Watching 1080p blu-ray on a 720p hdtv?

Question

its finally time for me to get an hdtv. im looking at around a 42 inch size. i also am going to get the playstation 3 for the blu-ray player, i am a huge movie watcher. my question is this: is it really worth the extra thousand dollars to get a 1080p tv? all of the 720p tvs are in my price range. but the cheapest 1080p tv is about 1000 dollars out of my range. and if i get a 720p tv, does it decode the 1080p signal down to 720p? most blu-ray movies ive seen say "1080p only" on the box.

Answer 1

All HD players can output in 480i, 480p, 1080i, 720p and 1080p

With a 42" there is not that much difference between 1080i/720p and 1080p. So don't worry that much for 1080p.

Answer 2

I have Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. I tried to watch the movies in 720p and 1080p - both look great! On 42" screen you will not see much of the difference - not enough to justify extra $1000.
In order to take full advantage of the new format - try to get a larger screen! There are some reasonably priced 50" plasmas out there. I do not know what price range you are looking at - but you can get 50" plasma (1280x768) for about $2k.

Answer 3

$1000 dollars seems like a large difference. If you truely can't find better prices, than it's probably not worth having. 720 lines of resolution is still pretty good and a PS3 can output at lower resolutions than 1080. Still, I'd think you'd have better luck finding a 1080 TV, even if it's 1080i.