The Sony 960i can be incredibly good, given good source material. I wonder if anyone else has been watching HBO's Six Feet Under? Last night, I couldn't believe how much detail DirecTV was letting through on Channel 501, which used to be so compressed I couldn't watch the 960i at all. Last night, the image looked like a 4:3 cut from the center of The Sopranos (well, not quite, but it was really good for DBS). I think *D has reduced compression on HBO stuff, or at least they do sometimes.
I've seen no reason to switch my HS to 480p, as visible jaggies, etc., seem minimal.
John in VA