with new TV tech coming out more pixels are being jammed into the TVs. So even in a 46" TV you will be able to tell the difference. Really pelase look up OLCD tech please. OLCD >> New Plasma Tech (this will be an interesting battle as both will make it so that TV prices are 2500k and below). 

No, you won't be able to tell the difference. When playing a movie, a properly deinterlaced 1080i image displays the exact same raw data as a progressive 1080p image. There is literally no difference. It's the same feed for both formats, except one is displayed at 60fps while the other is interlaced at half the speed.

If you don't believe me, Google it. Both kn and myself posted two different links that say the same thing. It's all over the internet. 1080p improvement over 1080i in 24fps films is a myth.

 Actually it won't.  If you haven't read the link by now, here ya go:

http://blog.hometheatermag.com/geoffreymorrison/0807061080iv1080p/

It's a simple matter of LCDs and Plasmas being progressive by their very nature...  read it and tell me how a 46" tv or even a 2000" TV is going to make any difference.... 

I agree with you 100%.  When I first heard about this on Thursday, I was so tempted to visit Walmart.  And when I heard about Best Buy matching their deal, I was kicking myself for not catching it sooner.  In the end though, I don't have an HD TV yet.  (Maybe this Black Friday.)  And I was mostly looking at it to upconvert my DVDs since my old DVD player died a while ago and I don't want to kill my PS2 playing movies.

I have a PS3 and several BR movies. Tonight I bought an A2 HD-DVD player and the Transformers HD-DVD. The quality is excellent. I only have a 1080i tv so I don't care. I was sick of seeing movies I couldn't watch because I only had a Blu-ray player. I REALLY want this war to end with either outcome. I'm in a situation where I can't have optical audio on my HD-DVD player, my 360 AND my PS3. I really would like one player for everything but I don't have 999 dollars. But for $135 I got a movie AND a player. Also, I will note that in my town of about 28,000 people there were 15 players on the shelves at 7 pm tonight and now there are 13. If this fire-sale is working its not working very well at least here. I looked at it this way I was damned if I do damned if I don't and its $100 dollars. Granted $100 is alot, but the other alternative (the 360 add-on) was even more expensive. Also if BR wins then its a decent up-converting DVD player for my parents. End this war now!

 The A2 msrp'ed for $499 in Spring.  $99?  I'm sure they're losing quite a bit.

The reason there is a format war is that the new formats are not open formats. They are proprietary formats fronted by their respective developers. This will always generate conflict. Competitors are not going to just exceed to domination. Microsoft is not going to make it easy on a rival. Thats like being in a war, and handing the enemy soldier your gun.

I am sometimes shocked how BluRay supporters are inherently blind to this most basic tenet of capitalism. Microsoft does not want to end up licensing media from Sony paying for hardware licensing, medium licensing, and production. Sony will just use that money to make more games to force Microsoft out of the market.

The reality is that the problem with BluRay is that its being brought to the market by Sony. Were it some small company that did not make game systems, produce motion pictures, or was a major player in the electronics market. Perhaps early on the market could have gotten behind it as a unified front. However Sony has too many enemies, and the profit to be had by them is too significant.

Even so Sony could have salvaged the situation if they had simply given up all that control they have balled up in their hands. They could have dropped their licensing fees, or they could have sold off the manufacturing facilities. Perhaps they could have made compromises on the format that many in the industry wanted. Instead they clung on like mad men, and the competition is not going to roll over for them.

The format war at its very heart is about conflicting interests, and there is no room for compromise here. Your definitely not going to shame the likes of Microsoft into supporting BluRay. I was however shocked that Sony begged Microsoft to support their format. I could only think that was brilliant public relations at the time. Though the words are hollow until Sony makes a concession of some form to Microsoft.

 If you stopped to think about your argument, you would realize that Microsoft doesn't give a shit about the format war. They are wholeheartedly in the DLC camp.

I really wish people would stop confusing corporations.

If you stopped to think about your argument, you would realize that Microsoft doesn't give a shit about the format war. They are wholeheartedly in the DLC camp.

I really wish people would stop confusing corporations.

Actually I think you will find Microsoft does give a shit about the format war as it gives them an opportunity to make Sony bleed.
All MS wants is for a long and painful format war, preferably ending with DLC dominance anyway.

Now one more thing about 1080i vs 1080p vs 720p issue... Some LCD- and plasma-sets are marketed as 1080i. This is wrong marketing because ALL LCD's / plasmas are always progressive by nature. Most sets which are marketed as 1080i/720p are actually 720p but they downscale 1080i to 720p. So actually 720p signal looks better than 1080i with these sets.

Of course there are many real 1080i sets but those are mostly CRT sets (at least not CRT/plasma).