top boxes offer the option to scale to 1080i precisely for the reason that some TVs do not accept some resolutions.
It's not that bad for the most part. I have yet to see any sports event actually broadcast at 1280x720 p at 60 fps, so scaling to 1080i 30 fps won't be that horrible.
720p can't be scalled to 768p? wouldnt 768p be a better picture then 720p?How will I ever get 768p on my tv then? through an external scaller?
It can if the manufacturer included the necessary electronics--which for your set the manufacturer did not. All the images you see on your TV are 768p since that is native for you--unfortunately there is no programming that has a 768p resolution so you will like never be able to view any entertainment content with 1:1 pixel mapping. The theoretical best image for you to see is something with a resolution of 1024x768 and image aspect ratio of 16:9--Unfortunately no channel, DVD, HD-DVD, or video game has these specs so you are stuck to viewing rescaled images. That being said your TV can still look stunning when adjusted properly and viewed at the right distance.
What are you watching on your TV by the way and what input source is giving you these problems?
But, the BEST possible way really to view 720p is with a display that is 1280x720 pixels exactly. A lot of DLP and LCD technology is exactly that resoultion, and they look awesome.
As a side note I actually like some of the displays that have a native resolution of 1280x768 and square pixels as they accept 720p and offer the option of presenting the image without rescaling to 768p so you get 1x1 pixel mapping with black bars on the top and bottom. At the same time you have true XGA 1024x768 if you ever needed it for whatever reason. Unfortunately not all 1280x768p displays handle 720p content like this.