So i bought this dvd player to go with my new 32" westinghouse LCD tv to use in my bedroom. But when I have it output either 720p or 1080i via hdmi, there are HUGE black bars on top and bottom, i'm talking at least %25 of the screen top and bottom is black bars.

I tried a star wars episode 2 in widescreen format as well as one of the dvd's from Rome season1.

Are all upscaling dvd players like this, or is there a better alternative?

Every movie filmed in an aspect ratio wider than 16:9 (and there are a lot of them) will have black bars on the top and bottom. Either live with them (preferred), or use zoom or stretch (not preferred since it distorts the picture and reduces the resolution). A non-upscaling player will do the same thing, independent of HDMI or component output, and independent of 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i output.

I took some pictures to show what i am talking about. I played the same movie through both the philips dvd player and my xbox360, and took pictures:

Philips:
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/files/979346_k65g7/philips.JPG
xbox360:
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/files/979347_4qd6p/xbox360.JPG

Same movie, both outputting 1080 resolution.

Any dvd players that will look more like the 360?

anybody got an idea for me? Would the oppo 970 have the same huge ass black bars as the philips?

The Philips does not put huge black bars on the image, unless the aspect ratio calls for it. You have something set up wrong. In particular, in the Philips setup menu make sure you have it set for a 16:9 TV. - DR

well, maybe I had something setup wrong then. The menu was so crappy I could hardly navigate it. Either way, it doesn't matter, I returned it to bestbuy last night. I'll do a little more research and pick something else up