I have no preference to which format wins because I do not have a high def player...yet. That is why I am asking in this area.

Hopefully this is the correct place to be asking.
I have a 720p DLP which is 4 years old. High def broadcasts over cable look great. Regular DVD looks very close to the high def broadcasts.

Will high def DVD look as good as the broadcasts??? I realize that true high def is 1080p and since my set is 720p is it worth it to spend the $$$ on a new player...not to mention the $$$ on all new DVD's???

Thanks for any help. :)

HD DVD and Blu-Ray both look better than HD broadcasts. But it is dependent on the title itself. Some titles have very good encodes and look fantastic, some titles have poor encodes and look less than stellar, but both formats from my eye have seriously outpaced broadcast HD even on a 720p.

HD DVD and Blu-Ray both look great on 720p sets.

The problem with HD Broadcast is also the sheer amount of compression. This can lead to artifacting. You will see blocking on fast moving scenes on Broadcast HD whereas on the HD optical formats there is little to none.
For instance, i've seen King Kong on hddvd and broadcast. Both look remarkably sharp and vivd, but as soon as there are chase scenes, the broadcast version suffers from macroblocking. So with broadcast, the issue is in bandwidth.

You will see blocking on fast moving scenes on Broadcast HD whereas on the HD optical formats there is little to none.
Anyone see the climax of Torque on broadcast HD?

It's like a F6 artifact tornado.

I remember this same debate when it came to be either DD or DTS. We live fine with both. The same will happen with Bluray and HD. And I am cool with that too.

Do regular DVD's look better on a high deff player as compared to a good upconverting player such as the Oppo 971???

Do regular DVD's look better on a high deff player as compared to a good upconverting player such as the Oppo 971???

I'm not familiar with the picture on the Oppo... But the picture of regular DVD's look slightly better when played on my SD DVD player (Pioneer Elite DV-47a) going through my DVDO VP-30 with de-interlacer card, than they do on my LG BH-100.

Both HD-DVD's and BD's look outstanding though on the LG. And yes, noticably better than anything I've seen on any form of broadcast HDTV.