I know that a lot of people like to harp on the HD-Lite thing, but a lot of it has to do with the TV you are viewing the picture on. I know that compression plays an important part in PQ, but so does the quality of the TV you are viewing the picture on. I have two big screen Mitsubishi HDTVs, a 55" 1080i set and a 57" 1080p set. I can view the HD game on the 1080i set and it looks as you said a little fuzzy and not that crisp. When I look at the same game on the 1080p set, it is greatly improved, in the sharpness of the picture.
The other day I was at my neighbors house, he has HD via cable, his PQ falls in between my two, on his HD Samsung TV. We were using the Red Sox/Royals game, on ESPN, as a comparision. We both have MLB, but cable has no HD games, just SD, so we can't compare any MLB games, and he just got the MLB package turned on yesterday.