I've posted the equivalent of this elsewhere, but I think it bears repeating here. You guys are judging viewing quality primarily on set size and vastly varying conditons. Who engineered a TV is a chief factor here. 1080i is 1080i, but watching it on a quality set (read: expensive) can make a world of difference where clairity is concerned. If there's an injustice in all this downrez talk, it may have more to do with the fact that most people simply can't afford the kind of TV that will show ANY resolution from ANY source to its best advantage. And it goes beyond even that. There's virtually no way to define the "picture quality" of, say a movie, without knowing the equipment that movie was shot with. There is, take my word for it, a world of difference between the average indy flick and one filmed with a twenty thousand dollar Hollywood lens on a Paramount Panavision camera conceived by a top rate cinematographer.
Also the whole rez question may become moot once HD DVD really get under way. It's no accident that the Disney organization went with Bluray; they don't want their product copied, true--but they DO want that product too look the absolute best it can within current technological limitations. The Disney folks have a near spotless record of quality above all other studios that dates back to the 1030's. MGM's is pretty damn high too. They don't keep making new copies of Wizard Of Oz strictly for profit and the film's ongoing popularity with audiences; they do it because the technology keeps getting better and closer to what the movie's original IB Technicolor negative supplied.
Quality, gentlemen, will out. It just may take some time. But whatever the case, don't think it will end or even slow with 1080p. Electronics, unlike the relative stable format of film, seems to have nearly a life of its own with no resolution limit in sight. The point where pixels match 35mm film to the average eye has nearly been reached except in cases of color saturation and latitude. Soon it will be reached-- and then surpassed. Once that happens, the next step will be resolution so fine no human eye can possibly detect it from real life; trust me, it will happen.
Based on advertizing dollars--whether through traditional commercials or pay TV--the rule of thumb is: make that hamburger look more appealing, or that starlet's face more fetching. Corporate CEO's are not the slovenly that's--good-enough money mongers some pundits believe. They live and work in a world of almost inconceivable competition-- one guy constantly trying to outdo the other guy, at least in this country. As long as those conditions exits, corporations and formats will be fighting for civilian dollars, and the road to that is something that looks and tastes better today than the other guy's did yesterday, any aesthetics aside.
The bottom line with electronic-based mediums is: go ahead and buy that VIP622 today, because just like your daddy switched from 78's to 45's to eight track to CD, so will you. If you don't, we're all in trouble as a nation based on technology and competition. Today's "down rez" is tomorrow's Mpeg7.
