OK,

I'm a long time HT person and I have a Sony PJ and 30" LCD TV at 1368x768 native. I'm going to buy soon a 60" plasma 1920x1080. All these PJ/TVs are distributed around the house so I have/will use Component cables to drive them thru a Video Strom 8x4 Matrix Switch. I have DirecTV settops, XBox360, HTPC, Sony Carousel Standard DVD Player all feeding and switched.

So, I'm looking to dive into HD DVDs and looking at Blu-Ray...Samsung BD-P1000. My understanding is besides High-Def Blu-Ray discs it will also up convert my nornal DVDs to 1080i. Note, I will be running thru Component so YES I will not be driving 1080P. However, my biggest concern now is that the player/disc on both Blu-Ray and upscaled DVDs will only be 960x540 since I'm going thru Component. Is this true ? I can't drive HDMI 75ft. that I would need to without very expensive repeaters and very expensive HDMI cables so this is a real show stopper for me.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6423704.html?tag=txt

That article you link to is talking about the Image Constraint Token, which studios can use to downrez high-definition content over analog outputs. No studios have yet implemented this flag on any of their discs. See the short wiki article on ICT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_Constraint_Token

You are asking about upscaling standard DVDs. Check the various sticky threads here about experiences that people have with specific hardware. Here is the Samsung thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=688793

OK,

I'm a long time HT person and I have a Sony PJ and 30" LCD TV at 1368x768 native. I'm going to buy soon a 60" plasma 1920x1080. All these PJ/TVs are distributed around the house so I have/will use Component cables to drive them thru a Video Strom 8x4 Matrix Switch. I have DirecTV settops, XBox360, HTPC, Sony Carousel Standard DVD Player all feeding and switched.

So, I'm looking to dive into HD DVDs and looking at Blu-Ray...Samsung BD-P1000. My understanding is besides High-Def Blu-Ray discs it will also up convert my nornal DVDs to 1080i. Note, I will be running thru Component so YES I will not be driving 1080P. However, my biggest concern now is that the player/disc on both Blu-Ray and upscaled DVDs will only be 960x540 since I'm going thru Component. Is this true ? I can't drive HDMI 75ft. that I would need to without very expensive repeaters and very expensive HDMI cables so this is a real show stopper for me.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6423704.html?tag=txt

Component can deliver 1080i and 720p with blu-ray discs. DVD is limited to 480p via component (720p via HDMI).

How long can you drive component cables and what gauge cables do you need? My display takes components through SVGA and initially I was driving it with a total of 25ft+25ft+6ft cheap from receiver's component out to the display's vga connector.

That didn't work so well as the display on occasion would lose synch - seemed to be player dependent -- the sony carousel DVD 300 changer was the worst culprit at losing synch though all have done it. In the end, I replaced the cabling with extremely thick (and expensive) SVGA and it seemed to work though I switched to HDMI/DVI mostly for my signal feeds after that.

Do you need signal attenuators to drive long lengths of cabling like that?

How long can you drive component cables and what gauge cables do you need? My display takes components through SVGA and initially I was driving it with a total of 25ft+25ft+6ft cheap from receiver's component out to the display's vga connector.

That didn't work so well as the display on occasion would lose synch - seemed to be player dependent -- the sony carousel DVD 300 changer was the worst culprit at losing synch though all have done it. In the end, I replaced the cabling with extremely thick (and expensive) SVGA and it seemed to work though I switched to HDMI/DVI mostly for my signal feeds after that.

Do you need signal attenuators to drive long lengths of cabling like that?

Typically, rule of thumb is 15ft max for digital (HDMI, DVI) and 30ft analog (VGA, Component). However, this can be longer with expensive really good cables. However, if you are going to run long runs then use an extender. I can tell you this is good (AV400COMP) one I use: http://www.cable-electronics.com/Product5.aspx