Significance of native res on CRTs?

Yes.


How the TV converts 720p to 1080i varies in quality and unfortunately I don't know how best to determine whether you are getting a good quality conversion.


Although a CRT set per se can have "any" resolution subject to the electron beam size versus tube face size and also subject to dot pitch, most sets have internal electronics that are limited to just one resolution usually 1080i for HDTV.


Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

If you are a super ultra quality-discriminating watcher of 720p stuff such as XBox 360 then I would be concerned. Rescaling does lose a tiny bit of quality.


However, there aren't too many HDTVs that *don't* rescale 720p. Most direct-view LCD HDTVs that say they display 720p actually have a native resolution of 1366 x 768 which means they rescale 720p also. Although since the resolution matches closer to 720p they still display 720p significantly better than a 1080i CRT HDTV (to those with the sharpest eyes for quality).


Most plasma HDTVs, LCD Rear Projection TVs, and DLPs display at a native 1280 x 720 so they are ideal for XBox 360 and viewing 720p content. Those are all big TVs though.


Things aren't ideal in the HDTV world these days so I have no idea what to recommend. I just said what things I think I know and you can make your own decision.