I have a 1080i CRT - From my understanding it displays in 480i, 480p and 1080i. If that's correct, would purchasing an upscaling DVD player show a significant increase in picture quality over my current 480p player?

I'm looking to get the Onkyo DVSP404 model as reference to any potential answers.

Thanks people.

wow - can anyone help?

Yes, some have reported improved PQ with upscaling players matched with their CRT. The only way to know with your specific equipment is to try one out.

It really depends. If you buy an upscaling DVD player it comes down the simple question of whether the scaler in the DVD player is better than the one in the TV. To know that, you'll have to try to find someone who's done some comparison of your TV's scaler with other things.

if you already have a DVD player that ouputs over component (480i or 480p) my opinion is to save your money. Any picture quality gains are going to be REALLY minor.

I've tried upconverting players on my Sony 34" HD Wega and if anything it's worse.

It really depends. If you buy an upscaling DVD player it comes down the simple question of whether the scaler in the DVD player is better than the one in the TV. To know that, you'll have to try to find someone who's done some comparison of your TV's scaler with other things.

I don't think my TV scales DVDs though. I think it actually outputs DVDs in 480p, since CRT's aren't fixed resolution displays. Which is why I thought that an upscaling DVD player would actually send a higher res picture to the TV (1080i) for it to display.

The DVD content is 480i, so if the TV can play it at 480 naturally, then that is perfectly fine (perhaps even better). As a matter of fact, if the TV really does display 480i naturally, then you want to have the DVD player output 480i. You don't want to convert things for no reason.

But again, it all really depends on the TV. If you want to know for sure, you have to find out exactly what your TV does and how well it does it.